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tt0359013 | Blade: Trinity | NOTE: Sequel to Blade II (2002).Prologue: Four fully-covered vampires walk into a stone ziggurat in the Syrian Desert of Iraq. They are looking to re-awaken Dracula. They find him. Only three vampires walk out.Six months later. Blade (Wesley Snipes) has slipped up. After killing 1,182 human familiars and countless vampires, he's killed an innocent human. Shot him through the heart with a silver stake, but he didn't ash. What gives? It was a set up, staged just to get Blade caught and out of the vampire hunting business.FBI agents Ray Cumberland (James Remar) and Wilson Hale (Michael Anthony Rawlins) have positively identified Blade, thanks to a video by an anonymous citizen. That "anonymous citizen" is actually Danica Talos (Parker Posey), one of the four vampires who freed Dracula (Dominic Purcell), or "Drake" as he now calls himself.The FBI has cornered Blade and Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) in their warehouse laboratory, but Whistler is not about to let their operation fall into the hands of the FBI (aware that the FBI is loaded with human familiars as well as a vampire agent or two. After yelling at Blade to get out of the building, Whistler blows it up, destroying everything--computers, weaponry, and himself. Blade is devastated by Whistler's death and he is easily captured. Blade is taken to the police department where he is being poked and prodded by the FBI, who consider him public enemy number one, and by forensic psychiatrist, Doctor Edgar Vance (John Michael Higgins), who has pronounced Blade psychotic and wants to transfer him to County Psychiatric. Police chief Martin Vreede (Mark Berry) pulls jurisdiction and refuses to release Blade to either of them.While they argue over who should have custody of Blade, Vance shoots him full of tranquilizers. Even in his weakened state, Blade has already figured out that Vance is working for the vampires. Then, Danica Talos and several other vampires, including her brother Asher (Callum Keith Rennie) and strongman Jarko Grimwood (Paul Levesque), posing as a transfer team, arrive to move Blade, but Danica can't hide her vampirism from Blade. Unfortunately, Blade is too knocked out to resist. "You're all alone, Blade", Danica taunts. "No one's
going to help you now."But Danica is wrong. There are some new vampire hunters in town, among them none other than Whistler's illegitimate daughter Abigail (Jessica Biel) and the wise-cracking ex-vampire Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds), Danica's ex-pet. They come to Blade's rescue, overpowering Danica and her henchmen while Blade doses himself with serum through a new effervescent inhaler (no needles needed).When Blade's strength has returned, he, King, and Abby break out of the police station, taking out a bunch of vampires along the way. But they're not clear yet. As they exit the building, a dozen police cars drive up,
surrounding them. Suddenly, an old van speeds up. King and Abby jump in, with Blade right behind them, and the van speeds away. They drive to Abby and King's "Honeycomb Hideout" where Blade meets the rest of the Nightstalkers, as they refer to themselves. Besides King and Abby, there is van driver Dex (Ron Selmour),
weaponry designer Hedges (Patton Oswalt), blind scientist Sommerfield (Natasha Lyonne), and Sommerfield's young daughter Zoe (Haili Page). Although he is informed that it was Sommerfield who fashioned his new serum inhaler and that Whistler wanted Blade to work with the Nightstalkers, Blade is not impressed by them. In his eyes, they are kids...rookies, not to mention that Abby Whistler fights with her MP3 earplugs stuck in her ears.The Nightstalkers inform Blade that Dracula has been reawakened by the vampires in order to help with the vampire final solution, but they don't know what the final solution is. They do know, however, that they're
going to need a new weapon, something bigger than silver nitrate bullets and garlic spray. Sommerfield is working on a biological weapon that she calls "DayStar," a virus that specifically targets vampires.
Unfortunately, the virus' lethality is spotty. They need better DNA to work with. They need Dracula's blood because it's still pure, unaffected by generations of mutation. How to get to Drake?Blade's idea is to go for the weakest link...the familiars. "Bleed the wannabees and they'll take us to the real", he says. So they take out a bunch of familiars. One of them gets a call on his cell phone as Blade is dangling him off the side of a bridge. Turns out to be Dr Vance, so they break into Vance's office to interrogate him. As they round the desk to directly approach Vance, they see the real Vance lying dead on the floor and realize that the "Vance" standing before them is actually Drake. Drake grabs King, stabs him, then jumps out the window, falling maybe 15 stories to the pavement below, landing feet first on a car roof, then running off parkour-style. Blade follows. They meet up again on the rooftops. Drake has carried a human infant he grabbed along the way and threatens to drop it some dozen or more stories to the pavement below. After slinging a few insults and threats back and forth, Drake tosses the baby over the gap between the buildings. Blade catches the baby, but Drake gets away.While Abby stops the hemorrhaging in King's wound with an elastic protein, Sommerfield reveals that she has located the vampire's laboratory at Biomedical Enterprises. She also downloaded a copy of their recent
purchases, like polymerase, bone marrow growth supplement, and genetic sequencing enzymes, so Blade and Abby decide to go snooping. While lurking outside, they see Chief Vreede drive up. A vampire comes out to meet him, and Blade and Abby pounce. After destroying the vampire, they force Vreede to take them inside the building. The first thing they see after turning on the lights is a huge warehouse filled with humans in stasis, all wired up as continuous blood donors. It's the vampire's final solution, Vreede explains. Instead of hunting blood on a piecemeal basis, the vampires have created a blood-farming facility. Blade shoots Vreede and forces the
computer technician to shut down the facility.Back at Honeycomb Hideout, Dex and Hedges are playing basketball, Sommerfield is reading a bedtime story to Zoe, and King is napping in the infirmary. Suddenly, Abraham Whistler appears to King. "Dude, you're dead",
says King. It's not Whistler...it's Drake. When Blade and Abby return, they find Hedges, Dex, and Sommerfield dead. King and Zoe are missing. Drake has taken them back to the vampire's lair where King is now chained
to the floor. He regains consciousness to stare eye-to-eye with a pomeranian. Suddenly the dog's lower jaw opens reaper-style. King manages to roll away just in time. Danica, Jarko, and Asher enter and take a few
swipes at King. Then Danica asks King about the weapon that Blade is planning, but King refuses to talk so Danica threatens to turn him into a vampire again and wait until the thirst builds. Then... (door opens and in
walk Drake and Zoe); "I'm going to bring the little girl in here for you" to feed on, Danica whispers into King's ear.Fortunately, Sommerfield managed to get off a message to another Nightstalker named Caulder (Christopher Heyerdahl). Just before she was killed, Caulder tells them, Sommerfield developed a workable strain of the DayStar virus, and she transmitted the genetic sequence to him. It will need to be injected into Drake. If it is, it will mix with his blood and should kill every vampire in the area. However, Caulder adds, Sommerfield doesn't know whether it will kill Blade, too. Caulder has fashioned a projectile containing the DayStar virus. Abby loads it on one of the arrows to her compound bow. Now it's nightstalking time.They have traced King's whereabouts by the tracking node implanted in his body. First, they pump atomized colloidal silver into the vampires' air conditioning system, which makes it difficult for the vampires to
breathe. Then, Blade drops down through the skylight. While Blade takes on the vampires, Abby drops in and releases King. Then Abby pops in her MP3 earphones, and she and Blade take out a few dozen more vampires. King is chased by the vampire pomeranian and two vampire rottweilers, but he tricks them into leaping out a window. Abby rescues Zoe.While King and Jarko go at each other with fists, Blade and Drake use swords. Abby takes out more vampires with her bow. King takes out Jarko, but Danica takes Jarko's place and she also dies. Drake has had enough of Blade and transforms into his monster self, complete with Reaper maw. Just when Drake is about to cream Blade, Abby shows up, loads the DayStar serum into her bow, and shoots it into the back of Drake's head. Drake pulls it out and tosses it on the floor, but Blade retrieves it and shoves the needle into Drake's chest. DayStar is released, dispersing the virus through the air, and the rest of the vampires start falling. When it's all over, Drake has become human again. Just before he dies, he compliments Blade on beginning a new race of vampires and reminds him that the thirst always wins.Suddenly, dozens of FBI agents swarm into the building, only to find everything smashed to smithereens but no bodies other than Blade's. They transport him to the hospital and prepare to perform an autopsy. Just as
they're about to make the first cut, Blade's body transforms into that of Drake. It was Drake's gift to Blade, knowing that Blade is the best hope for the vampire race of the future. Blade is still out there.**Not sure if there was a version w/ a different ending, but in the one I saw, Blade remained Blade when he woke up on the autopsy table, & there was a narration by king.[Original synopsis by bj_kuehl] | good versus evil, violence, comedy, gothic | train | imdb | null |
tt0401855 | Underworld: Evolution | NOTE: Sequel to Underworld (2003).Underworld: Evolution opens with Vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) recapping the events in Underworld. Selene is a Hungarian Vampire who had been a Death Dealer for the Vampire clan throughtout Europe for 600 years when she was betrayed. She explains how Kraven (Shane Brolly), the ruler of the Vampire clan, formed a secret alliance with Lucian (Michael Sheen), ruler of the Lycan clan. When the Lycans found a third bloodline (human) that also descended from ancestor Alexander Corvinus, they tracked down descendent Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) and turned him into a Lycan. After a big fight between Lycans and Vampires, Lucian was killed by Kraven. Before Michael died, however, Lucian told Selene to bite Michael: "Half Vampire, half Lycan -- they're stronger than both." Thus, Selene turned Michael into the first Hybrid. Selene then beheaded Elder Viktor, and she and Michael went into hiding.With two of the three vampire Elders destroyed (see Underworld), Selene's only hope is to awaken the last remaining Elder, Marcus (Tony Curran), who is still in hibernation, and expose the truth before Kraven can kill Marcus. Selene hides Michael in a safehouse and heads over to the Vampire mansion to plead her case. Unfortunately, Kraven has already attempted to awaken Marcus, who has morphed into some sort of bat-like creature, and Marcus has killed Kraven as well as all of the other Vampires in the mansion, including Erika (Sophie Myles) (Note: Erika's brief appearance just before her death appears to be taken from archive footage from the previous movie). By drinking Kraven's blood, Marcus learned everything that has transpired while he was in hibernation, including the making of Michael into a Hybrid. Marcus locates the safehouse in which Michael is hiding, but Michael has gone out for a bite to eat. After downing half a plate of potatoes and cabbage, he begins to retch (being half Vampire, he needs to feed on blood). Suddenly a newsflash is shown of him on the television. Several of the restaurant patrons try to hold him with their guns, but Michael escapes. Selene realizes that Michael is gone and goes after him. Michael has been shot several times and is in need of blood, so Selene makes him drink some of hers.Just then, Marcus flies in. He attempts to drink from Selene (to gain her memories and knowledge), but Michael pumps a few bullets into him. Selene and Michael steal a truck and outrun Marcus, who flies behind them. Suddenly, Selene notices the sun is about to rise. Michael helps her drive the truck into a warehouse and darkens the windows with paint. The two of them hole up there for the day. Big love scene follows as both of them give into their passion and have sex.After sunset, Selene and Michael go looking for Andreas Tannis (Steven Mackintosh), Vampire and exiled historian of Vampire history, in order to get him to identify a pendant necklace that has been in Selene's possession since childhood. Selene learns from Tannis that the pendant is actually a key to Lycan William's prison, a place that was built by Selene's father. Selene now learns the truth about the slaughter of her family: Viktor did it to keep anyone from knowing William's whereabouts. Selene is the only one left who might remember where William's prison is located, and that memory is locked in her subconscious. It is for this reason that Marcus wants her blood...so that he can find William. Viktor did not fear for William and Marcus's lives when he ordered William imprisoned for all eternity. He feared that destroying William would destroy the entire Lycan bloodline, thus leaving the Vampires without slaves.Tannis arranges a meeting between Selene and Lorenz Macaro (Derek Jacobi), the only one who may have the power to stop Marcus. Before Selene and Michael can get to Lorenz Macaro, however, Marcus gets to Tannis and learns that there were actually two keys, the one with Selene and the other sewed inside Viktor's abdomen, a key that was removed by Alexander Corvinus upon Viktor's death. Lorenz Macaro turns out to be Alexander Corvinus. Selene begs him to help her stop Marcus, but he refuses to kill his own son. Suddenly, Marcus appears.
Michael tries to fight him, but Marcus impales Michael through the chest and takes Selene's key that Michael was holding at the time. Selene shoots Marcus, who flies off. She removes the impalement from Michael's chest, then drains her own blood over the gaping wound... to no avail. Michael is dead.Marcus runs a sword through his father and takes the key that his father took from Viktor's chest. Marcus is now in possession of both keys. As he lays dying, Alexander slits his wrist and makes Selene drink his blood in order to pass on the legacy. "What will I become?" she asks. "The future," Alexander replies. As a helicopter takes off, carrying Selene cradling Michael's body, Alexander blows himself up.Now that Marcus has both keys and the knowledge of where the door lies, he opens it and finds William waiting. Selene leads the helicopter to where she remembers a secret passage into the prison and enters, along with a few backups. Once in, they hear the roar of a werewolf and meet up with William. Selene fires at William just as Marcus appears. Selene fires at Marcus, slowing him just long enough to get through the open door and close it behind her. Unfortunately, a bit of rock prevents the door from closing all the way. William catches up with Selene again. She fires at him repeatedly and blows up the cavern in which they are located. Suddenly, all the backups killed by William begin to turn into werewolves and converge on Selene.Meanwhile, back in the helicopter, Michael lives! He leaps from the helicopter into the fracas and helps Selene battle with William. However, Marcus has managed to get the door open, and he, too, joins the melee. The
first thing he does is to grab on to a rope hanging from the helicopter and bring it tumbling down into the cavern where it catches on a catwalk and lies there, blades still spinning. Now it's Michael against William and Selene
against Marcus. Eventually, Michael manages to behead William, and Selene shoves Marcus into the helicopter blades, tearing him to pieces.As the sun comes up and Selene realizes that she is no longer burned by the light, thanks to Alexander Corvinus's blood, she and Michael enter each others' arms. Big kiss scene follows.[Synopsis by bj_kuehl] | cult, action, gothic, violence, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt0041386 | The Fountainhead | Howard Roark (Gary Cooper) has just left university. He is told off by the dean (Paul Stanton), as he does not want to know anything about history or how buildings were built in the past; he is only interested in the modern possibilities of building. That forces the dean to take the matter on his own hands and expel him. But Roark has already decided that he wants to work for only one person: Henry Cameron (Henry Hull). Even Peter Keating (Ken Smith), his fellow student and good friend, advises him not to follow that career path, as Cameron was a renown architect thirty years before, but these days he is a finished man. Howard does not listen. He is admitted by Cameron because of the project he has designed, although Cameron himself tells him that he will be finished like him in a few years. Cameron recognises Roark's talents and hires him.Some years later, Cameron is making a scene of himself at the train station. He's drunk and buying copies of the yellow-press newspaper The Banner just to tear its pages away. The newsboy (Bob Alden) does not know what to do about it. A police officer (Paul Newlan) appears and is about to arrest him. Roark kindly takes him to their office. Cameron is a broken man: back at the office, he picks up a t-square and thrusts it into a window pane; then, he has a fit and passes out on the floor. Roark goes with him to hospital in an ambulance. There, Cameron knows he's about to die, and he makes Roark promise that he will burn every document Cameron has. Also, Cameron advises Roark to compromise, or he will end up like Cameron.A year and a half later, Roark is still burning documents from late Cameron. He can't burn the design of a special building which Cameron had thought of but was never built: the building is very modern-looking, only made of glass and metal, without balconies, decoration or distractions on the outside. Keating visits Roark. Peter is successful and rich because he has compromised and catered for the middle taste. Meanwhile, Roark is about to be evicted, has plenty of bills and has only 14.74 dollars to his name.Roark is anxiously waiting for news from the commission to the starship building for the Security Bank of Manhattan. Roark is said that his building is so original, and that he will have to wait until the decision is made. However, the following Monday he is said that he has won the commission. However, Roark is said that certain changes will have to be made. Instead of a simple glass and metal façade, reminiscent of the Cameron design, they have prepared certain changes. The board of directors (Bert Howard and Sam Harris) insist to pout a Greek-temple looking entrance to the building, and to plaster some rococo stonework on one of the sides. Obviously, Roark refuses to sign the contract on those conditions. Roark decides to skip the commission and work even as a day labourer if necessary. For Roark, it's a difficult decision, of course, but he finally leaves with the maps to the building and storms off banging the door. The board of directors turn to a figure on the shadows who has said nothing but was present throughout the ordeal. Ellsworth M. Toohey (Robert Douglas) had convinced the board to give an opportunity to Howard Roark as long as he accepted the changes. The board feels appalled when Roark rejects their offer, so they turn to Toohey, who says that it was all an experiment, but that he knew that their offer was going to be rejected and that they have to offer the commission to some other architect. Toohey mutters that Gail Wynand expects to have some classic element in his buildings.At The Banner , Gail Wynand (Raymond Massey) asks which architect Toohey recommended to the Security Bank, as he has the controlling interest over the bank, and Toohey recommends Peter Keating. Gail seems keen on accepting Keating, as Toohey says that Peter has not got a personality of his own, he just copies the ideas of the average man, and presents Wynand with examples of Keating's work. Gail deems the examples "marble monstrosities", but he says that he will accept the advice of the architectural experts of The Banner. Toohey is pleased, but Wynand points that Toohey is not the only critic on the newspaper. There is another one, Dominique Francon (Patricia Neal). Toohey is apprehensive, as he and Francon do not always agree. The secretary of Wynand (Ann Doran) cannot get hold of Francon because she is not in the building. Wynand goes to seek her at her place.Cue to Dominique: she is throwing a small Greek statue from the window of her condo. Gail Wynand enters the place unanounced. She justified herself saying that she destroyed the statue because she used to love it and she doesn't accept to be slave to anything or anyone. When she is asked, she says that she has never known an architect of ability. Wynand mentions that Toohey wants Keating chosen, and that Keating is Guy Francon (Jonathan Hale)'s partner - Guy being Dominique's father. Moreover, she is engaged to Peter Keating, but she will not recommend Keating anyway. They are all going to dine together to discuss the commission. Wynand tells Dominique that she could make a brilliant career at The Banner , and that he would have fired anyone absent from work. Dominique does not care one way or another.At dinner, Gail offers Peter the commission of the Security Bank as long as he breaks his engagement to Miss Francon. At the beginning, Peter is outraged, but Dominique keeps a blank face, and states that she won't help Peter in this occasion. Peter gladly leaves Dominique. When Gail and her are left alone, he tells her that there are no men of honesty. He tries to kiss her, but she is frozen and incapable of love; in fact, she states that she has never been in love with anyone. She says that she will marry Gail some day if she wanted to punish herself of some unredeemable guilt, and he seems contented in spite of her reasons.Dominique leaves for the countryside. Her father's manor house is close to a quarry. He takes notice of a mature strong quarryman - Howard Roark -. They take a look at each other. She asks the quarry superintendent (Harry Woods) to show her around. The following days, they stare at each other, until Miss Francon opens the fire and tells Roark to stop staring or be fired. He mocks her airs and attitude. Back at her home, Dominique breaks on purpose a marble piece of the mantelpiece in her room. Roark is sent to replace the marble, and he immediately spots that it got broken on purpose. When pressed on to speak about something, Howard mentions that the fireplace is atrocious - it really is: it is heavy, it has been profusely decorated and cries new money everywhere -. She tells him that the home was designed by Guy Francon himself. He rambles about the quality of the marble and how marble gets formed. Some time afterwards, the maid (Almira Sessions) lets a different marble worker in, Pasquale Orsini (Tito Vuolo), to have the broken piece replaced. Dominique pretends to have forgotten everything about it to hide her confusion, and while Pasquale works on it, she runs after Howard on her horse. She ends up hitting Howard with her fuste. At night, Howard appears on her room, and after another fight and some pushing and shoving, they kiss passionately. She tries to run away. Howard leaves her on the floor, crying her heart out. Back to his humble home, he has received the telegram of Roger Enright (Ray Collins) telling him that he wants him to build a building for him. After a second, Howard packs his staff and leaves. The following morning, Dominique asks the supervisor about Howard, but she is told that he has left, maybe for New York. She is about to inquire about his name, but she leaves before giving in to the tender thought.Back at The Banner , the editor, called Alvah (Jerome Cowan), is looking for ideas to denounce on the first page. The newspaper sells more when it falls onto a crusade against something, he says. Toohey suggests the Enright building, a luxury apartment building whose new building methods make it modern, "about to crumble down" and weird looking. Enright is a self-made man, who is "stubborn and rich as blazes", and a crusade against the rich will always attract the masses. Dominique looks at the photograph and asks about the architect, and she is said "Howard Roark", but the name says nothing to her. The editor is enthusiastic, and phones Wynand to tell him of the plan. Dominique asks Toohey whether he can recognise it as a great building - he does -, and she also asks about his motives, which he does not want to proclaim at that moment. Wynand goes on with the story even with Dominique's - who thinks that the building is a "great architectural achievement"- opposition. She asks him to call off the campaign, but he says that he will give everything except for The Banner , so Dominique resigns on the spot. Wynand tells him that she will not be able to fight him.Toohey starts his defamation campaign, and all the rest of architects sign a petition against him. The building gets done anyway. Enright himself will move onto the house and give an inauguration party. Dominique attends the party and wants to meet Roark. Peter tells her that he is taking a poll among the guests (Lois Austin, Jay Eaton, Thurston Hall, Dorothy Christy & Harold Miller) knowing that they will agree with his opinion - the building is too original, too weird, too unadorned, and nobody would feel comfortable enough on it to call it "home". Even Guy Francon agrees that the building would need more "Greek ornaments" to be nice, but Dominique likes it as it is. Dominique is terrified when she recognises Roark, but she has nowhere to hide. Enright says that she understands Roark and that she quit to defend the building in front of him. Roark is surprised about that.Afterwards, Dominique and Howard are alone and she tells him that she admires him, but that people will destroy him: in fact, he has not not offered a single job after the crusade of the newspaper. They kiss again. She even asks him to marry her. He refuses point blank. Roark is sure he will not be destroyed, and that when she learns to be independent from the masses' opinion, she can go back to him. Dominique goes right away to welcome Gail, back from his world voyage. She asks him to marry her even though he knows she does not love him.Roark is refused the commission for the Civic Opera Company of New York by a director (Paul Harvey) who is afraid of sticking his neck out. He also sees the mayhem outside the wedding venue of Dominique and Gail, full of paparazzi. Francon and Keating have won the commission for the Civil Opera House. The onlookers (Glen Cavender & Leo White) do not pay attention to him. Suddenly, Toohey comes Roark across and encourages Roark to express what he feels about the critic to his face. Roark says that he does not think of him at all.A gas station owner (Monte Blue) wants Roark to build his station. Afterwards, Roark designs a farm, a home in the country, an office building, a factory... all with concrete, resulting in clean lines, no extra decorations or windows... nothing which is not required for the purpose of the building.Howard Roark succeeds enough far from New York to have an office of his own - designed with clean lines, the same as his buildings. His secretary (Ruthelma Stevens) tells him of a new commission for... Gail Wynand. He wants him to build a countryhouse to imprison Dominique there. Wynand admits that he likes Roark's work. Finally, Roark accepts the job.Obviously, Dominique gets really upset - not at the idea of the manor countryhouse, but at the prospect of Roark being the architect. She accuses Wynand of being away on his yacht while The Banner 's smear campaign was fully marching on. She tells Wynand that Roark has won over him; but Wyland wants to hold the upper hand. He proposes Roark to be the sole architect of all the buildings The Banner or him will erect in the future. Wynand says that he will build all the commercial buildings as the public wants to see them: "colonial houses, Rococo hotels and semi-Grecian office buildings". Roark agrees and sets to make a drawing project: he draws a hut. Wyland laughs it off. Roark says they are equal; after all, Wynand rose from Hell's Kitchen onto becoming a rich self-made man, although he was mistaken on the path of career. Wynand invites him over for dinner. There, they both feel like victors. At first, Dominique says she will not be able to live in Roark's designed house, but then she gives in.Meanwhile, Keating is lost: he has been losing contracts since Guy Francon died. Toohey says that he should ask himself if there ever was reason for him to succeed. Keating wants to be chosen as the architect for the Cortland House project. Toohey explains at length that the economic side of the matter is the main problem for the accommodation of the poorer classes, so everybody is searching for an idea to solve the equation.Keating goes to Roark, admitting that he has never had an original idea by himself. Roark admits that he has thought the problem over, but never proposed anything because he had never been granted anything for any committee. He will give the solution to Keating as long as he guarantees that nothing will be changed from the project. The project will carry Keating's signature, and nobody will know of the truth."Keating's" project wins the commission. Only Wynand and Dominique recognise it as coming from Roark. Wynand invites Roark for a several-month voyage. Dominique is jealous of Roark and asks him to refuse it, but he accepts. When they come back from the yacht trip, Gordon Prescott (Frank Wilcox) and Gus Webb (John Doucette) have been appointed as side architects to the Cortlandt project. They want to add decorations, colours, balconies... and they did. Obviously, Roark is not happy. Keating says that they started changing details for no reason at all and that he couldn't do anything to stop them. Roark starts to devise a plan.Dominique appears to tell him she loves him and that she is leaving Gail. He asks her to go to a side of Cortlandt Homes pretending to be an innocent bystander. She says to the old watchman (Fred Kelsey) that she has run out of petrol. She offers him some money to go and fetch somebody (Selmer Jackson) to help her as the telephone is out of order. She jumps to a hole on the ground while everything explodes around her. The watchman sees Howard standing next to the detonator, waiting for them to take him to court. Alone, Dominique runs to her car with a piece of broken glass, and tries to commit suicide by slashing off her wrists.Toohey starts giving speeches about self-sacrifice to different groups of people against Roark, and Wynand is the only person who will publicly defend Roark. Dominique is alive and recovering, and the police think that she was only an innocent bystander. Wynand is glad that Dominique has defended Roark. Gail says that this is the crusade he has been waiting for all his life. Roark is out on bail. Dominique says that he wants everybody to know her real feelings. Roark tells her to stay with Gail, just in case he loses his case at court.Toohey asks Keating whether he truly designed Cortlandt. He admits he didn't. Toohey expresses his plans: he wants to submit everybody, but some men, in special great men like Roark, cannot be submitted. Keating gives in and writes down a self-confession. Alvah Scarret (Jerome Cowan) tells Wynand that the rival newspapers are opening with Keating's signed confession. Toohey admits that his ambition is to run the newspaper.There are demonstrations against Roark. In a party, a lady (Josephine Whittell) says that she has fired her cook because he was reading The Banner.One of The Banner 's clerks (Bill Dagwell) does not understand why they are killing themselves in the upper offices: Gail and Dominique seem to be the only remaining staff. Wynand realises that he has never had any power, he was a tool of the masses. The vice-president of The Banner (Roy Gordon) and other members of the board (Charles Evans & Albert Petit) insist that Wynand stops defending Roark. The Banner becomes wet paper and litter on the streets.Back at court, the prosecutor (Morris Ankru) gives his final speech. Roark stands up and tells the judge (Griff Barnett) that he has no witness apart from himself. The court clerk (Tom Coleman) takes his oath. He gives a speech in which he stresses the rights of personal will, honesty and ambition. Copying is made for looters. He says that his price for solving the problem of Cortlandt was to see it built exactly as he intended, so he was not paid and he had nowhere to complain: that's why he did what he did.The judge stresses to the jurors that no financial issue is being discussed at the moment. They only need to decide on the criminal side of the matter. Some time afterwards, the jury foreman (G. Pat Collins) declares Roark NOT GUILTY.Enright buys the property where Cortlandt Homes used to stand as scrap land. He wants Roark to re-build it as he had envisioned. Wynand calls for Roark. He wants the architect to build the Wynand building as he wished, but he stresses the fact that he does not want to see Roark again. The documents get signed without being read. The Banner has been closed down. Wynand bades goodbye saying the famous last words: "BUILD IT AS A MONUMENT TO THAT SPIRIT WHICH IS YOURS AND COULD HAVE BEEN MINE". Right afterwards, he shoots himself off-camera.The Wynand building is the tallest building in the world for a while. Dominique appears on the building site presenting herself as "Mrs Roark". She goes up to the rooftop where her husband is waiting for her. As the camera pans onto him, we see Howard Roark being on top of the world.--written by KrystelClaire | philosophical | train | imdb | null |
tt0017136 | Metropolis | In the futuristic year of 2026, in the city of Metropolis, wealthy industrialists reign from high-rise tower complexes, while underground-dwelling workers toil to operate the underground machines that power the city. Joh Fredersen is the city's master. His son Freder idles away his time in a pleasure garden, but is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria, who has brought a group of workers' children to witness the lifestyle of the rich. Maria and the children are ushered away, but Freder, fascinated, goes to the machine rooms to find her. Witnessing the explosion of a huge machine that kills and injures several workers, he hurries to tell Fredersen about the accident. Grot, foreman of the Heart Machine, brings to Fredersen secret maps found on the dead workers. Freder secretly rebels against Fredersen by deciding to help the workers, after seeing his father's cold indifference towards the harsh conditions they face.
Fredersen takes the maps to the inventor Rotwang to learn their meaning. Rotwang had been in love with a woman named Hel, who left him to marry Fredersen and later died giving birth to Freder. Rotwang shows Fredersen a robot he has built to "resurrect" Hel. The maps show a network of catacombs beneath Metropolis, and the two men go to investigate. They eavesdrop on a gathering of workers, including Freder. Maria addresses them, prophesying the arrival of a mediator who can bring the working and ruling classes together. Freder believes that he could fill the role and declares his love for Maria. Fredersen orders Rotwang to give Maria's likeness to the robot so that it can ruin her reputation among the workers, unaware that Rotwang plans to use the robot to kill Freder and bring down Metropolis. Rotwang kidnaps Maria, transfers her likeness to the robot and sends her to Fredersen. Freder finds the two embracing and, believing it is the real Maria, falls into a prolonged delirium. Intercut with his hallucinations, the false Maria unleashes chaos throughout Metropolis, driving men to murder and stirring dissent amongst the workers.
Freder recovers and returns to the catacombs. Finding the false Maria urging the workers to rise up and destroy the machines, Freder accuses her of not being the real Maria. The workers follow the false Maria from their city to the machine rooms, leaving their children behind. They destroy the Heart Machine, which causes the workers' city below to flood. The real Maria, having escaped from Rotwang's house, rescues the children with the help of Freder. Grot berates the celebrating workers for abandoning their children in the flooded city. Believing their children to be dead, the hysterical workers capture the false Maria and burn her at the stake. A horrified Freder watches, not understanding the deception until the fire reveals her to be a robot. Rotwang chases the real Maria to the roof of the cathedral, pursued by Freder, and the two men fight as Fredersen and the workers watch from the street. Rotwang falls to his death. Freder fulfills his role as mediator by linking the hands of Fredersen and Grot to bring them together. | good versus evil, cult, psychedelic, murder, sci-fi | train | wikipedia | Of course, the real strength of Metropolis isn't the story, which is pretty silly and probably wouldn't have worked in anything but a silent film, but its amazing visuals, which in their scale and ambitiousness look forward to 2001 and Blade Runner.
In addition to being a pioneering example of the cinematic possibilities of science fiction, Metropolis also has to be one of the earliest disaster films, as the workers riot and sabotage the machines, endangering the entire city.
Sure, some science fiction movies are huge today, such as George Lucas' latest goofy Star Wars movie, but in 1926, Fritz Lang came out with a brilliant film about what the future would be like if people went on living the way they were living back then.
If some of these scenes, men can be seen being carried away on stretchers after having been injured, and the rest of the workers keep right on working, hardly even noticing.The way that the workers are portrayed as lifeless machines is one of the more potent elements of this film, as well as the most revealing about the directors intentions.
The special effects in this film are decades ahead of its time it even resembles The Fifth Element in many ways (except that the two films can hardly be compared) and the acting and especially the elaborately created sets are stunning to say the least.
The story was great, the filming was pure genius and the effects directly from another dimension.I don't think any movie after this one have gotten so much out of the available effects of the time as this one.
No wonder Hitler liked this movie...I don't know how the original music of the film was, but the new music for the restored 139 minute version I saw was really good and moodseting.All in all.
'Metropolis' is my all-time favourite movie, so I've saved this for the last review that I plan to write for this wonderful website IMDb. I've enjoyed sharing my experiences of the movies I've seen, but now I'm moving on to other passions.Although written by Fritz Lang's wife Thea von Harbou, 'Metropolis' was originally Lang's idea: he was inspired by the sight of New York's skyscrapers when he sailed to America in 1925.
But Wells' own futuristic film, "Things to Come", conceived in direct riposte to Lang's 'unscientific' approach, is tedious and talky as a result, didactic in its heavy-footed philosophy and explanations, and lacking in artistic vision: "Metropolis" may be 'soft' SF, but its approach undoubtedly makes for better cinema.I am not, however, impressed by it as a film.
By the late 1920s, cinema had progressed far beyond this laboured pantomime: in Lang's case the heavy stylisation may have been a deliberate choice, but compared to the fluidity of contemporaries such as Sjostrom's "The Wind" or "The Scarlet Letter", Asquith's "Underground" or "Shooting Stars", and Murnau's "Sunrise", the film comes across as ten years behind the times.
The problem is not necessarily with the actors -- Brigitte Helm, as has been observed, does an excellent job in differentiating her two characters -- but with the direction and pacing.We saw the restored version with the original Gottfried Huppertz score; the latter didn't always seem to fit too well, with pops, jumps and awkward silences, but this was I assume due either to the difficulty of fitting it to allow for the missing material, or to problems in the projection booth when running a newly-arrived print for the first time.
To take a single example: where the edited version conveys Freder's sudden recollection that he is supposed to be the workers' long-awaited 'mediator' via the simple juxtaposition of three shots -- the shift-change whistle announcing the meeting, the catacombs and Freder suddenly struck by an idea and rushing off -- the restoration betrays the fact that a couple of scenes of mimed dialogue were originally provided to spell out the message at painstaking length...It is interesting to see how it was done, but most of the cuts are either an improvement or a very clever abridgement, and by and large I didn't feel that what was omitted had been any great loss.
All of these films contain elements that were inspired by Lang's work.'Metropolis' has gone down in history as one of the most influential films ever made, certainly one of the most studied silent films and yet the movie sort of languishes.
One person that isn't ignorant of the class division is Joh Fredersen a ruthless businessman who rules Metropolis from his office.His son Freder happily enjoys the Pleasure Gardens one day when he notices a woman rising from the underground caves with a group of the worker's children.
But when you get down to it the best way to view 'Metropolis' is not as a film to pick apart but simply as a film of it's time, Lang created the story of a world gone mad while the world around him was going mad..
This epic science fiction film is one of Germany's famous silent movies created by Fritz Lang and liberated in 1927, the period between the two World Wars.This movie represents the expressionist cinema and shows us the repression of human needs by the machine age.
The Austrian director of the movie, Fritz Lang, presents the story of a master, John Federsen, who sees people as machines working constantly to maintain the luxury and technology of his metropolis.
New Restored Version Worth Checking Out. For its time, this movie has stunning visuals, kind of Kubrick-esqe in appearance, especially the opening scenes of workers going and coming from work.
The music was also very dramatic, at least in this restored 5.1 surround sound restoration DVD, put out by Klino.Obviously, the eye makeup on men and the exaggerated motions by actors in silent films look a little hokey but I was mesmerized by Brigitte Helm, who plays "Maria" and her evil clone.
I wouldn't attempt to watch this on anything less than this DVD, which looks pretty darn good.This is a "worker" story about a man wanting to trade his comfortable life to join the oppressed workers, who do their thing beneath the earth in "Metropolis." Workers are seen as nothing but replaceable robots.
"The mediator between Head and Hands must be the Heart!")The story leaves room for the visual style to come through- Freder is the son of a kind of Imperial man over the workers who die for the machines of Metropolis, Joh Frederson.
I won't reveal too much of the story, except to mention that as a foreshadowing for Freder for the last act, as he wakes up in one scene the Book of Revelations sits in his lap.Amidst in all of this, Metropolis is a masterpiece of visual effects, camera-tricks, and of course editing (if I wouldn't quite rank Metropolis in my all-time top ten favorites, I would rank it in terms of the editing and pacing Lang uses, which is apparent even in a permanently truncated version).
It's little things like that which make as big an impact as the montages, the super-impositions of faces and eyes in the dream-like shots.And, of course, Lang's greatest innovation with the film is that in telling a futuristic story, he goes beyond his time period in stylizing.
As I mentioned with the pacing being unique, it was surprising (though maybe not as much from seeing his classic M) that many of the suspense sequences, mob scenes/riots, chases, I knew that this is the same kind of styling that's used today for many of the most modern of science-fiction/action films.
With the new painstaking 2010 restoration effort also came a grandiose symphony orchestra studio recording of the original Gottfried Huppertz score - and the results make movie buffs prone to be blown away, and this time for real.The technical brilliance and visual lavishness of Fritz Lang's oeuvre was always undisputed already at its time and only matched by fellow German Murnau's ingenious approaches on film-making.
Most recently a copy of this film was located in Argentina and allowed restoration work to be done that brought back a lot of missing footage.If you're a fan of classic movies and you haven't seen this one, I think it's a must-see movie.
People haven't evolved since 100 or 1000 or 10000 years ago, they just evolved new special effects.Metropolis shows a world separated in two great social classes: the thinkers and the workers.
I love silent German film, but each time I have seen Metropolis, I come away feeling it is an over-rated film..
Early science fiction about a wonderful city of the future.The first 30 minutes of this movie is outstanding, the New York look of the city, the workers down below and then the switch to rich father and son up top, and that highly memorable scene where the son goes down below to switch lives with that of a big clock (or whatever it is?) worker.
I guess we may not ever know
After saying all this, what is my verdict?Anyone truly interested in the history of sci-fi special effects, or silent movies, or Weimar political fantasies, they definitely should see this once.However, like climbing Everest, only fools would do it twice.For everyone else, I would suggest watching the Japanese anime version
the robot's cuter and the music was more appropriate for a 1927 film, which it isn't..
Now this better form isn't 100% perfect, as there were a few tiny places where they had to insert stills to complete the scenes (a practice becoming more and more common with restored silent films and even some sound ones like LOST HORIZON).The story, now that I see it in its original form, isn't really just a sci-fi movie per se--and that is what elevates it to greatness.
I saw the movie for the first time in 1968,and I remember a scene in which Maria, Rotwang's prisoner,is released by Joh Fredersen.In the versions displayed in the nineties,this scene seems to have vanished in the air.The running time is never the same,some more recent versions include hints at Rotwang's love for Freder Fredersen's mother Hel.But this character,Hel ,never appears in the restored versions:only photographs show this subplot,actually very important:before we thought that Rotwang urges his robot to destruct the machines because ...because..he was crazy:that did not satisfy us.In Thea Von Harbou's original screenplay,he did it out of jealousy,because he used to love his master's wife.For Fredersen ,the robot is first a way to replace working men,tireless slaves ;then,when it takes Maria's face,and the men go crazy and violent,it allows the boss to use violence and repression against them.In Metropolis ,two worlds coexist:the subterranean one,where human beings are in bondage (see Maria's hints at the Bible),the Yoshiwara,the Rich's paradise.Is it really a paradise anyway?It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth ,this paradise for the elite(remember Maria showing it to a group of children)Joh Fredersen,a member of the privileged understands his happiness is a fake one,when he sees first the young girl,then the terrifying underworld,this subcity where the poor sweat ,suffer and die for the sake of an idle aristocracy.The screen play has been often criticized because of its naive political ideology:Heart must be the mediator of work and capital.It has not worn well admittedly,but outside this moral,everything is great,as impressive today as it was in 1927!Do you think that,say,"close encounters of the third kinds" will stand the test of time as good as Lang's magnum opus,and remain a classic in 2050?Dubious isn't it?The architectural genius of the German Master explodes everywhere,his masterful using of the crowds leaves us in rapture,his dreamlike sequence is at least 20 or 30 years ahead of its time.The characters (Fredersen father and son,Rotwang and Maria) are convincing and the plot is more complex that it seems to be .(the flaws are caused by missing parts of the movie,as I said before)Fritz Lang said:"I do not like Metropolis,its conclusion is wrong.I did not accept it even when I was making the movie"A black legend surrounds "Metropolis":Hitler enjoyed it and asked Lang to become the "official" director of the Third Reich;he refused,left Germany and it was Leni Riefenstahl who filmed such nazi manifestos as "Triumph des Willems".Besides,Hitler might have thought of concentration camps because of "Metropolis".Even more bewildering:building in Mauthausen a huge stair,the prisoners said:"it looks like "Metropolis""Metropolis is a must,see it at any cost!.
The first great sci-fi film is still amazing for the sets and special effects--primitive as they may seem to day's fans--especially if viewed in the sort of pristine print seen on TCM these days.German expressionism is in full swing from the opening scene of workers reporting for a shift change in the city of the 21st century before switching to the opulent world above where men enjoy a playboy existence devoid of work and concentrating on play.
As a result, chunks of Fritz Lang's original vision have been lost forever, and the film exists in numerous dodgy, splotchy prints, hacked up and misedited, cut down and supplied with musical soundtracks that range from the completely inappropriate to wonderful modern techno-rock things which, nice though they are, are not what Lang had in mind.Kino came out with a DVD just a few years ago that is a fantastic attempt to restore Lang's original.
I love silent films and remember seeing a clip of Metropolis in my film appreciation class, I was so excited to pick a five dollar copy of this film from Best Buy and I was just amazed at how disturbing this movie was for not only it's time, but today.
In seeing this, he joins the beautiful Maria, leader of the workers, in an apocalyptic revolt against the thinkers.What makes "Metropolis" such a classic is because of it's influence on other films, such as "Dark City", "Blade Runner", "The Matrix", and even the background story of "The Terminator".
If your looking for an awesome black and white science fiction film with great acting and an excellent story...well keep searching because you will not find it here in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
It's easy to just slip into Lang's world, and though the pacing and running-time hardly render it accessible, what's really incredible about the film is how well its visuals still hold up.The towering, angular cityscapes, oppressive walls of machinery, and the now iconic "machine man" are stylistic triumphs that look great today and have had obvious influence on more recent science fiction/fantasy classics, from the dark metropolis of Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" to character design for "Star Wars." The fact that it was even possible in 1927 is as incredible as Kubrick's half-centennial "Space Odyssey" was for 1968.
The forward-thinking design and fantastic visuals make it easy to forget that it saw release twenty years before Isaac Asimov published his compilation, "I, Robot.""The Complete Metropolis," though not completely complete, is absolutely the best way to see the film.
It's a vision of the future that became typical with movies like "1984" or "Brazil" and a look that inspired 12 Monkeys and a hundred other cool modern day sci-fi films.It's standard sci-fi...the machines are taking over and making life crappy for everyone.
A few of the set pieces rank as some of the best ever created, for example, Moloch devouring the workers, Freder working the arms of the clock, the Tower of Babel story, the transformation of Rotwang's robot, Mecha-Maria's erotic dance, and a few others.
Once you are drawn into the world of the film, the combination of impressive visuals and strange story makes for a uniquely satisfying movie.The combination of expressionism and science fiction works well, creating the very interesting setting of "Metropolis" and an assortment of characters ranging from sympathetic to bizarre.
Again, Rotwang adds bonus points because the actor playing him, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, had amazing facial expressions.Set/special effects: Mind blowing for 1927 - Metropolis didn't use any computers, just smoke, mirrors and miniatures!Verdict: Watch this movie if you are a bit of a Nerd, like classic sci-fi or just appreciate good acting and excellent films..
metropolis is my favourite film of all time,simply because i have never seen a movie quite like this before.
"Metropolis" is Fritz Lang's masterpiece of science-fiction that delves into a highly metaphorical futuristic story of two divided classes and a man caught in between them.
The images and story feel more striking than ever before and the unapologetic approach Fritz Lang took in creating this masterpiece is what makes this movie stand far out above other science-fiction films.
It is much like Fritz Lang's film he made four years after Metropolis called M.
Like all films, Metropolis must be seen with an eye toward the times in which it was created.
And now that I've seen the complete film, I feel I'm able to do an accurate review.* The complete Metropolis is one of the greatest movies ever made, silent or sound.
It's a message that still calls out to the audience nearly a century later.I appreciate the work of the people around the world who collaborated to restore Metropolis to Lang's original vision.
Fritz Lang's epic 1927 science fiction film is a classic not just of the silent era, or the German Expressionism movement of the time.
A visually stunning film with a haunting vision of the future, Fritz Lang's silent masterpiece is still a fascinating and thought-provoking motion picture more than 80 years after its release.
Metropolis is the oldest movie I have seen; therefore I do not feel it is fair to compare with recent science fiction films.
Brigitte Helm also does a good job in several contrasting roles.So long as you can ignore the occasionally daft ideas of screenwriter Thea von Harbou, Metropolis in its current restored version is Fritz Lang's best film.
Metropolis is a silent science fiction film created by the famed Austrian director Fritz Lang. |
tt0061573 | Dinamite Jim | Dynamite Jim starts off with a fun opening credits photo montage of characters from the film. It tends to center on the sexy female cast members of Rosalba Neri & Maria Pia Conte.The film starts with Civil War union soldiers purchasing a shipment of gold from a Mexican banker. This banker is, of course, unethical and hires outlaw Slate (Aldo Sambrell) to follow the shipment and steal it back. We are then introduced to our hero Jim (Luis Dávila) who is playing poker and entertaining married women in a saloon. To get away from the women's husbands, Jim escapes on the pinto pony that belongs to the man hired by the Union Army to get the gold shipment to its destination.As Jim arrives in another town, he is targeted by a second group of crooks headed by Pablo (Fernando Sancho) who mistakenly recognize him as the gold courier by the horse he is riding. After escaping an attempt on his life that results in Jim running around town in only his underwear, he meets up with the beautiful Union Army agent Margaret played by Rosalba Neri. She also believes him to be the official courier and shows him where the gold is hidden and what the plans are for its transportation.Pablo & his gang pose as circus performers and steal gold hidden under the stage in the saloon. Margaret accuses Jim of being in on plot to steal gold when the real courier shows up in town. Pablo & his gang find out that gold is fake so they capture Jim and are about to torture him with a sombrero filled with hornets when Slate & his gang of outlaws show up. Huge gunfight occurs and Jim is able to get away.Margaret tells her lover, a Confederate Captain, a story about her husband dying in the war. When an undertaker show up with a coffin, everyone quickly figures out it contains contains the missing gold. Slate's gang go the bathhouse to confront the undertaker & a fist fight starts with all the men wearing only towels.Pablo & his gang steal the coffin with gold from the church & replace it with a real coffin with the dead body of the undertaker. The banker & his hired gang headed by Slate ambush Margaret as she tries to leave with the casket. They open it to reveal the dead undertaker. Soldiers show up & come to her rescue & kill the gang.As Pablo rides out of town with coffin filled with gold, Jim hides under the wagon. Jim beats up Pablo who ends up crashing down hill and gets killed when the coffin falls on him. The casket is empty with no gold inside. Jim then realizes that the coffin itself is made of gold. Jim & the women end up in Paris rich & happy. | violence | train | imdb | Paella/Spaghetti/Butifarra Western co-produced by Spain/Italy , being professionally directed by Alfonso Balcazar. The film begins with Civil War union soldiers purchasing a shipment of gold from an astute Mexican banker in exchange of a lot of money . This crafty banker hires a bunch of bandits headed by Slate (Aldo Sambrell) to follow the shipment and rob it back . We are then introduced to our stalwart Dynamite Jim (Luis Dávila) from title role who is playing poker and entertaining married women in a saloon . To escape from the women's husbands, Jim flees on the horse that belongs to the courier contracted by the Union Army to get the gold shipment to its destination . As Jim arrives in another small town , he is targeted by a second outfit of robbers led by Pablo (Fernando Sancho) who mistakenly recognizes him as the gold courier by the horse he is riding . After getting away , there takes place an attempt on his life that results in Jim running around town in only his underwear , he then meets up at hotel with the beauty Margaret (Rosalba Neri) who has murdered to receptionist (Víctor Israel) . Along the way, he faces off new thieves , a rare grave-digger (Manuel Muñiz , Pajarito) , a Confederate traitor (Miguel De La Riva) , a cunning lover called Lupita (Maria Pia Conte) , double-crosses , tramplers and a lot of twists and turns . Acceptable though middling tortilla Western in which a drifter resolves a conflict among nasty robbers that want to take a gold shipment and the Union Army that attempts to transport it . All in all, this film is predominantly a Spanish film rather than an Italian one. It's a two country co-production but is clearly dominated by the Spanish contingent and the traditional leanings of the Spanish producers of the time have their stamp on the entire proceedings. The Spanish westerns of this era were far more likely to try and emulate their American source material than cultivate a distinctive style of their own the way the Italians were doing but their product, if you like traditional westerns remains watchable . Dynamite Jim starts off with a colorful opening credits photo edition of characters from the film , it tends to center on the protagonists , Luis Davila , nasty Aldo Sambrell , brawler Fernando Sancho and sexy female cast members of Rosalba Neri & Maria Pia Conte . Passable Butifarra Western realized in traditional style with a screenplay written by Jose Antonio De La Loma and the same filmmaker Alfonso Balcazar , including amusing dialogue , silly situations , plot twists and turns . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Cataluña , full of familiar faces , action , exaggerated characters , crossfire and lots of shots . The film packs comical elements , tongue-in-cheek , thrills , shootouts , high body-count and and results to be quite entertaining . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and average results . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between starring Luis Davila and his enemies Aldo Sambrell and Fernando Sancho , adding some thrilling scenes when they use a machine gun . Sympathetic acting by Luis Davila who takes on a band of crooks , unethical banker & his gang, and he then decides that he wants to get his hands on the gold also . Davila starred during the sixties and seventies several action films as well as Chorizo or Paella Western such as ¨Relevo para pistolero¨, "Doc, Hands of Steel" , ¨Viva Carrancho¨, ¨Tumba para Forajido¨ and "Pancho Villa" , some of them directed by Alfonso Balcazar . Furthermore , there appears ordinary secondary of Spaghetti/Paella Western as Spanish players : Miguel De La Riva , Gaspar 'Indio' González , Victor Israel , Jose Maria Caffarel , as well as Italian actors as Rosalba Neri , Osvaldo Gennazzani and Giovanni Scratuglia , among others . Special appearance by Spaghetti idol , Fernando Sancho as an outlaw , a customary Mexican bandit , he is terrific , he subsequently would play similar roles in other Spaghetti . The picture well photographed by Victor Monreal , though is necessary a fine remastering because the film-copy is washed-out . Mostly filmed in atmospheric scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ , it resulted to be the location where were shot lots of Westerns produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar , J.J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma , Juan Bosch , Xavier Marchal , Manuel Esteba , Ignacio F. Iquino , and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the Fraga landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and adequate production design by the usual Juan Albert Soler , he creates a good scenario . Very enjoyable musical score by Nino Fidenco , including catching songs at the beginning and the end .This motion picture was professionally directed by Alfonso Balcazar , though with no originality ; he managed to make a fluid and agreeable SW , though mediocre . Alfonso alongside his brothers Juan Jose Balcazar and Francisco Balcázar produced and directed a lot of Chorizo or Butifarra Western , most of them starred by Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods ; such as 1972 The return of Clint , 1972 Judas... ¡Toma Monedas! , 1968 Sartana no Perdone or Sonora , 1967 With Death on Your Back, 1966 Dinamita Jim , 1965 Doc , Manos De Plata , 1965 Viva Carrancho , 1965 Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace . Rating : 5 . Average .. Average western with above average Rosalba Neri. The plot about smuggling gold and double crossing thieves is old hat, and Dynamite Jim is one of those laid back, sarcastic quipsters. In the middle, playing off all sides, is Rosalba Neri's character Margaret. She gets to wear a couple of nice dresses and look pretty great, and while the role is hardly taxing, it's all good fun for Neri watchers. She's out for herself and wants the gold anyway she can get it. It's a decent role and she manages to stay alive past the 30 minutes mark. Fernando Sancho is second billed but has few scenes. Some of the fight scenes ( as well as Jim's one liners ) have comic sound effects added The is minimal violence and no blood during shootouts. The full screen video I saw looked like 16 mm and had muffled audio, and was brutally cropped and panned and scanned. Not ideal in the A/V dept.but could have been worse, and 2.35 widescreen remastered DVD would be a far nicer way to evaluate this one. Rosalba's star would far brighter the same year in JOHNNY YUMA, but this is also well worth a look for fans of the Euro goddess Neri. Below Average Spaghetti Western. Stolen bullion, machine guns, and shifting tactical alliances between the good, the bad, and the fat constitute some of the Spaghetti western tropes in Spanish writer & director Alfonso Balcázar's rapid-fire but incomprehensible western comedy "Dynamite Jim," with Luis Dávila, Fernando Sancho, Rosalba Neri, Maria Pia Conte, Fernando Sancho, and Aldo Sambrell. The prolific Balcázar and José Antonio de la Loma of "4 Dollars for Revenge" collaborated on the scatter-shot screenplay about Union gold being transported from Mexico through Confederate occupied territory. The action unfolds with a couple of Union cavalrymen and their colonel riding to a rendezvous with a treacherous Mexican banker who admires the signature of Abraham Lincoln as he hands over about a million dollars in gold ingots to the North. Meantime, the Colonel gives confidential information to a lone rider, Clint Sherwood (Marcello Selmi of "Invasion 1700"), about his contacts and his destination. Sherwood is understandably nervous because he must transport the gold through Confederate lines. No sooner has the Colonel and his men left the meeting than the banker tells a trigger-happy pistolero, Slade (Aldo Sambrell of "Navajo Joe"), that he wants him to steal the bullion back from the Union. Slade catches somebody eavesdropping on his conversation with the banker and shoots him without a second thought. The corpse smashes through an overhead window and plunges into the room. Slade and the banker are both concerned about their respective reputations. Throughout these scenes, we are shown another interloper, a sombrero wearing Hispanic, Pablo Reyes (Fernando Sancho of "A Pistol for Ringo"), playing a guitar and listening to anything of interest. This isn't the last time that we see the shifty Reyes. The narrative shifts to an American border town where an icy-cool gambler, Dynamite Jim (Luis Dávila), buys off an unhappy poker player and then has to shoot the gun out of his hand when the dastard tries to shoot him after he leaves the table and is walking away. Dynamite Jim is as handy with his revolver as he is with his women.Unfortunately, "Seven Guns for Timothy" lenser Víctor Monreal's colorful widescreen cinematography has been pared down to full-frame fiasco, so everything looks extremely cropped. Composer Nico Fidenco's zany orchestral soundtrack score isn't one of his more memorable efforts, but "Dynamite Jim" isn't one of the best examples of the Spaghetti westerns. Some of the actors don't know how to properly handle firearms, and the hardware isn't always technically accurate for the era. An ill-fated clerk ascends to our hero's hotel room with a late 19th century Colt's revolver. When it enters, he is clutching an 1873 single-action .45 Colt Peacemaker model with the barrel cut down. This unfortunate man is promptly murdered by the ubiquitous Reyes who leaves the dead man floating in the bath tub of Dynamite Jim's room. Reyes scrambles under Jim's bed to keep from being seen when Jim enters his room. Cavorting about in his underwear, Jim shoots at Reyes as the portly Mexican leaps out the window moments before an explosion tears apart the room. Like just about all Spaghetti's, "Dynamite Jim" contains a protracted scene where the villainous Sancho mows down the opposition with a machine gun that has a muzzle like a pepper shaker and an ammunition belt that never advances in the weapon. Indeed, it looks like Sancho is jiggling himself to make it appear like the machine gun is actually firing! Most of the acting and costumes are abysmal, and the dubbed dialogue is as corny as it gets. The opening credits sequence resembles something that would have been in the 1960s' spy farce, and a free-wheeling sense of light-hearted comedy dominates the plot. Luis Dávila conducts more like a well-barbered James Bond than an unshaven Man with No Name. Nothing about this oater is serious, despite the fact that it boasts a huge body count. "Dynamite Jim" amounts to a comedy of errors. Of course, Aldo Sambrell is ideally cast as a slimy villain. |
tt0056626 | Two for the Seesaw | As the story opens, Jerry Ryan (Robert Mitchum) walking alone in lower Manhattan. Ryan was a lawyer in Lincoln, Nebraska, working in the law firm of his wife's father. No kids. After twelve years, she wants a divorce. Ryan leaves Lincoln while the divorce is pending and goes to New York to find himself. He is alone, living in a cheap room, and almost broke. He has an invitation from an old friend to an eclectic/beat party in Greenwich Village. He shows up and meets Gittel Mosca (Shirley MacLaine) at the party. Mosca is a Brooklynite who left home on her own and rented an apartment in Greenwich Village when she was fifteen. She works as a dancer of sorts, and has had a number of relationships. Ryan and Mosca hook up after a day or so and start a relationship. The core theme of the picture is how their relationship expands and develops their self-respect of themselves. The turning point for Mosca comes when she gets sick and, as Ryan is storming down the stairway, she leans over the railing and begs for help. Ryan takes her to the hospital and looks after her when she is released. Mosca discovers intimacy within love. Class rears its ugly head, but they get over it. They are acting like married people in love. Ryan receives notice that the divorce is final, but he is still conflicted about his ex (Tess). After the divorce is final, Tess calls and wants Jerry back. He agrees, but will work on his own in Lincoln and Tess must accept nothing from her father live in poverty with Jerry until his practice gets on its feet. In the final scene the couple have broken up and are in two separate sets in the same dual scene. This technique is used in the theater but rarely in movies. Ryan is leaving his room for the last time and Mosca is self-assured, self-respecting, and in control. This picture is a director's delight, with open dimensions in every scene. Robert Wise rises to the occasion. | melodrama | train | imdb | Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine are well-cast in this engaging love story set in NYC and shot in gritty, atmospheric black and white.
Mitchum's wonderfully-modulated performance as a middle-aged lawyer on the rebound, and MacLaine's as the effervescent young dancer he becomes involved with, mesh very appealingly.
If "The Grass is Greener", a Mitchum (and Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr!) film from the same period and also an adaptation of a stage play, is a tepid example of how *not* to bring a play to the screen, "Two for the Seesaw" is a vibrant example of how to use film to endow a play with an intimacy that would be impossible to achieve onstage.
Major kudos to Mitchum, MacLaine, and the director, Robert Wise..
The post-beatnik / pre-hippie party scene is truly spectacular as a snapshot of a time/place rarely caught on film.
While most of America was still living a black & white Eisenhower existence, this film shows the cutting edge NYC scene that had already moved beyond bebop and Kerouac and was just about to stumble full tilt into the Warhol Factory.
I call this film surprisingly great not because I was shocked that Mitchum or MacLane delivered fine performances, it's surprisingly good because of everything else this film has...
And then it sucked me right in.Maybe because it started on the stage and the scenes were so long but the dialogue was so well crafted that you just had to pay attention.Maybe the fantastic real life portrayals by M&M - not straying nor betraying.But I found myself constantly wanting to talk some sense into Jerry and Gittel -- ah thats what cinema is -- the desire to find out how it ends.
Recently got a chance to see this movie and thought the performances by Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine were great.
Especially like the part that Shirley MacLaine played.
I am not to used to seeing Robert Mitchum in roles like this but thought he did well.
He plays a man going through a divorce who meets a younger woman played by Shirley Maclaine.
Read in another post that at the time of this films release critics didn't think that Mitchum's role was believable enough because of perhaps the age difference.
I love good black and white movies.
This film is a good example of why I love black & white movies.Director Wise, cinematographer Ted McCord, and productiondesigner Boris Leven craft light, shadow, and line into two hours ofabsolutely lovely images, making the most of such elements asthe contrast between MacLaine's hair, eyes, and skin, and thejuxtaposition of the hard lines of doorframes and shadows withthe softness of rumpled fabric and fluid dancer's movement.
The characters' relationship is frustrating, and (reportedoffscreen chemistry notwithstanding) MacLaine and Mitchum lookvery much mismatched.
But we'll never know.) Ifound MacLaine's character to be much more believable--morerounded, containing more nuance--than Mitchum's.
While thisseems mostly the script's fault, I do feel that MacLaine here bringsmore quirky humanity to her work than does Mitchum (who I likevery much in general)."Seesaw" stands out for me as one of those films that, because ofits meticulous attention to visual detail, becomes an archetypalperiod piece as it ages--firmly among the films everyone making amovie set in the early 1960s should study carefully..
The frustrating loop-de-loops of an uncertain love relationship between a Greenwich Village kook-dancer and a Midwestern suit-and-tie lawyer on the verge of divorcing his wife of 12 years.
It gets awfully pedantic at times; for instance, we know the characters' names, they know their names, so why do they keep saying to each other, "Jerry?", "Yes, Gittel?" "I'm sorry, Jerry." "I know, Gittel." The performances by Shirley MacLaine and Robert Mitchum are excellent (we like them even before their self-doubting, insecure characters take shape), but this stage-vehicle hasn't been turned into a star-vehicle.
Ted McCord's black-and-white cinematography provides a terrific compensation for the film's minor weaknesses; André Previn's "Apartment"-like score is rapturous as well.
It looks like a play on film.
With a couple of exceptions, all of the dialogue is between the two characters played by Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine.
I don't think he was the best choice for a lonely, insecure and lost bachelor in New York City; Mitchum begging for help from a woman who appears to be half his age?
And she even does a bit of dancing in this movie.I am a big Robert Mitchum fan, but he is too old, and the physical mismatch with MacLaine is too distracting.The sets are static; the action, such as it is, rarely leaves the two protagonists' apartments.
The left half of the shot is MacLaine's home, the right Mitchum's.
Suddenly, the camera pans right, to focus on Mitchum, and you realize that it is one set, cleverly made up to look like a standard split screen; that is, it is arranged exactly as if it were on a stage, the left side one apartment, the right the other.
I am not a big fan of movies made to look like plays, but this is beautifully and cleverly photographed.
Most of it is Mitchum and MacLaine, but the bit parts are fantastic, like the landlord.Most of all, Andre Previn did the music.
These days women have names like Jennifer or Ashley, but Shirley MacLaine's memorable character in this film is named "Gittle".
A Jewish girl in early '60s New York, she becomes involved with Jerry Ryan, (Robert Mitchum) an introspective, self loathing mid-western lawyer.
The relationship becomes a bit complicated, and the two find their love cannot survive the rough seas of romance.Critics in 1962 complained about the lack of on screen chemistry between Shirley MacLaine and Robert Mitchum, even though they began a real life romance directly after this film..
Two For The Seesaw as a two character play by William Gibson ran for 750 performances in the 1958-1959 season and starred Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft as the uptight Nebraska lawyer and the Greenwich Village bohemian who find each other in New York.
As for Bancroft, she was just coming off her Oscar for The Miracle Worker.When it comes to playing kookie people you can't do much better than Shirley MacLaine.
She holds her end up far better than her co-star.In the Lee Server Robert Mitchum biography, Robert Wise said that this was one of the few times he ever directed a film where the casting was already set before he was hired.
Mitchum is much too unconventional in his way to ever really be believable as a family values Republican type lawyer from the midwest.
What interest there is in Two For The Seesaw comes from the interest MacLaine and Mitchum had for each other..
but you gotta like them talky to love this one.Based on a play and that really shows.
he is completely his character, a old school guy of another generation (compared to Gittel, or MacLaine for that matter)...
The phone calls between him and his wife are painful, Mitchum who himself had a long suffering wife who he had married young and ultimately stuck by (despite, apparently being super unfaithful), I think gives a very brave performance, possibly inspired by the cheer chutzpah of MacLaine's talent.
He really shows the complex emotional ties that come with a very long marriage....for the generations who really, without a second thought, thought they married for life.The emotional tables are turned on them both several times, and you always think its completely true.There are a couple of clunky moments, and you must honestly also just take it on the chin (pun) that this was made in an era when a "slutty" woman could expect to be slapped for flaunting her "lack of morality".
Here its all part of her problem though, the way she accepts how others treat her, much too readily.Great, very little known film that seems to fit no genre what so ever.Maybe its closest relatives are some french new wave relationship dramas.
Shirley MacLaine and Robert Mitchum give excellent performances, but that's exactly what they are – performances.
As good as she is at playing "kooky" characters, MacLaine is never convincing as a Jewish girl from The Bronx.
Beautiful black and white photography of New York and a moody soundtrack recall a time when movies mattered, but the endless, stilted, stage bound dialog ultimately goes nowhere.
Probably sweet and even touching onstage, at two hours, with essentially only two characters, this is lethal.Shirley MacLaine plays a hapless New York Jewish girl.
Made up to look like a cross between Molly Goldberg and Betty Boop, she is appealing but never convincing.Robert Mitchum (who, according to his biography, began a serious romance with his co-star during the filming; and chemistry there is) is appealing, as he generally is.
Robert Mitchum lays a lawyer whose marriage back in Nebraska has just dissolved.
So lonely that he calls a woman (Shirley MacLaine) he barely knows.
In many ways, this odd relationship that defies the odds seems very reminiscent of THE WAY WE WERE (and you probably know how that film ended).Unfortunately, because the chemistry seems so odd in this film and the film is quite talky and stagy (it was originally a very successful Broadway play--and it shows), it's not a great film.
Perhaps, though this sure isn't a glowing recommendation.By the way, in a very disturbing scene, eventually Mitchum slaps MacLaine pretty hard.
A tale of 'love will not find a way' as Robert Mitchum manfully looks for a member of the 'weaker sex' in New York.
The story is somewhat repetitive as trad-male Mitchum tells modern girl Shirley MacLaine she is 'a beautiful girl' on numerous occasions.
There are scenes of domestic violence, with Ms MacLaine on the verge of rearranging Mr Mitchum's face because he hadn't informed her of his divorce papers coming through..
It's one of those movies you watch once, appreciate the acting, and never want to see again.Robert Mitchum is getting a divorce, and in 1962, that's not a common occurrence.
Behind the scenes, Robert Mitchum and his leading lady Shirley MacLaine had an affair, and you can see the hurt and romance smoldering off the screen.
Shirley Maclaine stars in both but now playing a rather less idealised character.
I wonder if Jack Lemmon turned down the chance to play the male lead because Robert Mitchum is not conventional enough to be really convincing.
I'm not sure.Someone obviously saw possibilities in the original stage play to transfer it to film as The Apartment 2.
It means the film and no doubt the play will likely remain period pieces for ever more.
It's basically about a romance between Robert Mitchum, who is getting divorced and Shirley Maclaine.
Mitchum and Maclaine are good and is the black and white photography is excellent..
In spite of Ted McCord's beautiful deep focus b&w photography there is very little in this film that is interesting to look at.
As a stage play brought to film, it never manages to get off the stage and with all of NYC as a potential set, a little more time devoted to exterior shots could have opened this up and made it into a 'real' film.
A few brief glimpses of lower Manhattan, Mitchum pacing the streets in the opening sequence or stalking MacLaine from the shadows outside her apartment gives a taste of what this film could have been if Wise hadn't allowed himself to become hidebound by a talky script.Mitchum is clearly miscast - it almost feels like the overabundant dialog is being dragged out of him.
If Mitch said anything funny, I must have missed it.Unfortunately most of the film is shot in two tiny, claustrophobic apartments with very few changes in camera angle which made me think that Wise could take a tip or two from Ozu on how to make a repeatedly shot interior more interesting.
Beyond that, it threatens to over power the film by setting a jazzy New York tone that the proceedings simply can't live up to.
A divorcing man from Nebraska comes to NYC and falls in love with a Jewish woman named Gittel.
Mitchum and MacLaine do the best they can with the boring dialog..
Robert Mitchum seems hardly interested and Shirley McClaine does a tamped down Barbra Streisand imitation (before Barbra Streisand) in this glum and slow romance about two people in a state of flux trying to connect.
Shot mostly in cramped poorly lit interiors it conveys a morose feel that well may be at the heart of the story but poorly counterbalanced by director Robert Wise who slowly drags the matter to its tepid melancholy conclusion.Jerry finds himself in New York after deep sixing his job as a lawyer and wife in Nebraska.
Based on a William Gibson play (his The Miracle Worker was also made into a film in 1962), it stars Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine as a square and a beatnik (guess which one's which) who hook up.
The issue shouldn't really be their differences in culture, but the fact that Mitchum is like 20 years older than MacLaine.
Great Little Black & White Film - Perfect for a Rainy Day. I've waited TOO long to write a few words on this film.
I had then preceded to watch this film almost every night for a couple of years...it sort of became my going-to-bed movie (much like the man in "Kate and Leopold" who puts on "Moon River" every night before he goes to bed..but for me, it was a whole movie).It's a very simple story about a Nebraskan attorney named Jerry Ryan, played by Robert Mitchum, and a single, slightly kooky dancer and dance instructor named Gittel Mosca, played by MacLaine, who meet at a party, and eventually have an affair.
He's from Nebraska, but taking some to think in New York, away from his wife, from whom he's separated.
Jerry and Gittel have very little in common, but manage to help each other a bit during this very transitional period in predominantly his life.
The score/musical theme of the movie, however, is used IN the movie, as background music in one of the scenes...maybe the party scene in which Mitchum and MacLaine meet.
and she's been on Seinfeld and other shows much more recently).All in all, I LOVED the tone of this film, and the acting was fine.
I would have loved to have seen Anne Bancroft and Henry Fonday play these roles on stage.
And, if you've ever seen the film "The Turning Point", with both MacLaine and Bancroft (LOVE THIS FILM AS WELL), in the scene in which their two characters have a fight on the rooftop, and then settle down, Bancroft's character Emma then chimes in that she would have done anything to get that part..she just had to have it (in talking about the role of "Anna Karenina").
When she utters that piece of dialog, I often wonder if a part of the actress Anne Bancroft didn't think concurrently about her longing to have played the film version of "Two for the Seesaw", but losing it to Shirley MacLaine.Anyway, check out "Two for the Seesaw"...it's a charming little movie..
Although trying very hard, Shirley MacLaine gives us the impression of someone trying hard to be Jewish rather than someone who is, even with the set designer's help of a menorah on her mantelpiece.
Jerry need only be about five years older than Gittel, but Mitchum is old enough to be her father and, since she looks younger than her age, could almost be her grandfather.
He never shows the vulnerable, lost quality that Jerry should have--you never believe he can't take care of himself and any trouble that comes along.At the time the film was made, it could just about get away without asking these questions, but now we are more skeptical and curious.
You get that feeling ever since the sublime main titles, with Mitchum wandering in the black and white streets of New York.
Jerry is a successful lawyer in Nebraska, who has never get around much, and now has lost everything, including the love of his wife Tess.
Gittle, twenty-nine years old, is a divorced day-to-day dancer who'd like to open a class of her own.
They meet quite by chance and decide to help each other, through their own frailties and struggles.Adapted from a play by William Gibson, the script offers many exteriors shots and several settings, but never quite believes in them.
But, the girl remarks, when two people love each other, why should they need to make any claim?Set in an atmospheric mood, in shadows of black, with beautiful Andre Previn score in the background, the film constantly drifts from raw, honest naturalism to a more sophisticated, classical drama.
It's reminiscent of the New Wave (some scenes evoke Breathless) as well as Billy Wilder's The Apartment (MacLaine even goes to a Chinese restaurant) but the tone keeps a definitive identity until the very end.
Frustrated in their feelings, the two leads are tempted by violence as a sure way of expression: Mitchum slaps his partner after a fight, and near the end, MacLaine seems eager to do the same with a cup.
I couldn't help thinking of the Jack Lemmon character in The Apartment as a likely candidate for that.The conclusion, then, is that Jerry and Gittle were not made for each other.
Mitchum and MacLaine happen to make a wonderful combination, with the right rate of instability, surprise and charm.
The supporting cast is hardly there at all, although one sees the shadows of Jerry boss in New-York, his two boheme friends, who have an arty flat and a high regard for matrimony, and of course the voice of his wife, Tess.MacLaine later revealed she had a three year affair with Mitchum, that began during the shooting.
They have a terrific chemistry, and somehow, succeed in making you believe the story of Gittle and Jerry is how an ill-fated relationship should be lived. |
tt0246460 | Die Another Day | In the pre-title sequence, James Bond and his two South Korean allies infiltrate a North Korean military base belonging to Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, an army officer who is illegally selling weaponry in exchange for African conflict diamonds. Bond poses as a weapons dealer named Mr. Van Bierk, rigging his briefcase of diamonds with C4. He meets Moon and his assistant, Zao. After the diamonds are handed over, Zao discovers Bond's true identity and informs Colonel Moon. Colonel Moon keeps the act up as he offers to demonstrate his new tankbuster weapon to Bond. He drops the ruse when he suddenly uses the tankbuster to blow up Bond's helicopter.Fearing retribution from his father, General Moon, the Colonel then flees in a large hovercraft. Bond detonates the C4, embedding several diamonds in Zao's face. He then steals another hovercraft and chases down Colonel Moon, who tumbles into a waterfall. Soon after, North Korean troops capture Bond under General Moon's orders and he is imprisoned and tortured.Fourteen months later, Bond is released in exchange for Zao, who was captured during that time. He is sedated and taken to meet M, who informs him that his status as a 00 Agent is suspended due to her belief that he may have leaked information under duress. Still bitter over Zao's release, Bond decides to complete his mission by evading MI6's security and travels to Cuba. He traces Zao to an island called Isla Los Organos, known for its gene therapy "clinic" which allows patients to have their appearances changed through gene therapy. On the coast, he meets a NSA agent Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson. With her help, Bond locates Zao's room inside the clinic and briefly tortures him. Zao flees in a helicopter but leaves behind a pendant. Bond opens it and finds a cache of diamonds identified as conflict diamonds from Africa, but bearing the crest of the company of British billionaire Gustav Graves.Bond flies to London locates Graves at a fencing club. The two engage in a duel of swords, the fury of which is escalated when the two men raise the stakes and injure each other, damaging part of the club in the process. Bond wins the match. Graves invites Bond to a party he is holding in Iceland for a scientific demonstration. Bond also meets Graves' fencing partner, Miranda Frost, a former Olympic athlete.In a disused London Underground station, M restores Bond's Double-0 status and offers assistance in the investigation. Bond learns that Frost has been recruited by MI6, but she has failed to uncover Graves' connection to Zao. Bond takes Graves up on his earlier invitation, and arrives at his ice palace in Iceland where he meets Jinx again. Later Graves begins a demonstration of his new orbital mirror satellite called "Icarus", which is able to focus solar energy on a small area and provide year-round sunshine for crop development.At midnight, Jinx infiltrates Graves' command center in the palace, but is captured by Zao. Bond meanwhile has figured out that Graves is Moon with a new identity, having undergone the same sort of gene therapy that Zao has. Moon reveals that Frost is a double agent. Bond narrowly escapes from Graves' facility in his car. Zao gives pursuit in his Jaguar XKR, and both cars drive inside the rapidly-melting ice palace. Bond kills Zao by luring him under a collapsing chandelier, and then rescues Jinx from drowning.Deployed at the South Korean border, Bond and Jinx infiltrate North Korea using experimental stealth sleds and parachutes. They follow him into his airplane, which is also carrying General Moon (unaware of his son's new identity), his lieutenants, and Frost. Graves reveals the true purpose of Icarus by using its solar beam to cut a swath through the minefield in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Once the minefield is destroyed, North Korea will have a clear path to invade South Korea, Japan, and other countries. Icarus would also destabilize the western nations by destroying any WMD fired on North Korea. Graves wears a sophisticated armor with a built-in remote control, which operates the satellite. In an attempt to preserve peace, General Moon holds his son at gunpoint, but Graves disables him with the suit then shoots him.Bond advances to kill Graves, but is thwarted when one of his soldiers attacks Bond, deflecting his shot into a window, and causing the plane to depressurize. Jinx manages to stabilise the plane, but is attacked by a sword-wielding Frost, who forces her to switch the plane to auto-pilot. Whilst doing so, Jinx alters the plane's heading so that it is flying directly toward the Icarus beam. During the climatic sword fight, Jinx kills Frost with a knife. In the plane's nose, Graves gains the upper hand over Bond and puts on a parachute. However, Bond pulls Graves' ripcord, causing the parachute to open prematurely so that the slipstream pulls Graves out of the plane and one of it's turbines. With the suit destroyed, Icarus instantly shuts down. Bond and Jinx escape from the plane in a helicopter it was carrying. The two of them share a romantic interlude in a remote cottage, pouring over the diamonds they retrieved from Graves' plane. | suspenseful, murder | train | imdb | Creating new, exciting adventures for 007 after 20 feature films in forty years is a difficult task at best, particularly as public tastes change, and the character of James Bond has to maintain at least a degree of the 'persona' created by Ian Fleming.
Wilson, have done a remarkable job in keeping the series 'fresh', if DIE ANOTHER DAY is any indication, the creative forces surrounding them seem to be losing 'touch' with James Bond, and his world.After an astonishing pre-title sequence, climaxing with Bond being captured by the North Koreans, the film offers a horrendous montage of torture, with Bond only surviving due to a timely prisoner exchange (with an unsympathetic M remarking, "If it had been up to me, you'd have stayed in North Korea...", obviously forgetting that 007 had saved her life in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH).
Pierce Brosnan, at fifty, is superb in this sequence, vulnerable yet defiant, and to this point, DIE ANOTHER DAY has all the makings of a first-class Bond entry.Then Bond jaunts off to find the agent who betrayed him, becoming involved in an investigation involving diamonds, solar power, and a 'too-good-to-be-true' industrialist (smarmy Toby Stephens), and all of the creativity of the opening is lost, with the film becoming an uneasy mix of references to past films and silly, unbelievable situations, sets and gadgets (culminating with an 'Ice Palace' and an 'invisible' Aston Martin).As she had won an Oscar prior to filming DIE ANOTHER DAY, sexy Halle Berry, 36, was publicized extensively as Bond's latest leading lady, CIA agent 'Jinx'.
The most interesting character in the film was certainly Rick Yune, as Graves' 'enforcer', Zao. Charismatic, ruthless, and nearly unstoppable, Zao was nearly a primal force, far more menacing than Graves at his worst.While a sword-fight sequence between Bond and Graves provided a rare film highlight, and certainly ranks as one of the film series' more memorable sequences, much of the rest of the production was silly, with the story set at a break-neck pace to 'hide' the absurdities.
The climax, as a solar 'ray' destroyed the minefield between North and South Korea, allowing an 'invasion' to occur, as 007 and Jinx attempted to commandeer the aircraft controlling the 'ray', stands as one of the most ludicrous finales to a Bond film since MOONRAKER.Although DIE ANOTHER DAY would become Pierce Brosnan's highest-grossing Bond, to date, the film, despite heavily promoting Halle Berry's presence, failed to crack the 'Top Ten' box office attractions in the U.S., and disappointed many fans, worldwide.With the purchase of MGM by Sony, which has wanted to produce a Bond film for years (the studios were entangled in a legal suit that ended just as DIE began production), surprising changes were in store...CASINO ROYALE, the only Fleming title NOT owned by Eon Productions was named as the next 007 adventure...and Pierce Brosnan was FIRED (a sad finish for an actor who'd worked so hard to make 007 viable in the new millennium!) While Broccoli and Wilson are still 'in charge' of Bond productions, they have to answer to new bosses, with definite opinions of their own on where the franchise should go...Can 007 survive THIS?
When you go to see a James Bond film, you should EXPECT any or all of the following: 1) A completely unrealistic, contrived plot 2) Unbelievably cheesy and corny one-liners (almost all of which are sexual in nature) 3) A supervillain seemingly brilliant and mad enough to quest for world domination, but is somehow stupid enough to let Bond get close enough to spoil the whole thing 4) A female counterpart (or several) that looks good, gets captured, and ultimately gets saved by our hero 5) Gadgets, cars, and weapons that do fantastic, unbelievable things 6) Action sequences and stunts that defy fundamental laws of physics and logicHaving said all of that, and knowing what I knew, I was so excited to see this movie, and I loved it.
After having proved himself to MI6 and to the NSA, Bond returns to London and has a spirited fencing match with Graves at the Blades Club
There he meets his publicist the gorgeous Miranda Frost
In "Die Another Day," Brosnon is wild, and ready to light the fuse on any explosive situation
His methods are to provoke and confront
His Aston Martin is loaded with high tech gadgetry that renders his vehicle invisible to Zao's sporty Jaguar
There's an amazing chase between the two across the frozen waters of Iceland
There's also an interesting battle inside Graves' treacherous fortress; and two battles to the death aboard Graves' airplane
Halle Berry is one of the Bond girls who looks so stunning especially when she emerged from the Cuban waters in her bright orange bikini
This Oscar-winning beauty matches 007 in intelligence, sophistication and toughness, leaving Bond in the island in an explosive situation
Toby Stephens as the psycho billionaire Gustav Graves appears determined to use his unique satellite the Icarus using its power to 'bring light and warmth to the darkest parts of the world
or to clear the minefield creating a highway for his North Korean's troops
Rosamund Pile plays the fencing master with breathless beauty Miranda Frost
Rick Yune plays Zao, the dangerous Korean arms dealer and sports-car aficionado who works for Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee), the renegade North Korean army officer who was determined to invade the south
Michael Madsen plays Damian Falco, NSA spy master and Jinx's boss who's tough on Bond
The comical British character actor John Cleese takes over the role of Q...
Madonna was hired to record the title tune and appeared in a cameo role as a fencing instructor
"Die Another Day" is the 20th in the series, and is arguably a fun movie to watch delivering a great sword fight
so don't miss it!.
I don't know what is about the Pierce Brosnan Bonds but they all have very poor title songs despite having all round superb production values and DIE ANOTHER DAY continues the high production values , a lot of people complain about the CGI and I must admit the cartoonish jet at the end does look like a cartoon but compare this sequence to all the action scenes in the 1980s which were composed of Roger Moore standing in front of some back projection and no matter how much you don't want to say it you must confess we've come a long way since then Some people have also let rip that the film is ruined by post modernist self reference but I disagree .
There is a problem with a plot twist involving both Gustav Graves and Miranda Frost , the twist is good but unfortunately the surprise only works once which means on second viewing the shock value of the plot revelation is gone therefore DIE ANOTHER DAY doesn't have the same enjoyment second , third or fourth viewing unlike classic Bond movies I'm not a big Bond fan but have been fairly impressed with the standards of the franchise from GOLDENEYE to DIE ANOTHER DAY , they've really come leaps and bounds from the Roger Moore debacles like MOONRAKER and VIEW TO A KILL .
You know, there's ridiculousness that's enjoyable, like in "GoldenEye", then there's "Die Another Day", a movie so caught up in its complete silliness it forgets to realize it, thinking its overzealous use of gadgetry, its hilariously bad Robo-villain (cut me some slack, I couldn't think of a better nickname), and Halle Berry.
Miss Berry is easily among the very worst Bond girls, and the fact that she's alongside Rosamund Pike, who manages to do such a good job with what little she's given, doesn't really help at all.In "Die Another Day", there's not a second of humor that works.
David Arnold's score is again very good but he can't save the film and though I really like Brosnan's Bond the direction the series was going in at this point was truly dangerous and could've resulted in the end for Bond if allowed to go on.
Instead, the attention is focused on mindless action scenes with seriously crappy CGI and effects.Moreover, the film looks awful, the dialogue consists of bad one liners and lame sexual innuendos, and the acting belongs in a made for TV movie, (Halle Berry is especially bad).
Pierce Brosnan's last outing as James Bond takes place in Die Another Day which finds 007 trying to stop a rogue North Korean general from starting the Korean War all over again with the attending consequences.
But it sure can be an effective weapon of war as we see towards the film's end as Brosnan and his American counterpart agent Halle Berry.Part of the charm of the James Bond series is that you don't take it too seriously, but there are times that it becomes more like Indiana Jones and his narrow escapes than a modern espionage story.
Toby Stephens, son of Maggie Smith plays a wealthy industrialist with a mysterious past and a cunning adversary for Pierce Brosnan.One thing I really liked towards the end was Ms. Moneypenny fulfilling her fantasy with James Bond.
Some of the North Korean scenes like the elaborate hovercraft chase scene were shot in U.K. as well.It is joyful to catch homage moments in respect to the previous Bond movies like the conspiracy plot at the presidential suite in the Hong Kong hotel with the Chinese masseuse beauty, and Halle Berry's first appearance moment where she wore an orange bikini with a white belt attached to an army knife.
Best of all -the most alluring of all- were the gadgets and equipments used throughout the movie: * Hovercrafts** Electromagnetic ring *** Bounding mines**** Laser cutting watch ***** Giant Space Laser Mirror named "Icarus"-a satellite weapon that directs a blazing ray of heat at its landed or aerial global targets ****** Switchblade Jet Gliders******* The Invisible Aston Martin If you liked the movie, you'd better see the Special Edition D.V.D that includes very very precious and confidential technical details: -DataStream's trivia track with video streaming, storyboard comparisons from scratch to the shot,the advisory details on how to choose the best suitable FPS adjusted camera giving samples of multi-angle camera explorations, the visual effects featurette transcribes the odds-and -ends differences between make-ups and models and non-computer based visual effects and CGI based virtual effects, and finally Madonna's original uncut edition of 007-Nightfire music video that has been banned in some countries of Europe at its time of screening.
This outing begins when James Bond(Pierce Brosnan) is taken prisoner by two evil Corean men(Rick Yune and Will Yun Lee).He flees but again is prisoned,later is freed .He's accused by M(Judy Dench: Shakespeare in love)as informer and is forced to renouncement.He goes to Habana(Cuba),while he's drinking a typical beverage called ¨mojito¨,he knows a gorgeous NSA agent named Jinx(The winner Oscar,Halle Berry)who makes an explosive appearance emerging from the seaside.They teams up to investigate the rare operations in a clinic ruled by a suspect medic(Simon Andreu,an usual Spanish secondary).Then he follows clues and contacting with a cocky megalomaniac(Toby Stephens: son of Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith)and begins an exciting fencing duel.Besides a sexy woman and fence expert(Rosemund Pike),who is actually an MI6 agent.Later they're going to an ice hotel located in Island ,where are developed pursuits,fights and incredible feats, plenty of frenetic action and suspense.There by the crazed industrialist is used a laser-satellite named Icarus against Bond.Ultimately, the story again torn to Corea frontier where inside a Boeing happen a hair-rising final highlight.Pierce Brosnan as James Bond is nice,he gets toughness and coldness characterized by Sean Connery blending with irony,sympathy,suavity characterized by Roger Moore.As always,this is a globe-trotting spy tale set in several countries(Corea,England,Cuba,Island) where is developed an international intrigue with unstopped,interminable action,sophistication and extraordinaries special effects.
Usual appearance of ¨Q¨(John Cleese substituting to Desmond Llewelyn)who delivers the ingenious gadgets like a prodigious ring or an invisible car, objects with special transcendence for the movie.Again Samantha Bond as MonneyPenny in an enjoyable intervention of wet dreams with James Bond.Eye-popping cinematography by David Tattersall.Madonna sings the main title and makes an uncredited appearance as a blades expert.The habitual the last entries ,David Arnold musical score fitting to James Bond action movies.The motion picture is professionally directed by Lee Tamahori.Fun to watch for Bond lovers..
And I'm still trying to figure out why they felt the need to humiliate poor Moneypenny at the end.If Brosnan is going to make another Bond film before he retires the role I hope they get a director who understands the Bond mystique, because this one seems to think it's all about blowing things up while making jokes about your genitals..
Die Another Day contains some of the most IDIOTIC one-liners of all time, DREADFULL CGI, HORRIBLY unfunny jokes, pathetically LAME sexual innuendos, a Bond girl (Halle Berry) that is probably the WORST Bond girl of all time, a main villain (Toby Stephens) that is like Robocop meets a snootish/spoiled British brat, a main henchman (Rick Yune) that is like something out of a Star Wars movie for crying out loud, and last but certainly not least, Brosnan stinks it up as well.Brosnan is now officially the WORST of the five Bonds, and this was by MILES the worst acting performance by any Bond ever.
And to top it all off and add insult to injury, the only good character in the film Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) is extremely underused, and the worst thing of all, Madonna (who sings a very good Bond theme) is not only singing the song, but is in the movie.
Luckily, with Kiwi director Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors", "Along Came a Spider") at the helm, James Bond returns in a film that shakes up the system but keeps the all-too-familiar elements that we have come to love.Pierce Brosnan as James Bond: When watching "Die Another Day", you won't be comparing Irishman Brosnan to Sean Connery or Roger Moore.
He appears to have a brother-like relationship with the main villain of the film and is, for a change, an interesting character behind the horribly disfigured face.The Supporting Cast - Judi Dench, John Cleese, and Samantha Bond: The supporting cast all provide great performances and work expertly with their well-written dialogue.
Die Another Day delivers on all these counts.Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have written a very good screenplay that slyly celebrates the series' anniversary, as well as includes all the essential ingredients of the James Bond films.
Overall, Die Another Day works exceedingly well, and is superb entertainment that will also please the long-time fan of the series.Finally, it might be said that Gustav Graves has no advantage over M and James Bond when it comes to understanding Sun Tzu and his "The Art of War": "It is the wise general who uses the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby achieves great results."
1- The useless Jinx character 2- Halle Berry's pathetic performance as Jinx 3- Horrible Madonna cameo 4- The Matrix-like special effects (real time to slow-mo back to real time) 5- The CGI para-surfing looks like it was made by a 7 year old 6- The worst song in the series DAD 7- The Gustav Graves character was lame 8- Toby Stephen's performance was bad 9- The horrible script 10- The misused character by Madsen 11- The misused character of Miranda Frost 12- The invisible car 13- The lack of Bondness in the score 14- THe fact that everybody in the world knew that Frost would be the bad girl after 20 minutes 15- Every damn character has about 17 one liners 16- The fact that every single one liner was horrible (I don't like cock fights, bitch, yo mama, how's that for a punch line 17- Thy the hell have Mr. Kil?
Die Another Day Directed by Lee Tamahori.Starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry and Judi Dench.Pierce Brosnan's fourth effort as James Bond turns out to be by far his worst, resulting in the overly cheesy and disappointing "Die Another Day." Marking a double anniversary for the series (twenty films in forty years), the movie celebrates the tried-and-true Bond formula by tossing in at least one reference to each previous installment.
This is a typical James Bond flick which means a lot of good things and some bad ones but at least, if you're a fan of the series, you get what you expect.In other words, you get outrageous action scenes, Rambo--like mentality, a wild and fun villain, a "hot" female lead helping Bond, a bunch of sexual innuendos, a hokey-but- interesting story and some outstanding opening credits.I never had any complaints with Pierce Brosnan playing Bond.
It was sadly however that last Bond star the one and only Pierce Brosnan; who has easily established himself as probably the BEST BOND EVER (not saying I don't like any of the others though) Cant believe this movie is now a decade old but this film will live on and continue to entertain legions of Bond fans for decades to come.
The opening of DIE ANOTHER DAY might be considered one of the strongest of the entire series: James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is captured while working undercover in a North Korean military base and is about to be executed.
Bond's fight with Zao in the gene therapy recalls the hard hitting, tensely edited fights from From Russia With Love where punches thrown look like they could hurt, and their car chase in Grave's melting ice palace gives a true sense of claustrophobia, yet a complete embracing of all the `wow' parts of James Bond.Halle Berry's Jinx is the first effective female equivalent to 007 in the entire series, employing ruthlessness, gadgets and chic cheek.
As I said, Brosnan, makes this movie for me, his performance makes you overlook the sub par performance of Halle Berry (the films only real weakness)So if your looking for a real good action adventure film then buy or rent Die Another Day, its not the best Bond film ever, but on an enjoyment level it ranks only behind Goldeneye, as Brosnan's Best.. |
tt0175526 | Cherry Falls | In the woods outside of Cherry Falls, Virginia, a teenage couple, Rod Harper (Jesse Bradford) and Stacy Twelfmann (Bre Blair) are getting romantic in a car when a black-haired female appears and murders them both. Meanwhile, in town, teenager Jody Marken (Brittany Murphy), the daughter of the local sheriff, is with her boyfriend, Kenny (Gabriel Mann), who thinks it is time to go "see other people." Jody goes back home to find her father, Brent (Michael Biehn), upset that she is out past her curfew. Brent and his deputies begin to investigate the murders the next day. They see that the killer carved the word "virgin" into both victims. At school, Brent sees English teacher Mr. Marliston (Jay Mohr), who urges him to divulge more details of the murder to students and the town so as to eliminate the possibility of secrets.
Annette Duwald, also a virgin, is killed in the same fashion of the last night's events. Concerned for the town's safety, Brent holds a meeting at the high school to tell parents the nature of the crimes. No students are invited, but Jody and her friend Timmy, who stayed after school, witness the meeting. Timmy asks to borrow Jody's cell phone, and goes into the stairwell to make a call. Jody goes downstairs to find him, and discovers his dead body in a locker room. She is confronted by the killer who attacks her, but she manages to escape. At the police station, Jody describes the killer to an officer, who draws a composite. Brent confides with an old friend, Tom Sisler, (the current high school principal) that the suspect looks like "Lora Lee Sherman." The two are both visibly nervous, and Jody listens in on their conversation.
Later at school, Jody and Kenny reconcile, and later Jody learns from her mother about the tale of Lora Lee. Twenty-five years ago, Lora Lee was a high school loner. She claimed that four popular boys at school, including Brent and the high school principal, raped her one night. Her cries fell on deaf ears and she left the city for the rural outskirts, where she was rarely seen or heard from again. After Jody discovers the truth, disappointed with the hypocrisy of her parents, she visits Kenny at his house. They talk, and Jody being upset with her parents, tries to pressure sex on Kenny. He refuses, pushing her away.
After catching news of the killer's targeting of virgins, the high school students in town congregate at an abandoned hunting lodge to indulge in a mass orgy. Brent goes to the school to meet Sisler only to find the principal dead in his office with the words "virgin not" carved into his forehead. Before Brent can react he is knocked out by the killer. Jody, who has refused to attend the orgy with Kenny, is out riding her bike when she cycles by Mr. Marliston's house and witnesses him dragging a heavy trunk inside. Suspicious, Jody sneaks into the house and opens the trunk. She recoils as she finds the beaten and bloody body of her unconscious father inside, before she too is knocked unconscious. At the orgy, Kenny is about to have sex with a girl when he has second thoughts and leaves to find Jody. He drives around trying to find her but is puzzled to see her bicycle outside of Marliston's house.
Downstairs in his house, Marliston puts on a wig and makeup to "become" Lora Lee Sherman. Marliston reveals that he is Lora Lee Sherman's illegitimate son, and asks Brent to retell the story of what happened that night 25 years ago. Brent reveals that the four boys, including himself, did indeed rape Lora Lee. Marliston says his mother became an abusive "psycho" after the rape and that one of the rapists is his father; there is an implication that Brent is in fact Marliston's biological father. By frightening virgins, Marliston anticipated a large high school orgy, which would thereby rob all the wealthy parents of their precious children's virginity.
Kenny enters the house and frees Jody as Brent fights with Marliston, who manages to brutally kill him. Jody and Kenny flee to the orgy with Marliston in furious pursuit, killing a deputy en route. He bursts inside wielding an axe and mass panic erupts. After wildly stabbing panicking students and then trying to escape, Marliston fights both Jody and Kenny, with Kenny being severely wounded during the melee. Eventually, Marliston is pushed off a balcony by Jody and impaled on fence posts. At first he seems to be dead, before reviving briefly only to be promptly shot dead by Deputy Sheriff Mina, who unloads two pistols into him. The next day, Jody and her mother head away from the police station. As they leave, Jody sees someone resembling Lora Lee Sherman disappear behind a moving bus. The film ends with a shot of the waterfalls outside town turning red. | revenge, murder, violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | It suffered several cuts to attain an R-Rating losing most of its planned edginess.The story is set in the small town of Cherry Falls, where suddenly, a mysterious figure begins to kill the virgins in town.
Sheriff Brent Marken (Michael Biehn) is specially concerned about the case not only because he knows that his beloved daughter Jody (Brittany Murphy) is virgin, but also because the case brings back memories of a dark event in Cherry Falls past.
Meanwhile, the local teenagers organize a huge party to have sex and stop being potential victims.Written by Ken Selden, the story mixes dark comedy with the horror genre pretty much in the vein of Scream, using a clever twist to the genre cliché of the virginal survivors.
sending the youths in the local village sex mad - in order to save their life, obviously!!.As bad as it sounds, its not all bad, especially when the absolutely delicious Brittany Murphy is the lead role as the daughter of the local sheriff (Michael Biehn) who is investigating these grisly murders and guess what, she's a virgin!!.
The final twist is pretty good, although if you really think about, the killers motive for hating all virgins isn't really that convincing, Fun though if you take it for what it is, enjoyable rubbish!!.
Shamefully neglected horror thriller is probably the best slasher film to follow in the footsteps of Scream (1996), too bad it ended up being a television movie!In the seemingly innocent town of Cherry Falls, Virginia, someone is murdering high school students who just happen to be virgins!Clever premise, being a twist on the classic slasher convention of sex=death, pays off in this dark and splendidly suspenseful shocker.
The supporting cast is also good, most notably Candy Clark as Murphy's slightly odd mother.Cherry Falls is a film that really got the shaft on its releasing, as it's far superior to a number of the theatrically released slasher-by-the-numbers flicks that where out around the time.
While the towns' teenagers prepare for a sex party to protect themselves, the sheriff's daughter, Jody Marken, follows a clue that may unmask the killer and her motives.One of the spate of `knowing' teenage slasher movies, Cherry Falls got some publicity from it's twist on the usual horror cliché that `sex = death'.
The film is quite enjoyable and has the odd tense moment, but quickly falls into line with every other horror cliché in the book right down to the big twist over the killer's identity and, true to Scream, it's a big leap!The film is a little modern ironic but doesn't get much mileage out of it.
I knew it was clever to do things like this, but the film gets no mileage out of the wider ideals (AIDS etc) and quickly falls into being a standard teen horror movie complete with shadows, twisty end and so on.
For that thought: I was not totally disappointed, but because I had that thought the movie was also enjoyable in some weird ways.The story is about a killer who is slashing virgins from a local high school.
The basic idea seems OK, A Murderer is killing all the teenage virgins, so all the teenagers decide to have a virginity losing party (a bit stupid but could have been a good laugh) sadly it isn't, It takes itself far too seriously for a plot as ridiculous as this one.The rear of the DVD Cover reviews it as American Pie Meets Scream, this could not be further from the truth, both the aforementioned movies are both Fresh and well made.
Cherry Falls simply is neither and the twist at the end is telegraphed so obviously you would have to be dead to not see it coming.There is a little entertainment value to this film, it is certainly not the worst movie of its kind, but if you want a good Teen Horror, go for Scream, I know what you did last Summer, Wrong turn, Jeepers Creepers or even Cabin Fever.
Really; the plot is predictable, the acting except Jay Mohr and Michael Biehn is wooden, and then there are plenty of mistakes made by no less than Geoffrey Wright.The movie has difficulties to decide which sort of film it should be.
But the one who watches it because he wants to be frightened, doesn't get what he wants, nor the one who wants to laugh nor the one who wants to see hot scenes nor the one who wants to see gore gets what he wants.So nobody gets what he wants and everybody will come out of the theaters still 'hungry'.And then there are many scenes that really look cheap, and it certainly isn't a question of budget.I hope Geoffrey Wright's next movie proves that 'Cherry Falls' was only a wrong step of his and not that 'Romper Stomper' was a lucky achievement..
The Plot In the small town of Cherry Falls a psycho killer is killing virgin teenagers and when the high school students find this out they decide to go all out and have an orgy but will that save them.A slasher movie with an interesting but stupid twist instead of the virgins being the safe one the killer is offing them instead.
Coming out in the trend of the slasher come back of the late nineties through to the naughty's, Cherry Falls follows in that vibe showing at that of the start of a new millennium the year 2000 the makers takes a twist on all of those clichéd slasher movies and offers something slightly different.I loved the small town vibe with its odd characters and its skeletons in the closet.
But sadly this is just the same as all the other slasher movies and the whodunit storyline wasn't that hard to figure out and the death scenes were mostly offscreen which was such a slap in the face but despite these flaws Cherry Falls in an OK above average slasher.The acting, Brittany Murphy looks and feels like a real teenager with charisma to boot, It's always a pleasure to see Michael Biehn (Brent) in a good movie, I love the man and hope he keeps on taking good roles like this one, Biehn is fantastic ages like a fine wine, Gabriel Mann (Kenny)?
looks old and can't act, Jay Mohr (Leonard) does fine in his small role as the likable and understanding hip teacher, Candy Clark (Mandy) gives an odd but very interesting performance and Jesse Bradford a great actor as always and he should be on the a-list by now and get better movie parts than victim #1, he should have had a bigger role he would have been better as the boyfriend part.All in all Cherry Falls is an OK entry to the Slasher genre with a modern twist story line helped along with slick acting.
When the students discover this they decide to throw a party that will take them off the list of possible victims.Smart, funny, stylish slasher film is also enhanced by a great performance by Brittany Murphy and plenty of scares and excitment.
"Cherry Falls" tries to mix slasher flick with teen sex comedy and it fails miserably.The town of Cherry Falls has a psycho killer,who is knocking off the town's teenagers.He chooses his victims among the town's virgin population.I have to admit that such premise is certainly interesting.However the script is bland and predictable,the acting is weak and there is no suspense.The are some violent set-pieces,unfortunately almost all of the gore wound up on the cutting room floor.It's perfectly clear that "Cherry Falls" owes a lot to Italian giallos,but there is no convincing mystery here.The pace of the film is slow with a lot of boring stretches where nothing happens.The lack of gore is also very disappointing.So if you like teen slasher movies you can give it a look.I prefer slasher films from late 70's or early 80's which are better than most of the crap being churned out today.3 out of 10..
The slasher genre never got a tune up quite like it did with Cherry Falls, a tongue in cheek satire that while hilariously high concept and silly, can actually be pretty frightening, especially during it's intense climax.
Jody (Brittany Murphy), a high school student, finds herself at the center of it all with her sheriff father (Michael Biehn) investigating the case.I recall catching "Cherry Falls" on television one summer back in the early 2000s when it showed on the USA Network.
Where teen sexuality has always been a peripheral trope of the genre, "Cherry Falls" makes it its primary focus, subverting the "dead, oversexed teenagers" to "dead virgins." The writing here is witty and clever, and the film is macabre and unnerving while still maintaining a playful edge to it.Director Geoffrey Wright employs some flashy cinematography at times—there is a lot of flaring, jumpy hyper-edits and dramatic stylistics that show the film's age— but there is also a timeless capturing of small-town high school culture that gives the film a strong atmosphere that makes it an especially enjoyable watch.
Jay Mohr and Michael Biehn are also great here, with minor performances from Jesse Bradford and DJ Qualls, whose careers were still in infant stages.Unfortunately, "Cherry Falls" was relegated to television and home video after rumored battles with the MPAA which left the film cut to shreds and quickly sold out for TV distribution.
Well, although it already has a few years he had never even heard of this film teen horror, but when I saw the name of the sadly now deceased Brittany Murphy, actress who always had and still has for me a special magnetism finally decided checking out.The film begins well enough, with the murder of a couple, a classic in the genre, about to lose her virginity, and maintains an interest and atmosphere more or less to half of the film, which unfortunately has started to deflate both attention and pace to reach a climax pretty weak in my opinion.It has some qualities like atmosphere and made some suspense, the presence of Murphy and Michael Biehn, a scene of self-defense when they practice exercises and left me a little confused when it is stretched over it, I know your but I noticed something odd about the pose and expression of both, finally, they may be my imagination, anyway both do a proper performance before the cameras, the inevitable air that gives the film Scream, and generally an acceptable development of the plot, although this is losing strength as it moves ,.But that can not cover the fact that she has a history caught by the hair, with very few murders and gore if not almost nothing for my taste, a murderer who causes anything but fear and a really weak climax, ¨ the course Hymen Holocaust, which is more light than I've seen in a horror film, and I have seen few precisely.A film that seems to promise something strong and distinct but falls just into something acceptable and entertaining in which the filmmakers never really get to dive into the pool despite playing with an idea and concepts with which if could have echo, remaining as in So a suggestive in some points but routine and predictable in the rest slasher..
Not Bad. In the small town of Cherry Falls a masked murderer is killing off the virgins of the local high school.The cast was decent if not quite A-list: Jay Mohr as a teacher, a post-Clueless Brittany Murphy as the female lead (and sheriff's daughter), and genre favorite Michael Biehn.AllMovie gave it a favorable review, writing, "Of all the teen slasher flicks that premiered after the wildly successful Scream series (Urban Legend, etc.), Cherry Falls will possibly go down as one of the most creative, but sadly unseen ones in the bunch." Although reviews were generally mixed or negative, Entertainment Weekly gave a shockingly positive one (grading the film as A-).
I think "Cherry Falls" is the kind of horror film that people enjoy because it is actually more funny than scary..
Whilst not having a lot of gore, although I must confess I don't watch them for the gore, and fairly tame on the sex aspect I found it to be one of the better slasher flicks ever made, and a good film to boot, better than Scream IMO by a long shot.
The cast is what really did it for me, they brought life to their characters without the overacting of previous slashers, they all looked like high school students not 20-30 somethings trying to play teens like most slashers, or indeed like most TV/Film.Brittany Murphy was outstanding in her role, not the typical lead of a slasher flick in both character and look (for the record, I think she is one of the most stunning young women in film today).All in all I think Cherry Falls should be on everyones DVD shelf, whilst I will keep my eyes open for a directors cut which may never come, the cut down version is a testament to the cast and filmmakers, who knew, that even though it was a slasher flick, the key to it was good characters and good story telling, so even minus most of the gore it stands firmly erect..
Brittany Murphy, not to be rude, is very ugly in the movie, i do not like her look at all, but her acting is good, along with the rest of the cast, the twist at the end, well, you either get it right from the beginning or you are very surprised at the end, I as very surprised, i never guessed it, but whatever, it's an awesome slasher film, definitely worth a rent!.
It doesn't take itself overly seriously, yet still manages to pull off some of the most suspenseful scenes of its genre since Hitchcock.Needless to say, Cherry Falls would not be the same movie without Brittany Murphy.
I really hope Brittany Murphy gets a great carrier because she is a very beautiful and talented young actress.Cherry Falls is an entertaining movie but the plot isn't the greatest.
So teenagers see a reason not to stay virgins, and have a massive orgy party at the end.What sounds like a poor excuse for soft porn is actually quite a decent slasher movie.
The story of a little town, Cherry Falls, whose virgins are being stalked and murdered one by one by a mysterious psychopath who wants revenge for an unpunished crime that took place in the same town years ago.One of the better horror films that came out in late 2000, Cherry Falls is the typical case of a nice movie that doesn't get the recognition it deserves.The film didn't even get a theatrical release and was exhibited on TV by USA Network.Thanks to a really original director who knows how to make pictures, Geoffrey Wright, a cast formed by talented and decent actors and a storyline that really holds the tension and keeps you guessing,this gripping and outstanding thriller can now be appreciated by horror fans on VHS or DVD.Brittany Murphy comes out great as the main character, she is so sweet and beautiful, on her way to become a movie star in the years to come, specially after her incredible performance in Don't Say a Word, so does Michael Biehn and specially Jay Mohr, who is devilishly funny and bitter.Look no further for a great slasher thriller: Cherry Falls is a good choice!.
I liked how all the actors weren't "pretty rich kids with problems." They were more real than I've seen in a hip horror movie.Cherry Falls had it all for me...thrills, horror, and laughs.
I watched Cherry Falls because Brittany Murphy had a good, leading role.
I am a huge horror fan and also a fan of the recent "teen slasher movies" and Cherry Falls deserves to be up there with the Screams of this world.
There is no justice in the world sometimes."Cherry Falls" is not a cinematic masterpiece in any way, but as a teen slasher film it stands tall as one of the best since the original "Scream".
Brittany Murphy is good in the lead while some characters, her father played by Michael Biehn especially, sometimes feel as if they would rather be acting in Twin Peaks.If you like horror movies, there's nothing new here at all.
I wasn't really sure where the tagline of "American Pie meets Scream" really came into the film, sure it resembled Scream, as a lot of films nowadays do, but it wasn't anything like American Pie.However, the twists and turns of the suspense/slasher story were enjoyable enough, though I would have preferred a different killer, as I think everyone was expecting it.I enjoyed Brittany Maloney's performance a lot and Michael Biehn was his usual excellent self.
Cherry Falls is that movie, and it does its best with a decent script and performances.The plot is simple: a killer stalks a small town, murdering virgin teens.
Say what you feel, put some thought into your writing, not some catchy sound byte.CHERRY FALLS is not like other teen slasher films.
Cherry Falls is a mix of Scream (First Part) and American Pie. It`s a real good slasher film with enough blood in it.The only Problem (that`s why it only gets 9 points) is that it`s to obvious who`s the murderer, but that`s not a problem, trust me.The Plot is good and funny and the best thing is that the kids are not sexbombs like Neve or Electra.
The humour in the movie stems from the plot idea of the killer killing virgins, and obviously this leads to the teens in the film trying to have sex as soon as possible to avoid becoming the next victim.
A killer is killing off the virgins of a small town Cherry Falls.
Sounds like your typical teen slasher movie, but with a lot of horror fans sayign they liked it, i gave it a try.CHERRY FALLS is a major disappointment. |
tt0112819 | Dead Presidents | (this first appeared on www.realmoviereview.com)
This action drama was the second film by the movie-making twins, Albert and Allen Hughes. The two started their careers with the urban drama, Menace II Society, and this effort has a 70s urban setting. The style and skill of these talented filmmakers is immediately apparent and the script which they co-wrote with Michael Henry Brown
has well-developed characters and great tension along with explosive action scenes framed with an engrossing small scale story. The acting is excellent, but the real star here is the Hughes direction which is cool and inspired.Larenz Tate is Anthony Curtis, a good-natured high school kid in 60s New York who is enjoying life with his girlfriend, Delilah and good friends, Skip (Chris Tucker in an early role) and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez) and running numbers for a local tough guy, Kirby (Keith David). Those days are not to last, however, as all three of the young friends end up in Vietnam. Following a fairly lengthy and well-done segment in the Nam, all three end up back in the old neighbourhood, where Anthony finds adjusting to civilian life difficult. Soon (and rather suddenly), the whole bunch of them are planning an armoured car heist, and ohhhh boy, what a heist it turns out to be.n the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school. However, Anthony is not going to college, but needing to get away from home to find himself, he enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps shortly after graduating high school. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind a middle-class family, a pregnant girlfriend (Rose Jackson), and a small time crook, Kirby (Keith David), who is like a second father.Anthony voluntarily joined the military in 1969; his close friend Skip (Chris Tucker) later joined Curtis's squad after flunking out of college, and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), got drafted into the Army also in 1969. Once in the Marines, Curtis meets the gung-ho lieutenant, Dugan (Jaimz Woolvett), and his wartime friend, Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine), a religious yet deadly staff sergeant. During their tour in Vietnam as members of a Force Recon unit, they experience the horror of war, losing several fellow Marines during combat. The Marines (specifically, Cleon) also commit atrocities, including executing enemy prisoners and beheading corpses for war trophies. One of their squad is the victim of terror tactics of the North Vietnamese: D'ambrosio (Michael Imperioli), who is disemboweled and castrated alive. While waiting for medevac, Anthony, succumbing to the request of the dying D'ambrosio, gives the man a fatal dose of morphine. One of their squad is killed by stepping on a land mine and a night ambush ensues, with NVA troops and half of Anthony's team killed; Dugan is killed after Skip "freezes up" during the gunfight when he is ordered to cover him. Cleon manages to hold off the enemy long enough for Anthony and the last of the crew to escape.When Anthony returns to The Bronx in 1973, after four years of service and presumably multiple combat tours in Vietnam, i.e. multiple tours of duty, and attaining the rank of sergeant, he discovers that returning to "normal" life isn't easy or pleasant. He finds his friend Skip, who used drugs during the war, is now a heroin addict. Jose, after serving as a demolitions expert, during which he lost his hand, has become a pyromaniac. Cleon is now a devoted minister. And Kirby has since become legitimate due to police cracking down on his criminal business. Anthony is laid off from his job in a butcher shop and finds himself unable to support his daughter. During a pool game at Kirby's Cowboy ( Terrence Howard ) makes fun of Anthony and informs him that Cutty ( Clifton Powell ) was having sex with his girlfriend Juanita while he was deployed in Vietnam, he beats up Cowboy with a pool stick out of anger. Anthony pesters Juanita into admitting to sleeping with Cutty to provide for their daughter (who may not even be Anthony's). Anthony meets his girlfriend's sister Delilah (a member of the "Nat Turner Cadre", a fictional group similar to black revolutionaries), who has always had a crush on him and decides to help him with a plot he devises. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah and Cleon plan to rob an armored car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank of the Bronx.Skip and Cleon act as lookouts, Kirby is the getaway driver, Delilah waits in a dumpster across the street and Anthony and Jose hide under the loading docks, all armed. Though they plan the heist very carefully, it goes horribly wrong when a policeman stumbles on the scene. The policeman interferes, resulting in Kirby's attacking him, only to be shot in the arm, and Skip's shooting the policeman in the head. The security guards engage the robbers in a gunfight, ending with Anthony and Delilah's killing most and Delilah's dying while saving Anthony as the truck leaves. After Kirby tries to block the truck with his car, Jose makes use of an excessive amount of explosives, destroying the armored car and burning most of the cash. They escape with what money is left, but Jose has been killed after being struck by a police car.The surviving four try to lie low after the robbery. Cleon however begins handing out cash to members of his congregation, also buying a new Cadillac car which he obviously cannot afford. Anthony and Skip give out presents to poor children on Christmas. Cleon is finally arrested at his church and gives up the other thieves. NYPD officers storm Skip's apartment to find that he has died of a heroin overdose. As Kirby and Anthony prepare to leave the country, they are ambushed at Kirby's pool hall by the police and arrested. In court, Anthony is tried, convicted, and sent to prison for 15 years with an L. Anthony berates the judge (Martin Sheen), a war veteran himself, who also goes so far as to call him a disgrace to any person who put on uniform and served his country. Upon receiving his sentence, Anthony gets angry and throws the chair at the judge. After the court, Anthony on a police bus and goes to jail. | comedy, avant garde, neo noir, murder, anti war, cult, violence, insanity, revenge, blaxploitation | train | imdb | null |
tt0217142 | A Warning to the Curious | The story is written in the typical Jamesian style and uses a multi layered narrative device to tell the tale. Time is taken to describe a pleasant traditional Victorian holiday resort, Seaburgh. The narrator states that he collects stories about the area as a result of his happy memories there as a child and that this is one he was told by a man he had done a favour for.
We now hear the story first hand from the second narrator. He states that he was on holiday at Seaburgh with his friend, Henry Long, when they are approached by another guest called Paxton who has a tale of woe to tell.
Paxton explains that he has some interest in the architecture of medieval churches, whilst visiting one such place he learns of a local legend about a buried Anglo Saxon crown that protects the country from invasion; linked to this are a deceased family, called Ager, who were sworn to guard the crown.
Paxton states he found the crown but has been stalked ever since by its supernatural guardian to the point of desperation. Both the narrator and Long are moved by Paxton's story and decide to help him return the crown. During their successful mission both men have some appreciation of being under surveillance by a supernatural presence.
The next day the narrator and Long are to meet Paxton for a walk but discover him gone; a servant states that she saw Paxton running towards the beach having heard his friends call for him. The two men set off after Paxton onto the beach where a thick sea mist descends making visibility poor. The two men come across Paxton's body, he has met a violent end. An independent witness at the subsequent inquest absolves them of any involvement. The narrator states that they keep the location of the crown secret, finishing by saying that he has never been back, or even near Seaburgh, since. | murder | train | wikipedia | This excellent lesson in 'less is more' tells the story of an archeologist who attempts to unearth an ancient Saxon crown but gets more than he bargains for.The setting is Seaburgh, on the Norfolk broads near the coast.
As the character Dr. Black puts it: 'You can't tell where the beach ends and the sea begins.'10 out of 10 in all departments: acting, script, plot, direction.
Even the music is excellent in its unspectacular way.Warning: this film may not be suitable for some American audiences used to a diet of unsubtle, sensationalist horror movies.
On his arrival in the misty Seaburg, he checks in to the local Inn where he finds the locals are untrusting and suspicious of him, his inquiries lead to the grave of William Ager, who it is said was the protector of the last crown, who died twelve years previously decrying his sorrow that he was the last of the line of protectors and that England was now at risk.
His continuing detective work leads him to Ager's former home where he learns that Ager spent his nights in the nearby woods, working on instinct Paxton begins his dig here and soon finds his treasure, but this is where his problems being, as what he digs up gives him cause for grave concern and fears for his life from forces unknown
..Dum Dee Dum Dum Dummmm!
Paxton believes that he must replace the treasure where he found it, in order to stop these visions apparitions and nightmares that plague his every moment.In 1971 the BBC launched its periodic series of A Ghost Story for Christmas, to produce a one off film that would be screened each Christmas and based on Britain's most famous ghost story writer, M R James.
Lawrence Gordon Clark was the brains behind the series, of which he directed the first 7 films, while also producing and writing the scripts, he managed to put his style firmly on these films and capture the very essence of James' writings in a visual format.
Warning to the Curious is a slow burner that builds up its characters backgrounds before getting to the scares with Vaughn's understated performance being quite exemplary, the fear growing on his face by the moment.
As its made for 70's TV, its production values are quite low and because of this and its leisurely pace it may not be for the modern horror fan, but for those of a certain age and a discerning eye for good ghost stories, this is hard to beat..
The spookiest scene must be when Peter Vaughan is digging for the crown and we fleetingly see the ghost over his shoulder.
I am a great lover of horror films but if I need to feel a real chill this always succeeds in producing the goods..
Modern horror directors, most of whom rely on violence, gore and sudden shocks as cheap scare-tactics, ought to take a look 'A Warning to the Curious (1972),' a short made-for-TV horror story presumably produced on a shoestring budget.
This film was adapted from a story by M.R. James {whose writing also inspired the equally-wonderful 'Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968)'}, and was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the second film in BBC's acclaimed "Ghost Story for Christmas" tradition.
While not particularly faithful to James' original story (of which an audio reading is available on the British Film Institute DVD), there are certainly enough unsettling moments to keep you awake at night.Mr. Paxton (Peter Vaughan) is an amateur archaeologist who, having arrived in the small town of Seaburgh, is set on unearthing an ancient Saxon crown, the last of three buried along the Norfolk coast to protect its inhabitants from overseas invasion.
This is the ghost of William Ager (John Kearney), the final member of an old family dedicated to protecting the secret of the crown, even after death.
Ager, dressed in a silly black cloak, might have made a laughable villain, but creative camera-work and editing shooting from a distance, obscured by darkness or fog, blurred photography means that this mysterious phantom is always at the back of our minds.'A Warning to the Curious' is not quite as subtle as 'Whistle and I'll Come to You' the ghost is seen, however briefly, relatively early in the film making it more accessible to the average viewer, though some may require a few minutes to come to terms with the unique, underplayed style of British low-budget horror film-making.
The acting is excellent both from Peter Vaughan and fellow visitor Dr. Black (Clive Swift) in whom he confides.
All this, through the steady craftsmanship of director Lawrence Gordon Clark, adds together to create an excellent British ghost story chiller.
Not particularly faithful to the original MR James short story but a blinding adaptation nonetheless!
This is really a hidden gem in the spooky department, a real pearl of a ghost story.I did not expect too much when i came across this while searching for good old ghost stories, all the more surprised i was how good this little chiller is.The dark setting, the sinister atmosphere and the desolate landscapes give the perfect not-of-this-world feeling, something that reminded me of the old Japanese ghost movies.
This was really done by people who know their craft, especially the ghost scenes are very effective and eerie.Now this is what i call a piece of fine arts.
Filmed on location at some lonely piece of coastline in East Anglia 'A Warning to the Curious' is based on one of respected ghost story author M R James stories.
This is part of a superb series of MR James ghost stories serialised by the BBC and is well worth seeking out.
It is quite simply at first glance terrifying, it's blend of suspense, dark atmosphere, good script and wonderful shots make it one of the best ghost films there is and I hear it cost under £10,000 to make, Hollywood could learn a thing or two from these British classics.
Vaughan and Swift are good in the leading rolls and the ending is really spooky to say the least..
This is without any doubt my favourite entry in the Ghost Story for Christmas series.
Peter Vaughan is wonderful as the determined archaeologist Paxton, you get to see his character truly tormented by the ghostly figure.
It shows that horror can be delivered in such a way that doesn't need to be graphic, subtle horror can be equally as chilling.The Stalls of Barchester is a very good, very solid opener, this time they pulled out all the stops, A Warning to the curious is a master stroke, a fabulous, subtle piece of horror.The moral of the story, be careful what you dig for.
GHOST STORY FOR Christmas: A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS (TV) (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972) ***1/2.
The best episode yet that I have seen from the BBC's yearly GHOST STORY FOR Christmas benefits greatly from a fine central performance from Peter Vaughn (atypically but effectively cast in a sympathetic role), an interesting archaeological-historical background to the story, on-location shooting of the lovely English countryside and brilliant direction that makes the most of its creepy loner villain; the sequences showing archaeologist Vaughn being relentlessly pursued at great speed by the ghostly curator of the burial place of the third (and last remaining) crown of Anglia sent genuine shivers down this spectator's spine.
Clive Swift - who also appeared in the modern-day bookends of the previous entry in the series, THE STALLS OF BARCHESTER (1971) - plays Vaughn's fellow hotel lodger who, being an amateur painter, is a regular around these parts for the purpose of scenery sketching and, indeed, another frisson is provided when the ghost appears out of nowhere right in the middle of the landscape!
Like most other reviewers here, I love this short film dearly.
One of the best adaptations of M.R. James to date alongside "Whistle and I'll come to you" and "Lost Hearts".I just want to add that the music used in "A Warning to the Curious" is a section of the aptly named "Atmosphères for Orchestra" by György Ligeti written in 1961.
Previously used to great effect by Stanley Kubrick in "2001: A Space Odyssey" during the star gate sequence and I'm pretty sure that the version used here in "A Warning to the Curious" is the same version used by Kubrick in "2001" - Ernest Bour conducting The Sudwestfunk Orchestra..
All the BBC2 GSFCs by LGC are far and away the best adaptations of the often arid James texts.
Simple, surprisingly effective ghost story.
This is a very slight but creepy tale of an archaeologist who goes to a remote English village looking for a crown, supposedly guarded over by a ghost.
You have to appreciate that this is a very low budget TV movie (50 minutes) with very small production values, but it still manages to summon up an eerie atmosphere and some chilling moments through very effective direction and a minimal score.
The photography is wonderful and the performances are effective, including a young(ish) Clive Swift who could later be seen in Keeping Up Appearances.Worth watching with the lights off to achieve the best atmosphere.
It's not super scary, or as effective and well done as the BBCs later adaptation of The Woman In Black, but it is a good example of how to create atmosphere with the barest of plot and resources..
Either you're dead or you're not, son.Despite risibility, Lawrence Gordon Clarke deserves to be acknowledged as one of the great directors of horror and suspense, like Hitchcock or Carpenter, depending on your point of view.
Is this the best ever film of a ghost story?.
James was among the greatest writers of ghost stories and A Warning to the Curious is one of his most celebrated works.
Although made for television, this may be the finest ever film version of a ghost story.
The film has a sepia look and the atmosphere and use of music are superb.
This film is more satisfying than many big budget movies, although comparable films include Stanley Kubrick's `The Shining' and the 1963 version of `The Haunting'.What sounds like the exact same piece of music as accompanies Paxton's night-time dig for the crown was also used in the night-time robbery sequence in Michael Mann's `Heat'..
A classic Christmas ghost story.
Shown at Christmas time by the BBC, "A Warning to the Curious" is a classic spine chiller from the early '70s.With music to induce nightmares (by Dick Manton), this is a dark and foreboding tale.Peter Vaughan was always a very watchable actor and he's nothing short of magnificent as the haunted Paxton.
Atmospheric ghost story.
I saw this on television one Christmas Eve when I was in my teens and it is my favourite ghost story.
It becomes a story of class conflict and alienation.Peter Vaughan was at his best in the role of the unemployed man who looks for and finds treasure that professionals have been looking for in vain.
The setting in Victorian Norfolk is accurate and atmospheric and it gains from the involvement of another man who is a guest, perhaps not initially drawn to the clerk but forced in the course of the story to act through sympathy and later horror..
So far, this has been my favourite episode of the BBC's adaptations of the work of M.R James.Peter Vaughan - usually cast as a villain - is well cast as the leading character.
He does much to convey a sense of fear and vulnerability.Clive Swift offers fine support in his second appearance as Dr. Black.The setting for this story was changed from Suffolk to Norfolk for some reason but that doesn't affect the episode..
I found this one good but in my humble and for what its worth opinion does not touch Whistle and I'll come to you, which I might add is my favourite M R James piece.I have been trying to find a copy of the Green Man which they showed on TV recently with Albert Finney and the wonderful Michael Hordern but to no avail.
The signalman is another M R James piece they showed on TV over Christmas another eerie masterpiece.I did find a copy of A Warning to the Curious on play.com.Hope this is helpful to someone..
This is certainly more entertaining, better-acted and more "believable" than the other M R James adaptation in the same series, "Whistle And I'll Come To You".
The two have extremely similar plots, and even similar shots, so if you have to choose between the two (those BFI DVDs are expensive!) choose this one.Plot holes aside - I won't spoil it, but there are moments when you think: 'How did he know it was there?' 'How did he know what to ask?' - this is an entertaining short film, with good performances (including a character played by Clive Swift, later Richard in the BBC's "Keeping Up Appearances").I didn't find it very scary, but this may have been because I was watching it in the kitchen while eating my dinner (!); for the full effect, dim the lights and sit back and enjoy this bit of classic BBC film-making..
If you are curious about watching this movie, be warned.
I'm always looking for a solid ghost story, I happened upon this one from the IMDb and it sounded like a good chiller.
A classic ghost story this is far from, but if you have 35 minutes to waste and want to get a chuckle at something really sad this could be your movie.
However, I warn you...it might say 35 minutes running time, but it feels like 200.
One of the scariest ghost stories ever filmed.
One of the Ghost Story for Christmas films that the BBC ran yearly back in the 1970s, this is an excellent suspense story which ably succeeds in scaring the wits out of the viewer.
The story itself is based on a tale by M.R. James, that master of the ghost story, and authenticity is added in the bleak Norfolk surroundings where the tale is set.
The sinister title neatly sums up the contents of this film, where a man is purchased by the sinister spirit of a tramp after digging up a legendary crown.
After giving the character in the story realistic reasons for wanting the crown (he's recently unemployed), the film then propels the viewer into a nightmarish netherworld where he can never be free of the tramp's spirit.
Like the recent trend in horror films such as THE SIXTH SENSE and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, this shows that the best horror works when it is subtle and chilling instead of gory and horrific.
Just watch the ending, so subtle and yet so frightening.Peter Vaughan is well cast as the man who digs up the crown and is haunted, and his name lends support to the BBC's production.
Set in a time and era that can never be recaptured, A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS is, like most of the BBC series it was included in, a forgotten gem of a film which keeps it simple and succeeds in horrifying the viewer, a rare occurrence these days.
I'd go so far as to describe it as a chilly visual masterpiece, and one of the most purely effective and primal ghost stories ever filmed..
The best M R James adaptation.
The master, M R James was the very finest writer of ghost stories, and this is the adaptation which best captures his style.
It doesn't stick strictly to the story but the the difference is not worth noting - as to the ghost being able to bash your brains out, well M R James did always make his ghosts malevolent and able to do you harm, either just by frightening (Whistle And I'll Come To You) or by violence (Casting The Runes).
Best moments: the scene in which the farmworker looks up the track and sees Peter Vaughan being followed by the ghost, and that in which the ghost is in the hotel room and the lights go out - superb..
According to the IMDb I have seen 2275 films as of June 2004 and 530 of those are classified as horror.
I've seen films from all over the World and IMHO this is the scariest.I'm not saying the majority of viewers would agree if they were lucky enough to see this classic short, just that it's my favourite.
Whether you might agree depends on what you like in a horror film.
"The Haunting (1963)" "The Wicker Man" "Don't Look Now" "Halloween" "La Cabina" "BWP"...........they all have this same quality but "A Warning to the Curious" does it best.I won't include any spoilers but I will say that the film contains two terrifying images and the music is extremely unsettling.
Made on a very small budget (so don't expect any special effects) this BBC classic is now available to buy on DVD from the BFI.
It is one of a series of DVD's re-issued by the BFI from the BBC's "A Ghost Story For Christmas" series aired in the 1970's.
They have also issued "The Signalman" and the excellent "Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You" both of which are worth purchasing.The film has some unique features.
A ghost that appears in the day as well as the night?
Very reminiscent of "Don't Look Now"The film also retains its eeriness no matter how many times you watch it.The scariest film I've ever seen..
cracking good ghost story.
Based on a fine M.R. James story, this is a deliciously frightening yarn, in which an amateur archaeologist is convinced that he knows where some fabled treasure is buried.
However, there are some who do not like people showing disregard for their historical heritage...It's got everything you need for a very British tale : history, crowns, ancient churches, dusty books, graveyards, grey-haired vicars pointing at gravestones or talking about unholy local traditions. |
tt0021815 | Drácula | On Walpurgisnacht, Renfield [Pablo Álvarez Rubio] goes to Borgo Pass where he is met by Drácula's coach. The next day, Renfield and Drácula [Carlos Villarías] take 'the Vesta' to England. Ship arrives in Whitby harbor in a storm, captain lashed to boat, everyone dead, Renfield mad. Renfield is taken to Dr. Seward's [José Soriano Viosca] sanitarium near London. Dracula goes to a play where he is introduced to Dr. Seward, daughter Eva [Lupita Tovar], Lucía Weston [Carmen Guerrero], and Juan Harker [Barry Norton]. Drácula announces he has taken Carfax Abbey which adjoins the Sanitarium. That evening, Lucía dies of blood loss. In Switzerland, Professor Van Helsing [Eduardo Arozamena] analyses Renfield's blood, announces him a living vampire, and comes to England. In the meantime, Drácula has been feasting on Eva. Drácula visits the Seward home one day, and Van Helsing notes no reflection in mirror. While Van Helsing, Seward, and Harker discuss vampires, Drácula summons Eva outside. She is found, seemingly dead, on the lawn.A lady in white is reported by children in park. Eva admits that she has seen Lucía. Eva goes to bed wearing aconite (wolfbane) while Renfield talks to Van Helsing, Harker and Seward about Drácula. Drácula comes into the house, tells Van Helsing to return to his own country and that his blood now flows through Eva's veins. Harker rushes to Eva's room and finds her awake, dressed and on terrace. She is 'changed'. She attempts to bite him but Harker is saved by Van Helsing. Near dawn, Drácula comes to sleeping Eva and carries her off to the Abbey. Renfield escapes to abbey; Van Helsing and Harker follow. Drácula kills Renfield, and attempts to finish off Eva. Van Helsing and Harker find Drácula's coffin; Van Helsing stakes him. Eva is released from his hold. Drácula is dead. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl] | insanity, cult | train | imdb | null |
tt0049646 | The Quatermass Xperiment | The British Rocket Group, headed by the taciturn Professor Bernard Quatermass, launches its first manned rocket into space. Shortly thereafter, all contact is lost with the rocket and its three crew: Carroon, Reichenheim, and Green. The large rocket later returns to earth, crashing into an English country field. Quatermass and his assistant Marsh arrive at the scene, along with the local emergency services, Carroon's wife Judith, Rocket Group physician Dr. Briscoe, and Blake, a Ministry official who chides him repeatedly for launching the rocket on impulse and without official permission. Finally opening the rocket's access hatch, the space-suited Carroon stumbles outside; inside, there is no sign of the other two crew members. Carroon is in shock, only able to say the words "Help me". Inside the rocket, Quatermass and Marsh can find no sign of the other two crewmen, only their completely-fastened spacesuits.
Carroon is taken to Briscoe's office for care, on the grounds that conventional hospitals and doctors would have no idea how to evaluate or treat the world's first returned astronaut suffering from some sort of adverse event while in space. But even with Briscoe's care, Carroon remains mute, generally immobile, but alert with his eyes which now have a feral and cunning aspect. Briscoe also discovers a strangely disfigured place on his shoulder, and notices changes in his face which suggest some sort of mutation of the underlying bone structure. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard Inspector Lomax has undertaken investigation of the other two men's disappearance and, having surreptitiously fingerprinted Carroon as a suspect, alerts Quatermass that the prints resemble those of nothing human.
At Judith's insistence that Briscoe is not helping her husband, Quatermass agrees to have Carroon transferred to a regular hospital, under guard. Meanwhile, Marsh has developed film from a camera that was aboard the rocket, and Quatermass, Lomax and Briscoe have a viewing. The crew is seen for a time pleasantly at their duties; then suddenly, something seems to jar the ship. After that, there is a nightmarish wavering in the air inside the rocket, and the men react as if something frightening, yet not manifestly visible, is there in the cabin with them. One by one they fall, Carroon the last to go.
Quatermass and Briscoe determine from the evidence at hand that something living in outer space has entered the ship, dissolved Reichenheim and Green in their sealed spacesuits, and evidently entered Carroon's body, which is now in the process of being changed by this unknown entity. Not knowing any of this, Carroon's wife, Judith, hires a private investigator, Christie, to break her husband out of the secured hospital. The escape is successful, but not before Carroon smashes a potted cactus in his hospital room, fuses it into his flesh, then kills the private investigator and absorbs all the forces of life in his body, leaving just a shrivelled husk. It does not take long for Judith to discover what is happening to her husband; Carroon flees and disappears into the London night, leaving her screaming outside the hospital, alive, unharmed, but entirely mad from fright.
Inspector Lomax then initiates a manhunt for the missing Carroon. After hiding out on a river barge, Carroon encounters a little girl, leaving her also unharmed through sheer force of willpower. Then, Carroon proceeds to a nearby pharmacy and kills the chemist, using his now-swollen, crusty, cactus-thorn-riddled hand and arm as a cudgel and leaving a twisted empty husk of the man to be found by police. Quatermass theorizes that Carroon has used select chemicals taken from the shelves to "speed up a change going on inside of him". That night finds Carroon at a zoo, barely visible amongst some shadowed bushes with far less of his human form remaining. In the morning, twisted corpses of zoo animals are found, their life forces having all been absorbed, and a trail of slime leading back out into the community. Among the bushes, Quatermass and Briscoe also find a small but living remnant of what was once Victor Carroon, and take it back to their laboratory. From his examination of this remnant, Quatermass concludes that some kind of alien life has completely taken over and will eventually release reproduction spores, endangering the entire planet
The remnant eventually dies of starvation, locked in a glass cage. On a tip to police from Rosie Wrigley, a vagrant tippler, Lomax and his men track the main mutation to Westminster Abbey, where it has crawled high up on a metal work scaffolding inside. It now is a gigantic shapeless mass of combined animal and plant tissue with eyes, distended nodules, and tentacle-like fronds filled with spores. Quatermass arrives, arranges for electric cables being used by a BBC company, filming in the Abbey, to be attached to the scaffolding. By having all the power in London diverted through the cables and into the scaffolding, Quatermass succeeds in cremating the Carroon-creature by electrocution, just as it has entered the final phase before release of its spores.
The threat eliminated, Quatermass quickly walks out of the Abbey, preoccupied by his thoughts. He ignores all who ask questions. Marsh, his assistant, approaches and asks "What are we going to do?" Never breaking stride, Quatermass offhandedly replies, "We're going to start again." He leaves Marsh behind, walking into the London night, and a second manned rocket roars into space. | suspenseful, murder | train | wikipedia | Two of the crew members are missing, but the survivor, Victor Carroon (RICHARD WORDSWORTH) is slowly being taken over by an alien fungus that feeds on the blood of animals and human-beings.In a bid to win audiences away from their TV sets (something that was a real threat to cinemas at the time), Hammer elected to film the popular BBC serial THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (the E was replaced with X in order to emphasise it's X certificate), which was the creation of writer Nigel Kneale.
The gamble payed off and Hammer had a box office hit on their hands in 1955.Seen today, THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT is obviously very tame in comparison to modern day sci-fi and horror films, most of it's shock sequences occur off screen with the camera cutting away and harping back on reaction shots.
One can see that Carroon is fully aware of what would happen if the girl touches him and runs away accidentally breaking her dolly.Wordsworth is brilliant as Carroon and so is Brian Donlevy as Quatermass while director Val Guest's documentary approach gives the picture a sense of conviction..
The unfortunate astronaut inexplicably turns into a monster that threatens to extinguish the entire world
The premise of alien-intelligence invading earth through an unfortunate space-mission is extremely stereotyped by today's standards, but "The Quatermass Xperiment" is one of the only oldies in the genre that still feels genuine and original.
Science fiction does not get much better than this film which grips you with its terrific suspense as we see Victor Caroon (played as a tragic and terrifying figure all at once in a terrific performance from Richard Wordsworth) go where no man has gone before in more ways than one might imagine..
It is a film of big ideas and planet-sized concepts that stares up into the unknown with a combination of wonderment and dread.Originally a highly popular TV series, it spawned two excellent sequels and decades of creative Hollywood pilfering.Brian Donlevy is wonderful as Quatermass, a scientist with the bullying manner of a military drill Sargent and a fierce, pragmatic streak.
After a rocket that he sent into space crashes back to Earth, Quatermass and unofficial partner-in-crime Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) uncover a bizarre alien conspiracy in which a surviving astronauts's body has been "borrowed" by extraterrestrials keen on relocating.Director Guest gives the drama a no-nonsense, almost documentary feel.
All the characters are believable and the performances are top notch.Despite the fact that James Bernard's solid score is a little overbearing at times, this is a dashingly good science fiction film with a strong stench of horror..
From the terrific performance (espeically of Donlevy and Wordsworth), to the realistic style and tone, to the excellent cinematography, to the dark score by Jame Bernard, The Quatermass Xperiment is a tour de force for the more intelligent and less action based science fiction films.
Donlevy is relatively good at playing double crossing mobsters in the likes of THE BIG COMBO but he`s utterly unconvincing as a rocket scientist and it doesn`t help that he keeps pronouncing his name as " Qittermiss ", Margia Dean is utterly appalling as Judith Carroon , but Richard Wordsworth is outstanding as Victor Carroon even if he doesn`t have a single line of dialogue.The BBC serial of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT shocked the viewers of Britain when it was broadcast and in its own way the film version is almost as groundbreaking , it was a big hit at the UK box office which led to Hammer Films to concentrate solely on horror films something they would excell at for the next 10-15 years .Trivia point 1 - The montage scenes of soldiers searching for Carroon at night time are actually culled from another British SF flick - SEVEN DAYS TO NOON Trivia point 2- The last four episodes of the BBC serial were shown live on television but because of an industrial dispute they weren`t - unlike the first two episodes - recorded onto film which means no one will ever see the complete BBC QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT.
Vintage British sci-fi movie with a fascinating Brian Donlevy as Quatermass from original BBC production that kept millions glued to their TV screens in a serial formed by six episodes of 30 minutes starred by Reginald Tate and directed by Rudolph Cartier .
It's a serious, occasionally thrilling, and undeniably entertaining little picture.After a rocket ship holding three astronauts crash-lands in the English countryside, Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) arrives with his troupe of investigators and fellow scientists.
The film also works thanks to some impressive special-effects work, and a stoic Wordsworth in a performance and role that surely became the framework for Christopher Lee's Monster in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957).It's a short, snappy piece that moves along nicely, never getting too caught up in the science and wholeheartedly embracing the fiction.
Here with this one we get an interesting look at the political aspects that surround the space programme, and this in turn dovetails nicely with the police investigation as the "Yard" search for the man, soon to be monster.Effectively using London locations such as Westminster Abbey, Guest's movie also pulses with great characters.
And in comparison to the other four Quatermass features, is the least ambitious in scope (especially compared to the superbly outre Quatermass and the Pit) and has the weakest of the Professor Quatermass actors (Brian Donlevy always struck me as a bit too stiff and, well, American).Yet, the film does what all good science fiction does: take a concept, then play out the various scenarios and consequences that result.
In this case, man encounters an unknown organism from space - an entity that is capable of absorbing any living matter, taking on its mass and characteristics.Parts of the film resemble the standard "monster on the loose" or "it came from outer space" flicks that dominated drive-ins at the time, but Kneale's script is wisely constructed like a police procedural, and Val Guest directs it like a film noir mystery.See it.
This Sci-Fi film was way a head of its time and did a very good job of showing what a 1955 rocket into space would look like and it will definitely make you laugh in comparison to 2006!
This effective low-budget film achieves these goals to a frightening degree.The story opens as the first manned rocket into space crash lands in the British countryside outside of London.
It all started many decades earlier).Quatermass and his assistants, along with the police and military scour the city to find and destroy this unknown menace before it can reproduce and threaten all life on Earth.Directer Val Guest handles the filming in an almost semi-documentary manner, often employing a hand-held camera (did the BLAIR WITCH people ever catch this late night?).
Though many modern day/high tech people like to poke fun at early low-budget 'B' films, primarily for lacking technical effects that didn't exist then, it's interesting to note how their plots and ideas have been constantly pirated.If you're growing weary of special-effects demo rolls and John William's cloying sound tracks, then give this early adult science-fiction horror effort a try..
In both movies a rocket returns from space with its crew members transformed into alien entities Here two members are missing entirely although the space suits remain.The other crewman is soon transformed into a mute alien entity pursued by the authorities and the movie climaxes in Westminster Abbey where the now completely non-human victim retreatsWhat gives the picture its impact even now is the crisp atmospheric direction and a performance by Richard Wordsworth as the transfigured astronaut,a display of acting that evokes pity and terror in equal measure and that for my money is as good as any in the horror/science fiction genre One scene even comes close to surpassing the scene in Frankenstein where the monster encounters a small girl The most terrifying character is Quatermass himself so monomaniacal and driven that although almost bringing about the end of the civilized world he crashes on without apology or regret intent on duplicating the experiment
The climax takes place in Westminster Abbey in the middle of a BBC broadcast; director Val Guest cleverly combines stock footage with studio sequences to suggest an entire community under threat unless the mutating organism can be destroyed.In the leading role of the Professor, Brian Donlevy comes across as a determined personality - so determined, in fact, that he cannot contemplate the idea of giving up on his experiments, even though this particular mission has gone horribly wrong.
The Inspector understands Quatermass's ultimate responsibility for what happened, but there is absolutely nothing he can to do apprehend the Professor.The idea of familiarity gone wrong - due to the catastrophe - is further reinforced by the casting of a gallery of familiar faces in supporting roles, from Gordon Jackson as the harassed BBC director, to Sam Kydd as a police constable, and Thora Hird as a down-and-out (speaking in a dreadful London accent) telling her experiences of having witnessed the missing astronaut who has been possessed by the organism (Richard Wordsworth).
"The Quatermass Experiment" rather has the look of a TV show of the time with its modest production values and population by a host of soon to be constant British TV character actors - including a very young Gordon Jackson, Thora Hird, Sam Kydd and even taking in old "Evening All" himself Jack Warner.That said, it's still a good little thriller and creates suspense throughout by holding back the sight of the mutated monster which of course threatens the very existence of the world itself.
Throw in old avuncular Warner as the least convincing police commander you'll ever meet and the film certainly has its crosses to bear.And yet, I was attracted to its black and white picture of Britain in the austere early 50's, with most of the peripheral characters, like Hird's alcoholic vagrant and Kidd's gently sardonic cop making up a lot for the slightly overacted mannerisms of the leads.No, for me, this bold attempt by a British studio at the sci-fi genre is no embarrassment and holds its own with most of the Hollywood output in the same field..
Val Guest's film originally is a big-screen adaptation of the BBC's Science-Fiction series "The Quatermass Experiment" (1953) which was penned by Nigel Kneale.
But even apart from its status as a milestone, "The Quatermass Xperiment" is a must-see for every self-respecting Horror/Sci-Fi fan, as it simply is an ingenious, creepy film that still fascinates after more than five decades.The brilliant Professor Bernhard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) has shot the first manned rocket into space.
In this instance, Dr. Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) has sent a rocket with three passengers into "outer space." But the rocket goes missing, and when it suddenly crash lands in the English countryside two of the astronauts are dead and one is--well, he is strange, to say the least.Survivor Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth) is alternately comatose and spastic, and as time passes his skin begins to alter.
Brian Donlevy seems a bit out of place in Merrie Old England, but his performance has lots of drive; Richard Wordsworth is memorable indeed as the very unfortunate astronaut; and the film is sprinkled through with the likes of character actress Thora Hird, who is a lot of fun because she's so good, and ingénue Margia Dean, who is a lot of fun because she's so bad.
This tense little thriller makes great use of its limited resources, and its running time: from the opening, with a downed rocket and a maniacally stubborn scientist, to a creepy showdown in Westminster Cathedral (followed by the perfect resolution), the pace never lets up; this alarming, inexorable escalation marks all the Quatermass movies, and gives them their unique doomy kick.A great cast helps immensely.
The plot tells the story of professor Bernard Quatermass, the man who sent into space the firstmanned British rocket, and his investigations about the disappearance of two astronauts in its return.
Transformed into a gigantic hybrid vegetal/animal monster, Carroon was used as a nasty way of Earth invasion and was finally electrocuted in the Abbey of Westminster during a live television transmission.It's interesting to note that due to the success of this film and the two subsequent productions ["X-The Unknown" and "Quatermass II - Enemy from Space"], the Hammer received the necessary impulse and subsidies to produce the terror movies that made it world-wide famous.
Val Guest directed this science fiction tale based on a Nigel Kneale TV miniseries that stars Brian Donlevy as American rocket scientist Bernard Quatermass, who is called to the English countryside to investigate a rocket ship of his that has crashed.
The plot evolves around an astronaut monstrously enveloped by an alien fungus and must be destroyed by the scientists with the help of police and firemen.It's all done in straightforward sci-fi manner, but all of it looks low-budget as though not much thought was given to developing the story's full potential as a thriller.BRIAN DONLEVY delivers what can only be called a robotic performance, as though sedated under either medication or alcohol to the point where he remains as expressionless as a mechanical doll.
These harder edged films although rather tame by today's standards were popular with audiences leading to Hammer specialising in the horror genre.Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) sends a rocket into space containing three astronauts and when it crash lands two of the astronauts are missing but the survivor, Victor Carroon has been taken over by an alien fungus and is slowly mutating.There are shades of Frankenstein in Carroon as he realises that he is becoming a monster and the film has nods to the James Whale Universal classic.The big problem is and a reason why creator Nigel Kneale was unhappy with this version is the characterisation of Quatermass.
A third crewmember is in deep shock, his body tissues seem to be undergoing a change.Thus begins THE CREEPING UNKNOWN, the first of the filmed versions of the BBC QUATERMASS SERIES.This film really needed better direction (tight closeups would have really helped), some humor (Brian Donleavy's Professor Quatermass is a dour character, indeed), and makeup effects for the crewmember's transformation from man to monster.
Quatermass Xperiment, The (1955) *** (out of 4) Effective sci-fi tale from Hammer has Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) sending a rocket into space with three astronauts but when it crashes back to Earth there's only one alive with the other two missing.
Super-scientist Quatermass (the hero of "Enemy from Space" and "Five Million Years to Earth") is portrayed by Brian Donlevy in this British film about a pioneer rocket flight that returns to Earth with only one surviving astronaut aboard.
It is with those memories in mind that I pay tribute to Richard here and recommend you watch his powerful performance as Victor Caroon in "The Quatermass Xperiment." Although Brian Donlevy is listed as the star of the film, you can just as well look past his boorish interpretation of Nigel Kneale's Prof.
Shot in stark black and white, this is a slow paced but short little number with some great bits of music from James Bernard and solid direction from Val Guest, who would later make the effective THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE.THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT contains many fine scenes.
So even if a UK space ship is rather quaint today this takes away nothing from the impact of the film itself, which stands up remarkably well after over 50 years.The Quatermass X-periment is a tense, pacey, and atmospheric horror-thriller; based on Nigel Kneale's beautifully written BBC t.v. series, director Val Guest gives it a down to earth approach that really works.
Gripping and full of imaginative touches, it holds the viewer in thrall right to the end.While Brian Donlevy is a boring Quatermass, bullying his way through the story and the cast some marvellous character actors like Jack Warner, Thora Hird, Richard Wordsworth and David King-Wood more than compensate.
King-Wood would have made a much better fit with Kneale's troubled, humanistic professor than the immobile-faced Donlevy does; instead he's the big Q's assistant, Dr. Briscoe.The story of course, concerns the crash landing of the first UK space flight and the subsequent mystery of the disappearance of two of the crew, only Victor Carroon (Wordsworth - who is simply brilliant in the part) stumbling out of the rocket when the hatch is opened.
This classic British science fiction film opens with the first manned rocket returning to Earth and crash landing in the English countryside.
The scientists slowly diagnose some form of alien space virus invaded the ship, but not before the astronaut, whom they now realise is gradually transforming into some kind of monster, escapes ...Nigel Kneale's original series of Quatermass BBC TV plays are amongst the best sci-fi / horror yarns ever written; gripping, suspenseful, intelligent, imaginative and scary as hell.
Carroon escapes the attention of the authorities & Quatermass quickly realises that an alien life-form has taken over Carroon's body & is turning him into a blob like creature that devours any living thing in it's path...Besides the opportunity the review a film beginning with 'Q' & being known under the alternate title of The Creeping Unknown when released in the USA this British production from Hammer studios was co-written & directed by Val Guest & this is a neat enough little sci-fi chiller based on the serialised 6 episode BBC Quatermass TV show that aired in 1953 written by Nigel Kneale who also co-wrote this with director Guest.
Unfortunately, to get to it one has to endure a whole load of painfully dry sci-fi claptrap and dull police procedure, as Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) and the authorities try to figure out what happened to the crew of Britain's first rocket into space.After lots of dreary talk and scientific mumbo jumbo, the lone survivor of the mission, Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), escapes from his hospital room and wanders the streets of London, slowly mutating into a part plant/part human creature inhabited by an alien being. |
tt0037644 | Dillinger | DILLINGERNewsreels are being shown to an audience in a theater. At the end of the film, a master of ceremonies introduces to the crowd the person you have been wanting to see. An older man of countrified appearance and manner introduces himself as the father of John Dillinger. He says that John had a normal childhood and adolescence, but soon after he left his small town to seek fortune elsewhere.In a manner reminiscent of Orson Welles Citizen Kane, the rest of the film shows crucial scenes in the life of John Dillinger.A young man, John Dillinger and his date are having drinks at a booth in a bar. The girl says she wants two more drinks. The waiter insists that the drinks must be paid for in advance. John evidently does not have the money, tries to pay by check, is refused, and angrily wants to drag the girl somewhere else. The girl refuses to leave. John walks out of the bar and holds up a candy shop, pretending to have a gun in his pocket, and takes the cash from the till. In his room, later, he counts the money to be seven dollars and twenty cents.In the next sequence, John goes to see a movie. On the way in he is attracted to the girl at the box office, who returns his glances with interest. On his way out, he sees the girl counting money. Once again pretending to have a gun, he takes all the cash. He is caught by police but the box office girl does not want to finger him from the police lineup, despite the fact that she had identified him from a photograph.John is taken to a jail, where an older man is his cell mate. After initial friction, they strike up a relationship, and the older man, also a holdup robber, introduces him to four others of his gang. They become pals of sorts. Johns jail sentence is relatively short, and he promises to spring the others free after he first comes out of jail.In a sequence of economically filmed scenes, John frees his friends, they become bank robbers, and pull a long series of robberies, each more daring than the rest.In the course of time, he replaces the older robber Specs Green who had been his cell mate as the leader and brain of the operations.When things get too hot, they hole up in a remote country inn where one of the gang had grown up, raised by a kindly couple.At one point, flush with money, John goes back to find the girl that he liked from the movie house, seduces her with expensive gifts, such as a diamond bracelet priced at eight thousand dollars, and brings her to the farm hideout as an additional member of the gang.John is caught and sent to jail. While in prison, he buys from a man in the next cell a piece of wood and a whittling knife, with which he fashions a wooden replica of a hand gun. Using the replica hand gun, he manages to escape by tricking the guard.Some time later, the gang is so well known that they decide it is too risky to keep holding up banks, so they hold up a train that is carrying a load of money instead.Eventually the police authorities sniff out where they are hiding and are about to surround and storm the farm hideout. The tremendous pressure turns the gang members against each other. John shoots and kills Specs Green, and also the kindly couple who have been hiding them, when John finds them trying to phone for help. When the girl plans to leave the farm in the car with a younger gang member, John intercepts the gang member and axes him to death, successfully escaping from the inn with the girl.Because posters offering 15000 dollar reward for his capture are everywhere, John and the girl remain in hiding for months. The girl gets very tired of their existence, says she wants to have fun. John has grown a mustache so she says he will not be recognized. But they are running out of money.The girl decides she has no future, contacts the police and eventually gets John to take her to a movie. She is wearing a red dress so the police will recognize her. As they leave the movie house, she says she wants to buy some candy and leaves John alone. The police move in, and John is killed in a shootout.The policemen examine his pockets as he lies dead, and find seven dollars and twenty cents in his pocket. | revenge, murder, violence, flashback | train | imdb | Also, Lawrence Tierney was made for gangster/film noir movies.
Dillinger eventually takes over the gang leading them into increasingly dangerous jobs risking capture and death.One of the many filmed versions of this gangster's life and death.
The story is stripped down to key moments and events in Dillinger's life as told by his father, however this makes the film more urgent and tense compared to more rambling versions.
However I suppose as a life story that's not really what you want, but here it works because it's a crime thriller rather than a biopic.Lawrence Tierney was a bit of a hellraiser in his day and he brings a menacing streak to the role.
The whole gang gives strong support especially Edmund Lowe as the harassed Specs, it's also always good to see Elisha Cook Jr, here playing Kirk.Overall a taught little crime thriller that benefits from a tough cast and a short tense running time..
Although it takes liberties with actual facts, it is nonetheless a dark and brooding little film noire.The producers lucked in when Lawrence Tierney was cast in the lead role.
The real Dillinger was apparently nothing like Tierney's interpretation but was more of a Robin Hood type character who was only a bank robber and not the cold blooded killer depicted in this film.The story follows Dillinger from a small time hood to his first prison term where he meets future members of his gang.
First there is Marco (Eduardo Ciannelli), then Doc (Marc Lawrence) and finally Kirk Otto (Elisha Cook Jr.).Along the way Dillinger meets his "femme fatale", Helen Rogers (Anne Jeffreys).
Ciannelli, Lawrence and Cook were staples in gangster roles for decades thereafter.John Milius who made the 1973 "Dillinger" (closer to the facts) provides some interesting insights and commentary on the DVD release..
His casting in the 1945 Dillinger was fortuitous, as the film was the sleeper of the year, and made Tierney briefly an overnight star.
It has a short running time which was typical of "B" films and it packs a lot of action into a little over 60 minutes.What a cast this film boasts!!......Edmund Lowe, a former screen idol of the silents and early talkies; Marc Lawrence and Eduardo Cianelli who could never shake their bad guy images; the greatest of all character actors, Elisha Cook Jr. whose career spanned in excess of 50 years; and Lawrence Tierney, born to portray a criminal.
Tierney, who was a bad boy in real life (which sank his career for many years before he made a comeback in the 1980s)is the epitome of a cold eyed, hardened gangster who lives for today and the hell with tomorrow.
Tierney, whose brother Scott Brady was a recurring presence in films of the 50s, will always be recognized for this part alone and it could have shot him to stardom but his personal life got in the way.......too bad.
He is one of the great, largely unrediscovered actors of postwar, tough guy films -- with a fascinating way of switching from menacing psycho to hurt little boy and back again, all within seconds.
Hopefully, more of his movies will be released on DVD.In Dillinger, when Tierney first meets Anne Jeffreys, the clock in back of her box office booth clearly says Gruen (the manufacturer) on its face.
But when a "be-on-the-lookout", all-points bulletin is issued for Dillinger, a montage of the dragnet features a city map clearly labeled as Los Angeles and showing the Southern Calfornia cities of Inglewood and El Segundo.Check out Anne Jeffreys going into the Biograph with Tierney near the end.
Low budget, high quality B-film depicting the life of gangster John Dillinger.
Lawrence Tierney early in his career gives the performance for which he is most remembered...Public Enemy Number One. Rounding out the cast of this little gem are:Anne Jeffreys, Edmund Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. Kudos to Dimitri Tiomkin for original music.Note:In real life Tierney would be arrested more times than Dillinger..
Although it would have been much more appropriate as part of a subsequent Gangster DVD Collection from Warners (rather than the Film Noir in which it was included), DILLINGER is a solid B flick buoyed by a fast pace, a bevy of familiar character actors (Edmund Lowe, Eduardo Cianelli, Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook Jr.) and a terrific turn by Lawrence Tierney in the title role.
Although John Milius' 1973 remake is much more factual and despite an over-reliance on stock footage from bigger-budgeted films - like Fritz Lang's YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937) - the film is also notable for an unusual narrative structure for this type of film in that the events are "told" to a theater audience by John Dillinger's father as a warning against the perils of living life on the wrong side of the tracks!
A brief and pointed bio pic on a tight budget, which dictated a fast and efficient manner, but from a director who knew how to organize the story in an intriguing way where we see Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) and his gang (Elisha Cook Jr. and Edmund Lowe, among others) both on the job robbing banks (above average scenes) and hiding out (way above average) thanks to the screenplay that captures the internal tension of a group constantly on the run.
It's a stellar 40's version of a 30's gangster film, with double crossing and cheating lurking behind a lot of the action, and a couple of very well cast against type characters in Edmund Lowe as Specs and Anne Jeffries as Dillinger's wayward girlfriend..
By no means true t the actual story of famed bank-robber John Dillinger, but may be true to the personality of the man.
The supporting cast is all tops, especially Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. in his best bad-guy performance.
gangster films of the early thirties, which makes it top-of-the-line of a wave of crime B-mellers in the late '40s (also dominated by Warner Bros., which studio apparently insisted on this film losing the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and which, with further irony, now owns its rights).
or was Dillinger just a greedy bastard who was rotten to the core?Running at only 70 minutes, and filmed on a "B" movie budget, Dillinger comes out as something of a triumph within the gangster genre.
Always enjoy viewing this picture with all the Classic actors, namely:- Edmund Lowe (Specs Green) "Front Page Detective"TV Series '51; Eduardo Ciannelli (Marco Minelli) "Staccato" '59 TV series; Marc Lawrence (Doc Madison) "Charlie Chan in Honolulu"'38; Elisha Cook Jr.,(Kirk Otto) "I Wake Up Screaming" '42 and last but not least, Lawrence Tierney (John Dillinger) "Reservoir Dogs" '92.
However, Lawrence Tierney really was the Star of this film, with his hateful cold blooded eyes of death, his eyes of evil and hatred over powered his audiences and showed how the real Dillinger's mind actually worked.
This film will always portray the true story of JOHN DILLINGER!.
The bargain-basement movie studio, Monogram Pictures, managed to crank out a tough, exciting action picture based (very loosely) on the life of John Dillinger and made a sensation out of its star, Laurence Tierney, who at one point turns to the audience and fires his gun (shades of the 1903 shocker, "The Great Train Robbery").
"Dillinger" strains hard against its tiny budget, taking a lot of obvious short-cuts, including the liberal use of stock footage, but we nevertheless get a well-told story with plenty of action and violence.
Dillinger's gang includes the top-notch character actors, Edmund Lowe, Elisha Cook Jr., Eduardo Ciannelli and Marc Lawrence..
A pretty good B-film about the rise of John Dillinger.
I suppose it was his rather prickly personality that prevented Tierney from attaining the legendary status of some of his contemporaries but a look at "Dillinger" will make you wonder what would have been had he had the career his talent and charisma merits.If anyone plans to watch this on DVD I must say that John Milius' commentary is one of the worst and most superfluous I've ever heard.
It's possible a good deal was left on the cutting room floor of Monogram.Both Johnny Depp's Public Enemies and even more so the film Dillinger that starred Warren Oates in the title role were far closer to the truth than this was.
So if Dillinger and his kind were taking out withdrawals their way, who really cared?Dillinger while in prison for a two bit convenience store stickup meets up with old time bank robber Edmund Lowe and the rest of the gang which consists of Eduardo Ciannelli, Elisha Cook, and Marc Lawrence.
He also meets up with Anne Jeffreys who becomes the infamous lady in red.Certainly Depp and Oates got more out of the Dillinger role than Tierney did.
This film bears about as close a relation to the facts of Dillinger's life as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" did to that other set of outlaws.
It's amazing that a film made about a decade after the historical events could play so loosely with the truth, when the audience would no doubt remember the real story.It's also a cheap production, with re-usable sets, bad rear projections, and the substitution of California scenery for the Midwest of the story.
The acting isn't bad, but the script feels more like a set of snapshots being flipped as fast as a deck of cards.John Milius (who did his own Dillinger pic in the 70s) does a commentary on the DVD, which is interesting, but he's also unsure of many facts in the story.
Dillinger (1945) *** (out of 4) Incredibly fast moving Monogram flick tells the story of John Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) who rises to the top only to fall to the bottom again.
Lawrence Tierney plays Dillinger, who was America's Public Enemy Number One for a short while in the 1930s.
As it goes, the film is OK, there are good scenes and Tierney pulls off a menacing portrayal of a threatening gangster, whether it is a true depiction or not.Films like this make me go onto Wikipedia and read up about the characters – always a great past-time for afterwards..
The 60-minutes sort of tracks the infamous career of 1930's bank robber John Dillinger.Tierney is not so much an actor as he is a presence.
In short, he's perfect for the cold-blooded killer part.Tierney and director Nosseck may have hated each other, but Nosseck also sharpens the movie with his liking for abrupt violence.
Too bad actor Tierney couldn't limit his violence to the movies.
Nonetheless, good to see veteran tough guys Lawrence and Ciannelli picking up a payday, along with that fierce rabbit Elisha Cook Jr. Also, catch the always lovely and durable Anne Jeffreys as a blonde floozie, no less.
Max Nosseck directed this biographical tale of the rise and fall of real-life criminal John Dillinger, here played by Lawrence Tierney as a ruthless and menacing man who isn't afraid of anyone or anything.
He is sent to jail for armed robbery where he befriends gangster Specs Green(played by Edmund Lowe) and his associates(played by Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook, and Eduardo Ciannelli) He later leads a prison breakout with a wooden gun, then becomes part of the gang, eventually taking it over, though this later leads to lethal consequences for Dillinger when he takes his girlfriend Helen(played by Anne Jeffreys) to a movie theater where the police are waiting...
Well, in this movie the title character, John Dillinger, not only crosses lines but obliterates them.
This movie takes some liberties with the facts pertaining to the life of the actual John Dillinger, but otherwise succeeds in conveying the driving force that shaped his character - a propensity for violence.
This film biography is an entertaining movie of a total thug who took what he wanted at the point of a gun.
to protect the guilty, I suppose.In real life it was not his long-time squeeze but a hooker working for the FBI that finally lured him into the staked out movie theater.
The part of John Dillinger must have been red meat for Lawrence Tierney, the baddest of Hollywood's bad boys.
In all subsequent roles he was belligerent and humorless, and I can't recall ever seeing him crack a smile."The Lad In Red" is lovely Anne Jeffreys, and the gang members are all familiar faces; Elisha Cook, Jr., Eduardo Cianelli, Marc Lawrence, and in a change from his normally sophisticated roles, Edmund Lowe as the gang leader.
Next up as situated in the co-starring status is Anne Jeffreys, who had a long and productive career in film and television.FILLING OUT THE scorecard is a large contingent of guys who were no strangers to Crime Drama.
Perhaps his ascension to the level of "Star Status" was just a tad short; but he was around for some time, working right up to the year 2000.* ANOTHER INTERESTING OBSERVATION is how this film seemingly has influenced many other movies that followed.
The Movie made Real-Life Tough Guy Lawrence Tierney an On Screen Tough Guy Star.This B-Movie has Gained Exceptional Stature over the Years and is a Gangster-Noir of the First Order.
The movie plays fast and loose with history, mixing fact and fiction at will, but almost to be expected when dealing with Dillinger and at least this film doesn't masquerade as a documentary like so much of the infotainment on TV these days.Blessed with matinée idol's looks and an ex-con's temperament Lawrence Tierney was the perfect actor to play Dillinger.
I suppose in '45 they were still worried about glamourizing Dillinger, but these qualms didn't seem to slow them throughout the rest of the picture.All in all, a tremendous B-movie that hints at what Lawrence Tierney could have been if his many mis-steps hadn't gotten in the way..
Fantastic, bare-knuckled trip through the lives and times of John Dillinger with a menacing and compelling Laurence Tierney!.
In fact, it's much better than DETOUR- the King Brothers sense of narrative economy and relentless, fast-paced storytelling make this a compelling ride throughout, while Ulmer's film only really gets interesting once Ann Savage shows up.Tierney is fascinating, frightening and utterly dominating as Dillinger, and he barely even has to raise his voice to do so.
Tierney plays more towards the vicious killer angle, though his eyes are both suspicious and strangely sad.The film, made for Monogram, was very low budget and it shows.
Anne Jeffreys does very well as Dillinger's gun moll and I was pleased that Nosseck's film didn't take the "Hollywood" route and turn events into a love story.
Lowe, a veteran of many films, gets one of his best roles here.I also enjoyed how Nosseck (because, I suppose, due to the Hayes Production Code, but he also cuts away when he has the opportunity to show more violence) cuts away from some of Tierney's most violent acts, such as glassing a waiter and killing a double-crossing gang member with an axe.
Amazing that 60+ years ago the low-budget Monogram Pictures made this Dillinger movie 9 times better than Universal's 2009 sorry looking mess, "Public Enemies." This 1945 movie grabs you from the opening credits and keeps your interest for the entire 70 minutes.
There's no need to pad this story into a 2 hour + boring mess.To begin with, and all-important, it's true that Lawrence Tierney was born to play Dillinger.
In the 1945 gut-level film we have a bored and broke Dillinger taking his girl to the neighborhood movie for a few laughs.
I am not saying that "Dillinger" is a brilliant or must-see film, but it definitely was unusual for 1945 and way ahead of its time.
Although it's supposed to be the story of the most-wanted bank robber, John Dillinger, the filmmakers did very little to get the facts right.
I just didn't understand why the film LOOKED like 1945--especially when Dillinger died in 1934.
It really crosses the line in its telling of Dillinger's story, from small-time crook (who robbed a convenience store so he could buy his girlfriend a drink) to the most wanted man of the gangster days.
Like the lovers in "Detour" and the film noir masterpiece "Gun Crazy", they are desperate, unapologetic for their breaking of the law, and doomed from the start.There are some wonderful touches in the film, particularly a jail sequence where Tierney makes a wooden gun to escape from prison, and the revenge he takes on Edmund Lowe, his earlier crime boss.
And the final sequence, with Dillinger's well-known demise after coming out of a movie theater (watching the gangster picture "Manhattan Melodrama"), is nothing short of classic.
The old guy turns out to be Pa Dillinger, Victor Kilon, the father of the person the movie is all about gangster John Dillinger,Lawrence Tierney, who gives us the audience the true story about his son John the most wanted man, by the police, in America in the mid-1930's who's still a legend in the world of crime today.A bit overdone in Dillinger murdering a number of people, in real life he only killed one, but still very accurate film about his exploits in crime committed with his forming the "Dillinger Gang" that terrorized the mid-west from 1933-34 robbing about a dozen banks as well as, I kid you not, two police stations.
That's until it, the crime spree, finally came to an end in urban Chicago with Dillinger, the last surviving gang member, shot down by the FBI and local police leaving the Biograph Theater after watching the movie "Manhattan Melodrama".
It turned out that the woman he took out for his last date the "Woman in Red", Ann Jeffrey, was the one who set Dillinger up for the kill.Were shown Dillinger's career in crime as a young man who first gets busted for a $7.20 stick up of a grocery store who later became involved with his cell mate Specs Green, Edmund Lowe, to form the notorious Spec Gang that terrorized mid-west banks and brokerage houses at the height of the great depression.
Feeling that Spec is not tough enough like he is Dillinger later took over the gang-After dispatching Spec- and did things or robberies his way. |
tt0120915 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | The opening crawl reveals that the Trade Federation, led by its Viceroy Nute Gunray, has blockaded the planet of Naboo in hope of resolving a galactic trade dispute. Chancellor Valorum (Terence Stamp) of the Galactic Republic, sends Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) on a secret mission to meet with the Trade Federation to settle the crisis. Unknown to them, the Trade Federation is in league with the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who orders them to invade Naboo with their immense droid army and also to kill the two Jedi. Following a failed attempt to force their way into Gunray's command center, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape and flee to the surface of Naboo, where they meet local Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best). As Jar Jar brings them to an underwater Gungan settlement, the Trade Federation captures Naboo's leader, Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). Through a Jedi mind trick, Qui-Gon secures a submarine, which he, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar use to reach the capital of Naboo and rescue Queen Amidala and her escort. The group departs for Coruscant, the Galactic Republic's capital planet, to seek help from the Senate.During the escape, the ship is attacked by the Federation blockade, forcing R2-D2, one of the ship's droids, to fix the shields. The attack damages the ship's hyperdrive, forcing the party to land on the desert planet of Tatooine for repairs. While searching for needed parts, Qui-Gon and a handmaiden named Padmé befriend young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), a nine-year-old human slave gifted in piloting and mechanics. Qui-Gon senses a strong presence of the Force in Anakin, and feels that he may be the "Chosen One" an individual the Jedi believe will fulfill a prophecy by bringing balance to the Force. At Anakin's insistence, Qui-Gon enters Anakin into the Boonta Eve Podrace in a bid with Anakin's master, Watto, to gain the needed parts as well as Anakin's freedom. Anakin eludes several obstacles including rival racer Sebulba to win the race, gaining his freedom and bankrupting Watto. After hesitation, Anakin leaves his mother and his droid, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), behind on Tatooine to go with the Jedi. As the group prepares to depart, they are attacked by the Sith apprentice Darth Maul (Ray Park), who battles Qui-Gon until the heroes escape.On Coruscant, Qui-Gon informs the Jedi Council of the mysterious, well-trained attacker. The Council becomes concerned that this may indicate the reappearance of the Sith, an opposing order that followed the dark side of the Force and had long ago disappeared. Qui-Gon informs the Council about Anakin, hoping that he can be trained as a Jedi. After testing the boy the Council refuses, worried that he is too old for training and that the fear and anger that he harbors will cloud his future. Meanwhile, Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) of Naboo persuades Amidala to call a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. The vote removes Valorum from power and leads to Palpatine's nomination for the position, which Amidala considers too late to be effective. To stop the Federation invasion by herself, the Queen decides to return to Naboo with her security team, the two Jedi, R2-D2, Anakin, and Jar Jar.On Naboo, Padmé reveals herself as Queen Amidala and forms an alliance with the Gungans for the battle against the Trade Federation. The Gungans march into battle to divert the Federation army away from the capital, allowing the others to infiltrate the palace. Once inside the palace hangar, the Jedi free several Naboo pilots, who regain their starfighters and assault the Federation droid ship. As they make their way to the throne room, the infiltration team is confronted by Darth Maul. Qui-Gon and Obi Wan engage Maul while the others take an alternate route. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan duel with the Sith Lord amongst the catwalks of a massive power-generating reactor core. Obi-Wan is briefly delayed, separating him from Qui-Gon and Maul. Meanwhile, Queen Amidala and her forces fight their way into the palace and capture Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation. Anakin - who inadvertently joined the dogfight in space - destroys the droid-control ship's reactor with proton torpedoes, which deactivates the droid army in the midst of taking Gungan prisoners. In the reactor core, Qui-Gon re-engages Darth Maul singlehandedly, but is mortally wounded. Obi-Wan catches up with and defeats Maul in another intense lightsaber battle. With his final breath, Qui-Gon instructs Obi-Wan to train Anakin to become a Jedi.In the aftermath, the newly elected Chancellor Palpatine congratulates Queen Amidala on her victory and promises to watch Anakin's career with great interest. Meanwhile, the Jedi Council promotes Obi-Wan to the level of Jedi Knight, and Yoda reluctantly accepts Obi-Wan's request to train Anakin as his padawan. During Qui-Gon's funeral, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and Yoda (Frank Oz) agree that Maul was killed by Obi-Wan. However, because there are always two Sith at any given time (a master and an apprentice), they believe that another Sith still exists, although who is that Sith is uncertain. A large celebration is held on Naboo to celebrate the world's liberation and the newborn alliance between the Naboo and the Gungans. | good versus evil, cult, fantasy, action, boring | train | imdb | Qui-Gon believed in Anakin from the first second and believed in him to the end; most likely he understood the suffering and upheavals that promised further training of the boy for the Galaxy and for himself, but in one thing he was certain that in the final analysis Skywalker would return the Force to equilibrium ...Finishing on the major note of universal jubilation and festivities, "Episode I: The Hidden Menace" at first glance does not justify its mysterious and menacing title.
Somehow, Lucas manages to keep the emotional reactions of his characters to a minimum, which gives the film an almost mechanical feel.It's true that "A New Hope" never showed Alderaan's inhabitants, but we still could feel the tragedy of the planet's destruction through the horrified reactions of Princess Leia and Obi Wan. Moreover, there were many other involving events which we witnessed directly, such as the slaying of rebels at the beginning; the capture and torture of the princess; and the murder of Luke's foster parents.
The scenes where Qui Gon negotiates with the birdlike slave-owner Watto are amusing and well-done--probably the movie's best scenes aside from the stunning action sequences--but they can't hold a candle to the constant interactions throughout the first trilogy.One thing I cannot do is accuse the film of lacking creativity.
One could go with the impressive state-of-the-art digital effects, one could go with the great cast of new characters (the awesome Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, for instance), the return of old favorites (Kenny Baker as R2D2 or Frank Oz as Yoda), John Williams' ever-wonderful score, the complicated story (I won't bother discussing the plot; everyone knows what it's about by now) or the awesome action sequences (the light saber duel at the end of the film is the best!).
I was excited for the chance to see a new Star Wars film, but I took no expectations into the theater with me -- I went in ready for nothing and walked away very satisfied.
I loved this movie, and it has become one of my favorite Star Wars films (alongside A New Hope).
Compare "Phantom Menace" to most any other fantasy/sci-fi film, and it has to rate very high indeed.Plot: this is the more "adult" side of the Star Wars galaxy.
And our first glimpse of Coruscant has got to be one of the most memorable "wow" moments in the history of the movies.Characters: Liam Neeson's Qui Gon is one of the strongest characters in the Star Wars films, and Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan a worthy, more-dashing successor to the older version created by Alec Guinness.
I'd rate the three-way duel in Phantom Menace as the second-best sword fight in the Star Wars series, close after the finale of Return of the Jedi.
On paper I'm sure the first half hour looked fantastic but I found myself sitting in the theatre going - 'hey, great special effect shot there!' I wasn't involved in the story and the scenes lacked tension and danger.2) The film only truly started for me on reaching Tatooine.
This chapter in the Star Wars Sage is vastly underrated, and is always given the short end of the stick by the so-called Star Wars purists.These are the people that live for the original trilogy and will never ever realize the flaws those movies have, but will always look for anything to criticize about the new ones.That is the wrong attitude to take towards this movie.If you hate the movie because you hate Jar Jar and the Gungans, then you are required to hate The Return of the Jedi because of C-3PO and the Ewoks.
Which, let's face it, is what it was meant to be.If you come into this movie expecting a fresh, new take on Star Wars which broadens the universe, then you won't be disappointed.
I was curious with all of these stuff but when I watched all the three Star Wars movies, I began to understand what George Lucas, the creator of the popular sci-fi saga itself, was trying to accomplish: explore the awe and wonders of our ever expanding universe.
And now, 22 years after the release of the first movie, George Lucas and his entire crew at Lucasfilm bring the most anticipated movie of 1999, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a very enjoyable movie that may even attract those who are not widely known to the Star Wars universe.
Check out Star Wars' introduction.)We can see at last see the "old" republic and how it worked and functioned; in fact setting the background for the events to come.We have in this movie all the elements of the originals with touches of Lucas' magic: the queen's incredible dresses, the computer generated characters which completely blend in the action, Darth Maul's painted face (which has some asian influence in it) and the human interactions master/student conflicts, tricks, jokes and deceptions.All in all a 10-star movie!.
The reason why I say this is cause George Lucas once said that every Star Wars film are intended to be one big movie split into six parts telling a very complex story.
I actually think of this an underrated film cause a lot of people don't listen to what George Lucas has to say of the Star Wars saga is intended to be and how it's to be structured.
But as a part of a larger story, it gets a 10 out of 10 cause in the long run, it's the very elements of what happens in the film that really make it matter in the Star Wars saga.
This movie is a backdrop - an introduction of the Star Wars Universe, the Republic, the Jedi, Other characters and the Trade Federation.
But now that this has all been done, I believe that the action will kick into full swing with "Attack of the Clones" (Episode II) Check out the documentaries on the Official site.....especially "trying to do my thing" Take a look at our next Anakin.....I think we all will be pleasantly surprised with what the next movie has to offer.
Dialogue is flat and perfunctory (don't expect to be dazzled by repartee); the story lacks the beauty of the first Star Wars film and the tension of the second ...
The special effects have actually deteriorated, and to make matters worse, there are more of them.So the defence that `The Phantom Menace' is allowed to be a poor movie because it really wasn't trying to be something great in the first place, just won't wash.
The whole experience, from the crowd cheering and excitement as the words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" appeared, to the music, the opening scenes as Qui Gon and Obi Won battled the droids, to the escape of Queen Amidala, to the pod racing, to the unleashing of Darth Maul, to the climatic fight, etc., etc.!
Pros: script, score, incredible special effects, light saber battles, costumes.Cons: Jar Jar Binks, lacks the humor of a Han Solo-like character.My earlier review of the Phantom Menace was a bit harsh and I criticized it for being too childish.
Seeing Qui Gon Jinn and a younger Obi Wan Kenobi duking it out with Darth Maul will bring yelps of excitement out of a any Star Wars fan.3) The force: With this film, we witness the Jedi Council as they once were and the Jedis for what mighty warriors they were, and also the force is very strong with this film.
It also gives us great character analyzation for vader instead of people remembering him as a man with a hockey max who couldn't breath well.Hopefully with this points, some of you may realize as I have come to realize that Episode 1 deserves its rightful place in the trilogy as the one that started it all.Premise: A federation aims to capture the small planet of Naboo to pressure the senate to conform to thier views.Episode 1 was nominated for a couple of razzies.Grade: 9.8/10 (An underappeciated classic).
When I read some of people's comments on Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace I was slightly dismayed.It is true that it is more of a kid's film; but unless I recall incorrectly weren't the others?
The only film that stands on its own is The Original Star Wars...does that make it the best i don't know?
This film like any other will attract good or bad comments from the critics and the ordinary movie going public..its the division of Star Wars fans that troubles me.
now having seen all six especially the prequel trilogy leading up to Obi-Wan's death it means that much more to me as I now know the HISTORY.The essential problem with TPM is that people were expecting a film as tense and exciting as the first three combined whereas what they got was more if a Luke-warm introduction.
But that wasn't enough.Sadly, had Lucas made a film that was little more than a remake of STAR WARS with Anakin in the Luke role, fans would have been happy.
And I think that says more about the limited scope of STAR WARS fans than it does about the talents of George Lucas.THE PHANTOM MENACE, like all the films in the series, has it's own unique tone and flavor.
Sure there are a few clichés throughout this film that serve as minor annoyances but they don't in any way inhibit that "magic" from shining through.Episode 1 is a fine edition to the Star Wars saga, and one that did not deserve the rampant criticism it received by many.
I watched the three films for more than a hundred times and although I think that Episode 1 is even better.I guess that the old three films were loved by so many people for very different reasons.
No the golden gay was not!The digital effects are amazing and the created worlds of Theed,Coruscant and the Gungan World are perfect.Two full-skilled Jedi fighting against armies of droids and an incredible final battle make this movie my favourite.Although I can hardly wait for "Lord of the Rings" I'm sure that it will never compete with Episode1,2,3.May the force be with you!.
Familiar lines, characters who one would think are looking for a way to phone home (see trivia on this movie) and some wonderful foreshadowing make this film so great.The biggest thing to remember is that once again we are only seeing the first of three chapters.
This guy is one of the most evil people I have ever seen.This movie keeps the tradition of Star Wars by entertaining the masses with out the need for senseless violence, foul language, or any kind of nudity.
After waiting for more than 15 years, we at the end have received an Star Wars prequel the fulfills all the fans want to see.More than excellent visual and sound effects, and of course light sabers as in no other SW movie before.A must for any future fiction fan..
This film is a joyful adventure, with a great story.The character of Jar Jar is often another point of hate from 'older fans'.
Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace is a great film and a fantastic science-fiction movie.9.6/10.
I am only a little older from watching and enjoying the original films so I had the same interests when it came to watching Star Wars Episode I.The hype did the film no good at all.
People who didn't like star wars in the first place went to watch the film and of course the majority wouldn't like it now.
Since this was a "Star Wars" movie, I wasn't expecting really deep story-telling or Oscar caliber acting.
George Lucas has succeeded once again in creating an awesome movie with great effects, characters, and an ironic, brilliant storyline.
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is written, produced and directed by George Lucas and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd and Ian McDiarmid.
So yes, full of flaws (many others exist for different people of course), but the whizz bangery of the action and set pieces keep it, to my mind, far away from stinker status.The pod race, a souped up extension to Return of the Jedi's speed-biker pursuits, is one of the series' highlights, as is the showdown between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul (Ray Park), a superbly cool villain with an even cooler double ended light sabre.
Although it looks amazing I found The Phantom Menace to be hugely disappointing, the story was poor and it just didn't feel like a Star Wars film.
Hoping to see more better Star Wars movie like episode 1/2/3/4/5 and 6.
I really don't get the hate for Jar Jar Binks; I actually liked this silly concept; silliness is being present in all the Star Wars movies anyway.
And also I think Jar Jar Binks is a rather underrated character I know he can be annoying at times but he did play a large role in this film which fans are missing the point.
I think the film was alright, I mean it could have been better with some parts, but overall it was good.This film now goes back and stars back when Anakin is young boy, being discovered by two Jedis and is sent to the Jedi council sensing that he is strong in the force.There were some problems with this film, mainly Jar-Jar Binks, who is more annoying than some people I know in life.
With a proper explanation, the film could've felt more like 'The Beginning' instead of 'Starting a certain point-in-time in the Star Wars Universe'.NOW!
just an obedient Obi-One, a politically motivated Queen Amidala, and a Jedi Qui-gon.Overall, it IS good, and I think the reason most people were disappointed with it was because they had in mind certain little things that made it obvious Anakin turns into Darth Vader - in the movie, Anakin is an innocent little boy, not someone who will obviously become evil, for example.I recommend it..
First,let me start by saying that I have seen all the movies in the Star Wars Series.I have to say George Lucas did not disappoint with this movie.The other two movies were great also.
You also get to see Anakin the pilot start to emerge in this movie.The movie shows what it was like before the empire was formed and also how Senator Palpatine(Darth Sidious,Emperor)Ian McDiarmid came to power and also what kind of people Luke and Leia's parents were.(Padme and Anakin) Ian McDiarmid played the role of the evil emperor(Senator Palpatine)flawlessly.It is the introduction of the Republic,"The Jedi"The Sith" and other characters that will make up the Star Wars universe and it also introduces the Trade Federation.I just want to make a quick comment on the young actor that they got to play Anakin.Jake Lloyd was very good as Anakin Skywalker.After all(Darth Vader)had to start off as an innocent child like anyone else.I don't know why everyone was so critical of the actor,I mean give me a break he is a "kid" after all,give him a chance I am sure that as he gets older he will get better as an actor.I liked when it was time for Young Anakin to leave Tatoonie it really was bittersweet.He is upset that he is leaving his mother but he tells her that he will be back for her.However,as you will see when he does finally go back for her it is already to late.I thought those scenes were very powerful.You will see his anger start to emerge at what has happened to his mother but that scene is in the next movie(AOTC).You will see his anger and his conflicting emotions come to a head in the last movie(ROTS).You also see a little bit of the dark side start to emerge in Anakin in (AOTC).Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn meets the young Anakin Skywalker and he feels that he is destined for great things.I also liked the pod-race scenes,it was exciting and the effects were great.The special effects in this movie were very good and they are even better in the next two movies.The Phantom Menace is also the beginning of the love story between Anakin and Padme.It develops in to something really big in AOTC.The costumes in all of the movies were fantastic.Trisha Biggar is a great costume designer.The music in all of the Star Wars movies is great.John William's is a fantastic composer.George Lucas really did really well by getting him to do the musical scores for all of his movies.I liked the music in all of the movies especially the "Duel of Fates and Anakin's theme",I also liked Anakin and Padme's love theme in the second movie it was beautiful.
After u see the movie u will realise that although Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kanobi had the supernatural powers , they couldn't save the people single handedly.They needed the help of normal guys like Hansolo ,the rebel members,the water species etc.6) one of the best things of star wars is, that its background music relates to the story in a brilliant manner.The movie is well made and well acted.The characters are well portrayed.The locations and the creativity(like the Revolving Senate) are truly fantastic.In the end ,the answer to the question"how good the movie is?" depends on how well u understand it.Mean while , May the Force be with U , Always....khabc.
Sure, it didn't live up to the original Star Wars movies, but how could it?Many people complain about a weak plot.
Many people considers this film disappointing, I don't think so, it's a great movie.
Like everyone else in the western world, I couldn't wait to see the prequel to the Star Wars movies that I loved as a kid.
He was probably one of the few characters that everyone wanted to know and see more of.Overall, the movie was entertaining but it did lack a bit of the Star Wars feel to it. |
tt0043315 | Ballot Box Bunny | Yosemite Sam runs for mayor of a small town, and in his campaign speech, he makes several empty promises like "There's enough fresh air and sunshine in this great country of ours for everybody - and I'll see to it that you'll get your share!" As the speech continues, we see that Bugs Bunny is drinking carrot juice beneath Sam's podium. When Sam pledges to make good on a previous promise "to rid this country of every last rabbit", Bugs decides that the best way to fight him is to run for mayor against him. Bugs soon tries to win the townspeople over with Theodore Roosevelt's famous quote "I speak softly, but I carry a big stick!", which leads Sam to declare "I speak LOUD and I carry a BIGGER stick, and I use it too!".Sam has several tricks up his sleeve, but Bugs finds a way to answer every one. When Sam steals Bugs' cigar stand, Bugs switches the "Smello" cigars he had been selling for five-cent "Atom" explosive cigars (the box includes the slogan "You Will Get A BANG Out of This"). Sam gives a cigar to a man, but after the cigar explodes, the man punches Sam in the face. Sam then sends a box full of "assorted" picnic ants to steal all of the food at Bugs' picnic, which leads Bugs to hide a stick of dynamite in a watermelon being stolen.Sam rigs up a cannon at the front door of Bugs' headquarters, then turns up at the back door greeting Bugs in a friendly manner. When he taps his foot on the floor, he suggests that someone is knocking at the front door, and Bugs leaves Sam and goes to answer it, but this plan backfires when Bugs tells Sam that it was someone for him, and she said to mention St. Louis, which leads Sam to think that a pretty girl named Emma is there. Sam runs to the front door, opens it and gets shot by his own cannon.Sam's next challenge is to ask Bugs if he can "play the pi-anna". Bugs accepts, so Sam rigs an explosive in a particular piano key, and presents the piano to Bugs with a sheet of music containing the tune "Those Endearing Young Charms". When Bugs plays the tune, he deliberately hits a sour note that avoids the explosive key. When Bugs gets the note wrong a second time, it infuriates Sam, who shows Bugs how to play the tune correctly, and falls for his own trap by playing the note that sets off the explosion.After this, Sam and Bugs engage in a short pursuit through the streets of the town, which ends when they come across a parade that celebrates the newly-elected mayor - a chestnut horse who rides in a car bearing a sign that says "Our New Mare" - a literal "dark horse" candidate. This leads Bugs to make the odd suggestion to Sam to play a game of Russian Roulette and hand a gun to Sam. Sam agrees to the game, points the gun to his head, closes his eyes, pulls the trigger and hears the click of an empty barrel. Sam then passes the gun to Bugs, who points it to his head, closes his eyes and pulls the trigger as the film irises out into black in the middle. We hear the sound of a gunshot, then the film irises in on the left hand side to reveal a ducking Bugs, who holds a smoking gun as he says "I missed". A second iris appears on the right hand side to show Sam, who appears scorched and is missing his hat as a result of being hit in the face by Bugs' wayward shot. After Sam says "I hate that rabbit!", both sides of the film iris out for good. | psychedelic | train | imdb | null |
tt0082966 | Quella villa accanto al cimitero | A young woman (Daniela Doria) in an old abandoned house is looking for her boyfriend Steven who has taken her there for sex. The young woman discovers her boyfriend's horribly mutilated dead body when she gets stabbed through the back of her head with a sharp kitchen knife by an unseen person. The killer drags the woman's body through a door leading to the cellar.New York City, several months later. A young boy named Bob (Giovanni Frezzi), and his parents Norman and Lucy Boyle (Paolo Malco and Catriona MacColl) are preparing to move to a new house in New England just outside Boston previous occupied by Normans ex-colleague, Dr. Peterson, who recently murdered his mistress before committing suicide. The Boyles are to spend six months at the house, whilst Norman finishes his research project of old houses at the request of his employer Professor Muller (director Lucio Fulci). As his mother packs, Bob looks at the photograph of a sinister-looking old house, hanging on the Boyles wall. In it, he sees a young girl warning him to stay away.In New Whitby, Boston, Bob waits in his parents car while they pick up their house keys at the estate office. He makes further contact with the girl in the photo, who this time appears across the street. Despite the distance between them, Bob and the girl (Silvia Collatina), who introduces herself as Mae, can hear each other without opening the car windows. Mae again warns Bob to stay away. In the real estate office, the friendly Mrs. Gittelson (Dagmar Lassander) is annoyed with her laconic colleague Harold, who hands the couple "the Freudstein keyes." "It's Oak Mansion, Harold," she insists. She seems to recognize Dr. Boyle and asks him if hes been to New Whitby before. Norman says that he hasn't. Accompanying the family to Oak Mansion, Mrs. Gittelson promises to arrange for a babysitter to drop by. Lucy is struck the by the resemblance between the house in the photograph and their new home. But Norman seems strangely disinterested.Inside, the old house is spacious, but in a poor state of repair. They notice in the kitchen that the cellar door is locked and nailed shut. As they start unpacking, a strange young woman arrives and introduces herself as Anne the babysitter (Ania Pieroni). That night, Norman hears noises and on rising to investigate, finds Anne unblocking the cellar door. The next day, Norman goes to the local library to look over Dr. Petersons materials. Mr. Wheatley the librarian (Carlo De Mejo) also seems to recognize him and asks if he's been to the town before. Norman again replies that he has not. The assistant librarian Daniel Douglas (Giampaolo Saccarola) informs Norman that Dr. Peterson has conducted private research at the old house. Hed been studying records of disappearances in the area over the last several years as well as medical reports and death certificates, none of which has any relevance to his official studies.In the wild undergrowth around the house, Mae shows Bob a tombstone bearing the name of Mary Freudstein and says that the woman is not really dead. Indoors, Lucy finds a tombstone set into the floor. It bears the name Jacob Tess Freudstein. Scared and confused by her discovery, she hears noises emanating from all over the house and breaks down screaming. When Norman returns home, he reassures his distraught wife that its quite normal for some old houses in the region to have indoor tombs, because of the hard wintery ground. Producing a set of keys and a flashlight, Norman opens the cellar door and proceeds to walk down the stairs only be attacked by a large bat, which sinks its teeth into his hand and proves incredibly hard to get off. Norman stabs at its loasome pulpy body over and over in which the things oozes globs of blood before dropping dead to the kitchen floor. Now completely spooked, the family drives down to the estate officce where they demand to be rehoused. Their demands are met with exaggerated yawns from Harold. They are told they will have to wait just a few more days before they can move somewhere else. "That Freudstein place" he intones as they leave.The next day while the Boyles are at the hospital to look over Norman's injury caused by the bat, Mrs. Gittelson arrives at the house to tell the family that a property has been found for them. When no one answers her knock, she lets herself in. When she casually stands on the Freudstein tombstone, it cracks apart, grinding her ankle. As she struggles to free herself, an apparently cadaverous figure (unseen except for a normal left arm and a rotting right forearm) emerges from the cellar and attacks her with a fireplace poker, stabbing her repeatedly in the neck. Mrs. Gittelson bleeds to death when blood jets from her multiple wounds and she's dragged to the cellar.The next morning, Lucy finds Anne scrubbing up a huge bloodstain on the kitchen floor leading to the closed cellar door. When asked what she is doing, Anne is noncommittal and eludes Lucy's attempts to talk. At a local coffee shop in town, Norman tells Lucy that he's discovered that the mysterious Dr. Freudstein was a turn-of-the-century surgeon with a penchant for illegal experiments. Norman tells Lucy that he will be traveling back to New York for more research on Dr. Freudstein, telling Lucy that he will be away until well after nightfall. On the way, Norman drops by the library and finds a cassette recording of Dr. Peterson, whos deranged ramblings explain the horrific circumstantial which drove him to suicide. He was not the killer of his mistress and children, but the ghoulish Dr. Fredustein was.Back at the house, Anne goes down into the cellar looking for Bob, when she is attacked and decapitated by the still-unseen Dr. Freudstein. Bob goes down to investigate, when he sees Anne's severed head come rolling down the metal stairs and runs back screaming, just in time to avoid being shut in with the monstrous denizen. Lucy at first refuses to believe the frantic Bob's wild tale about Anne being killed. However, Lucy cannot find any trace of Anne anywhere in the house. That evening, after his mother has gone to bed, Bob returns to the cellar with a flashlight to look for Anne. The door behind him slams shut, and glowing eyes peer at him from the darkness.Lucy is woken up by Bob's frenzied shrieks for help, and she tries to open the cellar door. The key snaps. Lucy tries using a knife as jimmy, but it too snaps. As Lucy panics, Norman arrives back and attacks the cellar door with an axe. On the other side, the rotting hands of Dr. Freudstein (Giovanni De Nava) appear and hold Bob's head to the wooden panels. Normans axe blows come dangerously close to Bob's head, missing his son by a fraction of an inch. One blow chops off the monster's left hand, and he staggers away in pain from the door, dragging the unconscious Bob with him.At last, the cellar reveals its secrets opening up in full view to reveal a charnel house of mutilated bodies, its shadowy recesses dotted with surgical equipment and a gore-streaked pathology slab. The horribly deformed Dr. Freudstein is shown as a rotting living corpse with shrunken in eyes, and rotting flesh. As the couple ventures into the cellar to rescue their son, Norman breathlessly fills Lucy in on the details of his find. The 150-year-old Freudstein has apparently discovered a way of keeping himself alive by using the hacked up body parts of his victims to regenerate his blood cells. Norman attempts to attack Freudstein, but the revolting-looking ghoul twists the axe from Norman's grip. Norman then grabs a knife off the surgical tray and rams it into Freudstein's gut releasing a sickening stew of maggots and corrupted blood. Although wounded, the monstrous Freudstein continues to attack. Lucy and Bob watch in horror as Freudstein picks up Norman and literally ripps his throat out with his one rotting hand. Lucy and Bob spot a metal ladder in the corner of the basement which leads up to the cracked tombstone in the living room floor. With the ghastly monster standing between them and the cellar door, their only hope is to climb up the metal ladder and try to push apart the two stone segments to escape. Lucy strains desperately to shift the stone, but her ankle is grabbed by the perusing Dr. Freudstein. As Bob clings to the topmost rung, he sees his mother pulled down, her head battered by each metal step down. Freudstein finishes off Lucy by ramming her head into the concrete cellar floor, splattering it like a melon. As Freudstein advances up the metal latter to the helpless Bob, the little boy strains to escape by forcing his head through the jagged aperture. At the last minute, as Freudstein clutches the boy's ankle, Bob is yanked up and out of reach by unseen hands to find Mae standing before him. But with Mae is the 19th Century figure of her mother, Mary Freudstein (Teresa Rossi Passante), who gently urges them to leave for other people will no doubt drop in for her husband's continuing research for eternal life. Mrs. Freudstein leads Mae and Bob away from the house and down the wintery grove into a netherworld of ghosts and sadness.Quote from Henry James: "No one will ever know whether children are monsters, or monsters are children." | cruelty, grindhouse film, murder, cult, violence, horror, flashback, insanity, sadist | train | imdb | "The House by the Cemetery", is a sinister horror movie by Lucio Fulci.
I think we ought to accept by now that several Italian horror movies, let alone the ones directed by Mr. Fulci, are not exactly to be praised because of their plot and exceedingly appropriate logic.
The high point in "The House by the Cemetery", along with many other films directed by Lucio Fulci, is without doubt the atmosphere and pleasant demonstration of fear-provoking imagery.In "The House by the Cemetery", Dr. Boyle moves to the countryside in New England with his wife, Lucy and his obnoxious little son, Bobby.
The sequence in which we see the family trying to fight against this outlandish creature, taken from Mr. Fulci's worst nightmares, is by far one of the most shocking and professionally made scenes I have witnessed in a horror movie.
I think "The House by the Cemetery" is one of those films that only pleases horror fans who can appreciate Mr. Fulci's movies for what they are, instead of focusing on the ambiguity and the lack of logic.
Like all Fulci's films there are some problems including some bad acting, annoying dubbed voices, multiple plot holes and things that come up but are never hinted at or talked about again but overall the film conveys a frightening atmosphere (which Fulci is great at), excellent FX and gore effects (with one possible exception, lets just say it involves a bat), a great musical score and one of my favorite and most horrific villains ever put on screen.
Deemed by many fans as being one of Fulci's most 'goriest', I prepared myself for countless scenes of bloodshed and gore and instead got nothing more than the usual pap featured in the countless horror films of the 1980's and a few dust bunnies that were blowing across the floor.Fulci, the king of gore, has proven in the past with such films as "ZOMBIE", "THE BEYOND" and "CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD", that a movie with a terribly thin plot and terrible actors can still entertain with high levels of unnecessary and perhaps redundant gore - but "HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY" is an entirely different story altogether.Fulci continues his usual tradition by casting the worst bunch of actors that could be scrounged up at the local playhouse and giving them a ridiculous script/dialogue to be delivered while giving the audience countless camera shots that pan across the eyes of the actors as they try to make sense of the imminent danger that they have been put in.
Thanks to the ludicrous 'voice overs' provided by a woman who also dubs the voice for a little girl, she makes Bob look and sound incredibly stupid every time he opens his mouth to say something.Nothing is quite believable by the time the troupe move into the 'Freudstein House', as known by the realtor and her assistant, 'Oak House' to Norm and Lucy.
Other than that, no scenes of further violence take place until at least an hour into the movie if you don't count the scene involving a decapitated mannequin as witnessed first-hand by Bob and later through an un-related flashback by Nancy (!!!).Some above-par gore scenes contained in "HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY" would include a man getting his throat torn out and a woman meeting her demise with a screw-driver type implement after she gets her foot stuck in a crack in the floor!
Other than that, there is very little body count contained in the film and one death scene is just plain confusing which involves a woman getting dragged down a set of stairs by her feet, hitting every step on the way down with her head!Only one scene stood out for me in this movie and that was when the realtor backs out of the driveway after leading the family to their new home, accidently knocking over a tombstone to which she yells, "DAMN TOMBSTONE!" before speeding off in a cloud of dust.
Lucio Fulci had been working steadily in Italian cinema since the late fifties, and he achieved critical acclaim for genre efforts like Four Gunmen of the Apocalypse and The Psychic, but he still hadn't found his own personnel film-making forte.
With such a great crew at his disposal and a genuinely creepy location to create some gore drenched set pieces, House by the Cemetery looked set to be the greatest slasher movie ever filmed
It opens inside a spacious dilapidated house that bares a striking resemblance to Amityville.
Anyway, after a few more gory shenanigans, including a psychotic bat and Anne violently loosing her head, the family realize that they're not alone in the mansion, and finally they try to escape
Sadly, House by the Cemetery is one of Fulci's least credible creations, which pales remarkably in comparison with his efforts like the giallo Don't Torture a Duckling.
This resulted in the movie looking like it was inadequately written - with a poor sense of continuity, which left one too many gaping plot holes that should have been filled before the film's completion.
I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie (I used to be a real FULCI-fan) and I think it`s a real pitty that today`s horror flicks miss this piece of atmosphere and hard suspense!
Any fan of Maestro Fulci's work, or of the horror genre in general must try to see this film.Film fans who are familiar with Fulci's visual techniques and atmospheric elements will not be disappointed, as that "The House By The Cemetery" has all of the familiar elements (maggots, a zombi, foreboding omens galore), but the real difference here is in the film's perspective.
It drags pretty much the whole way through until about the last 15 minutes or so, and although there are a few cool gore scenes, and the ending is surprisingly "downbeat"- it just doesn't make up for the poor pacing of the rest of the film...The story is about a guy and his wife and kid who move from New York to New England.
I'd recommend this one to hardcore Fulci fans or general Italian horror fans - but only after checking out some of Fulci's superior films such as THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE, THE GATES OF HELL, THE NEW YORK RIPPER and A CAT IN THE BRAIN, to name a few...a pretty generous 6/10 - and that's only because it ended on a high note....
After plundering the Gates of Hell in not one but two consecutive films, Lucio Fulci went back to basics with "House by the Cemetery," a tale that apes "The Shining" only on the most superficial level, and tells a story that--despite some ambiguity and confusing plot points--is relatively linear.
While "Cemetery" shows Fulci's most polished direction since his early-'70s gialli, the story is actually less engaging than the incoherent muddles of "City of the Living Dead" and "The Beyond"--I've praised him for his methods of capturing nightmarish imagery on-screen, but this film is almost TOO conventional.
This was the second film directed by Fulci I watched (first one being Zombie 2), and I must say that I'm completely satisfied with it Movie is low budget (but then I don't really care about budgets), but it looks & works well.
Italian horror mastermind Lucio Fulci in his element: "Quella villa accanto al cimitero" is another creepy flick which contains a mixture between gore and mystery as we have seen it in "The Beyond" before.
There are a number of scenes in The House by the Cemetery that feed off that Halloween opening, and while Italian director Lucio Fulci knows HOW to execute most of what it is that he shoots here, there is little-to-no evidence that he in any way realises WHY it happens to play out in that manner.
Cut to the Boyles, a quaint little American family of three based in New York on the cusp of a holiday; the father, Norman (Malco), a professional in his field of medicine and married to his wife Lucy (MacColl) – their son, the somewhat typically named in that overly cutesy manner that is meant to infer a great deal of innocence, Bobby (Frezza), barely that of ten years old and completing the trio.The Boyles are off to the very same house we observed become a cauldron of flash nudity and brutal murder during the opening – the titular house beside that titular cemetery; the dwelling seemingly offering good value as a holiday home sold to them by a company neglecting to mention a horrible history it carries with it.
The sentiment of the film being obsessed, indeed preoccupied, with the item of blood and gore, or the prospect of some violence rearing up, is encapsulated in a scene resembling your more bog-standard horror movie sequence in which a character walks down some creaking basement steps into an unlit abyss below, something rendered an exercise of bloodshed when a bat happens to swoop down and take a chunk out of the individual.
One thing that jumps out at me when watching movies like this one, Italian Horror films have the best music.
I think "House by the Cemetery" is the scariest Lucio Fulci film.
The gore is awesome.The monster in the film is the inspiration in Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" (Doctor Satan.) And the scene where the father is trying to kill the thing is so bad ass.Maybe I'm biased because I'm a big Fulci fan, but "House by the Cemetery" is one of my favorites.
It's true that this movie has many flaws.The plot has way too many gaps and the ending is hideous.Yet,I love this movie because it is really scary and way scarier than "the beyond".With this and "the beyond" it seems that Fulci had many ideas of a great horror movie and didn't have the money to fully accomplish his visions so both these movies look a bit confusing.But especially "the house..."is way too scary to criticise it.The setting of the movie(The house)is fantastic,the atmosphere is creepy,the acting surprisingly good and the killings...enjoyable.The gore effects are very good(although a bit funny)and the soundtrack amazing.Sometimes I wish Fulci had a bigger movie budget.Even with it's flaws"the house..."is a movie all horror fans MUST watch!!It is scary and THAT's what counts after all!!.
The House By The Cemetery is a rather dull offering from Italian gore-meister Lucio Fulci, the man who gave us such bloody treats as The Beyond, City Of The Living Dead and Zombi 2.
Taking a little too long to get going, and a little unsure of exactly what kind of film it wants to be, this 1981 effort delivers in the gore department, but ends up lacking everywhere else.A professor, along with his wife and young son, relocates from New York to a creepy Boston house so that he can continue the studies started by his predecessor, who committed suicide.The son befriends a girl whom nobody else seems to be able to see and strange noises emanate from the cellar (which is locked and nailed shut).
After the cellar door is unlocked by the professor, people start to die in typical gory Fulci fashion, slain by an unseen assailant, who, towards the end of the film, is revealed to be a 150 year old surgeon who regenerates himself using other people's body parts.The trademark Fulci gore is effective and is worth waiting for, and there are one or two nice edge-of-the-seat scenes but, suffering from an annoying performance from a 'cute' blonde brat (who makes Angelina Jolie look thin-lipped), a slow first 45 minutes and an ending that makes no sense whatsoever, The House By The Cemetery is certainly not one of the director's best efforts..
Freudstein was apparently a scientist of some sort that has been able to keep himself alive for over 100 years and lives in the basement of the house, killing anyone who enters.This movie is very much a Fulci film as the atmosphere is always bizarre, a few very strange yet unexplained characters and of course, a few horrible death scenes.
Filmed in New England (interiors were shot in Italy) and for the first time, Fulci didn't have to borrow too heavily from his contemporaries.The film is about a couple and young child that move into a creepy house that just happens to be next to a cemetery.
Equipped with a good acting, a great plot, gore, and everything else to be expected from a Fulci flick, this one is definately a horror film classic.Fulci Lives!.
The villain is very gross looking which is always a good thing in a horror movie, the acting is a little corny but I know Fulci was never a 'big budget' type of director so he just worked with what he had.
This bizarre house is not what it seems to be, while the lives of the family are also in mortal danger.Directed by the late Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, Zombie) made an interesting but lifeless and confusing horror film with an supernatural theme.
Fans of director Lucio Fulci, the man behind such gore classics as "Zombie" and "Gates of Hell", might be a bit disappointed with this muddled combination of "The Shining", "The Fly", and "Poltergeist".While it's got most of the elements of his better films, this movie sees rather stitched together, a fact made even more telling by the fact that the American version lurking around on most video store shelves has scenes OUT OF ORDER!As far as I could tell, this is about a doctor of some sort who moves his family out to an old mansion to investigate the scientific work that the house's previous owner left behind.
The acting is not great in this movie, but Italian horror films aren't known for their great exhibitions of acting, so it doesn't matter.The villain of the piece; Dr Freudstein is said to be one of Fulci's most famous zombies, but this is probably more down to the fact that the others are mostly the same as each other, whereas Freudstein is different.
My only criticism of it would be that the monster doesn't get a lot of screentime, which is a shame.Overall, House by the Cemetery is not Fulci's best work, but it's an interesting film with a few redeeming features.
The digs come complete with creaky floorboards, crying/moaning spirits, loud bangs, a rabid devil bat, bleeding walls, a sexy/weird live-in babysitter (Ania Pieroni), the friendly ghost of a little girl and the murderous rotting, eyeless corpse of the house's former owner Dr. Freudstein (Giovanni De Nari); who hides out in the basement and emerges only to hack people up for their blood.Extremely gory Euro-splatter overdone as only Fulci overdoes it: Why slit someone's throat once when you can do it three times?
House By The Cemetery was the fourth and last of a series of Horror films that made Lucio Fulci a major cult figure in America.
A cold, mysterious piece of gothic cinema, House is not to be missed by lovers of Italian Horror or Fulci's films.
A family(Paolo Malco,Giovanni Frezza and Catriona MacColl)moves into an old house near Boston inhabited by a psychotic walking corpse of a doctor named Freudstein(Giovanni De Nava).Whoever strays into the house when Freudstein is on the hunt is brutally butchered.Why?Because doctor Freudstein needs human blood to survive.Great atmosphere,lots of graphic gore and marvelous soundtrack by Walter Rizzati.The ending is very intense and creepy as hell.Almost everyone complains about Giovanni Frezza,but he plays a terrified child very well.The special effects by bloody maestro Gianetto De Rossi and his brother Gino are simply top-notch.The scenes of gory mayhem include a knife through a girl's skull,a babysitter who gets her neck slashed many times then decapitated,the maggots inside of Freudstein's rotting corpse,very nasty flesh ripping etc.There is also a truly nerve-wracking moment when Freudstein pushes a young boy's head up against a door while Paolo Malco("The New York Ripper")attempts to chop it down with an axe.Some people don't appreciate this film and call it trash,but they're not a real horror fans.They love probably a new mainstream crap like "Scream" or "The Mummy".So if you are a part of mainstream society don't rent this one,better watch again "The Mummy" or similar MTV-influenced garbage.However if you like Fulci or extreme gore-you won't be disappointed.Who really cares about holes in the plot?If it's gore you want "Quella villa accanto al cimitero" has plenty of it.What more could a self-respecting Euro-horror fan want?All in all,this is simply a masterpiece.Highly recommended..
Many horror-film characters would have been well advised "Don't look in the basement" (just ask Lila Crane!), but perhaps none more so than the members of the Boyle family, in Lucio Fulci's 1981 gore extravaganza "The House By the Cemetery." In the film, the Boyle parents, along with their cute little blond son, rent a deserted old pile, the Freudstein House, in the fictitious town of New Whitby, Mass.
"The House by the Cemetery" is still one of my best Fulci film like these other notoriously films as "City of the Living Dead" and "The Beyond".
The final scene near the end of the film is truly a bit disgusting where the living dead Dr. Freudstein gets his stomach stabbed by a butcher knife by the professor Norman Boyle.
Once again Lucio Fulci tries his hand at a gore film, and this time makes the fatal mistake of trying to set up some mystery for the viewer, then disregards everything in favour of a gory ending.What's ultimately frustrating about House by the Cemetery is that for most of its running length it manages to be menacing and creepy, but a film that sets up so many questions and answers none will just frustrate those less familiar with the crazy world of Italian horror.Luckily for me I've got enough head injuries to endure such faults, so I just bought into the story. |
tt0308152 | Dead End | On his way to Christmas dinner at his mother-in-law's, Frank Harrington (Ray Wise), driving on an unknown road with his family, falls asleep and almost crashes into another car going in the other direction. Miraculously nobody is hurt and the other car is nowhere to be seen. Back on the road, Frank sees a woman in white (Amber Smith) with a baby in the surrounding woods. He drives back and finds no one there. However, while he is looking, the Woman in White appears at his window. He asks her if she is fine as it is apparent that she is in shock and wounded on her forehead. He asks Brad (Billy Asher) to check if he can use his mobile phone to call 911 but these is no signal on the network. Frank invites the woman to have a ride in their car because on the way they spotted a cabin not far away. Marion (Alexandra Holden) decides to give her seat to the woman and walk to the cabin as she is suffering from traveling sickness.The rest of the family on the car try to talk to the woman, but she does not respond and they assume she is in shock. Frank then stops at a roadside cabin. Richard (Mick Cain) leaves to go and masturbate in the woods, and Frank and Laura (Lin Shaye) enter the cabin, leaving Brad alone with the woman in the car. She starts to talk to him, then reveals that her baby is dead. Brad screams and Frank and Laura rush back to the car, only to find that the woman and Brad have disappeared. While the rest of the family are looking for him, Marion, still on her walk, sees Brad in the back window of a black hearse which slowly drives by. Marion runs to her parents to tell them that Brad has been taken, and they go after the car. However, they are forced to stop again because they go over a bump in the road. They find out that the bump is Brad's dead body and Marion faints upon seeing him in his gruesome state. The others carry her into the car and start driving again.Laura announces that her watch stopped at 7:30 P.M., and that all of the other clocks they have also stopped at that time. Richard seriously suggests the possibility of alien activity, but his idea is dismissed. The family then sees a black baby carriage in the road and they stop. Richard gets out to investigate, and plays a joke on his parents, peering in the carriage and pretending that something in there is eating him. Frank and Laura start fighting and Richard tries talking to Marion, who is in shock and does not respond. Richard realizes that the carriage is back in the road and tells his parents, who assume he is playing another joke. Frank moves the carriage once more and resumes driving. He and Laura begin another heated argument, and Marion suddenly announces she is pregnant. This is followed by Richard confessing that he is doing drugs. On their next stop, Richard heads into the forest to smoke and encounters the Woman in White. They begin to kiss, but the woman suddenly rips Richard's lower lip off. Richard then says he loves her, and the woman lets her dress slip off to reveal herself nude, and Richard is suddenly taken aback in horror by the sight.While fixing the car, the family sees Richard in the back of the same slow, black car from before and runs after it. Realizing this is fruitless, they start to chase after the vehicle in their own car, but encounter yet another bump in the road. They stop and see that it is Richard's burnt dead body. Laura, devastated, reveals that Richard was not Frank's son, but was the result of an affair she had in the past. Nevertheless, they put the body in the back of the car, Frank stating that Richard was still his son.Back on the road, Laura begins to show signs of insanity, acting childishly and even drawing a picture of Brad's dead body. Frank sees a sign for a destination called "Marcott". He believes this is a naval base, and that they are on a military road which does not appear on the map.In the car, while Laura is sleeping, Frank tells Marion about a story from his childhood: A family in a car encountered a little girl with a school book on the side of the road. They picked her up, but while they were driving, they heard a scream in the back of the car and saw that the girl had disappeared. All that was left was her school book and that book had the last name "Rose". They remembered that everyone in the Rose family had died in a car accident. Frank thinks this connects to their situation, but Marion dismisses his story as folklore.When Laura awakes, she has to vomit, so they stop the car again. She sees a gun in the car, which was going to be a Christmas present for her "gun-obsessed" brother. In her childish, confused state, she believes that the gun is a toy and threatens her husband and daughter with it. Frank angers her by telling her that Richard is dead and she must accept reality, so she shoots him in the leg. However, Marion cleans the wound and they go on the road again with Marion now driving. Laura claims she can see faces outside of the window, but that they all "look so sad". She sees a friend of hers who is dead, and tells Frank to stop the car so that she can see her. Frank refuses, so Laura opens the car door and jumps out. Frank and Marion stop and see that Laura is taken by the hearse. Frank shoots at it, causing it to stop. Laura stumbles towards them. She says she is fine but that her head hurts. Feeling it, she realizes that the back of her skull is split open. She then starts rubbing her brain and relives a night with Alan, the man she had an affair with, and her telling her father she made the cheerleading squad before dying. Frank, distraught, closes her eyes and puts her in the back of the car.Marion and Frank think it is hopeless. Frank puts the gun to his chin, but Marion stops him and they begin to drive on the road again. On their way to Marcott, Frank explains to Marion that Alan was a friend of his back in Detroit. He tells her that Alan had come to him for advice about a married woman he had been having an affair with, wanting to know whether or not to continue with it. Frank encouraged him, reminding him he only lived once. The last time Frank saw Alan was when he told him that the married woman (Laura) wanted to end the affair because she now had a little girl (Marion).Frank starts drinking from a bottle of whiskey, another family Christmas present. His drinking angers Marion, who throws the bottle out of the car window. Growing tired of driving on the endless highway, Frank says they must now try to escape through the woods as it is clearly the only way. However, after passing through it, they find they have gone full circle and are back at the car. They start driving again, and Frank makes a list of things he'd like to do when the ordeal is over, but doesn't show them to Marion.Eventually, they are forced to stop. Frank realizes that the road loops, and they are back at the cabin from the beginning. Angered, and convinced that "someone" is playing with them, he goes inside and lights a match. The Woman in White is suddenly behind him, and blows it out. Frank grabs one of the many tools off the walls and begins swinging it around the pitch black room. Marion hears the noise and rushes inside with the flash-light, taking her father out of the cabin. They walk towards the car and now Frank, like Laura, shows that he too is beginning to go insane. He asks Marion for his bottle of whiskey, but she tells him she threw it away. He starts beating her until she is unconscious, and when Frank realizes what he has done, he puts Marion in the car too. He then sees the woman in white going in the forest and advances on her with the gun. He begins to shoot and scream in the forest, but the swishing of a bladed weapon is heard and it is obvious Frank has also now been killed.Marion, unconscious, has a bizarre dream in which the car finally runs out of gas and she must accept that she too will now die. Outside, she sees the bodies of her family all lined up in body bags, and the hearse suddenly appears beside her. Marion assumes it has come for her, but the Woman in White walks past her, saying, "He's not here for you," before getting into the hearse herself.Marion then wakes up in the car in time to see Frank falling asleep at the wheel and colliding with an oncoming car, driven by the woman previously seen dressed in white. In the car also is her baby daughter. The accident claims the lives of everyone in the vehicles but Marion. She suddenly wakes up in a hospital bed, and a female doctor with the name-tag "Dr. Marcott" is at her bedside.A charming man dressed in black is at the hospital, who says he is the one who found Marion and called the accident in. Dr. Marcott explains to him that all the people in the accident were killed but this one girl Marion. The man and the doctor go into the parking lot and off towards their separate cars, but when the doctor's car will not start, the man offers her a lift in his own vehicle; a black hearse. The doctor is impressed by the vintage car, and the man tells her he is a collector.The credits are followed by an extra scene, in which two road-sweepers are cleaning up after the violent car crash. One finds a piece of paper and reads it; it is Frank's note, which reads: 1) Buy an Atari, 2) Be the coolest Grandfather ever.This wipes out the possibility that it was all a dream, but the road-sweeper throws the note in with the rest of the garbage. | mystery, comedy, horror, stupid | train | imdb | null |
tt1235166 | Un prophète | Malik El Djebena, a 19-year-old French youth of Algerian descent, is sentenced to six years in prison for attacking police officers. Alone and illiterate upon his arrival, he falls under the sway of Corsican mobsters, led by César Luciani, who enforces a brutal rule.
The prison is divided between two main factions: the Corsicans and the Muslims. Malik keeps to himself. When Luciani forces him to be the unwilling assassin of Reyeb, a Muslim witness in a trial, Malik gains the protection of the Corsicans in spite of his Arab origin. Malik serves as a low-level servant to the Corsicans, who treat him with disdain. All the while, he is haunted by visions of the murdered Reyeb. When the bulk of the Corsicans are transferred or released, Luciani is forced to give Malik more responsibility. Having secretly learned Corsican, Malik acts as Luciani's eyes and ears in the prison. When Malik earns the privilege of day-long furloughs outside the prison, Luciani relies on him to conduct his criminal business outside.
Ryad, a Muslim friend, teaches Malik to read and write, and the two become close. Ryad teaches Malik about his own heritage, introducing him to two other Muslims, Tarik and Hassan, and increasing his power within the prison. Malik also becomes involved with a prison drug dealer, Jordi. When Ryad gains an early release due to testicular cancer, the three partners organize a drug-running enterprise to sell hashish. But when Ryad is kidnapped by the drug dealer Latif, Malik tracks down Latif's relative inside the prison. He kidnaps the relative's family and forces Latif's gang to release Ryad.
When Luciani discovers that Malik is using his day-releases for his own personal enterprise, he punishes him. Malik is sent to meet Brahim Lattrache in Marseille, another Muslim, who is involved in a deal between Luciani and the Lingherris, an Italian mafia group. Lattrache is bitter toward the Corsicans for the murder of Reyeb and holds Malik at gunpoint. When Malik spots a deer warning sign, he remembers a recent dream of deer running in the road. He tells his kidnappers that they are in danger of hitting wild animals, and they suddenly strike a deer. Lattrache is impressed by Malik, calling him a prophet and agreeing to do criminal business with him instead of Luciani, even though Malik admitted that he killed Reyeb.
Luciani believes there is a "mole" in his organization and decides to use Malik to assassinate Jacky Marcaggi, the Don of the Corsican mafia, for secretly dealing with the Lingherris. But Malik and Ryad have their own plan for Marcaggi: they kill his bodyguards and dump him in a van with his Corsican enemy Vettori, Luciani's henchman. Malik takes refuge at Ryad's house with his wife and young son. Ryad's cancer has returned; his decision against more chemotherapy leaves him just six months to live. He gets Malik to promise to take care of his family when he's gone.
Upon Malik's return to the prison, he is placed in solitary for returning late - putting him out of reach of Luciani's retribution while Marcaggi uses his influence to wipe out much of Luciani's faction. Once back in general population, Malik joins the Muslim faction in the yard. When a now powerless Luciani tries to approach him, two Muslims intercept and beat him.
On the day of his release, Malik is met by Ryad's wife and son outside the prison. They walk off together, followed by a vehicle convoy carrying Malik's new associates. | psychological, realism, murder, violence, flashback, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1430132 | The Wolverine | On 9 August 1945, in a WWII prison camp near Nagasaki, Japan, from a guard tower, a young Japanese officer Yashida (Ken Yamamura) watches a pair of B-29 bombers appear over tranquil Nagasaki. Air Raid alarms sound; Yashida sounds an alarm and hurriedly descends from his watchtower at the POW camp. While other Japanese officers prepare for death, Yashida quickly breaks open prison cells, freeing dozens of captured American soldiers. He lastly comes to a peculiar-looking cell, which looks like a tank turret securely welded over a well, chained securely to the ground: a hyper-secure prison cell. Inside is Logan (Hugh Jackman), who (while suspended by his bone claws) watches as all the inhabitants of the camp run for their lives. Yashida cuts the chains from Logan's cell and tells him to run. Each Japanese officer kneels in line and ceremonially commits seppuku (ritual suicide), but Yashida cannot bring himself to die immediately. As he prepares, Logan stops him. Yashida ultimately watches the bomb fall from one of the bombers, and Nagasaki is consumed by a massive fireball. Yashida tells Logan to escape, but Logan tells Yashida to climb down into the pit, as he'll stand a better chance of surviving the nuclear blast below. He makes up his mind and jumps into the pit, followed by Logan. Logan grabs a metal door and covers Yashida with it. Seconds later a wall of fire sweeps into the well, and Logan is consumed by it and horrifically burned. Yashida survives the bombing with only a small burn on his cheek, and watches in horror as the third-degree burns on Logan's body heal before his eyes.Logan awakens in the modern day. He's in bed with Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and she asks him what dream it was this time. "Nagasaki" he responds. Logan has bad dreams every night, it seems. The two cuddle, and Logan professes his undying love for her and swears that he'll never harm anyone else. Jean says, "It's too late." Logan is horrified to see his claws are embedded in her lower chest and fresh blood is pouring out of her stomach. Logan screams in horror, and awakens from his dream-within-a-dream in a cave in the Yukon.Since Jean's death when the X-Men made their last stand, Logan has lived a primitive, solitary lifestyle. It appears that he lives in the woods like a wild animal, and hasn't bathed or shaved in a while. His small cave has only the basic necessities: empty whiskey bottles and an old radio which is losing battery power. Logan dresses and exits the cave, walking through the wilderness to the nearest town. Along the way he sees a bear's claw mark on a tree and slashes across it with his own claws. Moments later he crosses paths with a mammoth grizzly bear who, for all appearances, is friendly with Logan. Logan comes to the general store, buys some batteries, and watches as a small group of drunk hunters prepares to go up into the mountains. They're green; one of the hunters nearly shoots his foot off as he goofs around with his hunting rifle. Logan is annoyed.Logan returns to his cave and sleeps. Cries of agony ring out and he goes to investigate -- he finds the hunters' campsite destroyed. He sees evidence of a bear attack. He follows bear prints in the fresh mud and comes upon the same bear he'd seen earlier, with an arrow sticking out of its back. The grizzly is still alive and in terrible pain. The bear looks to Logan with tear-filled eyes and Logan is forced to put it out of its misery.Logan plucks the arrow from its' hide and sniffs the tip; it's coated in poison. He stalks into to the town and walks into the local bar (observed by a slight, young red-haired Japanese woman), where he finds the sole surviving hunter recounting the attack. The grizzly killed his companions; he was lucky to escape with his life. Logan, angry at the hunter, asks who shot the bear with illegal poisoned arrows -- because the poison was too low of a dose, the bear went on a rampage instead of dropping dead. The hunter denies using poison-tipped arrows, but Logan continues his accusations. Logan drives the arrow through the leader's hand pinning it to a table, explaining that it was the one he pulled from the bear's back; if it was not poisoned, then the hunter has nothing to worry about.The hunter's friends square off, ready to attack Logan, who is prepared to fight them all, when he is persuaded to stop by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), the red-haired Japanese woman carrying a samurai sword. She teases the hunters, and shows them her sword, explaining that it is hundreds of years old and is called "Danzan", "The Separator", because its purpose is to separate heads and limbs from bodies. She slices the sword through the air, nearly killing the other hunters in the process, frightening them all, and leaves. Logan leaves with her and climbs into her rental car. Logan asks who she is and why she's been looking for him. She explains that she has been sent by Yashida, whose elderly body is being ravaged by cancer. Yashida wishes to speak with Logan before he dies, and thank him for saving his life 70 years earlier. Logan is reluctant to go to Tokyo, but can't ignore this personal obligation.Logan and Yukio fly to Tokyo and arrive at Yashida's palatial residence. Logan is turned away by Yashida's American oncologist (Svetlana Khodchenkova) and by Yashida's grieving granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto). They insist that Logan's caveman-like state could prove infectious to the elderly, dying Yashida. Logan is unwillingly thrown into a bathtub and cleaned and shaved until he is less offensive and more presentable. Logan is finally allowed to speak to Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), who presents Logan with the same sword he bestowed on him 70 years earlier. Yashida has summoned Logan because he believes his cutting-edge company has the technology to present him with a unique opportunity: they can make Logan mortal, and will transfer Logan's life-giving mutation into his own body. Logan is upset by Yashida's request and argues that no one should want his power. As he begs Yukio to fly him home, he observes as Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada), Yashida's son and Mariko's father, coldly and angrily slaps his distraught daughter. Heartbroken, Mariko aims to throw herself off the nearest cliff, but is saved by Logan, angering Shingen. Yukio persuades Logan to stick around for another day or two, and finds a room for him to stay in.As he sleeps, Logan dreams of Jean who climbs into bed with him and kisses him. As the dream ends, Jean becomes Yashida's oncologist, Dr Green. Her snake-like tongue presses deep into Logan's throat and deposits something causing a green vapor to flow from his mouth. He struggles and is knocked out. Logan awakens, having heard a commotion outside his room. He exits to find paramedics running through the estate. Seconds later, Yashida's dead body is carted to the entrance. Mariko cries and Shingen hurriedly prepares the funeral.Days later, Yashida's funeral is held in the center of Tokyo. Logan arrives with Yukio, and shakily makes his way through the funeral procession. Shingen is especially disgusted with Logan and tells him to go home. Logan and Yukio enter the funeral and stand at the back of the crowd. The ceremony is watched by a lone archer, who quietly whispers to the spirit of Yashida that he will protect Mariko. Mariko is ushered up to the front of the funeral by a pair of traditionally-dressed priests. Logan notices that the priest's arms are heavily tattooed with what are certainly Yakuza markings. Logan impulsively bursts through the crowd, angering Shingen, Mariko, and Mariko's distant fiancé Noburo (Brian Tee). He spots a gun-shaped bulge under one of the priests' robes and within seconds guns are drawn and Logan is shot in the chest. He experiences more devastating pain than usual. All the priests shed their robes, revealing Yakuza tattoos and clothing. The Yakuza grab Mariko and flee the funeral. Logan chases after them. He's shot multiple times, and struggles greatly to regain his stamina; his healing ability is severely impaired. Arrows come soaring into the funeral, laying-out dozens of Yakuza members. The archer, Harada (Will Yun Lee), takes out many of the Yakuza and chases after Logan and Mariko as they flee the funeral temple.Logan takes Mariko deep into the city whilst being chased by the Yakuza. Mariko tries to dismiss Logan from accompanying her, but Logan follows. They board a bullet train and Logan pleads for understanding of what just happened. Mariko explains that in three days time, her grandfather's will is to be read, which will name her (not her father) as the new head of the Yashida corporation. The Yakuza are desperate to kidnap her because it will mean a huge ransom. Logan disappears into the train's bathroom and examines the wounds on his chest; they aren't healing. He shakily exits the bathroom and is met by four Yakuza soldiers who shoot and stab him. Logan retaliates, killing two of the men and ripping a hole in the side of the train. The remaining soldiers are sucked out onto the side of the train, along with Logan, and the three battle one-another at bullet train speed. Logan defeats the Yakuza and returns to his seat in the train. He asks where Mariko is headed. Her family has a home at "the end of the line". Logan infers that if there were Yakuza on the train, there are sure to be some waiting for them at their destination. Mariko agrees and the two exit the train well ahead of their destination. The pair walk through the city, in search of a safe place that Mariko is familiar with, but Logan stops her, and explains that they need to find a place to stay where nobody will look for her. Logan finds a seedy-looking hotel and drags Mariko inside. It's a "love-hotel", a pay-by-the-hour establishment. Logan thinks it's perfect, because it's the last place the Yakuza would look for them. They pick a "Mars-themed" room and hurry upstairs. While Mariko sleeps, Logan stands watch on the balcony. He dreams of Jean, and passes out. Mariko awakens and runs to his aid. Logan awakens in a veterinarian's office. The son of the hotel's manager is stitching up Logan's wounds. He nervously backs away from Logan as he stirs, and gestures to the fresh slashes on his face and arms, all caused by Logan. Logan is stitched-up and in better form than he was the night before, but he's still far from immortal.Dr Green sneaks her way through a seedy back-alley. Her blonde hair draws cat-calls from middle-aged perverts who expect her to be a prostitute. She takes one by the collar and spits green acid in his face, blinding him. She continues through the alley and finds Harada, impatiently waiting for her. She's two hours late and he's angry. She demands to know where Mariko and Logan are. Harada's men are still searching, but Mariko hasn't appeared in any of her usual spots. Green, a mutant who now identifies herself as 'Viper', tells him that they have less than three days to find her.The following morning, Yukio calls Mariko and pleads to know where she and Logan are hiding. Mariko refuses to say, despite her closeness to Yukio, but promises that Logan is being good and is caring for her. Mariko and Logan make their way to Yashida's long-forgotten home in Nagasaki. She doesn't expect anyone to follow them there, because the house is old and in disrepair. They buy groceries and Mariko cooks for Logan. Mariko explains that her engagement to Noburo is an arranged marriage; for powerful and political reasons she must go through with it. She also explains about the solitary archer who she grew up with and has wanted to marry since she was 12. She asks him who Jean is, as Logan tends to repeat that name in his sleep. Logan explains the relationship he had with Jean, how he loved her and why he killed her.They go for a walk, and Logan sees something familiar in the distance: the location of the prison camp, and the well in which he saved Yashida, which has long since been capped. Logan helps some locals chop wood, and begins to shed his gruff exterior, a trait that Mariko finds appealing about her guardian. The two return home and eventually make love. The following morning, Logan wakes and can't find Mariko anywhere. He hears her screaming outside. The Yakuza have found them and kidnapped Mariko. Mariko is thrown into their car and Logan runs after them. One of the soldiers shoots Logan, slowing him down, but Logan manages to pull him from the vehicle. He presses the man to the ground and tortures information of Mariko's whereabouts out of him.Yukio arrives, having followed the Yakuza to Nagasaki, and the pair of them go after the only lead they have: Noburo, Mariko's fiancé. Yukio explains to Logan that she has a gift of second sight or the ability to see death, and that she has seen Logan die with his own heart in his hand. Logan tells her than many have tried to kill him before and that he's still around. They find Noburo in his apartment with a pair of western prostitutes. Logan threatens Noburo, who admits that he and Shingen had an agreement to kill Mariko, and that Shingen has her. Logan throws Noburo off a balcony and into a swimming pool. Yukio and Logan head back to Tokyo. On the way, she tells Logan that she's had a vision in a dream that showed her Logan severely injured and bleeding to death.Mariko arrives at the Yashida estate, where her father is waiting for her. Shingen explains that he has worked his entire life to take over the Yashida corporation once the elderly Yashida dies. When he discovered that Mariko, not himself, would be inheriting the corporation, he conspired with the Yakuza, by way of her fiancé Noburo, to have her killed before the will was read. Had Logan not intervened on the night of her grandfather's death, and allowed Mariko to jump to her death, Shingen would have inherited the company immediately. Shingen, along with his small army of Yakuza, will now find a way to have Mariko killed while keeping his own hands clean.Suddenly, black-suited ninjas descend upon the compound and secretly dispatch the Yakuza. The ninjas are led by Harada and Viper. Shingen is cornered by the ninjas and Viper explains that there are greater forces at work than the Yakuza and him. She spits in his face, severely disfiguring it, and tosses him into a pool. Viper, Harada, and his men take Mariko and disappear.Logan and Yukio arrive and find evidence of the massacre. They make their way into Yashida's private room, filled with high tech medical equipment and x-ray scanners. Logan climbs into Yashida's MRI machine and guides the x-ray over his body and discovers, shockingly, a metallic parasite attached to his heart, implanted by Viper days earlier. The device has impaired his healing ability. Logan, against Yukio's pleas, cuts open his chest with one of his claws and reaches for his heart. Shingen, who had survived Viper's acidic attack, appears dressed in traditional samurai armor. He seeks to kill Logan, and swings his sword at him. Yukio saves Logan, and battles Shingen while Logan reaches further into his chest. Ultimately Logan manages to grab, extract and destroy the robotic parasite, but loses consciousness. He lays on Yashida's bed, with a giant open wound on his abdomen. Shingen bests Yukio, knocking her sword away from her, and aims to cut her in two when Logan's clawed hand suddenly appears, blocking the blow; Logan has healed and gets to his feet and goes after Shingen. Shingen skewers Logan's body with multiple swords, but is unable to kill him. Logan gets within arm's reach of Shingen, but decides to let him live, arguing that he should live knowing that he tried to kill his own daughter. As he walks away Shingen runs after him, running his sword through him. Logan stabs Shingen through the throat, killing him instantly. Logan returns to Yashida's room where Yukio has found Mariko's whereabouts -- a Yashida facility built in the village where he grew up. She also discovers strange robotic designs strewn about the room. Logan takes a Yakuza motorcycle parked out front and heads to the Yashida facility.The facility is high in the mountains. Logan drives into the village and watches as dozens of locals citizens flee to their homes. Seconds later Harada appears, and tells Logan to leave. Logan refuses, so Harada slashes at him. Harada watches in disbelief as Logan's fresh wound heals. Harada orders his ninja-clad men to kill Logan. All at once, arrows attached to ropes come streaming in from the adjacent rooftops, and within seconds Logan is impaled dozens of times. Harada, having dipped the heads of his arrows into Viper's venom, launches them at Logan, weakening him considerably. Logan finally passes out.Logan awakens inside the facility, strapped into a stock, forcing his hands forward and away from his body, unable to move. Viper appears, and congratulates Logan on removing her parasite. Logan hears Mariko screaming his name, and sees a massive, metallic mechanical samurai sitting to his left. To his shock, the mech gets to its feet and walks over to Logan. Viper explains that Yashida had been stockpiling adamantium in recent years, having been obsessed with Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. He built this suit of armor out of the material, and with it, Wolverine can be killed. Viper angers Logan and goads him into extending his claws. As soon as he does so, constraints are clasped onto his hands, preventing him from retracting the claws. Wolverine watches in horror as the giant, mechanical, adamantium samurai approaches him and draws an 8-foot long flaming sword. It positions itself to cut off his claws. Mariko struggles with Harada and stabs him. She runs to Logan's side and distracts the samurai, who slashes Logan's restraints open, allowing him to escape. Yukio, who had followed Logan, arrives at the back door of the facility and sneaks inside. She battles Viper while Logan deflects blows from the much larger and stronger Samurai. The Samurai cuts the claws off of one of Wolverine's hands, revealing bone underneath the adamantium. Logan battles the Samurai one-handed, wrestles its massive sword away from it and slashes the Samurai's helmet off. The out-of-control mechanical samurai slashes open the side of the facility, and pushes Logan out through the hole. Logan dangles hundreds of feet over the ground and hastily climbs back into the facility.Meanwhile Yuriko is battling Viper and losing. Harada, seeing that his actions have been dishonorable, makes a last effort at redemption, killing Viper and himself.Suddenly the samurai's sword comes swooping over Logan's head, cutting his other hand's claws clean off, and the pilot of the mechanical samurai is revealed to be Yashida, the old man thought dead. Yashida explains that his life's goal since meeting Logan was to prolong his own life, at whatever cost. When Logan refused to go through with the procedure at his estate, he faked his own death with the assistance of Viper and kidnapped Mariko, knowing that it would lead Logan to him. Yashida (in the samurai suit) grabs Logan's wrists and six drills come out of the suit's forearms. The needles drill into Logan's exposed bone-claws, straight into the marrow. Within seconds, Logan begins to grow old and Yashida, by way of the interconnected suit, becomes young again. Yashida laughs as he siphons the life from Logan. Mariko has freed herself from Harada and sees and hears her Grandfather's plan. Suddenly one of Logan's separated claws comes flying through the air and lands in Yashida's skull. Mariko confronts her grandfather and stabs him in the head again. Logan is freed from the suit's drills, his life returns to his eyes, and he instantly grows back his bone claws. Logan stabs Yashida, and pushes Yashida, and the suit, out of the facility. It crashes on the rocks below.Yukio, who had survived her encounter with the Viper, joins Logan on an airport runway. The biggest news of the day is that Mariko Yashida has inherited her grandfather's corporation. Mariko kisses Logan on the runway and hints that he should come back to see her soon, but the two agree that they have separate paths to follow. Logan boards the plane and Yukio follows. She gleefully tells Logan to consider her his bodyguard and asks Logan where he would like to go. Logan gives her an indefinite response, but he's happy that she's with him.CREDITS SPOILER:Two years later, Logan (minus Yukio) is walking into an Airport Security checkpoint and asks for the pat down. An overhead TV shows a commercial for 'Trask Industries', and Logan pays little attention to it. Suddenly the coins, watches, and pens in the X-ray machine begin to float. Logan, aware of this magnetic anomaly, immediately ejects his bone claws and spins around to see Magneto (Ian McKellen) behind him. Magneto freezes Logan in place, and urges Logan to lower his defenses. He tells Logan that his mission is a peaceful one, and that he hasn't come alone. Logan turns away from Magneto and watches as everybody surrounding them freezes in place. A wheelchair silently weaves through the sea of frozen bodies, and in its' seat is Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Logan is speechless at seeing Xavier alive. Magneto and Xavier explain they need Logan to save all of mutant-kind. | suspenseful, murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, humor, revenge | train | imdb | Hugh Jackman still was, and always will be, a brilliant Wolverine, but the other characters felt lackluster, the villain was weak and the storyline didn't fit well with the other X-Men movies.
It didn't have the same feel.For some time it seemed that the poor critical performances of both that and X-Men 3 would mean there would be no more movies with Wolverine in them, at least in a leading role.
In Japan we get some gorgeous scenery, nice atmosphere, intriguing settings, believable characters, all that good stuff.I especially liked Tao Okamoto's character Mariko, the granddaughter of Wolverine's old friend.
Which is a great thing, because it gives the movie more depth and we get a chance to know Wolverine in a new way that the Origins movie tried to reach, but never could because of its lack of emotional maturity.Unfortunately this film has one major flaw and that is the unbelievably weak villain, known as Viper.
Although their characters have undertaken slight adjustments in order to incorporate ideas from the Fatal Attractions storyline, the plot does well to take from Wolverine's side of this storyline because it was one of the few times in the series where Logan did feel vulnerable.
With an outstanding supporting cast, a beautiful setting, and gripping and intense action sequences, it plays a lot like a token Bond film for those unfamiliar with Wolverine.Whether you are familiar with the original comics or not, this movie will certainly provide entertaining thrills and intriguing themes.
In fact, it bounces back from the very worst failings of "Origins," telling a character-oriented story that borrows from the Chris Claremont-Frank Miller comic featuring Wolverine's Japanese saga.The story takes place post-"X-Men: The Last Stand," as Logan is haunted in his dreams by Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), whom he killed in that film in order to essentially save the world.
Hiding out and looking like an imprisoned Jean Valjean somewhere in Alaska (he tends to do that), a Japanese woman named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) finds him and convinces him to travel back with her to Japan to meet her master, Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), whom Wolverine saved during the bombing of Nagasaki in World War II.
For someone who feels as though their gift has been a curse lately, it's an appealing offer.Of course there has to be a catch, and Wolverine soon finds himself dealing with the venomous Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) and going on the run and protecting Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto), who is being sought after by the Yakuza (Japanese mob).The film almost never leaves Wolverine's side, and provides more than adequate motivational fuel for us to become invested in the story.
Wolverine's consideration of his own inner pain and immortality finally gives Jackman something to work with, despite how good he is with all the more exterior elements of the character.Director James Mangold ("Walk the Line" and the underrated remake of "3:10 to Yuma") excels at finding these character moments, while also taking the opportunity to make a Marvel samurai movie.
An R-rated version, however, would've made this an exceptional film, but such is Hollywood.In summer after summer of large-scale blockbusters with immense action sequences, "The Wolverine" will be a tad underwhelming for anyone impartial to the character that is just looking for the "next big movie." Again, this movie is as much about Wolverine's internal struggle as what's happening on screen.
Obviously the character element of the story works well, but the pacing is strong and surprises wait at every turn, even if the plot trajectory follows a pretty traditional superhero movie structure.To put "The Wolverine" in the context of the ever-growing rolodex of superhero movies, it's a rock-solid, entertaining, better-than-most entry, but years from now, will probably get overlooked among the genre's best thanks to the visually ground-breaking event films now and soon to be even more prevalent.
There's no question Wolverine's lack of novelty will play a factor for those who find it unimpressive, but getting down to what it means to make a good superhero film, you can't go wrong with the model used in "The Wolverine." And fans will genuinely be excited about what Wolverine does next, with or without the X-Men.~Steven C Thanks for reading!
I thought it was unexpectedly good, with Jackman doing a superb job in the lead role, as a tortured hero, who seems as if he no longer wants to go on living his near immortal existence because of deep regrets and guilt he is feeling about things that happened in the past.But it is not all doom and gloom, there are indeed fight scenes, and they are what you would expect of a summer blockbuster type movie.
It has finally been the cinematic treatment, amidst a loose adaptation and watches out the taste of Wolverine's first solo outing.After the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan (Hugh Jackman) has living alone in the Canadian wilderness and suffering from recurring dreams about Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and guilt about her death.
As Wolverine protects Yashida's granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), from all these factions, he also begins to see what it can be like to live a normal life.X-Men Origins: Wolverine had many problems, misjudged humour, awful special effects, subpar action, awful writing and introducing characters just for the sake of fan service.
The Wolverine does rectify many of these problems and director James Mangold had much more free reign then Gavin Hood had.Mangold knew what made the best X-Men films work, so he focuses on character development and more brooding drama and it is complemented by an excellent performance from Jackman.
There is solid action throughout the film and the more cheesy elements has been removed in The Wolverine, with the only misjudged sequence being the Bullet Train fight sequence, as it comes off a little goofy.
The changes to the Silver Samurai will be a bit harder to swallow for comic book fans and it is when the film loses it way a little with its action climax.The Wolverine had a number of villains and it does result in problems.
One character that suffered this was Will Yun Lee's Harada, the head of the ninja who did have an interesting character who was loyal to Mariko.The Wolverine does have some script problems and the final act is a more generic affair, but its clear that Mangold and Jackman do have a good understanding of the character and they put the cinematic version of Wolverine in good standing.And on a final note, the post credit scene is a must see: it is one of best and most tantalising in a long time.Please visit www.entertainmentfuse.com.
While entertaining, the Marvel movies (the Punishers being the exception) have been light hearted affairs that focus more on action and laughs than story or character development.
In fact, the first two-thirds of The Wolverine are so good at developing the mutant's character, that viewers do not even notice the lack of constant action scenes that are so prevalent in superhero films today.
The Wolverine is the SECOND solo installment for the character and the SIXTH X-Men installment from Fox. The story itself is definitely an improvement to it's predecessors (Except First Class) and teases a larger universe Fox is preparing in order to compete with Marvel Studios.From a filmmaker's perspective, the movie's cinematography was okay.
"The Wolverine" ebbs on the verge of great with resonant values of mortality, purpose, and honor.The movie opens with an amazing news reel-like sequence of Nagasaki in World War II.
In spite of that, he remains one of the biggest superheroes of comic-book legend, and thanks to Hugh Jackman's performance in four previous X-Men movies, he became one of the biggest cinematic icons of modern times.
Taking after Chris Claremont's and Frank Miller's comic, The Wolverine would test the character's limits in Japan.This film is nowhere near as overblown as other X-Men films: the action is confined to just a few fights.
I had huge expectations for Svetlana Khodchenkova who played the only other mutant in the movie, Viper but she just served for some eyecandy and wasn't even fleshed up to be a proper antagonist.For what its worth, The Wolverine is a splendid action movie which concentrates more on the character and the plot than heavy heavy action sequences.
Logan's latest adventure is undeniably a step-up from X-Men Origins: Wolverine but it falls short of the standard set by X-Men: First Class.It was great to see Logan out of his usual environment, and it was a fresh location for superhero films in general from their usual US base but for the most part, especially the action scenes, they could have been anywhere.
James Mangold managed to succeed where Origins did not, he managed to introduce a whole cast of characters but they generally all felt developed and not just crammed in for the sake of it.The film's biggest disappointment though was that it felt like it slipped back into the comfort of it's western formula, taking it from achieving the potential the story had, especially when Darren Aronofsky was attached to direct.
Where it does set itself apart from previous entries with its dream sequences, which vary from good to distracting, but at least they tried something new.Make sure you don't leave the cinema when the credits hit though, if you've not learnt the Marvel formula yet then you might want to consider doing so.Overall, The Wolverine is a fun film but one that falls short of its potential.
Hugh Jackman is still a perfect fit for Logan, and it was a nice change to see the character in a new environment and in his own story (Origins was not really a solo outing)..
Some character motives weren't true to themselves but overall this movie was entertaining and a bit different from the rest of the superhero films.
the people who think that Origins was better have no idea what the whole x-men universe is .This films delivers what wolverine fans always wanted to see the japan saga.
For me The Wolverine had great story, great characters, great action ...it's different from the other x-men movies and that is why i enjoyed it so much it's fresh we get to see the character of Wolverine vulnerable and at it's lowest point.Hugh Jackman did a wonderful job !thank you Hugh!
"The Wolverine" is a great action movie, with Logan facing the lost of his immortality and healing power.
Well, Logan FINALLY gets a high caliber pay off with this film.A true movie first, Wolverine is the most entertaining film of the summer season because it plays it just right.
PLOT Logan (Hugh Jackman) lives as loner while he's still devastated and haunted by events that happened with Jean Grey in the third film of X- Men. He is found by a Japanese woman Yukio (Rila Fukushima) who delivers him a message from a man he rescued in 1945, called Yashida (Hiroyuki Sanada).
Some fans are saying this superhero film is one of the best comic based movies but it's clear that you can never satisfy everyone.As I said before, Wolverine explores his inner conflicts, tries to distance himself from the rest of the X-Men, while facing immortality and soul searching.
aaaaaaaaa, can't wait for next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past!P.S. Watch out for he post-credits scene in the end.http://somewhereibelong-arya.blogspot.com/2013/07/movie-review- wolverine-2013.html.
To me Japan really is a beautiful country, that is rarely seen in comic book films, and made for very interesting fight scenes and theme to the story arc overall.
The story was also well done in part as I mentioned before to the unique setting, as well as some of the characters like the mutant Reptile.It also plays around with the very core of Wolverine's mutant powers, and takes it in a very interesting direction that keeps fans on the edge of their seat throughout the movie.
Besides that however this was easily one of the best movies to come out this year, and it is a must see for Wolverine, and X-Men fans alike..
Hugh Jackman is of course great in this film, like he always has been as wolverine.
It did get the smallest bit over the top, but it still worked very well.My only other problem with the film is that it seems like it ends several times.So, amazing battle scenes, great acting, very well done, very rich characters, good writing, it captures your emotions, and has good slow scenes, but has some unrealistic things, sometimes the acting and events of the movie get a bit over the top, and it seems like it ends several times.
If you know the character Wolverine from the comics then you will fall in love with this movie.
The only good female character is Yukio who steals the movie from wolverine every time they appear together.
Decent enough movie although far from perfect showcasing (an often) shirtless Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine in an X-Men spin off.
He then travels to Japan to visit a dying old friend and learns that there's a way he can remove his immortality, but soon gets caught up in a conspiracy involving his friends devious family and the Yakuza.This was a bit all over the place as parts of it were very good and others were long, drawn out (even a bit dull at times) It is filled with some great action scenes though (the train sequence was cool, the funeral/Yakuza kidnapping, the final battle with the Samari 'Real Steel' robot -exciting) and Hugh Jackman looks amazing, wow he must have spent some hours in the gym.I liked the flashback sequences to WWll in Nagasaki.
Looks like solo movies about one character from the X-men universe don't work.P.S. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the previous solo X-men movie which got a lot of hate is much better and more fun film than this..
It may be that i will enjoy it more on the second watch but there is still no doubt that it is better than Wolverine: Origins while possibly on a par with the best X-Men film..
This one was much better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine as there was much of script and soul about Logan than just an action flick.
It is what it is and anyone who thinks they want to watch it because they are a fan of Wolverine or other Marvel Comics characters are going to be sated.What I don't get are the poorly rated reviews.
Director James Mangold really managed to bring this comic book character and story to life, and Hugh Jackman was absolutely brilliant.In this film the Wolverine is verging on becoming mortal (as the trailer suggests, so this is NOT a spoiler) so Jackman is not the usual invincible superhero we're used to seeing.
His granddaughter, Mariko(Okamoto, arguably the lesser of the all-strong female-dominated supporting, all Japanese, cast, who still holds her own) is targeted, and Wolverine protects her.When you add her mysterious, acrobatic childhood friend Harada(Yun Lee), her abusive father Shingen(Sanada) who both do well in their performances, the pixie-like short badass Yukio(Fukushima, who steals the whole movie - I demand a trilogy devoted to her) who recruits our hero, and the cold doctor Viper(Khodchenkova, who gives the sole poor performance - given that this is about the only English title on her filmography, maybe it's a language barrier thing?) who there may just be something more to, it might sound like this makes the usual mistake of far too many people.
There is a fight scene on a moving bullet train that is easily the best action sequence in the X-Men film series' history.
But, if you are an X-Men follower there are two things you may wanna watch out, once it comes out in rentals: the thing they do with Logan & the post-credit scene.Starting off with a bearded Hugh Jackman, the plot takes you back to the Nagasaki bombing.
Die hard Wolverine fans will probably like it more, but I think X-men movies are much more interesting.
There were a bit too much cliché's both plot and character - wise too.That said - I would gladly watch another Wolverine movie and hope it turns out better than this one.
And by the time the main bad guy has the final showdown with Wolverine it is very predictable how this is going to end.Actually the most interesting scene in the entire movie is at the very end, after the main plot has been concluded, when we see a couple of familiar characters from previous X-men movies in an airport.
Like James Bond in You only live twice, Wolverine turns Japanese which adds some exotic Japanese locations and actions to the mix but the plot is so hackneyed and nonsensical as it makes no sense whatsoever and it really lets the film down.The X-Men universe is getting to be tiresome despite getting rejuvenated a few years earlier in X-men: First Class only then to make another stand alone Wolverine film which reverses the good work they did in the prequels and quickly sours the freshness.Hugh Jackman might have got comfortable with his hair and claws but he needs better material.
'X-men Origins Wolverine' was an entertaining film, admittedly, but it was a deeply flawed movie that ultimately didn't do the character or his origin story enough justice.
'The Wolverine', Fox's (and Hugh Jackman's) second attempt to give the character a solo adventure, does rectify a lot of those flaws, and ends up as a good film (maybe even a very good one)...but it just falls short of 'great'.The movie undoubtedly has its strengths.
Hugh Jackman still plays the character well, but Wolverine seems to work best on film when he's part of a team with loner characteristics instead of just being a loner..
First off, I'm a huge fan of the X-Men characters and story, that being said, this should NOT be included as a film in that series. |
tt0450188 | La môme | As a small child, Edith Piaf is crying on a stoop, near some other children on the streets of Paris. Her mother stands across the alley singing, panhandling for change. Edith's mother writes a letter to her child's father, the contortionist, who is in the trenches of World War 1. She explains that she's dropping Edith off at her mother's so she can pursue the life of the artist.He returns to Paris and scoops up Edith, covered in insect bites and sores, from under the blanket of a bed in a delapidated house. He drops her off at his mother's house, a bordello madame in Brittany.There, Edith is adopted informally by Titine, a young troubled redhead who sings to Edith, plays with her, and walks the streets of their small town. Titine and another prostitute are Edith's closest friends and they are repeatedly demeaned and abused by brothel customers. Screams of pain ring out one night, as Titine rushes down the hall to help her friend, who explains, "I let him play doctor and use his instruments on me." Edith enters the room, saying she cannot see. A doctor identifies it as keratitis, an inflammation of the eyes, and her eyes are wrapped in cloth. Titine and her visit St. Therese at Liseux, pray for vision. Later, as the members of the brothel pin up laundry in the backyard, Edith slowly pushes off her banage and reveals her eyes, and blinks up at the sky.Edith's father is discharged from the WW1 forces and takes Edith to live with him, at loud protests by Titine, who must be held back while he bundles Edith into a cart. Her father works in the circus as a contortionist. He cannot stand the manager, so they leave, performing on the streets of Paris. At one point a passerby asks if she is part of the show, and with prompting by her father to "do something," she sings the Marseillaise. More crowds gather around her and are obviously moved.She makes a friend from a factory job, Mômone, and they wander the streets, glugging from a bottle of wine, and Edith occasionally sings for their supper, quite literally. After singing a few songs and getting a meal in a bistro, her mother approaches her for some change. When Edith gives her a centime (or something that small), her mother yells at her that her daughter will never help her either. She also continues to yell "I am an artiste!" Her mother is grabbed by the waiter, and Edith and her friend quickly leave.Edith and Mômone go to a local bar and pay Albert, a slick dark haired pimp, cash and receive warnings that if she doesn't pull in more money he will "have her open her legs like the rest of my women."Singing on the street in the Montmartre neighborhood, a man approaches her and introduces himself- he is Pere Leplee, who has a lower and upper class nightclub.
She sings for him the next day, and his gay lover, bartendress, and other workers at her club are instantly appreciative of her skills, though the bartendress is quite jealous. Pere LePlee changes her name to Piaf, a colloquialism for Sparrow, because her original name is too long and off-putting. He introduces her at his show a week later, with new clothes, and a new song. His audience is also appreciative, and he introduces her to the president of the radio in Paris. She leaves the club quickly, despite the acclaim, and goes to the local bar where she passes Albert a large bundle of cash, and he returns one bill.Mômone is still in her entourage, and on New Years', 1935, she meets her next Pygmalion-esque manager, yet she does not follow up with him at all, simply pockets his business card. She and Mômone drink buckets of champagne and are rude and loud to almost everyone in their milieu. When one woman approaches to compliment Edith, she responds, "Your face is like a bag!"Afterwards, Pere Leplee is shot, and everybody thinks it is Edith's role in introducing him to the mafia, namely, the pimp Albert, that causes his murder. She is interviewed at a raucous cafe with a ton of paparazzi. She tries to sing at a low grade cabaret with Albert accompanying on accordion but she is shouted off the stage.In utter despair, she finally meets up with her next savior, and she meets a jewel of her career- Marguerite, a talented songwriter and accompanist. He discovers her "beautiful hands," and teaches her to gesture with them while singing. He also emphasizes enunciation, formal wear, and comportment. Before their first concert at a music hall, "Not a cabaret," the manager intones, she has a fierce bout of stage fright and is huddled in the dark in her dressing room, thirty minutes after curtain call. He advises her finally to "stand up," and she manages to shake off this fright. This performance is a resounding success.She is in a large flat in Paris with her entourage, reading a Cocteau play, and joking with Mômone who is dressed as a man in this scene. She puts off the conductor of the orchestra despite the performance being in "48 hours," she invites in a Corporal who asks if she will perform his song. She listens and immediately embraces it, performing it the next night. (This is the trailer)She travels to New York for more performances. She meets Marcel, a fellow French national boxer competing for the World Champion title abroad. They first dine at his "local spot" a diner where she gets a pint of beer and a pastrami sandwich. She teases him that this is not a date, and they end up at a very fancy restaurant, where she orders the wine and entrees. He reveals that he has a pig farm, to which she laughs very loud, and it is run now by his wife and three children. She is quiet, but is quickly falling in love, she reveals to Mômone that night. He attends her performance, and she attends his bouts for the championship, which he wins. They are led through a fire escape of her hotel, where she reveals, "I'm beginning to like this city. There are the stars!" and they have their first night together.At a party in her suite, she babbles to her maid and secretary Ginou that she doesn't mind he is married, she knows he loves his family. Mômone is annoyed that Edith talks about Marcel all the time. Edith calls Marcel, inducing him to fly to New York from Paris tonight. Mômone threatens to leave Edith during the phone call.The next morning Edith wakes up to Marcel, who is in a suit lounging on her bed. She rushes off to get him coffee, joking with Mômone and Louis who are glumly ash faced, standing in the suite in different rooms. She rushes off to get his present- a watch- and gets irritated that she can't find it. Ginou comes to the door with a very sad expression and exasperated, Edith asks what is wrong with everyone. Louis, her manager, takes her aside and tells her that Marcel died in the plane crash. Edith hysterically searches for the ghost of Marcel that was lounging on her bed just a moment before.Her mourning consists of seeking fortune tellers, cutting her hair and performing.There were many flash forwards to a small aged-looking Edith with frizzy red hair, sitting in a chair by the lakeside. She can barely move, and fights with her nurse about drinking carrot juice. Another set of flash forwards depict Edith with short curly hair, plastered to her face like she is feverish, singing on stage and collapsing every other song. She is taken back to her green room, only to be yelled at by Louis to stop performing, as she is conducting her "suicide tour." She gets more shots of morphine and continues to perform. Later that night, she asks to ride with "The American," to drive 400 miles to another town to "catch some air." She tells him to turn around, and in his bad French he questions her, then gets into a car accident. We learn in another flash forward that she has broken two ribs and must be hospitalized, explaining the earlier flash forwards, of her convalescence in Grasse, with the carrot juice fights.In another flash forward, she is hosting a large party at a Parisian bistro. She toasts to Marguerite who saw her "as a princess," before anyone else did. She flirts with the waiter, and topples a bottle of champagne, not due to drunkenness, but her arthritis. She finally sees the owner of the restaurant and implores him to get her a gift. She asks for a ring, with tons of diamonds on it. Louis, quietly tells him to simply replace the champagne she spilled. The next morning Louis opens her bedroom door to a small Edith on the large bed, with curtains drawn. He offers her breakfast but she tells him no, she is expecting someone. A young man comes in the room and lounges on her bed. Louis leaves, sitting outside the door. Time passes and he re-enters the room. Five or so bloody syringes are on the bed and both Edith and her young man are lying there with their eyes open, in relatively the same position.She travels to California after her first convalescence and is married to a man- the first husband- and driving around with Ginou and some others, in a car. Ginou is carsick and Edith takes the small break as an opportunity to drive the car, which she does, into a cactus. She jokes that she will now hitchhike.She sits with her husband at the side of a pool and is offered a strange fruity martini drink. She wonders if he will divorce her now. In the next scene, they are at a doctor's office, in America. She explained that she has been using since the plane crash. Before the doctor can tell her how the shots have been affecting her health, her husband says he wants her to go into rehab. She says she wants to change.A small, tiny hunched Edith slowly pads into her living room. Her entourage is crowded, concerned, on the other side of the room. She determines that it is impossible, for obvious reasons, to perform the Olympia. Her long time arranger Bruno Coquatrice is told to cancel it. A new songwriter and arranger shows up wtih a song- "Je ne regrette rien," and Edith explains this is her life, this is what she lives for, and tells Bruno that she will perform the Olympia.She sits in her dressing room and searches for her cross, that she always wears. She sends her maid and secretary out to get it, and at that point has a series of flashbacks. When she returns with the cross, Edith places it on and shuffles out onto the stage. She begins singing "Je ne regrette rien," to more flashbacks.A sunny day, in the south of France. She walks out to the beach with her knitting. This is a smaller, red-haired Edith with an obvious stoop. She waves at the lifeguard and sits near the breakers. A young woman with a purse and bag approach and introduces herself. She is there for an interview. She asks Edith simple questions- what is her favorite color, her favorite food "Pot roast." and then more questions. What is the most important thing for an adult to know? "To love." For a woman? A child? A baby? All answers: "To love."Louis carries a bundled up Edith into her bedroom and tucks her into bed. The subtitle reads that this is the date of her death. She is afraid. She says she cannot remember things. She flashes back to small moments, her mother recognizing that they have similar features, but odd eyes. Her father giving her a Japanese doll that she longed for.She remembers her child, Marcelle, that she had with Louis when she was a street performer. She remembers how he yelled at her for taking Marcelle out on the street. She was singing in a cabaret when Louis came to tell her Marcelle was in the hospital. They arrive, and Marcelle has already died.Edith dies. | sentimental, murder, historical, flashback | train | imdb | It is difficult to overstate the necessary calibre of a woman who was raised in a filthy whorehouse, sung and slept on the street, travelled with the circus, lost her child at 20, went blind for a time, was wrongly accused of murder, struggled with a drug addiction and lost other loved ones by the bucketload in her life, and still got up on stage at the end of her life to sing "Je ne regrette rien".
La Môme documents each stage of Edith Piaf's life with creative direction and an intense performance by its lead actress, Martion Cotillard.Ultimately it is a film that curiously enough does not come down to acting or story so much as it owes everything to its direction by Olivier Dahan.
The film is momentarily gray and depressing, only to jerk the audience away from the misery and lose itself in a blossom-strewn pictorial style whenever Piaf goes on stage.La Môme is a one-woman-show in all respects, with Cotillard shamelessly relegating every other cast member to the background with her emotional intensity.
I don't agree with those who say her performance is melodramatic, because the singer WAS very emotional and even melodramatic (though in a perfectly natural way) in real life too (as all the biographers remark).One thing about the movie that annoyed me a little was the switches of time frames.
The movie never seems too long, and its last minutes are very emotional, when Edith Piaf is led to the stage, she can hardly walk, and then she starts to sing 'No regrets' and transforms completely..
It really does.I saw the movie yesterday, went home, and listened to Edith's albums for hours, and they meant so much...they spoke volumes.Anyway, the direction is perfect, although there is one scene towards the end which has problems - it tells, for the very first time, of a rather important event in the much earlier years of the singer's life , and the event in question seems to be out of place, sort of neglected - as if it should have been dealt with an hour earlier.
Edith Piaf's story brings to mind the tragedy of Judy Garland, in some ways her American counterpart a freakishly talented girl with severe emotional problems who was plucked from obscurity by perceptive and farsighted mentors and transformed into a great artist before self-destructing under the pressures and imbalances inherent in superstardom.This film is the second attempt in the last 20-odd years to tell the story of the amazing Edith Piaf.
Now we have another attempt, this time on film, which is also panned for being sketchy and without depth but worth seeing because of an outstanding lead performance, this time by Marion Cotillard.I agree with most of the other commentators that the script by Olivier Dahan and Isobel Sobelman (if there even was a full script) and Dahan's direction are messy and confusing, as if the director wanted to emulate the Baz Luhrman touch by creating a 10-ring circus.
A few blocks further on I came to a cinema and decided that it would be great to see a 'movie' on a real big screen rather than the way I see most films these days through the distinctly low-def screen built into the back of the airline seat in front of me.I was just in time to buy tickets for La Vie en Rose which was starting right away.
Edith Piaf's gravelly voice and melodramatic life is superbly portrayed by Marion Cotillard as the film works its way through her life to the accompaniment of her distinctive songs.
The Little Sparrow as she was known led a tragic life of immense proportion before dying at the age of 47 making her story tailor made for a film bio, but in spite of this plethora of material, the makers disjoint the whole affair by juggling the chronology.From a depraved childhood filled with abuse and horror the scrawny but scrappy Piaf fends off a pimp, is discovered then ruined through scandal is re-discovered falls in love with a world champion fighter, becomes drug dependent and eventually gives up the ghost.
But in either case, an accurate, truthful portrayal of anyone's life is an impossibility and the director of LA VIE EN ROSE is conscious of this and deliberately avoided some things about Edith which would have conflicted with this portrait he wanted to create but the fact that Yves Montand didn't even figure somewhere in this portrait was, imo, very bizarre.This brings another point: the film is so focused on Edith that all other characters are pushed in the background and we hardly know who they are.
I knew Piaf's life-story well but I still found the structure of the film and the way it leaps about in time a little confusing.
Apart from the fact that I found this the most depressing film since "The Serpent's Egg", my biggest disappointments were with the lack of subtitling for the songs, and that large periods of Edith Piaf's life were just left out - WWII never happened!
I can't believe how mesmerizing Marion Cotillard was in the lead role of "Edith Piaf." The above superlatives, and ones mentioned below, by the way, come from a guy (me) who normally doesn't watch a lot of melodramas, either.
Although Marion Cotillard does a wonderful job being Edith Piaf, I didn't quite enjoy the movie, mostly because of the bad direction.
"La Vie en Rose" uses a nonsensically jumbled structure to tell the life story of Edith Piaf, a woman whose life had perhaps enough tragedy for two movies but barely makes sense in this version.
"La Vie en Rose," however, has the annoying habit of cutting away from a scene just when it is getting interesting, to show a different time period that bears no obvious connection to the other scene.The movie also assumes previous knowledge of Edith Piaf's life, since it leaves so much unsaid.
The scenes are edited frantically to go back and forth in time endlessly, in fact at the end of the movie, the Director brings in this bizarre revelation of Piaf's child dying as a child, which belonged in the beginning of the film, so out of place.
due to this confusing plot construction one couldn't really built up a connection to the main character, but most of all one couldn't understand Edith Piaf at all...in my opinion the biggest problem of this movie is that it's trying too hard to combine so many things from her life and then loosing itself in unimportant scenes and unmotivated shots.
Basically we see the story of a little girl living with prostitutes and a circus group, that of a young 20-year old busker making it big for a while before falling down, that of a famous singer involved in a star-crossed relationship with a boxer and that of an older lady who has 'lost' everything but looks back at her life and regrets nothing (powerfully expressed in "Je ne regrette rien".The soundtrack deserves credit as it keeps the viewer amused and engaged and it adds to the unique feel of the film.
When Piaf sings (incredibly lip synced by Marion Cotillard) it seems to act as a bridge between one sad scene to the next as the film jumps around between her last few years of life.
Just as there is disappointment when you go to an arena to see a fight and a hockey game breaks out, I went to the Edith Piaf movie, La Vie en Rose, and they showed The Hunchback of Montmartre instead.Marion Cotillard, portraying the incomparable Piaf, doesn1t recreate the deeply troubled singer1s complexity of emotions, desires and neurosis, she indicates them mostly with a few stock faces and movements.
There isn1t a cliché in the book he overlooks in this confusing mess which defies an audience to understand when most of the events depicted in this sad story are happening to the 3little sparrow2 whose voice could arouse emotions from a block of granite.Dahan took great pains to make the actress a replica of Piaf whose real voice was lip synched.
All this under the optics of the biopic but with a very unconventional twist having a non-linear structure, which gives the movie a different dynamic (although this might be confusing for some viewers).However, the real driving force and soul of the film is Marion Cotillard's monumental Oscar-winning performance, who unlike other performances based on real characters, it transcends the mere act of imitation and becomes Edith Piaf delivering the portrait of a woman who despite her physical and personal tragedies became the inspiration for thousands of people through her voice and singing.
And by the way she gives us one of the most spectacular and powerful performances in recent years.In addition, the extraordinary work of characterization (especially in the last years of life of Piaf) and the production values (art direction, costume design, the use of Piaf's songs) give more credibility to the magnificent incarnation (or reincarnation?) of Edith Piaf in a film that easily could become another lifeless biopic.
If you look actually at Edith Piaf's videos online you can see that during the last years of her life she is very sick and still has the power to sing and perform on stage with a good sense of humor.
I have to say that i enjoyed this film notwithstanding the fact that it constantly switched eras.However what the director seemed to have forgotten is the fact that whilst many of us are familiar with and enjoy her music we are unfamiliar with her life.So it was only by reading the mini biog on IMB that i was able to make a great deal of sense out of what was happening.For example no explanation was given as to the reasons for her drug taking.The birth of a child was not mentioned.The murder of her first mentor was not explained.Why was she paying money to the pimp.Was she a prostitute?None of this was made clear and i feel that this detracts from the film and makes it more difficult for audiences outside of France to fully understand her story..
Filmography, sound, scenography and acting, everything in a package that you will never forget.The story of a star with all the drama behind the curtains.A roller-coaster of emotions, beautifully crafter and sensationally interpreted by every single actor and actress.Marion Cotillard, I could not even put in words the tremendous portraying of Edith Piaf.
Cleary Dahan holds of on one of Piaf's greatest, most well know, and well loved songs until the very end.Sure the alternating scenes at times get a little confusing; however, they fit well within Piaf's life.What can be said about Cotillard?
What a beautifully realized biopic on the life of the greatest French singer of all time, Edith Piaf.
(by a pop singer !).Olivier Dahan's did not probably make the definitive Piaf biopic -as users have already pointed out,it would take a miniseries:the half-sister's book ,a 700+ pages biography is impossible to transfer to the screen-but it's easily the best to date.Marion Cotillard easily outdistances her rivals (Brigitte Ariel and Evelyne Bouix)in a Cesar -calibre performance.If she does not get the award,it will be as unfair as Ellen Burnstyn losing her AA to Julia Roberts.The problem for Marion Cotillard will be to find a follow up to the French runaway blockbuster of the year...Olivier Dahan,flouting chronology ,chose key moments in Piaf's eventful life.One can regret that the songs are cut, particularly "Milord" (which Cher covered in America) and "Hymne à L'Amour" .Minor quibbles:the actor playing Cerdan is too refined,too "playboy" to portray Cerdan successfully,a great boxer but an uneducated not-so-handsome man whose favourite reading was the Katzenjammers ("Pim Pam Poum" in French) and whom Piaf herself tried to cultivate his mind (she made him read ,reportedly Mary Webb's "Sarn" );and Theo Sarapo's absence:he was her last love ,and a true love dedicated to her,he sweetened her awful last moments ,together they sang a duet which was a hit "A Quoi ça Sert l'Amour?'Theo Sarapo (Sarapo= I love you in Greek) deserved a niche in Piaf's saga.Too bad.On the other hand,Piaf's faith in Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux remained intact (there is a pilgrimage in the movie) till her last breath.Although her funeral stopped the traffic in Paris ,she was refused a Christian ceremony,the church having declared that she lived in sin.Marlene Dietrich who was here (she briefly appears in the movie,played by Caroline Sihol;remember the German actress sang "La Vie En Rose" in Hitchcock's "stage fright" )cried out:"How much did they love her!".Olivier Dahan made the best of the huge material which he had at his disposal.Some will complain cause Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour do not appear.But the same goes for Georges Moustaki,Mella (from "les Compagnons de la Chanson", Felix Marten;even Henri Vidal was discovered by Piaf...And anyway as the chanteuse wrote:Dans le Ciel Plus de Problème, Dieu Réunit Ceux Qui s'Aiment..
Though I did not like this style of presenting the story, the film still worked for me, because of its high production values, the inherent fascination of Piaf's eventful life, and Cotillard's not-to-be-missed performance..
Marion Collard reincarnates PIAF, she is that good;as a movie, even with the directors shortcomings and minor inexactitudes in the plot, is worth watching; excellent recreation of the period, beautiful photography and above all, a legendary performance by a little known actress.
La Vie en Rose is a great movie that portrays the life of singer Edith Piaf through her childhood and through the tragedies she faced around her as she grew up.
The movie really gives life to the character of Edith, and I think that is especially achieved through Marion Cotillard, the actress playing Edith Piaf in the film.
Her emotional acting is able to lead the audience of the movie through the difficult times that Edith felt in her life.The makeup was incredibly well done, as Marion Cotillard was made to look almost exactly like the real Edith Piaf.
The makeup also was very well transitioned from Edith's early childhood years to her teenage years, and to adulthood.I also enjoyed the music in this movie, and I like the idea of for example, when Edith was going through a difficult time or a tragedy, in the background would be a song of hers that relates to what she is experiencing at the moment.Although I have stated many good comments about this film, it is a little depressing, though that is expected if you know the life of Edith Piaf.
Overall, however, it was a really well-made movie with excellent acting from Marion Cotillard, and a powerful drama that brings to life the voice and heart of French singer Edith Piaf..
I liked Olivier Dahan's film and I found it a loving tribute to life of the great French singer but without Marion Cotillard it just would have been yet another above average biography.
Basically, every rule of good screen writing is broken, and if you are going to be using a format, as this director did, that is not linear and floats back and forth in time, you need to give your viewers some clues to hold on to.As I said, spectacular performance by Ms. Cotillard, but the life of Edith Piaf has epic written all over it and that did not come through in this film..
A worthwhile film to explore if one is interested in learning the storied history of legendary French singer Edith Piaf, La vie en Rose is a classy period piece production detailing the singer's rough upbringing through to her historic last stand.I credit director Olivier Dahan for piecing the movie together in a non-chronological way and adding dashes of surrealist imagery to help tell her story in a more intriguing, accessible way but the constant cutting back and forth does become excessive at points and almost seems like a distraction when it is too constant.Of course the award winning Marion Cotillard shines brightly as the tempestuous title character, though her makeup department shines nearly as bright, authentically reproducing Piaf's appearance throughout the decades with believability.
I knew very little about Edith Piaf apart from a couple of her songs before i saw this movie but when i came out the cinema i felt like i had just watched the real lady on screen.
I am not a fan of foreign films or music but this was one movie that entranced me from the word Go. I went into this knowing nothing about Edith Piaf and the life she led but the story just gripped me.
"La Vie en Rose" is the biography of the French singer Édith Piaf who was regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars.In this movie we the outstanding interpretation of Marion Cotillard (Won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role), who plays as Edith Piaf and I think that this interpretation of her was her best and I liked it very much.
I have long heard of this film, since it had won the Oscar Best Actress prize for lead actress Marion Cotillard for her total embodiment of the central character, French singer Edith Piaf.
Regardless, the film is worth watching, if for no other reason that Ms. Cotillard's performance and the amazing Piaf songs..
But in the story's final act, as Piaf moves inexorably closer to the end of her life, the movie becomes a deeply moving and heartbreaking study of a talented woman brought down by the cruelties of fate (she suffered from crippling arthritis) and her own self-inflicted wounds.Clearly, the chief selling-point of "La Vie en Rose," written by Isabelle Sobelman and Olivier Dahan and directed by Dahan, is the stunning tour de force (and Oscar-winning) performance by Marion Cotillard, who inhabits the character so completely that we truly feel we are watching Edith Piaf herself in the flesh (an illusion enhanced by the filmmakers' reliance on actual Piaf recordings for the singing). |
tt0237934 | The Wyvern Mystery | The story opens with the child Alice, newly orphaned and taken under the wing of Squire Fairfield unaware that he is the man responsible for her father's death. As she grows up to be a beautiful woman, Squire lusts after her and desires her to be his bride, but she is attracted to his older son, Charles. No sooner does he propose than the gallant Charles spirits Alice to a church for preemptory nuptials. Charles' brother, Harry, assists. The couple hide out in a family house Carwell Grange from Squire who pursues them, where life is bliss-notwithstanding the dispirited housekeeper, the wing with rooms painted entirely in black, and Charles' increasingly strange behavior and frequent reference to "old soldier" in whispered conversations with Harry. Soon Alice is pregnant and although fed up with having to hide away she is very much in love with her husband and she discovers and hidden and neglected part of the house with signs of a recent inhabitant, she becomes embroiled in the family's dark past and afflicted with nightmares. These become terrifying real one night when a madwoman bursts through the wall, threatens Alice with a knife, and then stabs Charles while claiming she is his wife.Alice, shocked into labor by the incident with the deranged Vrau, delivers a boy and takes him to the dying Charles to strengthen his will to live. A doctor advises that he be sent out of the house as Charles has developed a infectious fever, against Alice's protests. Harry arranged for his friend Claire Shaw to look after the baby and Alice nurses Charles, who unfortunately dies. At the same time she receive the devastating news that her baby has also died of an infection. At the time of the funeral Squire indicates to Harry that he regrets the death of his son and what has happened, Harry told Alice that his father was no friend to her father, but rather hastened his death, Alice turns on Squire when he tries to be reconciled and offer her a home, Alice is devastated, and, following a blistering confrontation with Squire, cuts off all ties with Wyvern Manor.Five years later, Alice quietly pays her annual visit to her baby's grave. Stopping briefly at her childhood home, she encounters Squire, a visibly broken man, murmuring incoherently. Shaken, she meets Harry, who now controls the family estates. She also encounters Claire Shaw and her suspicions are aroused when she and Harry deny that Claire ever had a child of her own, which they told her when she first met Claire. Alice does some investigating into Claire and into her son's death and suspects Harry of having murdered him. She find out more from the mad Vrau who is chained up and looked after in the house still. Vrau reveals that the boy is alive and lures Alice into unlocking her chains. Alice traces her son to the Archdales who been looking after the boy for payment. She runs off with him and confronts Harry, who mocks and sneers at her claims, but almost immediately after he is murderd by Vrau who has killed her keeper and escaped. Alice's son inherits Wyvern, which they let out and go to live in her first childhood home nearby. | insanity, revenge, gothic, murder, plot twist | train | imdb | Gothic goosebumps. She's young, she's blonde, she's beautiful, she's embroiled in the kind of eerieness only an English manor with a grim, tight-lipped housemistress and a deep, dark secret can muster. If you want romance, mystery, twisted plots and equally twisted people--not to mention one of the best reasons ever filmed for not placing one's bed against a wall--this will not disappoint. Grand performances all around; definitely not for the younger kiddies.. Hell hath no fury like a squire scorned. Although this films aspire to Gothic horror, the villains are quite human and operate with some quite human motives in The Wyvern Mystery. It's the tale of a young girl taken in by the local squire Derek Jacobi, treated well enough, but knowing she's not at the same level as his two blood kin sons Iain Glen and Jack Davenport. As she grows up and turns into the beautiful Naomi Watts, she falls for Glen and they marry and arouse Jacobi's ire. In fact her father was Jacobi's enemy in life and his idea of revenge was to wed and bed her and not out of love. That his own son has upset his plans makes him turn on Glen as well.Hell hath no fury like a squire scorned. They have to flee and after that tragedy follows them around. And it's not all of Jacobi's making.This Victorian story first turned up on British TV and later in America on Public Television's Mystery. The performances are first rate and the outstanding one is Naomi Watts who grows in strength and character throughout an ordeal of a life.. Does It Matter If You Put Too Many Plot Points Into a Movie?. This is a movie that is a serious case for a rewrite. Too many plot points, yet jumping around too much made for a movie that just couldn't settle into its mood. Imagine taking the original Godfather novel and putting ALL of it into just one film. Part of what made the Godfather movies so enjoyable was the easy pace that allowed wonderful character development.The Wyvern Mystery screenwriter couldn't decide between editing out choices and what to leave in, resulting in both too much detail and too many plot points occupying the time, leaving out real character development. At the same time, instead of wise choices for plot points, too few at critical times were left out, resulting in leaving out situational development. For example, at the beginning of the film, you see very young Alice Fairchild and then abruptly, you see the adult Alice. This left out not only her growth, but the growth in relationship between her and her guardian, the Squire. A richer establishment of their relationship would have added texture and resonance to what follows in the film. Yet, this relationship was almost totally missing other than the superficial aspects of it.The cast performances are fine. The music and some of the shots are over the top, coming from a Masterpiece Theatre feeling to suddenly horror, Friday the 13th style. They might have worked if the film's tensions had been established better, but as over the top (for a BBC film, that is) as those terror sequences are here, they are unsupported by the writing.Too bad. I really wanted to like this more. This leaves me wanting to read the book. Apparently, Charlotte Bronte, who penned Jane Eyre, was inspired by the author of the novel upon which this movie is based.. Fine Adaptation Of The Gothic Novel. J. Sheridan LeFanu was a French Gothic novelist who wrote some pretty chilling stuff in the 19th century. He is most famous for his "Carmilla" about a woman vampire. In this film adaptation from his novel "The Wyvern Mystery" Naomi Watts stars as Alice, a pretty and proper Englishwoman who has just married the man of her dreams and is a very enviable position. She is soon the mistress of a large manor complete with servants. The cast includes veteran British actor Derek Jacobi in a fantastic performance. Watts is convincing as a woman who is initially naive but matures into a strong and valiant woman who defends her family from the threat of the terrible secret the manor contains. Excellent visuals/cinematography which evoke Gothic romance/horror. It's all here- the Gothic mansion, eerie moonlight, creepy noises, a dangerous wild woman in a prison, fears of losing an infant, blood, sex and a little gore. The most impressive image for me was the candelabra dripping with blood instead of wax. This film aired in London on the BBC and appeared on American television via KCET/PBS'Mystery! hosted by the legendary British actress Vanessa Redgrave. This is a must see movie for fans of Gothic horror. |
tt0091326 | The Karate Kid Part II | The opening of the story recaps events from the end of the previous film: Daniel LaRusso squares off against Johnny in the final match of the All-Valley Karate Tournament and wins the match and the tournament when he plants his mentor's, Mr. Miyagi's, signature move, a "crane kick" to Johnny's chin. Following the match, Daniel is showering and suggests to Miyagi that they perhaps go on tour to different karate championships. Miyagi kindly says that Daniel should consider "early retirement". Daniel humbly agrees.As they walk out to the parking lot, Daniel is congratulated by the tourney's announcer and referee on his win. Kreese, Johnny's sensei and owner of the Kobra Kai dojo, stalks past, pushing people angrily out of his way. He finds his students in the lot and berates Johnny for not winning the tourney. The scene turns ugly when Johnny talks back, telling his teacher that he's sick in the head. Kreese suddenly grabs Johnny in a headlock and backhands Jimmy, another of his students. Miyagi tells Daniel to wait by their truck and confronts Kreese, ordering him to let Johnny go. When he doesn't Miyagi frees Johnny himself. Kreese furiously tries to punch Miyagi, who easily dodges the blow. Kreese's fist breaks a car window. When he tries to hit Miyagi again, he breaks another car window when Miyagi sidesteps again. Miyagi forces Kreese to his knees and prepares to deliver a seemingly deadly strike to Kreese, growling Kreese' own words about showing an enemy no mercy. He gives a huge yell but stops short of landing the blow and instead honks Kreese's nose and drops him to the ground. Miyagi explains to Daniel that Kreese will have to live with the shame of being publicly humiliated, which is far worse than death.Six months later an angry Daniel arrives at Miyagi's house. The car that Miyagi gave him, a 1948 Ford Super De Luxe, is having mechanical trouble and Daniel, dressed in a tuxedo, is talking angrily about how badly his prom went: his girlfriend, Ali, had borrowed his car and had caused the mechanical trouble. Daniel also grouses about how Ali has found a new boyfriend. To make matters worse, Daniel tells Miyagi that his mother has accepted a temporary transfer to Fresno for the summer and Daniel will have to go with her. Miyagi quickly fixes Daniel's car and takes him to the back of his house where he seems to be constructing a new room. He persuades Daniel to calm down and focus with his breathing technique and shows Daniel how to drive nails with a single shot. Daniel soon feels better and asks Miyagi what the addition to the house is for. Miyagi tells Daniel that the room is for a "refugee" from Fresno -- he'd talked to Daniel's mother, who'd agreed to let Daniel stay in Los Angeles with Miyagi for the summer.A few minutes later, the mail carrier shows up and gives Miyagi an overseas letter. The letter is from Miyagi's former girlfriend in Okinawa -- Miyagi's father is dying. Miyagi has to travel to Okinawa to see his father before he dies. Miyagi also tells Daniel more of the story about his leaving Okinawa: he'd fallen in love with a young woman named Yukie who was betrothed to his best friend, Sato. Miyagi talks about how he was young and foolish and had told the entire village that he was going to marry Yukie despite her parents wishes. Sato, whose karate teacher was also Miyagi's father, challenged his friend to a duel to the death. Miyagi chose to leave rather than fight his best friend.When he's about to board his plane, Daniel suddenly shows up, having persuaded his mother to accompany Miyagi on the trip. Miyagi is reluctant and Daniel tells him he'd used his savings to buy the ticket. Miyagi agrees and they both fly to Okinawa. On the plane Daniel studies a book on Okinawan history and is strangely unable to locate Miyagi's village on the map.When they arrive they are met by a young man a few years older than Daniel, Chozen, who has a car waiting for them. Before Daniel gets in the car, Chozen shakes hands with Daniel, menacingly crushing Daniel's hand. Chozen and his driver take the two to a warehouse near the airport. They are met by Sato, who still holds a grudge against Miyagi and reminds him of his actions years ago. Miyagi refuses to fight Sato. Sato and Chozen leave Miyagi and Daniel to find their own way to town.In a taxi, they stop at the US Air Force base, which Miyagi remembers being the location of his village, called Tomi. An Air Force officer tells them that the village was moved years ago when the base expanded. Arriving at Tomi, Miyagi goes immediately to his father's house. He and Daniel are met by a young woman about Daniel's age, Kumiko, and Miyagi's former love, Yukie. Yukie is happy to see Miyagi and reveals that after Miyagi had left, she hadn't married Sato & hadn't ever married. Later, Miyagi's father requests that both his son and Sato see him. He joins their hands together, asking them to make peace between them right before he dies. Sato grants Miyagi three days to mourn and funeral his held.Miyagi takes Daniel on a tour of Tomi. They arrive at the fishing house where Miyagi used to work. Miyagi shares a story about how he was distracted when a large net of fish came in and he was almost impaled on the net hook. To demonstrate, he releases one of the hooks and swivels at the hips and knees, just barely avoiding being killed. Miyagi calls it the "drum technique", which is reminiscent of the ceremonial drum of the local villagers. Daniel asks to try himself and is forced to jump off the pedestal and falls into the water. Miyagi announces an end to the lesson, however Daniel tries again, releasing a hook on his own and successfully dodging it. Miyagi agrees with Daniel that it was a stupid thing to do.Meanwhile, Daniel has run afoul of Chozen, who is Sato's nephew and seems intent on harassing Miyagi in his uncle's name. Daniel catches Chozen cheating the villagers for food with fake scale weights. Chozen also seems jealous of Daniel's budding relationship with Kumiko, and harangues him often. When Kumiko sees Daniel practicing the "drum" technique he'd learned from Miyagi, she tells him it looks like an ancient Japanese dance called "o-bon". Chozen shows up, drunk, and teases Daniel. The confrontation turns violent and Chozen beats Daniel. While on a date with Kumiko, they go into a bar full of locals and American servicemen who, despite their obvious ignorance of martial arts, are trying to karate chop thick sheets of ice for money. None of them have made it through more than two sheets. Daniel explains to Kumiko what they're doing wrong and one of the Americans drops a challenge. Chozen suddenly appears offering 3-to-1 odds that Daniel can't break six sheets. Miyagi steps in, having been found nearby by Kumiko, and takes Chozen's wager. Sato is there too and covers Chozen's bet. At Miyagi's suggestion, Daniel meditates for a few moments and easily breaks all six sheets. Miyagi gives Daniel his share of the money. Later that night, Daniel goes with Kumiko to a 1950s sock hop. Chozen is there and begins to beat on Daniel and takes the money he'd lost back. Daniel hits Chozen in the crotch and gets his money back, retreating with Kumiko.Miyagi meets with Sato at Sato's house. There he finds Sato practicing on a large wood plank. Miyagi knows the plank is the same one they found on the beach as friends. Miyagi appeals to Sato, saying he still doesn't want to fight his old friend. Sato scoffs and walks away. Miyagi also reconciles with Yukie, saying he's sorry for leaving her. She tells him that she'd never married because of Miyagi's conflict with Sato. Daniel and Kumiko later see Miyagi and Yukie engaged in an ancient tea ceremony where they declare their love for each other.When Miyagi's three days of mourning have passed, Sato and Chozen show up at Miyagi's home. When they are unable to find Miyagi, Sato leaves, telling his nephew to "leave a message" for him. Daniel is awoken by their voices and goes downstairs to the courtyard and is immediately grabbed by Chozen's friends. Chozen threatens Daniel with spear, using it to get him in a choke hold while his friends tear up the courtyard garden. Miyagi appears and orders Chozen to let Daniel go. Miyagi then engages all three boys in a short fight, defeating them all, including Chozen who tries to use the spear. Miyagi wrests it away and stops short of stabbing Chozen with it, eventually breaking it in half. He takes Daniel in the house while the boys leave, telling his student they'll leave tomorrow.The next day Sato has part of the local's gardens bulldozed. Miyagi confronts Sato again, telling him that he'll fight him on one condition: no matter who wins, the deed for the land the village sits on will be turned over to the residents forever. Sato scoffs but agrees when Miyagi tells him that it's a small price to pay.Miyagi later talks to Daniel, telling him he's willed the house in Los Angeles and all it's contents to Daniel should he die in the fight. Miyagi goes off to prepare. Daniel passes by a small chapel where he sees Sato meditating. As he walks past, he sees Kumiko sitting alone in another house. When he joins her, he sees that she's prepared a tea ceremony for them both. When the ritual is complete, the two of them kiss. Suddenly a tropical storm kicks up and they're forced to find shelter in an old concrete bunker left over from World War II. Miyagi is there already and he and Daniel see the chapel that Sato was meditating in suddenly collapse. They both run over to find Sato pinned under a thick beam. While Sato yells about Miyagi taking advantage of his helplessness, Miyagi strikes the beam, breaking it in half. They free Sato and take him to the shelter. Daniel breaks off from them to help the little girl who was on a small tower ringing the town's emergency bell. Daniel brings her down from her perch and struggles to reach the shelter. Sato orders Chozen to help Daniel, but he refuses, ashamed. Sato runs out and helps Daniel out. When he makes it back to the shelter, he tells Chozen that he's dead to him. Chozen runs off into the storm.The next day, as the villagers are cleaning up, Sato joins them and hands the deed to the land over to Miyagi. Daniel approaches him and asks if they can hold an o-bon at the ruins of an old temple near the ocean. Sato agrees. The dance is held that night. One of the events has Kumiko performing a traditional solo dance. Shortly after she begins, Chozen suddenly slides down on a lantern rope and grabs her, holding her hostage and challenging Daniel to fight him. Daniel accepts and crosses the small bridge, throwing it into the moat. The two fight, seemingly to a draw. Suddenly Miyagi and the other spectators begin using their small drums. Chozen is distracted and Daniel begins to hit him repeatedly, having learned the counter punch of the technique. Chozen is beaten and Daniel tweeks his nose in the same manner that Miyagi used on Kreese. The film ends with Miyagi smiling and Daniel holding Kumiko. | dramatic, revenge, inspiring, violence | train | imdb | As a huge fan of the Karate Kid trilogy, you'll have to excuse me while I give my first sentimental statement ever on IMDb. I believe in my heart that in that parallel universe where our favorite characters from film still live, that Kumiko and Daniel would be together today.
Both teacher and student are forced to stand up to their rivals in a matter of honour or shame and life or death.What I like about KK2, is how the story allows us to learn more about characters that we grew to love in the 1984 movie.
It also good for the story to have Daniel fatherless', as he helps his teacher come to terms with the loss of his father, in one of the more emotional scenes in the movie.
I loved the first Karate Kid. Despite it's predictable script, it told an original sports story with great characters, an excellent cast, some emotional moments, great music, and not to mention some great karate fighting scenes.Now, when the director of Rocky made a sequel two years later, I became shocked and rented a DVD copy of the film (just like the first) and watched it to see if it can catch my very interest.
Then, after watching the whole thing, I was saying to myself, "Wow. That was one heck of a great sequel!".Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita did a great job once again as the karate student and the Sensei master and the chemistry between them are as fresh as the first film.
The story in this sequel is also great, but it's even darker and sentimental (there's a scene where we learn that Daniel explains about his father's death which makes us feel sorry for him, thus adding a decent emotional core to the script despite it's schmaltzy moments, but I'll get to that in a moment) than the first with great music and fantastic karate fighting scenes.The pacing was great in the first film.
Also, the script has some schmaltzy moments, but at least the romance between Daniel and Kumiko were enjoyable though.Overall, this sequel is as good as the first despite it's own problems and I'm shocked at the rating it received on this website because it's even worth watching as the first film.
The film starts almost exactly where the first film abruptly ended, with Daniel(played by Ralph Macchio) winning the karate championship under the coaching of Mr. Miyagi(played by Pat Morita).
Daniel also finds a new love in the daughter of Mr. Miyagi's old lover.This is a generally simple film with a fine backdrop of the streets of Okinawa.
Meanwhile , Daniel falls in love for Kamiko (film debut of Talyn Tomita who was actually born in Okinawa , this film's setting) and also gets enemies.This enjoyable following displays action , a love story , Japanese dances , fights and results to be pretty entertaining .
Avildsen has blended more Karate Kid and Rocky movies with such feel-good message stories , such as 'Power on one' and 'Lean on me' .
One would have thought that no movie with a title like "The Karate Kid Part II" could possibly be any good.
This one was allowed to be timeless.I admit that "The Karate Kid Part II" will never be *regarded* as a classic, partly because so many people think that a movie with that kind of title cannot possibly be any good.
The climatic fight scene in the vintage karate ring was about as good as a sequel can get and wasn't relying on the first film for material.
If you liked the first "KARATE KID", this one is almost as good, but please; do not see the 3rd sequel, it is Macchio's worst film ever..
For a long time this was my least favourite of the 3 films starring Daniel and Miyagi, but for quite some time it has been not just my favourite of the trilogy but my favourite film of all time, I love the setting, the story, the character development and especially to two main antagonists, Sato and Chozen.
Seeing Mr. Miagui cope with demons from his past helps to better completely define his character; Machio's Daniel Laruso is sadly left second stage, as all he seems to learn is that his famous "stork-kick" obviously hasn't been perfected after all.Personally, I feel as though KKI and KKII told both halves of the story nicely, and could have done without installments three and four.
In the first Karate Kid movie, the plot focuses on young Daniel and his quest (through Mr. Miyagi) to show the school bullies that he can indeed defend himself.
In this sequel, the subject matter gets a littler darker with the journey into Mr. Miyagi's past.For a basic plot summary, "Karate Kid II" sees Miyagi (Pat Morita) getting called back to his Okinawa hometown to attend to his sick and dying father.
With Daniel (Ralph Macchio) in tow, Mr. Miyagi must deal with an old foe he thought was left in the past, while Daniel falls for a local girl and gets in his own hot water.What allows this film to continue the legacy of the original is the veering away from just copying that one, while also staying true to the series' emotional core.
Avildsen continues at the helm, while the quality score (by Bill Conti) adds a level of emotion beyond the characters.Thus, if you enjoyed the original Karate Kid, fear not...you'll like this one too!
This is by far the best of the Karate Kid movie's, sure, the special technique at the end of the film is a generic swinging of the arms thing, but it looked so cool!
I love that Mr. Miyagi broke a desk and saved his enemy Sato from hurricane that was great in the film.Yuji Okumoto did a good job he was good villain.
Defending this sequel.The last scene in which Daniel fights Chozen was a bad-ass fight sequence the best about the film.
There could be more fight sequences but they only use like three fights in the film not a bad one.The Karate Kid Part II (1986) is the only good sequel I hated 3 and 4 the remake I like for Jackie Chan.
"The Karate Kid, Part 2" is a sequel to the first one, which it picks up where it lefts off with flashbacks like the "Rocky" movies because John G.
It focuses more on Mr. Miyagi's characterizations where he receive news about his father dying as he and Daniel LaRusso travel to Okinawa as they come across his old friend Sato, who wants to challenge him to death but Miyagi wants peace.
Following the theory that success is not to be tampered with, director John G Avildsen has paired up karate student Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) with mentor Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) and poured them in to story little change from the original.
Sato is Okinawa's top karate instructor, he and his best student Chozen set about making Miyagi and Daniels life hell.
The story is basically about Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) who has received news that his father is seriously ill and decides to set off home to Japan and visit him whilst being accompanied by his student Daniel (Ralph Macchio).
But things suddenly turn turmoil once they arrive there with Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) facing his old rival and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) having a new enemy.
The thing that was good about this film or what I've certainly found good was that the story was set in Japan and more about the character Mr Miyagi this time.
Avildsen) has returning actors Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita as Daniel & Mr. Miyagi travel to Japan to visit Miyagi's dying father, and reunite with his old love, only to be confronted by his old rival, who holds a grudge, and his young student, who has his sights set on beating Daniel...Although melodramatic and manipulative, if you're going to do a sequel, this is the way, with exciting action scenes and appropriate character development, as well as good continuity(film begins where Part I ends.) Ultimately a story of redemption and triumph, film pushes the right buttons to succeed..
Worth seeing though because it does continue the story line so if you liked the first one as much as I did you will probably want to see what happens next.This movie is about Danielle as he goes to Okinawa with Mr Myagi to accompany him to see his dieing father.
Soon after going there Myagi finds a love interest and Danielle gets challenged to another karate match.This movie was pretty good just not as good as the first.
This is the Karate Kid movie that has a major cult following due to it's unique elements such as setting, plot, new characters, and a great song ("The Glory Of Love").
It feels so 80's it makes me wanna cry in happiness.Great plot, setting, and characters.A really good sequel that worths the watch but keep in mind that it has little to do with the plot of the original Karate Kid..
once again we have a case where the sequel outdoes the original.the original set the stage for the characters and is well done.however,the sequel is better than the original for one main reason,a better villain.this time Daniel is forced to fight for his life(literally)against a much more skilled opponent than he faced in the original.there is much more tension in this movie and more scenes of peril.the violence is more vivid and graphic.The setting is much more exotic,this time Okinawa being where most of the story takes place.so,visually we have a much more picturesque movie to look at.also,we see some of the culture of the people of Okinawa(accurate or not,i'm not sure).there is also more happening in this film.we have a subplot involving Mr.Myagi and a choice he must make.so,the story is more developed,the location is nicer,and the villain is better written than the 1st.and of course Mr. Myagi continues to teach Wisdom to Daniel as well as the Okinawan Village.when you add it all up,this makes for a better movie.but parents should be warned,again,that their is more graphic violence and sequences of peril in this one.use your discretion.
It would have been the routine thing to do to use the same formula as was successful in the original Karate Kid. Instead the film makers tried something different, and packed the whole thing off to Okinawa.The result is a real eye-opener into the Japanese way of life.
As with the original the sequel has something for all the family.There is still that oriental philosophy running all the way through, which is much better than just a kid winning a karate contest...although I do admit to enjoying the car windows scene at the beginning of the film.Danny Kamekona gives a superb performance as the heavy who very much has a sense of honour..
I first saw this movie three years after it came out, i thought it look a bit childish and corny, but when i actually saw it its great, it isn't as good as the first and the fighting scene at the end was very short but it is still a well done sequel, the movie just isn't for martial art fans but also for those who like a bit of drama, romance and of coarse action.
he didn't kill Kreese but he sqeezed his nose, then at the end when Daniel was fighting he said to the guy "live or die" and then sqeezed his nose but i guess you have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about, but don't let that give you second thoughts about watching this movie it is very good, it was directed by the same director as ROCKy and the karate kid trilogy carry the same basic story line as ROCKY.
What wasn't there to love funny moments, like when Dojo master Kriese puts his hands thru the car windows(well you kinda have to see it to know what I mean), great fights scenes especially the one in the end between Daniel and the Resident Heavy (I think that is his real name) at the castle when the gloves are off and instead of a tournament this time it is a fight to the death.
Starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Danny Kamekona, Tamlyn Tomita, Nobu McCathy, Yuji Okumoto, and Martin Kove.Taking place where Part 1 left off, Daniel LaRusso has just won the Karate Tournament and has won the title from Johnny Lawrence.
I think Pat Morita did a splendid job in this film and the first Karate Kid movie (even though the first was cluttered) and deserved the best supporting actor oscar for which he was nominated, but didn't win (Haing Ngor did for the Killing Fields, if only they allowed two winners).
And maybe best song to come out of a movie, Ceteras "Glory of Love." The original music by Tom Conti is still as great (that oh so recognizable pan flute played by Zamphir) with my one minus point of the film to Daniels love interest.
Good story line and plot, great acting, beautiful Okinawa scenery, unexpected ending to the fight scene...Worth watching more than once.
The original "Karate Kid" is a good movie.
Macchio and Morita still work great together, only this time, they BOTH have their bullies to overcome (Daniel Vs. Chozen, Mr. Miyagi Vs. Sato).
(the scene with Daniels car, and the cannery sequence, to name two) I could watch this film without tiring of it for a long time to come, it's that good.
Daniel's romantic interest in this movie is much better than in the first movie, and it is nice to see Mr. Miyagi sweetly reunited with a long-lost love.The fight scenes are exciting, and the message at the end is good too.
Better than the original?; many movies try to make a sequel that tops the original but like most - The Karate Kid II fails.But wait...
This IS a good film - not as good as K.K.I but this has fantastic scenery, a good plot-line and some good acting - notably again from "Pat" Morita and the fight sequences are again top-notch.This was never going to win an Oscar(Perhaps for Peter Ceteras' fantastic title song) but if you're after a good action/love movie then this is one you should watch..
While not quite as good as the original Karate Kid, this was an excellent sequel that has many of the qualities that made the first film great.Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita are once again impeccable as Daniel and Mr. Miyagi.
In this film, they travel to Okinawa, and I loved the beautiful scenery there.I found the plot about Mr. Miyagi meeting again with and eventually reconciling with his old rival Sato to be very compelling, and I also enjoyed the romance between Daniel and Kumiko.The final fight between Daniel and Chosen is gripping and intense.
This unnecessary sequel to the surprise 1984 hit picks up exactly where the previous film left off, and though it's not a great movie, it could have been much worse.In this one, Danny and Mr. Miyagi travel to Japan, where Danny finds himself in yet another karate showdown, and finds time to fall in love with a Japanese girl who's way hotter than Elisabeth Shue.Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita return to their roles, and have just as much chemistry together as they did before, even if the novelty has worn off a bit.Like many films from the 1980s, this one is most famous for its theme song, "Glory of Love".Grade: B-.
The Karate Kid, Part II is by no means an exception - whatever magic the original film had (and it ain't much; a lot of it comes off as cheesy nowadays) is largely missing.Picking up right after the end of Part I, this sequel begins with the aftermath of Daniel's (Ralph Macchio) victory: while he is surrounded by admirers, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) beats the hell out of the rival coach (the movie's comic highlight) and reveals he has plans for the kid's career.
I praised its likable, multi-dimensional characters, attention to the specifics and underlying principles of karate, and the performance of the late, great Pat Morita as the soft-spoken and whimsical Mr. Miyagi."The Karate Kid, Part II," released in 1986, is set only minutes after the final confrontation from the first film between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, noticeably older-looking) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and is again directed by John G.
The action is much more sparing than it was in the first film, but the ending confrontation between Daniel and Chozen, while seemingly inappropriate, is brutal (especially for the "PG" rating) and as Miyagi reminds his student, he is not fighting for points but for his life.A mediocre sequel, though not a bad one.
Karate Kid Part II, The (1986) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Disappointing sequel finds Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) traveling to Okinawa when Miyagi receives a letter that his father is dying.
Highly Entertaining But Not As Good As The First One. The Karate Kid Part II is the sequel to the 1984 surprise hit The Karate Kid.It reunites Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita reprise their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi, respectively.The movie was written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John Avildsen,who also wrote the screenplay and directed the first film.The story picks up where the first film left off.It finds Danny and Miyagi making an emergency trip to Okinawa, where Miyagi's father is dying.
Also, Daniel meets a girl his age named Kumiko, and romance is started between them.This movie has some beautiful scenery (although not really filmed in Japan, but Hawaii), some interesting words of wisdom from Miyagi, good music, strong performances, and decently choreographed fight scenes.
The first Karate Kid movie was excellently made, I was very impressed with the plot and how the story ended up. |
tt0103074 | Thelma & Louise | As the film opens, we meet Louise (Susan Sarandon), a waitress in a diner-style restaurant. She phones her friend Thelma (Geena Davis) and makes reference to a vacation they are about to take together where they will retreat to a friend's rural cabin for the weekend. Thelma is married to a moronic hothead named Darryl (Christopher McDonald), and she is too timid to even tell Darryl that she is going away for the weekend. Instead, she waits until Darryl leaves for work and then writes a note. Louise is unmarried, although she does have a boyfriend named Jimmy (Michael Madsen). Her relationship is not the type that she has to explain anything to Jimmy; it is clear that Louise is an independent and headstrong woman, while Thelma is passive and naive. Perhaps out of fear of being in the woods with no man around, Thelma brings along Darryl's handgun. Together, the two friends set out in Louise's 1966 Thunderbird convertible.Before they have reached their destination, Thelma wants to stop at a roadhouse and have a few drinks. Although Louise does not want to do this, she warily agrees, seeing as it is Thelma's vacation, too. While there, the two women meet a man named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), who takes an interest in Thelma and flirts with her all evening. After Thelma has had too much to drink, Harlan sneaks her away from Louise and takes her out to the dark parking lot, where he attempts to have sex with her. When Thelma protests, Harlan becomes violent and attempts to rape her. He is interrupted by Louise, who appears brandishing the gun. Harlan tries to explain that they were just having fun, Louise warns him that when a woman protests a man's sexual advances, "she isn't having any fun." Although she is able to get Thelma safely away from Harlan, he claims that he wishes he had raped Thelma after all, and Louise immediately shoots him dead. Horrified, Thelma ushers Louise into the car and they drive away.Harlan's body is soon discovered, and it does not take the authorities long to connect Harlan to Thelma and Louise, since many people in the bar saw them together. The waitress who served them says she doesn't think they were the type to commit murder. A state police investigator named Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) is assigned to the case and immediately seems sympathetic to Thelma and Louise; something about the incident does not add up, and he seems to suspect already why Harlan was shot.Thelma and Louise check into a motel and regroup, still in shock over the incident. Thelma feels that what happened was not their fault, and she wants to go to the police, but Louise is convinced that nobody will believe her side of the story and will charge her with homicide, particularly since Harlan wasn't threatening them any longer when she shot him. She is also cynical about how Thelma's story of attempted rape would be received; she knows they were seen drinking and dancing with Harlan, and she feels this would make others feel that Thelma led Harlan on. Unwilling to cooperate with authorities, Louise decides instead to contact Jimmy. She tells him she's in trouble and she needs money; she asks Jimmy for a loan that matches her life savings, to be repaid later, and Jimmy agrees. She asks him to wire the money to her in Oklahoma City. Although she doesn't tell Jimmy any details, she plans to stay on the run and cross the border into Mexico. Thelma is confused when Louise tells her that she doesn't want to go through Texas to get to Mexico, but Louise becomes furious about it and insists that Thelma find another route.At a gas station, Louise asks Thelma to call Darryl, and when she does he refuses to even listen to her; he orders her to return home immediately, at which point Thelma curses him and hangs up. Before leaving the station, Thelma strikes up a conversation with a handsome hitchhiker. Thelma is especially interested in him, and eventually she convinces Louise to offer him a ride. His name is JD (Brad Pitt), and he immediately charms Thelma. Louise is wary of him from the very beginning, at first refusing to give him a lift but then relenting when they happen upon him again by chance. Along the way to Oklahoma, Louise narrowly avoids being spotted by state police, alerting JD to the fact that something is going on with them.They stop at another motel, where Louise has arranged to pick up Jimmy's wire transfer. Instead she finds Jimmy himself waiting for her; her strange behavior has made him anxious to see her in person. Jimmy rents a separate room for Thelma, and Louise entrusts her to guard the cash, which is in a large envelope. After Louise leaves for her own room, JD reappears and Thelma invites him in. The two of them make love, and JD reveals to her that he is a semi-professional thief who makes his living holding up small convenience stores. He delights Thelma by running through the speech that he uses to hold up his victims, and Thelma remarks how polite he is about the whole thing.Meanwhile, Louise and Jimmy have a soul-baring conversation about their relationship. Jimmy is infuriated when Louise refuses to tell him what is going on, and he awkwardly proposes to her. Louise is conflicted; although she is touched at Jimmy's interest in marrying her, she knows that her circumstances prevent it, and she isn't even sure she wants to marry Jimmy. The matter remains unresolved; in the morning, she sees Jimmy off from the hotel's coffee shop, both of them knowing that it may be the last time they see one another. Immediately after Jimmy leaves, Thelma appears, noticeably giddy and dazed. Louise is amused that Thelma has enjoyed a night of sex with JD, until Thelma reveals that she has left him alone in the hotel room with the money. They rush back upstairs to find both JD and their money gone.Louise is devastated, since now it seems as if she will have no choice but to surrender. Without money, she and Thelma have no other options. Thelma, however, seems galvanized by the experience. She takes charge and orders Louise to get her belongings together and they leave the hotel.Meanwhile, Hal Slocumb has visited Louise's apartment, and since he feels the women may have left the state, the FBI is called in. Hal and several FBI agents stake out Darryl's house, tapping the phone in anticipation of Thelma eventually calling home.JD is picked up and brought to Hal for questioning, and Hal speaks privately with him. Even though he knows Thelma and Louise are fugitives, he is furious with JD for interfering with their security by taking their money, and JD apparently cracks and tells him everything he knows. JD has a brief confrontation with Darryl, who is also at the police station, and is furious with him for sleeping with Thelma. Slocumb and the others are amused by Darryl's ridiculous antics.Shortly after leaving the hotel, the women pull up alongside a small gas station with a convenience market. Louise is still so shaken up over their latest setback that she can hardly speak; Thelma borrows her sunglasses and goes inside. After only a few minutes, she comes running out of the station, screaming for Louise to start the car, and the two of them speed off; Thelma has robbed the gas station, making off with an undetermined amount of money. Louise is shocked, and wonders how Thelma did it.Immediately we cut to Darryl's house, where Darryl, Hal, and the other FBI agents watch the security camera video of Thelma robbing the market; they are stunned at how cool and professional she seems, unaware that she is reciting JD's robbery speech almost verbatim. Louise decides they need to find out if the authorities are onto them, so she tells Thelma to call Darryl. "Hang up if it seems like he knows anything," she tells her. When Darryl greets her with a cheery "Hello", Thelma immediately hangs up, saying "He knows." Louise thinks for a moment and then dials the number again; when Darryl answers, she asks to speak to whoever is in charge, and Hal talks to her. She speaks bluntly to him, which Hal seems to admire. Hal informs them that they're not wanted for murder, only for questioning, although Thelma is now wanted in Oklahoma for armed robbery. Louise hangs up before the call can be traced. While driving away, Thelma recalls the incident with Harlan and asks Louise again about Texas; Thelma is sure Louise was raped there. But Louise is adamant, and icily tells Thelma that she won't talk about it, and to never ask her about it again.Later, Louise is pulled over for speeding by a state policeman. When the cop takes her into his car and tries to call in Louise's registration on his radio, Thelma appears and puts the gun to his head. She tells Louise to take his gun and shoot out his radio, then they lock him in the trunk of his cruiser and speed off. After leaving the state, Louise calls Slocumb again at Darryl's house. She tells him that the whole thing was an accident, and Hal believes her, but since she is unwilling to return for questioning, he informs her that they will be charged with murder. He also makes a shocking statement to Louise: he knows what happened to her in Texas. Thelma hangs up the phone, worried that Louise has been on too long. Sure enough, the FBI has traced the call, and they try and head off without Hal to bring the women in. Hal convinces them to bring him along anyway, feeling some sort of connection to the incident, especially to Louise.Thelma has a moment where she embraces her new life; she worries that Louise will make a deal with Slocumb in order to return to her old life and possibly reconnect with Jimmy. Thelma herself feels that she can never go back to the way she used to live, not now that she has tasted freedom. Louise vows that she is not considering any deals, and that the two of them will stay together.Throughout the film, the women have encountered an obnoxious male trucker while on the road. The man has made obscene gestures at them and lewdly tried to suggest some kind of sexual activity with them. At this point, they see him again and decide to take care of him once and for all. They tell him to pull over for some fun, then they confront him about his behavior and demand that he apologize. When the man becomes indignant, they fire on his rig's gas tank, blowing his truck and trailer sky high in a huge explosion. The man calls them "bitches from Hell" and collapses in disbelief.With the burned out rig as a very noticeable indicator of their presence, the women are soon spotted by highway patrol and pursued by many cars. After a high speed chase, Louise manages to briefly shake the entire brigade by driving under a very low pipeline overpass. The Thunderbird barely makes it, but the police cars are trapped behind the pipeline. Momentarily alone, Louise and Thelma seem to realize that they cannot escape from the police, and they find that their only path leads them upwards into a mountainous region. They find themselves trapped when they reach the top, which offers no escape; they are on the brink of an enormous canyon.The state police and the FBI are right behind them; a large helicopter appears in front of them, one of the passengers being Hal Slocumb himself. The police dig in behind the Thunderbird, forming an impassable barrier. All of the troopers and FBI agents draw their weapons and train them on the Thunderbird. Hal is upset, understanding that this much firepower is unnecessary to confront these two women. Inside the Thunderbird, Thelma and Louise have a discussion. Louise says that she refuses to surrender, and Thelma once again realizes that she will now lose the freedom that she so briefly experienced. She tearfully suggests to Louise that they "keep going", gesturing at the canyon. Louise realizes that Thelma is suggesting that they die together, and she seems to agree. Overcome with emotion, she embraces Thelma and kisses her in friendship, and she slams on the gas pedal, driving full speed ahead. Hal realizes what they are doing and runs after them, but he is too late. As Louise and Thelma hold hands in defiance, the car flies off the edge of the cliff. The frame freezes as the car flies through the air, then fades to a white screen. As the credits start to roll, various scenes of Thelma and Louise's past few days "flash before our eyes." | murder, dramatic, cult, violence, action, tragedy | train | imdb | As bold and relevant as ever, it remains a vastly entertaining must-see.Callie Khouri's screenplay is a feeling, funny classic and director Ridley Scott lends this road movie epic scope, seeking out the beauty in open spaces.Both leads - Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise - give fine performances.
Directed by Ridley Scott, who directed the science fiction classics, Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise is an on-the-lam chick flick (with chase scenes), a kind of femme Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), somewhat akin to Wild at Heart (1990) and Natural Born Killers (1994) but without the gratuitous violence of those films.
Incidentally, the script is by Callie Khouri who wrote Something to Talk About (1995) and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) which should give you an idea of how men are depicted here.Susan Sarandon is Louise, a thirty-something Arkansas waitress with an attitude and some emotional baggage, and Geena Davis is Thelma, a cloistered ingenue housewife with a yearning to breath free.
The characters they play are well-rounded and fully developed and sympathetic, in contrast to the men in the film who are for the most part merely clichés, or in the case of Darryl (Christopher McDonald), Thelma's boorish husband, or the troll-like truck driver, burlesques.I have never seen Geena Davis better.
D., a sweet-talking twenty-something who gives Thelma the script for robbing 7-11s as he steals more than her libido.This movie works because it is funny and sad by turns and expresses the yearning we all have to be free of the restraints of society and its institutions (symbolized in the wide-open spaces of the American Southwest) while representing the on again, off again incompatibility of the male and female heart.
The tradition of the American road trip is shown in such a refreshing way in this movie, with its two lead characters people who are fed up with life, and no longer take any crap from the men that they live with or that they meet.
The main stars here are Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), who are some what fed up with the life that they are living, and plan a trip to get away from everything.
In fact from the time that this incident begins and concludes, the movie to the very end was for me, one great joy ride.Davis and Sarandon share a great bond on the film.
Hal is genuinely interested in working out the situation with the girls, but realises that these are extraordinary women, in an extraordinary situation.'Thelma and Louise' is well directed by Oscar winning director, Ridley Scott.
Nevertheless, it looks like fun to be on the run!CMRS gives 'Thelma and Louise': 4.5 (Very Good - Brilliant Film).
It is a buddy movie about two women, and it is one of the best road movies to ever grace the screen.Louise (Susan Sarandon) and Thelma (Gina Davis) are two friends who plan a road trip into the mountains for the weekend.
Thelma is a sexually repressed housewife who lives at home with a self-important husband (Christopher McDonald) who doesn't seem to care much for her at all except when she is not fulfilling her house-wife duties like having diner made and the house cleaned.It is no wonder these two decide to take a trip for the weekend to the mountains to get away for awhile and have fun.
Of course there is an event that happens not long after they have started their journey, and right after said event, things quickly spiral out of control as the two girls find themselves racing for Mexico with the law quickly on their heels.This movie could've been just another boring road picture, but both Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon along with a fine script and clever pacing by director Ridley Scott, make it much better.
In response to people who bash the movie saying that it is anti-male; I would like to say that Thelma and Louise is simply a movie about situations that happen to women all too often.
"Thelma and Louise" is also a movie where Scott takes a lucid look on the hidden side of the American society and especially on men.
The road movie is traditionally a male genre, relying on the sense of freedom and independence that having one's own transport provides and which has usually been the privilege of men
What is innovatory about "Thelma & Louise" is the way it reequips the genre for women
Thelma (Geena Davis) is a housewife trapped in a meaningless marriage, Louise (Susan Sarandon) is a waitress in a not very significant relationship
They decide to give themselves a little space by taking off for a weekend
But when Louise shoots a man who is trying to rape Thelma, they are precipitated into a far more radical break with their past lives
The setting of action in the American southwest and the acts of outlawry the women are obliged to commit in order to keep on the run give the film some of the feel of a Western
What makes it nevertheless a women's film is that the relationship between the two principals is at the center of the story
The various men they encounter, both the ones they leave behind and those they meet on the road have less importance for Thelma and Louise than the two women do for each other
Predictably, the film met with hostility from some male viewers, on the grounds that the men were caricatured and that the film encouraged violence.
But if you look at a picture like Play Misty for Me from two decades earlier, where a used woman becomes the antagonist in a Psycho-type thriller, or I Spit on your Grave (1978) in which a woman's revenge for being raped could only be shown in a lurid exploitation movie, we can see how far the perspective has had to shift.Thelma & Louise, brilliantly scripted by Callie Kouri, gives an explanation for violence by women towards men, and it does so with amazing simplicity.
Michael Madsen is very good too, intimidating in his controlled anger, but radiating a presence that makes his attractiveness to Louise understandable.The movie is directed by that meticulous craftsman Ridley Scott.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott shows a terrific talent for directing women here, and the performances by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are almost uncanny.
Salty waitress Sarandon, initially the savvier of the two, is loose and girlie with Arkansas housewife Davis in the beginning; however, their character shadings soon change, with both ladies eventually taking turns playing 'the brains' (I didn't really believe it when, having been pulled over by a cop in the desert, Sarandon's Louise becomes kind of a dingbat, but you accept it for the moment and the movie quickly rolls on).
The men in the cast obviously don't get much of a chance to shine, but Harvey Keitel does the understanding detective bit very well (it's almost the same man he portrayed in "Mortal Thoughts"); Brad Pitt has a scene-stealing, star-making role as a cowboy hustler, yet this film took a long time to gain a fully appreciative audience.
Commonly described as a feminist road movie, "Thelma and Louise" has some important and meaningful things to say about feminism and female friendship.
It was honest here.And, the film was honest about it's main characters Thelma (Davis) and Louise (Sarandon).
Susan Sarandon (Louise) who plays a housewife and Geena Davis (Thelma)who plays a waitress, decides to go on a trip they would not forget.this movie shows how two best friends did not give up on each other.
Ridley Scott could not have directed a better movie.Furthermore, Brad Pitt (JD) plays a hitchhiker who really enjoys Thelma's company and woes her on how to rob local stores.
Thelma & Louise shows how two friend went from having a normal everyday life, to being on the run.If you have not seen this film, I would suggest everyone view the 1991 movie because, it is breath taking and will have you laughing and crying at the same time.
Lovely Geena Davis and tough Susan Sarandon gave their best performances so far (does anybody really like "Dead Man walking" or "Little Stewart 1 + 2"?
Overlooking for a moment THELMA AND LOUISE's blatant sexism: all the men are liars, cheats, rapists or morons; all the women are "Victims" with a capital "V" -- even as they kill, rob and vandalize their way across the US Southwest.And setting aside that Callie Khouri's Oscar-winning screenplay is nothing but a collection of tired cliches from two separate genres: the male buddy film ("bang bang boom boom) and the whiny chick flick: "weep weep sob sob").The question that comes to my mind is why this is, in any way, considered to be a "feminist" film.
Khouri - in case you missed it - is saying she's justified in putting out hateful trash, movies like Thelma & Louise that is, and present men as foul unredeemable pigs because she thinks that's how women are portrayed in other movies.
Overall impressive, but highly over-rated road film has the titled characters (Oscar-nominees Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) running away from the authorities after a killing at a slummy bar.
Sarandon outshines Davis throughout the movie and Keitel actually ends up being the most interesting character by the final act.
Jimmy is the typical romantic guy that gives everything for his girl but that's all because he "loves the chase" and then there's darryl who happens to be the typical "macho man" that thinks that women are only on earth to serve their husbands) But anyway the movie in my opinion is just great, great scrip, great performances, great scenarios, and great directing.
Joe Bob Briggs was right: the only thing distinguishing "Thelma and Louise" from the crappy flicks that Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear used to present on USA Up All Night is that the makers and promoters of the latter didn't intend their over-the-top misandry to be taken seriously.This film's heavy-handed political correctness speaks volumes about the zeitgeist of the early 1990s, a time when the mainstream media treated Marxist feminist Catharine A.
Like Thelma and Louise, you'll want to ditch your jobs for the weekend and beg, borrow or steal a classic convertible car, before setting off on a road trip adventure along the USA's dusty mid-western highways.The premise of the film is simple - put two ordinary people in an extraordinary situation and watch what happens as events start to snowball.
Certainly it is true that this is a film about two women, and the men in the story are shown as ineffectual or lacking in understanding (although watch for an entertaining appearance by Brad Pitt which is regarded as his breakthrough role).
Yes, the men are all two-dimensional stereotypes (good cop, bad cowboy, confused boyfriend, insensitive husband), but the two title characters are equally insubstantial, and the inevitable (and again, predictable) merging of their contrary personalities is finally achieved in a convenient, unresolved freeze-frame non-climax designed to avoid the necessity of a genuine ending.Notice how any remorse over the killing that inaugurates their crime spree only lasts a scene or two: convention demands that they be girls who just want to have fun, and because all their (male) targets are cartoon jerks every act of violence is not only justified, but commendable.
It might have been interesting to show them blowing away, in cold blood, an innocent bystander of the opposite sex, but that would only jeopardize the contrived sympathy built into their roles.Lively performances by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis aren't enough to camouflage the formula, and at any rate both actresses are lost behind all the pretty scenery, photographed not unlike an ad for Levi jeans: only another example of how artificial the film is..
Indeed, this film reminds me a lot of the 1973 classic "Badlands"; except that, as seekers of freedom, Thelma and Louise are far more sympathetic than the two lead characters in the earlier film.Both Geena Davis as Thelma, and Susan Sarandon as Louise, give terrific performances.
In support roles, Harvey Keitel as the main detective and Brad Pitt as a drifter named J.D. enhance the film's overall quality of acting.Dialogue lends credible support to the story's characterizations, like when Thelma asks J.D. about his previous petty robbery experience.
I could thus have wished for less time on long-distance phone conversations and police questioning, and more time with the two central characters and their on-the-road adventure."Thelma & Louise" is a very American-type film, filled with dirt roads, open highway, expansive landscapes, and two likable women in search of freedom and self discovery.
Its really funny in parts and Geena Davis is great as naive and goofy Thelma, Susan Sarandon is also fantastic as Louise.
The best way to watch Thelma and Louise is simply to leave your "brain" so to speak at the door of the cinema and just relax and have a good time.
Still, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis give two superb performances as the women on the run, and director Ridley Scott always knows how to keep a story moving.
The movie stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon aka Thelma & Louise, they go to a bar and meet a guy who rapes one of the girls, I forget who.
Harvey Keitel is the officer who wants to bring them in for murder.This movie, believe it or not, is one of my favourites, it's got excellent acting from all the stars, mostly the two female leads and Keitel, and its' got a very cute guy in it Brad Pitt, great lines, brilliantly directed by Ridley Scott, and it has a one-of-a-kind story that makes it unforgettable.
His achievement is found here in this dark road-trip comedy starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in their anti-heroine roles who are given a mouth full to say about society and it's uncouth treatment towards women, but perhaps not the most orthodox way for that matter.
The film centers on Thelma Dickinson (played by Geena Davis), an Arkansas housewife living under the household of her manipulative husband Darryl (played by Christopher McDonald); and her best friend Louise Sawyer (played by Susan Sarandon), a waitress at a local diner who's dating kind-hearted musician Jimmy (played by Michael Madsen) who sadly doesn't have enough for her as his music career always have him on the road.
Thelma and Louise, though not a masterpiece, is one of the best popcorn films of the early 1990s, and definitely a cultural landmark in its integration of a blockbuster road movie with feminist concerns.
It's about two fugitives, people on the run, who keep getting themselves into one mess after another.I don't think of this as a feminist chick flick, but a story of two women who deal with things that have happened to them in the best way they can.
Geena Davis as Thelma, does a very good performance, as a meek woman with an overbearing husband, who finds herself with newfound freedom, albeit quite naive and trusting, even after what happened to her.Susan Sarandon shines in this movie as well as Louise, a woman with a boyfriend who turns out to be not so bad of a guy.
Thelma and Louise is one of those rare gems that will span the test of time and remind us what truly good films and truly great friendships can accomplish..
Though I wouldn't recommend women act out quite the way they do, the film remains a great feminist manifesto.Harvey Keitel does a fine job as a caring police officer who wants to bring them in with no problems and before they run up a real criminal record.
Probably my favorite movie of 1991, THELMA AND LOUISE was an exciting, gripping, and deeply moving comedy/drama/adventure about girlfriends (Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis)who plan an innocent weekend away from their hum drum lives and the scummy men in their lives and due to some unforeseen circumstances, find themselves suddenly on the run from the law.
But recently I have enjoyed some of the 'chick flicks' I have seen: The Truth About Cats & Dogs', Mystic Pizza', and Something To Talk About' (which is by the same writer as this one.) Thelma & Louise is another one I can wholeheartedly recommend, even to the guys.This is a classic movie of two types: a female empowerment film, and an American road movie.
Both Sarandon and Davis played excellent roles as Louise and Thelma, and the two girls create really good chemistry.
With a mixture of action, drama, and comedy, "Thelma and Louise" is the perfect road trip movie to watch again and again.
Scott's Thelma and Louise is an entertaining and amusing film regarding the growing friendship of its female leads.
Thelma and Louise are depicted as strong and independent women, consequently making all men in the movie seem powerless.
I know that there will never be a movie that will demonstrate courage, faith and friendship as beautifully as "Thelma and Louise" did.Bravo to the whole cast, crew and Ridley Scott, the director!!!.
Thelma And Louise isn't the type of film you would really expect from Ridley Scott, but he does it well.
Each male character in the movie somehow misinterprets women in general and specifically Thelma and Louise.
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are both fantastic as Thelma and Louise, respectively.
"Thelma & Louise" makes for one of your better road movies (to say the least), but the real jewel in this crown is the heavy-duty bond between these two women.
This is a pretty good self-defense movie where friends Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) go on a weekend getaway they will never forget.
It is a perfect case study for movie students with its highly structured screenplay, hardly any innovation or experimentation (theme maybe new for its time but my point is on execution), template characters and a highly predictable but a perfect end.Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) are friends but leading un-fulfilling lives. |
tt0377062 | Flight of the Phoenix | Flight of the Phoenix is a remake of the 1965 film The Flight of the Phoenix starring James Stewart. Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) pilots a C-119 cargo plane full of oil workers who are returning home after shutting down an oil field in Mongolia's Gobi Desert. The plane is overloaded on take off, and soon they hit a violent sandstorm that causes them to crash. They are now stranded over 200 miles off-course and in the harsh desert terrain. Frank must maintain order and ration the little food and water among the survivors and wait for someone to rescue them. As time goes by, they realize their chance of being rescued is zero. An odd man named Elliott (Giovanni Ribisi) who caught a ride with them suggested that they build a new plane out of parts from the undamaged cargo plane. He just happens to be a plane design engineer. They think he is crazy, but what else can they do. Under Elliott's command, the survivors begin to construct the plane, which they name the Phoenix. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy) | murder | train | imdb | This version has new actors filling the shoes of established characters, and yet none have the quality to hold the story on course, causing it to crash like their airplane.
Dennis Quaid assumes the role, originally filled by Jimmy Stewart, of the pilot who, against all odds, endeavors to lead his passengers to safety.Although the new version follows the original fairly closely in terms of both character delineation and plot development, the story doesn't seem quite as fresh today as it did when we first encountered it close to 40 years ago.
Thus, he is a leader and a hero more by default than by design.Although the crash itself is fairly impressive from a technical standpoint - despite a rather phony-looking, computer-generated sandstorm that brings the plane down - once we end up on the desert floor, the movie doesn't do a particularly effective job conveying the truly grueling nature of the predicament these individuals are facing.
The main weakness with a film like "Flight of the Phoenix" is that, when the plane goes down, we're stuck in the desert right along with the characters, and if they don't have anything particularly interesting to say to one another, we can feel just as stranded as they.Thus, despite a few quality moments, this "Flight" never manages to get off the runway.
The opening sequences with the plane flying over sand dunes are superb, and then when it hits the storm the effects are excellent and it's at that point the action really kicks in, before that we were introduced to the varied multi-national characters and their initial roles.
I know that when I see a lone Scotsman in a movie it usually grates like hell with me, partly because they are usually played by Americans, but also because it just doesn't seem to fit, here it does because the entire cast is a mishmash of people.
It really does feel like a group of remote oil workers.The plane designer, played by Giovanni Ribisi is a terrible character, slimy, loathsome, and someone that you would expect to be a serial killer.
The airplane crashes on desert of Mongolia (in first version was Sahara) and they must survive and hold numerous risks , odds , dangers , hardships and try to rebuild their aircraft from the wreckage in order to prevent the suffering caused for hostile elements : sandstorms , burn sun and Mongolian enemies.
Misfortunes on desert atmosphere filling one with revulsion for the conditions in that unlucky are forced to exist stranded at uninhabited place : famine , warming , thirsty , bandits (in this adaptation have more importance than the first) and taking on themselves .Movie is a thoughtful change about the Hollywood screenplay of the plane that crashes in far countries as : ¨Alive : Miracle of the Andes¨ or ¨Airport¨ series .
It's an intelligent and dramatic movie developing the narration about the plane construction of riveting manner and with a semi-male star-studded , exception of the enticing Miranda Otto but in the original adaptation was totally masculine .
So why do so many directors do remakes of classic movies that deliberately do away with the qualities that made the earlier version(s) as great as they are?
In the original "Flight of the Phoenix", there are several aspects of the film that are essential to the movie; the complete absence of women, the contrast of the claustrophobic setting of the crash site against the vastness of the desert, the lack of backstory for the characters, the revealing of the hidden hopes and fears of the characters through pure dialogue, and the total isolation of the men from outside influences (with the exception of the encounter with the Bedouins.) The 2004 version of the movie basically does away with all of these elements, and the result is not positive.The original movie was basically a stage play, with limited special effects and a setting that could easily be reproduced on a stage.
I don't believe that John Moore improves the movie in any way other than the introduction of some brief, but impressive, special effects.I also have to point out that some of the reviewers have obviously never seen the original 1965 version, or, if they did, they paid little attention to it.
Flight of the Phoenix is a boring and predictable film and as a remake its far from the original in terms of quality.
The crash of an airplane in the Mongolian desert forces the captain (Dennis Quaid) and his passengersa crew of laid-off oil workers--to band together behind a mysterious stranger (Giovanni Ribisi) to rebuild a new plane out of the parts from the wreck while fighting off sandstorms and desert smugglers.
Back in 1964, Robert Aldrich stranded James Stewart, Richard Attenborough and Peter Finch in the desert after their plane crashed in the film Flight of the Phoenix.
What we do know is that some 40 years later, fairly untested director John Moore was given a hefty budget to remake the film appropriately named, Flight of the Phoenix.
With the exception of the plane crash (to which I give credit as being one of the best ever filmed) the movie updates the language, but everything else is relatively the same.
All this did was leave me to care nothing about any of the characters and I couldn't give a rats ass whether they survived or not.Flight of the Phoenix therefore falls in the same category as Get Carter, Sabrina, The Jackal., as films that were just mediocre when released decades ago and are amazingly given more of a disservice in the remakes for the new MTV generation.
This version of "Flight of the Phoenix" was released at the end of 2004 and is a modern take on the 1965 film with Jimmy Stewart.THE PLOT: A group of mostly oil workers crash land in the Gobi Desert where being found by a search party is unlikely.
Although an outlandish idea, it may be their only legitimate chance at survival.The plot is exactly the same as the original version with a few notable differences: It takes place about 40 years later; it includes a woman (Miranda Otto); it features a more racially mixed cast; and it takes place in the Gobi Desert rather than the Libyan Desert (although it was shot in Namibia, while the original was filmed in the deserts of SE California).I'm not one of those people who hates the very idea of remakes.
Despite the fact that the majority of viewers could not notice it, it reflects the degree of sincerity and devotion of the makers of this movie, let alone professionalism.As good plants cannot be grown from bad soil, everything else went down naturally-- the acting, the characters, and the atmosphere.
Like the original, this is about plane crash survivors rebuilding their plane in the desert for a desperate escape plan.Like the original, the pilot has a conflict with the slide rule man who designs planes.Unlike the original, it is horribly written, horribly directed, and horribly acted.Three strikes, you're out.There just isn't anything going for this movie.First, it is horribly directed.
These are all one dimensional stereotype characters we could care less about, and we even have the bigger cliché of the ones we care the least about being the survivors.I don't pan movies for being remakes, and try to be forgiving, but a remake should at least be as good as the original or offer something more.
Thankfully, it didn't try to be anything more (in fact, Dennis Quaid's character made fun of the inspirational talks in the movie), allowing it to be something to see on a boring Friday night.When an unsuccessful oil drill is abandoned in a remote place in Asia, Frank Towns (Quaid) and others are sent to fly them back to civilization.
However, Elliot mentions that he designs airplanes (of course), and now they're hell-bent on rebuilding their plane (dubbed "The Phoenix"), while going through tough weather, low supplies, bandits, and interpersonal relationship hardships.One almost expects Jerry Bruckheimer's name on this-it's mindless fun, with any plot being stupid, any special effect being fake, and any characters being underdeveloped.
The fate of this movie, in my opinion, was in the hands of director John Moore, who last made Behind Enemy Lines a hit for Fox. During the so-called "action" scenes, Moore switches over to hand-held camera (as if he tries to get the audience to get into the movie-makes us think that a situation like this could happen in real life?) and really makes the movie disjointed at those few points.
When you have characters just randomly be introduced (like that person of unknown Middle Eastern descent and the black guy with an eyepatch), you realize that the plot is not important, and you focus on having fun.I've seen a few ads that talk about the "HUGE" plot twist, and although the twist at the end was pretty good, it's not really noteworthy.
The soundtrack is distracting and inappropriate and the acting wooden, (even from Giovanni Ribisi, normally a fine actor and one of my favorites) I don't believe in any of these characters and I don't really get to know any of them except Dennis Quaid as the inexplicably pissy Captain.
This is a modern remake of the 1965 original, and we follow a group of misfits who must play on one another's strength, and one man's ability to think out of the box, in order to make it out alive.Dennis Quaid plays cocky pilot Frank Towns, who together with his co-pilot AJ (played by Tyrese Gibson), are tasked to fly a group of oil-riggers out of their just-closed outpost in the Gobi desert.
Questions like food and water will ring throughout the movie, but I suppose one can gloss over the fine details and accept that they had enough to tide them through.The Code 1 DVD contains deleted and extended scenes, and one almost 45 minute long making-of documentary titled the "Phoenix Diaries".
Perhaps this will play better on TV but for now, on the big screen this film sort of misses.You ever watch a movie thats really good or should be, but just misses the mark by inches?
Wondering who these people are and why should I care.I should note that I really don't like the original version of this movie.
Nevertheless, "Flight of the Phoenix" is still a very enjoyable film.After a devastating plane crash in the Mongolian desert, the survivors of the crash must band together to build a new plane from the wreckage.
Facing a brutal environment, dwindling resources, and an attack by desert smugglers, they realize their only hope is doing the impossible...building a new plane from the wreckage of the old one.This film is good and bad.
Who would know a film so bad with the characters have some really good scenes?I really didn't like the witty dialog to make the movie humorous.
The special effects from the scene where the plane falls is fantastic!If you have seen the original, don't bother seeing this one because it's the same movie.
Ack!) Yes, Dennis Quaid might not be Jimmy Stewart, but he is more than capable as an actor, and the way this remake is scripted makes him perfect for the role Jimmy played, Captain Frank Towns, since Towns is a tougher guy in this version than in the original.
It is more action/adventure oriented than the original, which was more a character study in a hostile environment, which is a good change, considering the current taste for action/adventure that propelled flicks like the last two "Matrix" movies to beau coup dollars-ville.
The only thing that kept me in the theater was the fun in predicting every single occurrence that happened throughout the course of the movie, and quite simply I feel stupider for having waited out the terrible monstrosity that is Flight of the Phoenix.
Coincidently, the 1965 original version of this movie was running in marathon mode on TV all day long so, I had this impression fresh in my mind when viewing the 2004 "remake".
Flight of the Phoenix (2004) is visually slick at times, but is critically flawed in how it handles the theme of the original movie, including the critical points of the 1965 movie that heightened the drama of the crew's plight of being marooned in the desert.
Like the numerous electric sand storms.In short its a good movie to watch on a Saturday night and maybe watch a second time..
All of this however doesn't really matter and it's no complaint, for "Flight of the Phoenix" is well made, fun entertainment.Of course the movie doesn't come close to the original from 1965 with James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krüger and George Kennedy.
If you go to see this movie be ready for a disappointment if you've seen T\the original Flight of the Phoenix.
The Movie is about a group of Oil well engineers who are stranded in the Gobi desert after the plane that came to evacuate them crashes.
When Dennis Quaid as the Captain and pilot refuses to build the plane, he walks out into the desert to show his determination to "try" something and gives his memorable quote " All a man needs in this life is love.
The real talent comes from Giovoni Ribisi(I know, it's probably misspelled.) He has mostly been limited to small roles in films like Cold Mountain, but he is a great actor.
The Flight of the Phoenix is a remake of the 1965 film of the same name starring James Stewart.
At least the creators and directors of the film can feel good about not offending anyone...I thought I was watching a Disney Movie at some points.
Instead get the original 1965 version and watch great actors like Jimmy Stewart, Richard Attenborugh, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy embark on a journey of great story telling.
The characters had no depth whatsoever, most of the lines were awful, and it even made actors that are typically very good look very, very bad, EX- David Quaid and Hugh Laurie.
Soooo Bad. I hadn't heard much about this film prior to watching it, but it had Giovanni Ribisi in (a very talented actor), and a story of deserted survivors looking to....well survive and become un-deserted.
I haven't seen the original FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX - I'm still waiting for it to show up on television - but when I saw this remake was on I decided to give it a go.
I picked this film to watch largely for the cast - in particular Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie - and had no idea until after I watched the movie that it was a remake.
If you have seen the original, then watch this movie for its own merits and try not to do a comparison with the original film..
Seeing this dreadful animation spoilt the whole film and it was impossible to take anything very seriously after that.The special effects should have been up to the task - but compared to the original film where the sandstorms in the desert were real, well certainly looked real, the special effects in this lame movie made the sandstorm look like something out of a caricatured version of the mummy.Lastly, if all that was not enough...the music was totally in appropriate for the film.Well this is a 3 out of 10, and this is with respect to the IQ of the director..
When they realize that they will not be rescued, they decide to build a new plane from the wreckage of the old one.I found "Flight of the Phoenix" a great action movie.
I have not had the chance to see the original movie, and I did not know that this is a remake.
Well, in my humble opinion, Dennis Quaid and crew do an every-bit-as-good-if-not-even-better version with this dynamite action movie!!
And, of course, these days in a movie such as this one would expect that stupid bit of a love story --- for Hollywood taste's sake -- or for the sake of Political Correctness, as there is a woman character in what used to be a all-guys film in 1965.
An unnecessary remake with an implausible plot, Flight of the Phoenix is, nevertheless, a reasonably effective adventure movie.
With a likable cast, some incredible special effects, terrific cinematography and a great soundtrack, there is just about enough good stuff in this film to make it worth a viewing, so long as you don't worry too much about the lack of logic or compare it too much with the original.Dennis Quaid plays Frank Towns, the captain of an aircraft downed in the middle of the Gobi desert.
With no radio and a limited supply of food and water, the survivors decide that their only chance of survival is to use the wreckage to build a new plane, and fly their way out.Without a doubt, the best part of the film is the incredible crash scene, which is visually stunning and alone makes the film worth giving a go.
The struggle with the characters, as well as with a lot of the rest of the film, I think, comes when people who have seen the Jimmy Stewart version try to compare it, as if the new filmmakers were going to do a shot-by-shot, line-by-line recreation.
The screenwriters chose, out of their rights as artists, to rework and update an old story, and they did quite well.I have not seen the 1965 Phoenix, as I'm sure most of the contemporary movie-going public has not, so there's nothing for me to "compare" the new film to.
The movie makers succeeded in what they set out to do - bring the story of the Flight of the Phoenix to a new generation of film audiences.
Thank God for great writers, and actors!What I wonder about is did they film this movie in a desert? |
tt0906108 | Why Did I Get Married? | Four couples, who are also best friends, converge on a house in the mountains for a week-long retreat that has become their ritual of sorts to help work out their marital problems and ask the question "Why did I get married?". Though the couples have committed to being physically present for the week, some of them have not been emotionally present in their respective marriages for quite some time. The week is not planned out in a well-programmed sequence, so the events unfold somewhat spontaneously, beginning with their "adventures" in getting up to the mountain retreat. The first couple, Diane (Sharon Leal) and Terry (Tyler Perry), drives up together and argues most of the way because Diane refused to leave her job at the office and constantly gets calls on her blackberry or makes calls instead of talking to Terry. The other couple Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White)takes public transportation. Angela constantly argues with Marcus and with anyone who dares to interrupt them. Sheila (Jill Scott) is left to deplane (because of her weight and the requirement to purchase two seats) and drive the long distance in the snow, while her husband Mike (Richard T. Jones) continues on the flight with Sheila's single friend, Trina. Patricia (Janet Jackson) and Gavin (Malik Yoba) arrive by limo cab. Their journey is not documented, however, right before they leave to go to the retreat, Gavin shows up to pick up Patricia at a lecture she was giving (she is the author of a book called "Why did I get married?") and artlessly dodges a question about their marriage.Diane falls asleep not long after arriving with her blackberry close at hand, and when her secretary calls while she is asleep, Terry tells the woman not to call them while they are on their vacation. When Patricia arrives, she goes up to wake Diane at once while the men bond over the wine that Terry had poured for his wife.The sound of arguing signals the arrival of Angela and Marcus.When Mike arrives without Sheila, the other wives berate him and Trina, for having left Sheila to drive alone. Sheila's husband shows clearly that he does not care for her at all. Her friends try to reach Sheila by phone but get her voice mail only. Sheila is persistent to get to the retreat because she wants to make her marriage work. Providence leads her to Sheriff Troy's (Lamman Rucker) office and that is where she spends the night in a jail cell, because that is the only accommodation available to her because of the snowstorm. That same night, Mike tiptoes, not unseen by Angela to Trina's bedroom.
Sheila arrives at the retreat house the following morning with Troy in tow. She introduces Troy to the others and tells them she has invited him to breakfast. Troy fast becomes a threat to Mike, Sheila's husband, not because of Sheila but because of Trina, with whom he is being unfaithful to Sheila. Breakfast is a noisy affair with the arguing couples throwing words for each other or Angela throwing words for Trina, the only single woman on the retreat, whom she instantly disliked.Throughout the few days spent on retreat, there are spontaneous revelations. The infidelity of two of the husbands leads to a discussion by the men of the 80-20 rule. This rule states that most men get 80% of what they need from a marriage yet they tend to go after the 20% that someone outside can provide for them because it appears to be more to them when it really isn't.The secrets that come out in their heated discussions lead the couples toward a path where they can either choose to reconcile or to separate and the latter is what happens to Sheila and Mike. Mike makes it clear he is not attracted to his wife any longer and when it is revealed he is being unfaithful, he simply tells her he wants a divorce. The vacation is cut short when all the secrets come to light, as the couples suddenly decide they cannot stay in the house any longer. Sheila checks into a local hotel to recover from the shock of her divorce and the realisation that Mike has drained her bank account. She is in a depressed state when Troy goes to visit her. He takes her up to a mountain where she cries and mourns the loss of her love and the only life she knew.The other couples head back home. Patricia and Gavin are barely speaking to each other-he called her stupid because she didn't strap their son in and he died in an accident - but he eventually forces her to face the situation, and she breaks down emotionally in his arms, they reconcile.
Angela and Marcus are still fighting, especially when Keisha (Marcus' baby-mama, played by Kaira Whitehead) shows up at Angela's salon and disrespects Angela. Marcus finally stands up to both his wife and his ex, and then frightens Angela into realizing she is wrecking their life with her constant arguing by not showing up for a couple of days.
Diane and Terry fight again right before they leave the mountains because he had a paternity test done on their daughter. They fight again on Terry's birthday at their home because Diane forgot about his birthday on top of the other things she did like tie her tubes without telling him. Terry tells her he is moving out.
Patricia meets up with Diane and Angela moping over their husbands and gives them the counseling they need to get back on track telling them to make a list of the good things and the bad things their husbands have done. The men drown their sorrows in the bottle.In the mountains, Sheila is settling into a new life working for Troy in the general store his father owned and getting to know Troy and realizing her own self-worth. The two of them bond.Angela cooks dinner for her husband when she is finished with her list, but he suspects she is trying to poison him. Eventually she explains, they make up and set conditions of the new order.Diane goes to see Terry and begs him to come back after crying over her list. He plays with her head a little to get back at her, but they eventually reconcile too and all the couples converge on the gala celebration for an award that Patricia has received for her work. Diane, Patricia and Angela are shocked when Sheila introduces Troy as her husband. Ex-husband Mike, although he is still with Trina, is very jealous of Sheila's newfound bliss and tries to weasel his way back into her good graces but she tells him to go enjoy his "20", referring to the 80-20 rule. | cruelty | train | imdb | Like other reviewers of this movie, I can't believe the low ratings that some people gave it.
My Hubby (of 30+ years) is out-of-town, and because we have only sons, I get out-voted a lot and thus don't get to see many "chick flicks." I discovered that this film is neither a "chick flick" nor a "black flick." It is a comedy-drama HUMAN interest film about four married couples who vacation together once a year to reaffirm their marriages.
This is Tyler Perry's style and many people have come to love his plays and films.
It was funny and insightful, showing the ups and downs of marriage and also showing unconditional Love that has to come with a successful marriage.I think Tyler Perry is a wonderful example for African Americans,Strong and spiritual and not afraid to show his Faith in God in his movies and that is to be applauded.
A lot of scenes had the entire theatre laughing including me (The theatre was full) and people were making comments to all the situations really getting into it like "oh hell nah" and "uh uh girl" and "you know it" etc.
If you actually go and see it without judging it too fast then chances are you will enjoy it.And of course just like all of the Tyler Perry movies it has a message at the end that ties the movie all together..
You have to credit Mr. Perry for presenting to us what we so rarely get to see in American film; upper-class, professional African-American couples working through real-life relationship problems.
So, I looked up at the list of films, saw "Why did I Get Married", and made a blind ticket purchase for a film I had never heard of, nor had any notion of what it was about.I've never seen the stage-play upon which this film is based, but, having seen many a stage play adaptation to the big screen, and having been thoroughly disappointed with every one of them, I can say that this one did a fairly good job.The revolves around several couples whose marriages are teetering in varying degrees of distress.
Secrets that have been held tight by husband and wife are eventually thrust into the open, testing the couples' fortitude.Visually the film is warm and intimate, and keeps a good amount of zest by way of fine emoting.
So the reason this movie has a 4.1, well the only thing I can think of is that maybe certain people are purposely sabotaging black ratings.
If you don't like the fact that there is actually good movies from the great minds of African Americans, keep your opinions to yourself.
Contrary to some people's opinionated banter about why certain writers/producers are allowed to continue making movies, this movie is in my opinion one of Tyler Perry's best.
You must know what your getting into when you go to see a Tyler Perry movie.
Tyler Perry movies suffer from poor and amateurish writing, below average acting Janet Jackson is particularly bad), and the same story just told in a different way.
Both were VERY GOOD.Thank you Tyler Perry for giving the public a decent relationship movie and the actors were FANTASTIC.
Can't wait for the next Tyler Perry film and play.Reuben Cannon glad to know you are still working your MAGIC,as well!.
After watching this movie, I myself realized there are things in my relationship I need to change.Overall Tyler Perry did it well with this movie, this time he didn't need Madea.
She can only do so much what the producers have laid out for her but I think she made a good performance.I'm not surprised the movie was rated low on IMDb and that maybe because audiences were expecting more out of Tyler Perry (Granted, I was least satisfied at the end).
The story line is not new and the ending somewhat predictable, but it is overall good entertainment and well worth a watch.Janet Jackson is the weakest of the actresses in this movie but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment.This is a much better movie than the awful sequel 'Why did I get married too'.
Why Did I Get Married is a movie about four couples that are college friends, who go through trials and obstacles within their marriage that become very challenging at times but they try their hardest, with the help and encouragement from their friends to try and makes things work for the best.
As the couples attend the retreat there are issues that arise that make them question "why did I get married?" Patricia and her husband Gavin, which is played by actress Malik Yoba, portray to have the perfect marriage.
Mike and Sheila, played by Jill Scott are another couple who battle with problems in their relationship.
Just like in another Tyler Perry Movie, A Diary of a Mad Black Women, men and women experience many emotional and troubling times in their marriage that they fight through demonstrating how strong you have to be in a marriage sometimes.
Tyler Perry shows the pain, hurt, happiness, and more felt between each couple throughout the film.
The theme of marriage is important and Tyler Perry does a great job by using four couples with four 8 different personalities to show the ups and downs marriage can hold..
For a Tyler Perry Film, This is GREAT (and that's saying a lot).
to summarize the plot, The four couples, who are also best friends, converge on a house in the mountains for a week-long retreat that has become their ritual of sorts to help work out their marital problems and ask the question "Why did I get married?".
The week is not planned out in a well-programmed sequence, so the events unfold somewhat spontaneously, beginning with their "adventures" in getting up to the mountain retreat.The film is bound to make you go through a wave of emotions & the drama filled climax scenes are seat edgers and doesn't tend to the cliché story lines Tyler Perry is so used to using.
Tyler Perry (Terry) married to Sharon Leal (Diane) Janet Jackson (Patricia) married to Malik Yoba (Gavin) Michael Jai White (Marcus) married to Taisha Smith (Taisha) Jill Scott (Sheila) married to Richard T.
Jones (Mike) and Lamon Rucker (Troy) The theme to this movie is about Social Issues involving Love, Marriage, Overcoming and Forgiveness.
It also helped you to feel the love between them as well as the pain.The acting in this film along with the dialog was essential to getting the story-line and the mood across and to engage the viewer in the life circumstances of each couple.
Its a 2007 comedy-drama film written, produced, directed, and starring Tyler Perry, which came about after he did a play and also is the same name of this movie.
This film stars Janet Jackson (Patrica), Jill Scott (Shelia), Malik Yoba (Gavin), Sharon Leal (Diane), Tasha Smith (Angela), Michael Jai White (Marcus), Richard T.
Before seeing this film or any other Tyler Perry production I, like many of you, had my doubts.
And with Tyler's movies and plays having grossed over $500,000,000 in sales, he's doing it his way, Keep It Real Brotha' ......For you guys who could appreciate the messages in this movie, check out Chris Rock's movie "I think I love my wife", it got dogged by the critics, but was very well put together, and the best movie ever made on dealing on married Brotha's struggling with all this sexuality out here.
I am not a big fan of Tyler Perry's Madea movies, but I was genuinely surprised by this film.
My heart went out so much for Sheila that I honestly wanted to walk into the screen and smack the living daylights out of her husband for the way he treated her.Honestly this is a film that has something for everyone, no matter what stage you are in life and love.
If it wasn't for the fact that I like Tyler Perry movies I would've skipped it.
I applaud Tyler Perry for putting this movie in a way a young man can understand.I'd recommend this movie to anyone who wants to learn a lot about marriage, and how to treat a woman or a man like a human being.
When Richard Jones as Mike belittled Jill Scott's character as Sheila and admitted that he was having an affair with Trina played by Denise Boutte, I wanted Sheila to punch him right in his face.
Like all of Perry's films the fact that the characters are black doesn't mean that the lives on screen aren't universal.
To be certain Perry has learned how to direct and act (a problem that plagued the the Medea films he directed) unfortunately he seems to have lost the craft of constructing a real life story line.
Tyler Perry is a genius because black people are so desperate to see their own in movies they will watch anything.
Tyler Perry's movies are for people that appreciate philosophy and have common sense and who think OUTSIDE of the box of life.
The couples include Patricia & Gavin (Janet Jackson & Malik Yoba), Terry & Diane (Tyler Perry & Sharon Leal), Mike & Sheila (Richard T.
I enjoy Tyler Perry's movies and this one did not fail to live up to my expectation of his work.
I loved it and will see future Tyler perry movies in the theater.
I've seen Janet Jackson in previous films, too, and I thought her talent was wasted here.Jackson hosts a conference a meeting of people who examine her findings that she titles the same as the movie that's based on her seven day experience with different couples in different phases of their own (her own included).
Jackson tries to set up exercises in therapy situations in an attempt to fit what's wrong in each of their respective marriages, while still trying to deal with her own personal demons.The result of this movie-based-on-a-play is, like I said, predictable.
Perry has gathered an attractive cast of African American actors together to play four couples who travel to a mountain retreat for an alleged couples seminar that turns into a weekend of ugly accusations, confused loyalties, not-so-surprising revelations, and what Tyler Perry deals in best: tired stereotyped characters.
Perry has gathered an attractive cast of African American actors together to play four couples who travel to a mountain retreat for an alleged couples seminar that turns into a weekend of ugly accusations, confused loyalties, not-so-surprising revelations, and what Tyler Perry deals in best: tired stereotyped characters.
That's why I love Tyler Perry's movies, he always base his movies on real life, how things happen, and how it can be settled.
another great Tyler perry film.
I admit that I have not watched many of Tyler Perry's movies.
I enjoy that Tyler Perry puts actors and actresses that we haven't seen before so we can see their ability to act, which definitely gives more to the movie.
"Why Did I Get Married?," written and directed by Tyler Perry, arrived in theaters less than a month ago and is as funny as any movie-goer could hope.
This couple is also plagued with infidelity as it is revealed that Mike has a girlfriend, Trina, played by Denise Boutte, who he brings with them to the mountains as a "family friend." All couples try to work on their problems during the weekend, but it becomes obvious that these problems can't be solved in such a short time as everyone blows up at each other at an evening dinner.
And Angela replied, "Could you go to HELL for a while?"This film will be enjoyed by anyone who has loved someone that has driven them absolutely nuts, and by fans of Tyler Perry's other films like "Daddy's Little Girls" and "Madea's Family Reunion." With the drama and real life scenarios lightened by humor, this movie gets an A+ from me..
This movie surprised me, because I had seen all the other Tyler Perry productions and was not impressed.
Not in a Tyler Perry film, where secrets and deep, sometimes malicious, feelings are absurdly revealed in the most contrived and inappropriate of times, and not for the sake of story but for over-the-top drama.Most of what Perry "tells us" is through Patricia (Janet Jackson), the psychiatrist who is basically his ventriloquist dummy, spewing all of his views about love, faith and marriage.Perry "tells us" how to love again, sometimes with an unbearable superficiality that has nothing to do with true love.He "tells us" Sheila's (Jill Scott) feelings about herself during her marriage with this dramatic, teary monologue, which felt like a play-by-play recap of her whole story in the film and it felt as real as Santa Claus.
He had to continue the "telling." If Tyler Perry wants to be respected as a "film storyteller," he needs to get into the habit of "showing" more than he "tells." The characters in this film were uninteresting, stereotypical at times, and worst of all, one-dimensional.Patricia was flawless, and that's a bad thing believe it or not.
Mike had enough flaws for the other characters in this film that were lacking.And like Patricia, Terry was perfect but Diane was the selfish, inconsiderate one.
In a Tyler Perry film, a character like that is needed because the other characters would rather talk about being uppity black folks rather then communicate their problems to their loved ones.
It seems to only all come out here for the sake of this story.Contrivance No. 3 In a Tyler Perry film, there just happens to be an eligible, perfect black man who happens to be attracted to plus sized black women just waiting in Pemberton, Colorado as Sheila's rebound when she divorces Mike.Contrivance No. 2 Sheila blissfully encourages Trina to come along with her and her husband to find a single black man in Pemberton.
Of course, this makes it easy for everyone to discover Mike's affair with Trina.And the number one of them all, the one thing that made me pan this film immediately upon noticing: Contrivance No. 1 Patricia is the world renowned therapist that has been getting the same married couples together for seven years where she would help them work on their marriages.
However, in a Tyler Perry film, Patricia's many years of marriage exercises and counseling on their many marital retreats have done nothing for them.
Tyler Perry makes a good husband...it was especially nice to see him outside the role of Madea for an entire movie.
Ex-football star-turned-hairdresser Marcus (Michael Jai White of "Universal Soldier: The Return") and his shrewish, alcoholic wife Angela (Tasha Smith of "Daddy's Little Girls") join them in scenic Pemberton, Colorado, along with pediatrician Terry (Tyler Perry) and his workaholic lawyer wife Diane (Sharon Leal of "Dreamgirls") as well as obnoxious Mike (Richard T.
One of the problems with Tyler Perry's adaptation of his own stage play is that he neglects to clarify what initially attracted Mike and Sheila as a couple.
Ultimately, in a syrupy-sweet, wholly unconvincing finale, everything works out for each couple.Tyler Perry's characters qualify as positive role models, all except Mike.
Tyler Perry and Sharon Neal play Terry and Dianne, a couple which puts their careers before their marriage while trying to balance having a family.
Terry played by Tyler Perry plays a husband who just wants to spend time with his wife Diane played by Sharon Leal.
The film stars with Dr. Terry Brock (Tyler Perry) is married to Dianne (Sharon Leal), Garvin Agnew (Malik Yoba) is married to Patricia (Janet Jackson), Mike (Richard T.
As I said before, "Daddy's Little Girls" was good, but not great or excellent like Tyler Perry's first two films.
This movie is even better than the other films Tyler Perry released!
The film "Why Did I Get Married?" written and produced by Tyler Perry, showcases real life situations about the relationship battles for truth, love, and acceptance.
The film "Why Did I Get Married?" written and produced by Tyler Perry, showcases real life situations about the relationship battles for truth, love, and acceptance.
Dr. Patricia Agnew plans a getting away trip for her and spouse Gavin (Malik Yoba) along with their best couple friends Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White), who use loud, disruptive verbal communication as a means of interaction., along with friends Terry (Tyler Perry) and on scene wife Diane (Sharon Leal) who encounter distrust in their relationship, couple Mike and Sheila portrayed by Richard Jones and songstress and up in coming actress Jill Scott, who is tormented by the cruelty of her unfaithful husband.
Terry (Tyler Perry) and Diane's (Sharon Leal) marriage is strained because he feels that she is married to her work and neglecting the marriage.
Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married" film was based around a group of couples that took an annual winter vacation to help rejuvenate their marriages.
Tyler Perry (Terry) plays the husband of Diane (Sharon Leal).
Other characters included the famous Janet Jackson (Patricia), Jill Scott (Sheila), Malik Yoba (Gavin), Richard Jones (Mike), Tasha Smith (Angela), Michael Jai White (Marcus), Denise Boutte (Trina), and Lamman Rucker (Sherrif Troy).
Tyler Perry is known for making other films and plays that have similar themes, revolving around marriage, family and relationships.
The film was fantastic and some of Tyler Perry's best work!.
This is truly a character study and the characters are brought to life in such a way that you will feel every emotion and everything that they do.Tyler Perry writes, directs and stars in the film.
I first saw this when it came out with my sister and I like very much, though not the best of Perry (thought what is?)but still a good film.
Really good."Why Did I Get Married," a film that works because of the heart and soul of the cast even when it feels like Perry's over-the-top preachiness is about to cave everything in.
This was another Tyler Perry movie with a fairytale ending. |
tt0297284 | Mindhunters | The titular Mindhunters are a group of young FBI students who are undergoing training as profilers. Their instructor, experienced profiler Jake Harris (Val Kilmer), employs a highly realistic training approach by assigning the group variants of real investigations, including elaborate sets, props, and FBI actors to play out each scenario.
The students include Bobby (Eion Bailey), a young man with a talent for fixing things; Vince (Clifton Collins Jr.), a wheelchair-using ex-cop who goes nowhere without his gun; Nicole (Patricia Velásquez), a smoker who is attempting to quit; Sara (Kathryn Morris), a talented but insecure profiler who is terrified of drowning; Rafe (Will Kemp), a very intelligent, caffeine-powered British investigator, Lucas (Jonny Lee Miller), a supposedly fearless man whose parents were killed when he was a child; and J.D. (Christian Slater), their leader and Nicole's lover. Nearing the end of their training, the group's over-all morale is high, though Vince discovers that neither he, nor Sara, will make the rank of "Profiler" after secretly reading their training evaluations.
The group travels with their instructor to a small island off the coast of North Carolina to complete their final training exercise. At the last minute, they are joined by Gabe (LL Cool J, listed as James Todd Smith), an outside observer who has requested to see Harris' teaching methods in action. The island, used by the Navy to train for hostage rescue and outbreak scenarios, has an existing "population" of target dummies, vehicles on mechanical rails, and small town storefronts. Similar to their earlier training scenarios, Harris plans on using the town for their final exam, tracking a serial killer calling himself, "the puppeteer." The team settles down for the evening and practice their profiling skills on each other and Gabe, who reveals that he is also a skilled profiler in his own right. Sara and Lucas briefly bond over losses in their families; Sara reveals that her sister was murdered and drowned, creating her persistent fear of water, while Lucas shares that his parents died when he was 10. The two resolve to use the scenario to confront their personal fears.
The following morning, during the initial investigation of the "puppeteer" scenario, J.D. dies after triggering a clock mechanism that causes a tank of liquid nitrogen to freeze him instantly. Convinced that J.D.'s death is neither accidental, nor part of the training simulation, the group heads to the dock to leave the island; but the boat explodes. After returning to base, the group realizes that broken watches and clocks found at each scene point to the fact that there is a real serial killer on the island, who has co-opted the training exercise and is now hunting them down. The killer's M.O. indicates that he or she plans to kill someone at a time designated by the broken clocks. After a thorough search of the island reveals no other personnel, the group concludes that the killer is one of them.
At first, suspicions seem to point to Gabe, as Lucas found maps and documents of the island; however, before the group finishes confronting him, they each pass out, realizing that their coffee was drugged. They awaken to discover that the killer murdered Rafe while they were unconscious, and suspicions again return to Gabe. He temporarily deflects these suspicions when he saves Vince from another trap involving broken water pipes and lights electrocuting the water. However, Bobby is killed by a secondary trap when he goes to turn off the water. Sara, meanwhile, deduces that the traps are based on their strengths, talents, and weaknesses; and the remaining profilers elect to stick together, to keep an eye on each other. After more clues are discovered, suspicion shifts to Sara, who insists that she's being framed. Nicole, suspicious that the killer is among the group, leaves to be alone; but she becomes the next to die after she smokes a cigarette laced with acid.
Unexpectedly, the island's speakers begin to broadcast a taunting message from Harris, making them realize that he did not leave the island, though he led the profilers to believe that he had; convinced that Harris has been the killer all along, the remaining profilers search for him. Vince refuses to join the search party and stays behind at the lab. Sara, Gabe and Lucas find Harris and two other FBI agents next to him, all dead; Harris has been strung up to wires from the ceiling as a sort of marionette, just like the fake "puppeteer" crime scene that they were to investigate. The three turn on each other after triggering another trap, and Lucas is shot during the ensuing gun battle. Vince finds himself trapped in a freezer after he tries to reload his empty gun, but he escapes although he dies when his gun backfires on him in the elevator.
Sara finds Vince's body, but she is ambushed by Gabe, and the two struggle physically and mentally to profile the other, each believing the other person is the killer. Gabe manages to overpower Sara but is then attacked by Lucas, and the two of them get into a protracted fight. Sara eventually recovers and hits Gabe over the head with a fire extinguisher. Lucas reveals that he had been wearing a bullet-proof vest, allowing him to survive getting shot on the street. With Gabe subdued, he expresses doubt that there's enough evidence to prove that Gabe was the killer. Sara, however, reveals that she found a way to get one step ahead of the killer. Knowing that the killer was relying on timed mechanisms and remotes, as well as enjoying watching their anxiety under pressure, she changed one of the clocks to appear slow by fifteen minutes, and covered it in a powder that glows phosphorescently under blacklight. Reasoning that the killer would not be able to resist setting the clock to the correct time, she grabs a black light to scan Gabe's hands and reveal him as the killer. Sara instead finds the marking powder on Lucas' hands instead of Gabe's. Lucas confesses that his parents did not die in an accident, but that he killed them. Struggling ever since to find more thrilling targets to kill, he joined the FBI and planned to kill his brilliant fellow profilers, the only people he thought would be "worthy prey." Lucas tries to drown Sara, but she manages to kick him into the water. The two both manage to recover their weapons underwater, but Sara manages to shoot Lucas first.
Lucas recovers and begins to taunt her about the evidence he planted blaming her until Gabe reappears: he is the last witness. In a last desperate effort, Lucas attempts to regain his weapon, forcing Sara to kill him, shooting him through the top of the head as he bends down to retrieve his weapon. The following day, Gabe and Sara flag down the U.S Navy helicopter to leave the island, determining that they've sufficiently secured the scene. | entertaining, violence, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | It's still entertaining.I agree that they could have used the cast differently and that some of the plot points are quite unbelievable but on the whole it doesn't distract from the tension and the setting of the movie.The profilers sometimes act pretty stupid and out of character but the actors do a very decent job portraying them and Renny Harlin has actually done a really good job with the directing.If you want a horror/thriller/action flick where you keep guessing pretty much to the end and don't mind recognizing bits and pieces from other movies then this is for you.
A group of eight FBI profiling students are given a final test when they're sent to a deserted military island where they must solve the clues left by a fake serial killer called the "The Puppetmaster." What starts out as an exercise quickly turns deadly as they are killed off one-by-one in elaborate death traps, forcing them to start questioning whether one of them might be a real killer.The plot isn't original or anything as this concept has been done already.
FBI trainees in the criminal profiling division get stuck on an island with a sadistic serial killer while going through a simulation organized by their eccentric teacher (Val Kilmer).
The serial killer kills victims by using booby traps.The movie reminded me of a cross between SAW and FINAL DESTINATION, with a 21st century twist on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians".
Other contributing factors included the performances (especially by Kathryn Morris as a vulnerable trainee), a fast pace, imaginative directing by Renny Harlin (CLIFFHANGER, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT), and terrific writing.Suppose to take place on an island off the coast of North Carolina, but was actually filmed in the Netherlands..
It tends to work rather to hard to try to be shocking, and its hard to really care for the unsympathetic characters, so when they meet their elaborate and grizzly ends you don't feel any emotion except maybe for slight queasiness, and irritation about the impossibility of their dispatch.The main impact that the film had on me was to make me realize, by the presence of Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, that many of the stars of the eighties seem to have faded away in last few years.It is not a total disaster: There are some tense scenes, some reasonable performances and at least early on a certain atmosphere, but there are many other films that cover the same ground rather better..
In fact, had it not been for a couple of the actors on the credits-list and a fairly decent grading here at IMDb, I would've probably stayed far away from this movie.The movie actually started off a good deal better then expected.
But obviously something quickly goes wrong, a member gets killed, and the usual race against time sets in to find out who the killer is before each and every member of the team gets plucked out.The movie actually has the potential to turn into a suspense and clever psychological thriller.
For some reason, the most talented and interesting actors are taken out of action extremely early on, the rest of the team, (most of all LL Cool J and Velasques), deliver uneven, if not directly terrible performances, the score is often very misplaced, usually destroying tension and suspense rather then building it.Regardless, the biggest problem with the movie is by far the story, which is mostly predictable, boring and full of bad clichés.
Clichéd perhaps, but a useful reminder not to reveal yourself too much as there are dark and dangerous minds out there.What I disliked, though, was some of the dialogue being too predictable--serial killers are supposed to have been bed-wetters; thankfully, there was none of that in there, but the reference to parents gave the game away.On a positive note, I liked LL Cool J's acting.
He delivered his lines with tremendous ease, and made his "gate-crashing" very well-intervened.To add to the above, I think there's an existential element about this yarn that I don't have sufficient knowledge to elaborate on---but I would recommend for those that disliked the film for the story-line, try watching it again, paying close attention to how the killer was able to kill everyone off.
The Story is about Seven Promising FBI Profilers (Kathryn Morris, Jonny Lee Miller, Clifton Collins Jr., Patricia Velasquez, Eion Bailey, Will Kemp and Christian Slater) are becoming F.B.I. Agents but they have to finish one last course to become full time agents.
Also who so the real killer in this island or it is One of Them in the group ?This entertaining film is directed by Renny Harlin (Exorcist:The Beginning, Die Hard 2:Die Harder, Cliffhanger).
The film, too, has spectacular visual polish--it's just a great-looking film, everything with this sinister, pristine quality that gives the viewer a fair chance to notice everything and solve the mystery.One by one the trainees start dying, even though it's supposed to be a harmless test of young new recruits who all wanna join the FBI, figure out the sick minds of serial killers, and put them away based only on whatever gory evidence they leave, or don't leave, behind.
The way the plot opened up was pretty special its a real work of art the way the scripts and the directing come together.I loved the darkness and the constant guessing "is it you, because you said that" sort of thing.TOTALLY did not expect that ending at all it came as quite a shock, it was so well written that even i didn't guess who it was although i think that because of the way the writers didn't know who it was going to be until the last moment kind of helped out there.
It never seizes to amaze me why certain people choose to overly criticize a movie that is clearly made for the sole purpose of entertaining you for a couple of hours.Mindhunters delivers exactly what it promises, a nice thriller that works moviewize rather well, sure it is nothing new or incredible but does it have to be ?
Seven FBI trainees are training to become elite profilers, in order to succedd they have to do a training simulation on an island where they are supposed to find a serial killer, of course the mission is just a game to see who handles situations in the best way possible.
Now the quickly decreasing number of seven people have to find out who's setting up traps for them on the island but it's not that easy when they're the only ones on the island.Well the plot is something I suppose, a serial killer picking off the FBI trainees one by one, instead of using the usual Knife, Machete or Chainsaw, this killer cleaverly uses specially timed inventive traps, you see this Killer has studied each member of the trainees habits and so knows what can kill them, they're goal is to try find out who this killer is and play him or her at they're own game, before they all end up dead."Mindhunters" has a number of famous faces such as rapper/singer/actor LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea Halloween (HZO), Christian Slater (Broken Arrow & Alone In The Dark), Val Kilmer (Top Gun & Batman Forever), Johnny Lee Miller (Trainspoting), Kathryn Norris (Minorty Report and TV'S Cold Case) and Patrica Velaquez (The Mummy Returns)Being the slasherfan that I am, it's nice to be able to enjoy a slasher where the killer doesn't wear a mask and the cast doesn't consist of a bunch of good looking teens who can't act.
Not having these two factors, just proves that the story is stronger than most modern slashers, it's a shame that movie ended being shevled for years and wasn't a success at the box office but to me that doesn't matter because this is one hell of gem of a movie.Each cast member brings they're own unique talent to the roles of this movie, yes even LL Cool J who I don't think much of as a singer, but in this movie he plays a strong lead character in this movie, Christian Slater is also solid in his short screen time, Johnny Lee Miller shows depths to his character as the movie goes on and both the female leads are great as well Kathryn Norris plays cat and mouse with the unknown killer and plays the killer at his own game.The deaths in this movie are cool and inventive, we get a guy iced then breaks into pieces, a decapitation, a guy gets speared through the chest and we also get something completely new death by cigarettes, laced with acid and let's just say smoking is bad for your health.All in all there's a little something for everyone in this movie, there's the horror, action and a bit of CSI, well recommend this movie to anyone..
Mindhunters, a thriller/mystery/action movie, somewhat similar to 2002's D-Tox (or Eye See You), tells the story of a bunch of FBI profilers stuck on an island during an exercise, getting killed one after the other.The film starts off well enough, if a bit predictably, with a sequence that puts you in the mood and gets you interested and intrigued.
A few "name" actors are present (Val Kilmer, Christian Slater, LL Cool J), however, like in Renny Harlin's own, and also somewhat similar movie Deep Blue Sea (also with LL Cool J), that doesn't really mean much (I can't go into more detail without revealing spoilers).All-in-all, Mindhunters, scripted by the up-and-coming Wayne Kramer with ghost rewrites from the already-up-there Ehren Kruger, is a solid entertainer which fulfills its promise.
The acting is great and it keeps you guessing the whole film (I am mad at the discussion board users because they gave away who the killer is and i haven't watched it all yet) but its still fantastic.It has the best murder sequences since Freddy Krueger hit Elm street, i loved how well the characters were developed and how well they were murdered.
I saw about 55 minutes of it and three people were killed off (If you a guy who watches these movies for the murders) and each time the killer is not shown, he just sets traps for them.The film was great and the acting terrific, where are the Oscars on this one?.
Long time we have been waiting to see the Latest Renny Harlin movie in theaters and as it finally came, it came with a bonus to all Finnish people because it was shown in Finland Before any other country in entire world.
Like all the other Renny films, Mindhunters was not a exception having a bad reputation before premiere but as a fan who sees Renny as a unique action film visualist I was eager to see film.Movie is about FBI profiler trainees who find themselves in an isolated army trainee camp island where the final exam before the real work is about to take place.
I have to admit that after wondering through couple of ..well...not so good films Renny finally found his way back to the business making extremely fluent and individual action thriller what represent the elite in this movie genre as in Renny's level as much as globally.
The whole setting is so done and seldom is things validated or motivated in a way that would make the film believable.Basically, it's a cliché filled suspense movie about a group of people, stranded on a island off the coast of North Carolina.
'Mindhunters' is one of those perfect blends of the aforementioned genres and it often manages unbearably exciting because of it.Wayne Kramer director of the sick but excellent crime mess Running Scared (2006) penned the story to Harlin's film and much of his thirst for graphic gorefest is quenched at various points in the plot.
The psychological tension , the dark atmosphere , the shocking twists
Anyway the book has been adapted into movie and furthermore the whole idea of people left in isolated place with killer being one of them has appeared in countless thrillers .
Soon , the murders become real and the have to figure out who is the killer.The movie is directed by Renny Harlin famous for "Die hard 2" , "Cliffhanger" and "The long kiss for goodnight" .
A team of FBI agents training to profile serial killers gets put on an island for their final test.
this is a really good movie i would recommend it to anyone who likes a thriller and a mystery.
who?" Notable entertainers here are Johnny Lee Miller sporting his best Blanche DuBois, Christian Slater and Val Kilmer competing in their natural friendly-yet-suspicious-yet-bored acting styles, and LL Cool J acting as if he was John McClane in yet another preposterous scenario.Attempting to outdo predecessors with 'bigger is better', the story takes place on an isolated island complete with an entire city simulation for a training exercise.
The setting and plot found here, is a common stereotype of the thriller genre: Several 'people' have to stay at a 'place' which is shut from the outside world; there is a 'killer' among themselves, and they have to find him/her before it is too late (But as you know, it is always too late, so we have only a few (1 or 2) survivors at the end) ..If you like this particular 'generic' plot, 'Mindhunters' is a movie that you should not pass without looking ..We witness many innovative murder techniques, till the end credits ..
The acting is a mixed bag in 'Mindhunters', with top of the line performances from Kilmer and Slater, bottom of the barrel performances from Clifton Collins, Jr. and Patricia Velasquez, strictly average performances from Bailey and Kemp, a slightly above average performance from Kathryn Morris (the hero of the story), a more or less good performance from rapper turned actor LL Cool J and a beyond disappointing performance from the great British actor Jonny Lee Miller (once married to Hollywood psychopath Angelina Jolie) who provides us with an embarrassingly bad American accent that drifts from American to British to Southern to various unintelligible accents.
This movie really isn't that good for a theatrical film, if it had just gone directly to DVD it would've been alright, as it's the best the best Renny Harlin directed film since 1993's "Cliffhanger", keep in mind that those intervening years brought as such travesties as "Cutthroat Island", "Long Kiss Goodnight", "Deep Blue Sea" and "Driven", so being better than those isn't exactly hard to do.
With MINDHUNTERS, director Renny Harlin gives the serial killer thriller an edge-of-your-seat whodunit twist.
Very good concept, a director, who's full of experience in making such thrilling atmosphere in his own movies, and a pretty good casting role made of actors,who obviously have accent on good teamwork, instead of solo playing.Great triller, full of surprises, unexpected places, then, there is a plenty of action and very dramatic situations, which is normally to be contained by a triller, and a real one.Maybe some of the elements in this movie, already have been seen in some other movies, but that doesn't make this movie worth a less.The plot itself is about FBI's psychological profiling program and several people, working as a crew, who's trying to become an elite FBI profilers trough training and practice.
this type of thriller and it isn't half bad.What makes it fun is some effective death scenes and at least one good surprise early in the movie (when the first of the team is killed off on the island).
Like the trailer said, it is a team of new FBI agents set off on an island for a simulation that simply turns into a nightmare.People start to die at defined timing, and each death is quite similar to Final Destination 1 or 2.
Stars: LL Cool J, Kathryn Morris, Bobby Lee Miller, Patricia Velasquez, Will Kemp, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater.For a movie called Mindhunters, this film really isn't very smart...however it is very entertaining.
I guess the main purpose of this film is to have people say, "Oh good, he/she didn't die." and to say, "Ew, what a gruesome death!!!" This movie is very violent with dismemberment and all kinds of nasty ways to die.
There are lots of plot twists of course but I found the identity of the killer rather easy to guess if you were paying attention and "profiling" throughout the movie.
unlike many other serial killer whodunnits this one keeps you guessing right up till the very end and it wasn't afraid to kill-off a major star or 2 to throw you from the usual "murder she wrote" style casting.it's slick filming , gripping storyline and clever direction makes me wonder why this didn't go to theaters.
Val Kilmer and Christian Slater are at their 'bad boy' best until they pull a DEEP BLUE SEA on us, while Johnny Lee Miller, LL Cool J and Patricia Velasquez keep the kettle boiling until the end.MINDHUNTERS' greatest strengh is Renny Harlin's storytelling.
Mindhunters is an entertaining thriller with some flaws by director Renny Harlin the man behind films like Deep Blue Sea, The Covenant, and Cliffhanger.
In the beginning if Mindhunters director Renny Harlin does what he's best at: he creates some pretty nice images to hide the fact, that the story his unfolding before our eyes is done hundreds of times before and will be done a couple of hundreds times more.The story is simple enough: a group of people, this time FBI profilers, are on an isolated place, in this case an island meant for training people to handle situations like epidemic outbreaks.
I had read several bad reviews about Mindhunters but was happy to find a movie that held my interest throughout and was filled with enough red herrings and well thought out deaths to raise it above most other thrillers in my eyes.I genuinely enjoyed watching this film and, though I thought I had guessed the person behind the killings, the ending was a pleasant and unpredictable surprise!
Seemed like an innovative plot, a movie with a real twist..Well then I started guessing who the killer is. |
tt0098546 | UHF | George Newman ("Weird Al" Yankovic) is a daydreamer whose hyperactive imagination keeps him from holding a steady job. The opening sequence is one of George's daydreams as a spoof of the opening scene of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' with George as Indiana Jones venturing to a temple to steal a gold Academy Award statue and being chased, run over and flattened by a giant boulder. Awaking from his daydream, George and his best friend and roommate Bob (David Bowe) are working at a Big Edna's Burger World, a local fast food eatery in the small Midwest town where they live. When George makes a disparaging remark about Big Edna and she hears it, both George and Bob are fired and litteraly thrown out onto the street.George's inablity to keep a steady job puts a strain on his long-suffering girlfriend Teri (Victoria Jackson) who tolerates his antics to a limit. George and Teri go to his uncle and aunt's house for a party where his compulsive gambling uncle Harvey Bilchik (Stanley Brock) wins the deed to a nearly bankrupt UHF television station in a poker game. After prodding by his wife, Harvey gives control of Channel 62 to George so he can manage the place.The next morning, George and Bob arrive at the station and meet the Channel 62 staff which is made up of the receptionist and wannabe reporter Pamela Finklestein (Fran Drescher), dwarf photojournalist and cameraman Noodles MacIntosh (Billy Barty), and eccentric engineer Philo (Anthony Geary). George attempts to introduce himself to the rival VHF network Channel 8 station but its owner, the mean and cynical R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy), chases him out angrily. On his way out of the station he encounters janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards), a mentally challenged man who was recently fired by Fletcher. George offers him a job at Channel 62 as the head janitor.Seeing that Channel 62 airs mostly old re-runs of classic TV shows such as Mr. Ed and the Beverly Hillbillies, George sees that the station can use a lot more talent. Though George creates new shows (including the kid-friendly but poorly named "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse"), the workload and bad debt of the station get to him. Amid the stress he forgets Teri's birthday, causing her to break up with him over the incident. A despondent George turns "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" over to Stanley so he and Bob can go out for a drink. Arriving at the bar, they find that all the patrons are excitedly watching Stanley's antics on Channel 62. Realizing they have a hit on their hands, George and Bob are revived and inspired. They come up with ideas for more original shows in Channel 62's lineup, all spearheaded by the newly retitled "Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse."Throughout the film, there are cutaway scenes that are comic homages to popular shows of the time, through either George's imagination or shows specifically for Channel 62. For example, a dream sequence includes a music video for Yankovic's "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" in both the audio and visual style of the Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing", and fake commercials for 'Plots 'R Us Mortuary Service', 'Crazy Eddie's Car Lot', and 'Spatula City', as well as fake commercials for Channel 62's new TV series such as 'Gandhi II', 'Conan the Librarian', 'Bowling for Burgers', an exercise show called 'Stay Fit', a game show called 'Strip Solitaire' hosted by Noodles, 'Practical Jokes and Bloopers', and 'Celebrity Mud Wrestling'. Kuni (Gedde Watanabe), a local and eccentric Karate instructor, becomes the host of the odd game show "Wheel of Fish". Philo becomes host of his own talk show series "Secrets of the Universe". George sets up a re-vamped talk show called "Town Talk" with him as a Gerraro Reveria-type host seeking controversial talk subjects. Raul (Trinidad Silva) is hired for an animal show called "Raul's Wild Kingdom" where he talks to (and abuses) animals that he keeps in his apartment.As Channel 62's popularity grows, Fletcher becomes furious that a UHF station is getting better ratings than his network's programming. He learns that Harvey Bilchik is the owner of the station and has just gambled away $75,000 at the horse races and has only two days to pay off the debt. Fletcher makes Harvey the offer of covering his debt to his unseen bookie, Big Louie, in return for ownership of Channel 62, which he would then only too happily shut down (legally he cannot own two stations in the same town). George learns of the deal and calls his aunt, who forces her husband to hold off and allow George time to raise the money Harvey owes by selling investment stock in Channel 62 through a 48-hour telethon.The telethon starts off successfully led by Stanley's boundless energy, but Fletcher sends his goons to kidnap Stanley. Without Stanley, the telethon grinds to a halt. George then leads a group to infiltrate Channel 8 and rescue Stanley. Philo sets up a hidden camera in Fletcher's office hoping to find something to nail him on. When he sees Stanley trying to escape, he alerts George who attempts to rescue Stanley, while imaging himself as Rambo in a long fantasy spoof of 'Rambo: First Blood Part 2' with features George (as Rambo) who attempts to rescue Stanley from Fletcher's private army. Kuni and his school of Karate students also step in to complete the job and beat up all of Fletcher's henchmen.George and his group return in time to successfully finish the telethon just before Harvey's debt comes due, saving the station and making it a publicly owned company. Fletcher on the other hand finds out that the penny he mockingly gave to a beggar earlier was a rare 1955 doubled-die cent worth thousands, which the beggar sold and used to purchase $2,000 worth of Channel 62 stock. Fletcher also discovers that a slanderous conversation of his contempt for his station's viewers was secretly recorded and rebroadcast by Philo and that Channel 8 failed to file paperwork to renew its broadcast license with the FCC. The FCC revokes his license and takes the station off the air. Phil is secretly revealed to be an alien and seeing that his work for Channel 62 is complete, teleports away unnoticed to his home planet.As the film ends George and Teri rekindle their relationship (in a spoof of the Rhett-Scarlett farewell speech from the movie 'Gone With The Wind'), while the rest of the employees and fans of Channel 62 celebrate. | absurd, cult, psychedelic, satire | train | imdb | This is probably, by far, the only movie I've seen that really makes me laugh more and more every time I see it.
So many great scenes, so many awesome quotes, and best of all, a chance for Weird Al Yankovic to show off his talents, both as an actor and as a singer.
Also, it's so much fun to see if you can pinpoint all the references to famous movies that Al puts into this film, such as the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" parody at the beginning, and many others.The film is the story of George Newman, a young man who has trouble holding a job (and frequently gets his best friend Bob in trouble too) due to his overactive imagination.
Michael Richards is also quite excellent as the optimistic, not-too-bright Stanley.Though it can be somewhat difficult to find, it's definitely worth the time and effort to buy "UHF" on DVD, so you can enjoy Weird Al's movie again and again and again....
Containing every wacky gag imaginable, the movie tells the story of slacker George Newman (Yankovic), who inherits a defunct TV station, and creates a bunch of loony shows, thereby becoming the most popular station in town, and then has to fight off the vampiric corporate CEO R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy), who owns a typical TV station and doesn't like competition.Like Yankovic said, it's an excuse to be goofy.
Whether it's "Gandhi II", "Conan the Librarian" or "Wheel of Fish", "UHF" is truly one movie that could only come out of "Weird" Al Yankovic's mind.
He's actually more like Jim Varney''s "Vern" character that was so popular in the '80s: a lame but super nice guy.That's what "Weird Al" plays in here, a Mr. Nice Guy who prevails against forces of evil against him, in this case a TV station owner: Kevin McCarthy, who plays a totally over-the-top villain.Yankovic will never win any Academy Awards for his acting but he suffices in this no-brainer comedy.
I know I can be--based on many of my other IMDb reviews, it's obvious I can be critical and occasionally too serious.Because of this, I am glad there are really funny and stupid movies like this one.
Al plays a loser who is fired from his job(along with his best friend) so they go off and start a tv station called UHF, in which they make fun of some of shows and movies.
The villain is also so funny, and never really gets credited most of the time people watch this film.Weird Al stars as a wacky guy who always has many funny ideas for television and movies and many other things.
The bad-guy works for the competing station, which had higher ratings.Some parts of this film are not that funny, but stupid.
If you are a big fan of Weird Al you'll love this film.
"Weird" Al Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Michael Richards and Fran Drescher.
The movie has a few of those great scenes like "Uncle Nutsy's Clubhouse", where it's impossible not to laugh when you know what's going to happen.
It stars Weird Al Yankovic, the man responsible for "Eat it" the famous parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat it" and it is clear from the outset that he loves the things he makes fun of.
It's clear that that this parody is not done to poke fun but instead to add comedy to a familiar and formulaic piece of action, and it is with this in mind that the rest of the movie connects with your head as much as it does with your funny bone.
There is a well defined plot pitching hero against villain (enthusiastically played by Kevin McCarthy) and the story meanders perfectly between George Newman's (Weird Al's character)imagination and his reality giving the perfect platform for Weird Al to put in a terrific comedy performance.
There is as much original material as there are references to other famous films (Blazing Saddles, Close Encounters and Rambo to name but a few..) and the whole thing adds up to a genuinely funny movie.
The soundtrack included "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," which is perhaps my all-time favorite song by Weird Al, but it was not found anywhere in the movie (I listened to the end of the credits for it).
And, of course, it was entertaining to see such well-known performers as Michael Richards and Fran Dresher in this early role.After all else is said and done, Al Yankovic delivered a movie that was just good, clean fun.
"Weird Al" Yankovic leads a brilliant cast of stars in this tale of a guy whose overactive imagination unites a town when he becomes manager of a small UHF station and invents new and innovative programming.Michael Richards ("Kramer" from Seinfeld) is amazing as Stanley, a sweet but simple janitor who turns out to be the perfect kids show host.
The music is so great, you'll want to order the soundtrack (you should!) The movie is entertaining enough for adults, but wholesome enough for kids, and they'll love its messages of putting your creativity to productive use and being a good friend..
If she couldn't get Weird Al, then we had no future.If you want to see more Chiodo Brothers stuff, definitely see "Killer Klowns From Outer Space", and "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" has a nice three second long sequence when "Large Marge", the truck driver lady turns into a monster and scares the bejeezus out of Pee-Wee.I can't rave enough about THIS movie, meanwhile.
I got it from a local video store for $1.00 I loved this movie & I'm a big fan of "Weird Al".
But overall, it is a perfect movie to watch when entertaining a room full of morons, and all will have a great time.
My favorite thing about this movie is Weird Al playing poor George Newman.
It's a real shame this beast didn't do better at the box office; thank heaven it has found its niche among cultish Weird Al fans and 9-year-olds everywhere.I saw this in the theater when it first came out.
It's less a coherent whole than a series of set pieces which are almost entirely extremely funny.Interesting also are the before-they-were-huge-stars performances, notably Fran Drescher and Michael Richards, who is vaguely disturbing as kiddie-show host Stanley Spedowski.The PG-13 rating is very harsh.
Basically, this film just kicks serious butt.This movie is the sad depressing story of a pathetic coyote who spends every waking moment of his life in the futile pursuit of a sadistic road-runner who MOCKS him and LAUGHS at him as he's repeatedly CRUSHED and MAIMED!
It's why I can't watch Seinfeld because Michael Richards will never be as good as he was in this film.Good God, I just love it..
But some of Michael Richards' dialogue and actions (most about his mop) sounds just like the Tick on one of his weird rampages.Oh, the movie itself?
UHF is pretty good, as Al demonstrates he can parody movies and TV shows just like he can parody songs.
UHF, starring and largely conceived by musical parodist Weird Al Yankovic, is the story of an American dream-owning our own low-powered TV station, and putting whatever the hell we want on it.
But perhaps the greatest performance in this movie is by Michael Richards (yes, Kramer), as very inept janitor/kid's show host Stanley Spadowski.
The various movie and TV parodies are a hoot, and, of course, there is Michael Richards in the role that made him into a household name (at least at his parents' house, anyway), Stanley Spadowski!.
If you are a fan of Naked Gun, Monty Python, and, of course, "Weird Al", you will love this movie.
Things get off to a rough start, but take off once George decides to put dim witted but well intentioned and lovable janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) on the air."UHF" does travel far on Als' likability and irreverent sense of humour.
For this viewer, the brightest moments include the opening "Raiders of the Lost Ark" spoof, the "Conan the Librarian" sequence ("Don't you know the Dewey decimal system?"), and the extended mocking of Sylvester Stallones' "Rambo" movies (with Als' body makeup created by the guys at KNB).It also benefits from a strong villain, in this case Kevin McCarthy, who's perfect as nasty and domineering network affiliate boss R.J. Fletcher.
When I started watching "UHF" I thought to myself: "Why am I doing this to myself, the movie bombed at the box office, so it's probably a gigantic cow turd of a comedy." But it proves once again that the masses are often wrong.
It's got a solid plot, lots of very funny scenes, and an amazing bevy of great actors (many of which were still relative unknowns then -- such as "The Nanny" Fran Drescher, Seinfeld's Kramer Michael Richards, or that guy from "The Sopranos").
Other actors didn't do too well later on in their careers but are still great here, I especially liked Al's "girlfriend", Victoria Jackson).I appreciate that the makers really put some sweat into this and took it seriously, wanted to make a great comedy, rather than just a moneymaking vehicle for Weird Al ("The kids seem to love this guy, so a movie with him should be a safe investment.") Anyway, two thumbs up for UHF!.
Al is rather good in his performance and Michael Richards is good as the janitor turned star, and the movie has some really funny parody scenes that I found to be the highlight of this one.
Weird Al's 1989 movie "UHF" is really funny.
Weird Al Yankovic, Michael Richards (pre-Kramer on Seinfeld) and Kevin McCarthy are top-notch.
The only problem, however, is some people think that this movie is just stupid, so if you're not a fan of Weird Al, you might hate it.
I remember when this movie came out, I was about to turn eight and I was absolutely in love with Weird Al.
When I fisrt saw this, it was pretty stupid, but after thinking about it, I realized it was probably the funniest movie I've ever seen (since Monty Python ik den Holi Gralen [German Subtitles]) and after watching it again, counted 43 times that I laughed for more than two minutes straight (I count these things sometimes).
As a fan of him, I enjoyed this movie a bit more than I would have, so if you're a fan of "Weird" Al, you should go out and rent this right now..
Each time I watch the movie I laugh at something new that I have found funny.
Weird Al does a pretty good job playing George Newman, a jobless day-dreamer, who finally gets to express his creativeness when he attains the ownership of a dying UHF station.
This film, particularly the opening sequence, is classic Al, and is so funny, I have really enjoyed it every time I've seen it.
Even if you aren't a fan of Weird Al you should still like this movie, especially if you're a fan of low budget comedy..
Sure it's a vehicle for the over-developed mind and imagination of Al, and sure it's an excuse to get people to watch some zany music bits, but the cast, which includes then-obscure/now-mainstreams like Fran Drescher and Michael Richards (BRILLIANT in his role) and b-movie mainstays like Gedde Watanabe (16 Candles) and David Bowe, the "thinking man's midget" Billy Barty, even the calculated blandness of Victoria Jackson and "General Hospital" thespian Anthony Geary (TV's "Luke" of "Luke and Laura" fame) all add to a ridiculous high school production of goofy one-liners, stretched-to-the-breaking-point sight gags, and just-long-enough-to-get-annoying parodies of movies and TV shows.
Gandhi II, Conan the Librarian, Indiana Jones, Dire Straits videos and Rambo segues are p*** your pants funny.However funny Yankovic is, the film is really a comedy showcase for the bloke who plays Kramer in Seinfeld.Available from petrol stations and car boot sales for less than a quid usually!!.
UHF is a hilarious look at everything (movies, music, TV, Conan the Librarian) and it is led by a great cast.
The crazy cast includes Michael Richards (this was his first movie that got him known) Kevin McCarthey, Fran Dreschner, and leading the cast is "Weird Al" Yankovic.
This is exactly the type of movie that you would expect from Weird Al based on his songs: a lot of immature humor and random comedic jokes about society/life/Hollywood.Despite great comedic work by Yankovic, the movie is actually stolen by a pre-Seinfeld performance by Michael Richards.
There are some other great performances by Victoria Jackson of SNL and Fran Drescher (in a role prior to her getting her big break in TV).The movie's story is a great lead into the Yankovic's various comedic skits.
CHECK OUT THE MEMORABLE QUOTES PAGE NOW!Michael Richards (Sienfeld's Cramer) is brilliant other stand outs are Wierd Al, Kuni, Raul (from Raul's Wild Kingdom), and Joe Earley (the shop teacher).The first time I saw it I was crying with laughter, now, two years later I own the DVD and still watch it regularly with a bunch of other UHF freaks.
I don't know what else to say, there is just too much insanely funny stuff to isolate bits will not do it justice - just watch it in a silly mood and you will know what I mean.The DVD has cut scenes and commentary by Wierd Al and the Director plus a brief appearance by Michael Richards and a few others from the cast..
You don't need to be a fan of Weird Al to like this movie, but it helps.
Wacky, morbid humor manages to score as novelty record star Yankovic spoofs films and television from Rambo, Geraldo, and Conan to "Gone With The Wind" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." Michael Richards steals the movie as its most appealing character, a station janitor turned children's TV show host.
The mini-spoofs are all pretty stupid but mostly funny, and the story has just barely enough substance to keep things moving -- but what really makes this film a winner is that Yankovic, Richards, and Jackson (as Al's comically frustrated longtime girlfriend) have created appealing true-to-life characters we can care for..
UHF TV stations, Weird Al at the height of his popularity, and parodies of popular movies/shows from 80's.
But the UHF station is just a framework to parody a wide range of shows and movies, including the best Rambo parody of all time.
Kevin McCarthy is great as the evil corporate tyrant opposite of lovable underdog Weird Al. In my opinion Michael Richards(best known as Kramer on hit sitcom Seinfeld) nearly steals the show as janitor superstar Stanley Spadowski.
but here I am giving the film an 8 despite the fact the acting is cheesy and there is nothing really amazing about the directing or effects.This is just a good, fun movie that spoofs a lot of old movies and tells a lighthearted tale at the same time.
Michael Richards -- before "Seinfeld " -- makes a fascinating character out of Stanley Spadowski, and Weird Al is just being himself, which is all he has to do.I think the film is a bit funnier if you get the references...
Weird Al Yankovic did a great job in UHF for never acting in a movie before in all his life.
Michael Richards appearing in this as the weird, yet funny Stanley Spadowski.
"Weird Al" Yankovic stars as George, a chronic daydreamer who's given one chance to run a small UHF TV station, which allows him to, as girlfriend Teri (SNL vet Victoria Jackson) puts it, "let that overactive imagination work FOR (him) instead of against (him)." Fran Drescher puts in a charming performance as an amateur anchorwoman, and Gedde Watanabe is inspired as a karate teacher who is a friend and neighbor to George as well as a really handy guy to have around.
When you watch this movie, you have to have a mindset that its a cheesy, low-budget film written by a guy that does parodies of modern, hit music.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's first and probably only main starring role in this comedy is a great one.
One of the funniest underground films ever made finds day dreaming lunkhead Weird Al gaining control of a UHF station and, with a little help from his friends (most notably a pre-Kramer Michael Richards), he turns it into the hottest station in town!
This movie is Weird Al's first foray into video besides his many music videos, and it shows, but if you don't mind a mindless, irreverent comedy then you'd better pick this up!
Spirited parodies abound in this movie about George Newman (Yankovic) getting his own UHF(Ultra High Frequency) TV station, U62.
Michael Richards plays the role of Stanley Spadowski who gets fired from the "evil" tv station led by Kevin McCarthy.
"Wheel Of Fish" and "Conan the Librarian" are funnier than they have any right to be, and just wait until you see "Raul's Wild Kingdom".The cast of 'UHF' seems almost prescient in retrospect; Fran Drescher and Michael Richards made memorable co-stars before they struck gold on network TV.
My friend and I love to quote lines from the film, especially "You're so stupiddddd!!!!" Michael Richards is very funny in one of his earlier roles.
Along the way, Michael Richards comes in as janitor Stanley Spadowski, who is the funnies part of the movie.
Sure, Kramer is the main reason I watched Seinfeld, but his Stanley Spadowski-character in this movie is even better!
This is like watching UHF new again and trust me, Al is not shy about poking fun at his own movie.
From what passes for the mind of the thinking man's thinker, Weird Al Yankovic, we have a film that was prophetic in that it showed us a world where anyone could have his/her own station.
It's very goofy, and Michael Richards' performance in this movie was the funniest I had ever seen him (next to his role as Kreamer on Seinfeld). |
tt0362227 | The Terminal | Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) arrives at JFK International Airport, but finds that he is not allowed to enter the United States. While he was en route to the US, a revolution was started in his home nation of Krakozhia. Due to the civil war, the United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as a sovereign nation and denies Viktor's entrance to the US. Unable to leave the airport or return to Krakozhia, Viktor instead lives in the terminal, carrying his luggage and a mysterious Planters peanut can.Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Head Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) wants Navorski removed from the airport. Navorski collects money for food by retrieving vacant baggage trolleys for the 25-cent reward from the machine, until Dixon prevents this. He then befriends a catering car driver named Enrique (Diego Luna) who gives him food in exchange for information about a female Customs and Border Protection officer (Zoë Saldana), who Enrique is infatuated with. With Viktor's help, Enrique and Dolores eventually marry each other. He meets flight attendant Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who asks him out to dinner, but he tries to earn money in order to ask Amelia out instead. He finally gets an off-the-books job as a construction worker at the airport earning $19 an hour.Viktor is asked to interpret for a desperate Russian man with undocumented drugs for his sick father. Viktor claims it is "medicine for goat," barring the drug from confiscation and resolving the crisis. Under pressure and the watchful eye of the Airport Ratings committee, who is evaluating Dixon for an upcoming promotion, Dixon has a falling out with Viktor. Though Dixon is advised that sometimes rules must be ignored, he becomes obsessed with getting Viktor ejected from the airport. An airport janitor, Gupta Rajan (Kumar Pallana), exaggerates the "goat" incident to his fellow co-workers and as a result, Viktor earns the respect and admiration of all of the airport staff.One day, Viktor explains to Amelia that the purpose of his visit to New York is to collect an autograph from the tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. It is revealed that the peanut can Viktor carries with him contains nothing more than an autographed copy of the "Great Day in Harlem" photograph. His late father was a jazz enthusiast who had discovered the famous portrait in a Hungarian newspaper in 1958, and vowed to get an autograph of all the 57 jazz musicians featured on the photograph. He succeeded in obtaining 56, but died before he could finish his collection.A few months later, the war in Krakozhia ends, but Dixon will still not allow Viktor to enter the United States. Amelia reveals that she had asked her 'friend' actually a married government official with whom she had been having an affair to assist Viktor in obtaining permission to travel within the US, but Viktor is disappointed to learn she has renewed her relationship with the man during this process.To make matters worse, Dixon needs to sign the form granting Viktor the right to remain in the United States, but refuses. He instead blackmails Viktor into returning to Krakozhia, or he will have Enrique fired for allowing Viktor into the restricted food preparation area and deport Gupta back to his native India, where he is wanted for assaulting a corrupt police officer. Upon hearing this, Gupta runs in front of Viktor's plane and asks Viktor to go anyway. The plane is delayed, giving Viktor enough time to go into the city and obtain the autograph. With the blessing of the entire airport staff, Viktor leaves the airport after receiving a uniform coat from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Port Director and hails a taxi. Dixon, watching Viktor leave the airport, decides not to pursue him. As Viktor prepares to take the taxi to a Ramada Inn where Benny Golson is performing, he observes Amelia exiting from a cab, where she gives him a wistful smile. He has a short conversation with the cab driver, telling him how to avoid traffic on the way to the hotel and that he is from Krakozhia. The driver tells Viktor that he is from Albania and arrived earlier that week. He attends the show and collects the autograph, finally completing the collection. Afterwards, Viktor leaves and hails a taxi, telling the driver, "I am going home." | comedy, boring, dramatic, psychedelic, humor, romantic, entertaining | train | imdb | Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, two of the biggest names in Hollywood, two people who could literally make any film they wanted to, and instead they settle on a feel-good dramedy...
It's funny how Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, two of Hollywood's most powerful men, who could literally do any movie they want, end up making something like The Terminal.
It's funny, it's cute, and it always keeps you interested.Tom Hanks leads an exceptional cast as Viktor Navorski, a man stranded in JFK airport, not welcome in the U.S. and having no country to come home to.
The film begins with a cool look (green and blue), because Spielberg doesn't think of Immigration as a warm place to be for the few minutes it takes to clear a passenger and get him on his way
So all the cool tones are evident until Viktor starts to settle into his new home
He is going to be stuck in New York's JFK airport for an unspecified amount of time
From this moment we see Viktor stuck, trapped, unable to enter United States and that's the fun of this film
Tom Hanks is really so calm, so likable, so emotional, so funny and so real in what he does
Here, he's a very dignified person who is extremely trusting and always full of positive hope
You couldn't insult him if you try
It's very hard to hurt his feelings
He finds the bright side of every angle problem he faces and finds a way for him to live with the situation
He has the virtue of patience, and the testament to hard work, perseverance, and humility
He loves people, and he experiences the culture in an odd way
Hanks plays a Krakozhian capable gentleman whose name is Viktor Navorski who finds himself without a passport and a visa once both are taken from him by the powers-that-be at the terminal, because his visa no longer counts, since his country is no longer in existence, and his passport is no longer valid
Catherine Zeta-Jones brings vulnerability and insecurity to her unhappy character
She plays the gorgeous flight attendant Amalia Warren, a very sensible woman who's always looking for love, trying to find the person that will be her prince
She really wears her emotions on her sleeve and is lonely
She wants some strong relationship in her life
Viktor and Amelia have oceans of things in common and it ends up playing itself out and that's a nice thing to play
The story leaves a lot for reflection, and in some ways, Viktor's stillness allows him to be a mirror for the people working in the airport to meditate on their own lives
"The Terminal" is a charming film
It looks beautifully and elegantly, but realistically.
An Eastern European (Tom Hanks) from a fictional country literally gets stuck at JFK Airport in New York after his landing coincides with the point at which a war causes his nation to no longer exist.
The Terminal is an incredible fairy tale of a movie-it's quietly captivating, rich in interesting colorful characters and superbly acted and directed.Tom Hanks as Victor Navorsky is quite simply entrancing to watch.
It is an unusual movie that really isn't either a straight comedy OR a straight drama-it perhaps falls through the cracks of genres but I'd call this mostly a heartwarming and completely absorbing character study of one man's attempt to make a life for himself in an airport terminal.
Anyway, I have now watched it and I liked it.I thought the first half of the film was absolutely fantastic, the humor, the acting, the character development - they were all good.
I thought the second half of the film suffered a little from becoming a bit over emotional, the love story seemed out of sorts and the way the entire airport staff seemed to know every thing about everyone else was a bit far fetched, I worked in an airport for many years and knew virtually no-one from outside the people I worked with on a daily basis, but maybe that's just me!
'The Terminal' is the latest Hanks/Spielberg collaboration, and though it's not quite as good as 'Catch Me if You Can' or 'Saving Private Ryan' it still makes for a fun watch.
The plot, as everyone already knows, is about Krakozhian (sp?) immigrant Victor Narvorski (Tom Hanks) whose home country the fictional land of Krakozhia (think Russia or Czechoslovakia) is torn apart in war while he is in a plane headed for New York.
What Dixon doesn't know is that Victor is an honest man, and he will obey the rules and stay in the terminal until he's allowed to leave.The character of Victor Narvorski is one of those classic movie characters who has no conceivable flaw (other than a minimal understanding of the world around him and an accent) and dose everything he can to help everyone else.
All of these characters are dim-witted, but great people who put their own lives on hold to help their friends.Some of these friends include Airport worker Enrique Cruz (Diego Luna), who Victor helps get hitched with a beautiful security guard (Zoë Saldana) and Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones) a nice, flighty flight attendant who Narvorski inspires to get out of a troubled relationship with a married man.The Hanks and Zeta-Jones characters strike up a little romance, but luckily its not too overblown, it's more of a subplot than anything.It takes sometime but soon Narvorski is accepted into a small group of Airport workers including Cruz, kindly Joe Mulroy (Chi McBride) and janitor Gupta Raja (Kumar Pallana), who at first thinks that Narvorski is a federal agent out to get him.
I think the ending is a very important part of any film, and this one was in a way ruined.But, no movie is perfect, and I have no problem accepting this as a lighthearted picture with a few interesting characters.
While patiently living in Gate 67 for a long period, Viktor survives, learns English by himself, makes new friends among the employees of the airport and falls in love for Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
A great premise for a movie, loosely based on the true story of the immigrant who was stranded at Paris airport due to diplomatic bureaucracy, however Spielberg reduces the whole story to implausible sugary mush.No doubt the director, famed for his heavy-handed and childlike emotional manipulation, thought he was improving the drama by adding a love interest in the shape of Catherine Zeta-Jones, but no one in their right mind could believe that such an attractive and well-groomed woman would ever fall for the shabby, caricature Russian immigrant as played by Tom Hanks.
You have mixed 1000 languages, For example, Tom hanks is speaking at the guy with the "pills" in pure Bulgarian language, mixed with Russian accent, the other guy responds in Russian...total mess....If you want to make movie involving other nationalities, that Mr. Spielberg learn something about them or spent some money on language assistants!!!
And since this is the movie's main function (with the "entertainment" part hopefully taking care of itself under the auspices of popular showmen like Spielberg and Hanks), it should really come as no surpise that the airport-set is awesome.
There's money to be made, and burgers to be sold.As for the other aspects of the movie -- you know, the stuff we usually talk about, like the direction, photography, acting, story, and so on -- only the most pedestrian efforts are exerted from the principals (Spielberg, Hanks, Zeta-Jones).
In the acting category, Stanley Tucci tries his damnedest to give an honest performance as the head of security at the terminal, but the script betrays him by making his character, for no clear reason, more villainous as the movie wears on.
The Terminal is a good movie with a well developed storyline and a great cast.I have certainly come to expect better from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks,both easily some of the most talented men in Hollywood,and if their previous work together (Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can) is any indication,this movie should have been a classic,and I understand that they were taking a risk and were doing a very unique movie,it just didn't turn out as well as it could have.Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones scenes together are certainly the movies highlights,there is great chemistry between them and seeing Tom Hanks deliver one of his most unique performances was fun to watch.I felt the movie could have been better with a funnier script,it had many funny parts,but for a film that is considered a comedy,it is very dramatic.Nothing outstanding but still an enjoyable two hours,I would recommend the Terminal if you ever see it on television and are looking for a decent comedy or drama,but don't go out of your way to see it.
Mr. Hanks - a good actor -being helped by the script and the Director portraits this man like a mentally challenge person, making this film extremely condescending towards Easter European people and foreigns in general.
Another problem is the Director wants us to believe that Mr. Hanks is an Easter European citizen only because he speaks with an accent; they should have made this movie with an unknown good foreign actor.
It's a Hollywood obsession to change interesting stories to make then more "American," making this last word sounds like more "stupid." Just to make things even worst, the only female character in the film is a flight attendant portrayed nicely by Catherine Zeta Jones; but in this film the character is having a relationship with a rich married old man
another stereotype for the "whore" flight attendant
it's just too much.
Boy oh boy, what a disappointment.That someone could be stranded in an airport and stay nine months, building a wall, sleeping in one of the waiting rooms night after night without being thrown out, that an airport manager could do the things that Tucci does in this film...well, I can't believe that anyone could buy the story of The Terminal.
Something tells me he had too many yes-men handing him praise, as well.The plot is very, very, VERY loosely based on the true story of Nasseri, and I'm sure whenever he gets to see the film as it plays on the free TV in Terminal 1, he'll be quite disappointed.His story was already made into a French film in 1993 named "Tombés du ciel." I haven't seen the original but from the plot description on IMDb it sounds far more factually accurate.Okay, so, you want to know my real problems with the Spielberg remake?
It was truly embarrassing (and I felt ashamed for Spielberg) when he spends ten minutes following Viktor's adventure to buy a hamburger from Burger King.The message is nice - if you're an illegal immigrant and can't afford anything, just get jobs no one else wants like cleaning toilets or collecting luggage carts and earn minimum wage so you can buy a greasy hamburger from some pock-marked self-absorbed teenager who probably spat in your food.I hate to sound really bitter and all (I'm truly not this bitter in real life - usually) but there's something about this movie that just struck me as too nice.
and it turned out to be a terrible mistake !I've never watched such a predictable movie, Tom Hanks gave the lamest impression since "Big" (Which was quite funny, compared to this one) - He acts as if people from Eastern-Europe are brain-dead (or even worse).
The forced feeling of everything that happens around Tom Hanks from the unlit flame of Catherine Zeta-Jones, to a fallible in-flight wedding, to even the corny climax when a character decides to play chicken with the plane, it doesn't seem to work.
The movie deals about Viktor(Tom Hanks) is an Eastern European traveller converts a resident of N.Y. airport terminal when occurs a coup state in his country.The war breaks out and is denied entrance to the United States .The Security chief(Stanley Tucci) says him that he has to remain the terminal until his situation can be modified.Meanwhile he has many trouble,he doesn't speak the language so nobody can talk to him .But he makes friends and falls in love with an alluring flight attendant(Catherine Zeta Jones).The picture blends comedy,love story ,a little bit of drama with a lots of fun.It's an entertained film with exceptional and sensible interpretation by Tom Hanks.He makes a magnificent acting as the essentially decent foreign who finding isolated early makes friends.They are a quirky and misfits group magnificently played by Chi McBride,Barry Shabaka and Diego Luna who's deeply enamored of Zoe Saldana.In the film appear the ordinaries Spielberg's technicians as the sensational cinematographer Januz Kaminski,film edition by Michael Kahn and of course the prolific John Williams who makes a lively and jolly music and those years made four excellent scores(Memoirs of Geisha,Starwars,War of the worlds and Munich).Besides an elaborately recreated production design by Alex McDowell reflecting an entirely convincing terminal built for the film.Stunningly direction by Steven Spielberg making an extraordinary camera movement filming small details in close-up as general shots when Hanks to be in the limelight until moves to be in the background .
Tom Hanks plays guileless eastern European character who defeats New York airport security through sheer charm.Projects a self-serving image of foreigners as hysterical naifs, whose emotional incontinence adorns them with a human warmth that calculating Americans ostensibly have lost.Spielberg pays a patronizing homage to the Slavic temperament by scoring some vaguely Slavic-themed music and by having Hanks utter a few lines in a charming but unintelligible gibberish dialect that's about as authentic as Taco Bell.Very sentimental in a highly manipulative way.
While not some of his best work, John Williams' score is pleasantly understated and slick without over-emphasising the mood.Of the performances, which mostly are good, Tom Hanks makes a valiant effort in the title role and does an excellent job on the most part and Stanley Tucci clearly enjoys himself as Dixon.
This is clearly one of the worst movies you will ever have the misfortune to see that stars a masterful actor (Tom Hanks) and was turned out by a respected and fantastically successful director (Steven Spielberg).Here the ridiculous premise is populated with the usual suspects: government officials that are either evil, incompetent, or both; workers who are just too stupid to be believed; spoiled and uncaring Americans.
The Terminal is charming, feel-good and sweet, directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks so really, how can you go wrong?
What really makes this movie though is not so much Hanks or Viktor but all the people he meets and becomes involved with while in the airport.The secondary characters here are fantastic; Stanley Tucci as the airport boss and bad guy -love to hate him, the baggage handlers (Chi McBride) & (Diego Luna) and (Zoë Saldana) as an immigration official.
I wished the American "silent majority" that seems to support the current U.S. President - in his current efforts for a second term - could watch this movie and try to understand the beautiful humane message that Spielberg, with the support of a fantastic cast (Tom Hanks and Stanley Tucci are superb!) tried to transmit to all of us.
This is a good comedy drama starring Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorsk, an Eastern European visitor to the United States who becomes stranded at a New York airport terminal because war broke out in his home country, voiding his passport and putting his immigration status in limbo.The plot of Navorsk getting mixed up in government bureaucracy while the state of his home country remains unknown provides a good source of suspense and intrigue, making the viewers wonder what would become of the man.
The developing relationship between Navorsk and U.S. airline flight attendant Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones) provides a good subplot, adding intrigue and drama to the movie.Steven Spielberg provided solid direction to the cast, whose acting I thought was pretty spot-on, including Tom Hanks' European accent.
There are a number of things that prevent "The Terminal" from being an all-time classic, but the performance from Tom Hanks and the "guy trapped in an airport" premise is enough to make for a very entertaining movie.For a basic plot summary, this film focuses on Viktor Novorski (Hanks), who is trying to get from his home country of Krakosau into the United States (New York City, to be exact).
While patiently waiting for a resolution to his situation, Viktor meets a number of friends, including a potential romantic interest (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a woman he greets every day trying to get his status validated (Zoe Saldana), and a number of other airport workers who help him be as comfortable as possible in such a strange situation."The Terminal" is a charming movie mainly because you'll probably never watch a film quite like it.
This film has Tom Hanks as an Eastern European visitor to New York who winds up having to live in the Airport Terminal for months due to a revolution in his homeland causing his visa to be cancelled.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was wasted in this film and as for Tom Hanks he was completely mis-cast and his performance more embarrassing than anything else.
With Steven Spielberg directing it and 'big' actors as Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones starring in it, I hadn't expected otherwise, yet I was still very much impressed by the movie.
And, as great as Catherine Zeta Jones was in this film, Jones had almost uncanny expressions like those used by Meg Ryan in all of the movies the her and Hanks were known for.
After watching 'The Terminal', Spielberg's 3rd collaboration with Tom Hanks, maybe i feel the magic could be coming back. |
tt1939659 | Carrie | In the opening scene, set in the year 1995, there is the White household where we hear Margaret White (Julianne Moore) screaming in pain. The shot pans the upstairs floor where Margaret is crying out to God in agony. We see a puddle of water that has splattered a Bible and numerous droplets of blood. Margaret is writhing on the bed in agony thinking she has been afflicted with a cancer, and begs for gods mercy as she is taken. Her body contorts a few times as she screams and she looks up waiting to die. But she doesnt. She realizes she is still alive and there is something underneath her nightdress. She looks between her legs and finds a baby. She had been pregnant and didn't know it. Margaret nods. "It's a test," she says, and reaches for scissors, ready to slay her newborn daughter. She almost stabs the baby, when something stops her at the last second. She puts the scissors down and cradles her newborn daughter.Cut to present day. Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz), now age 17 or 18, is a meek, shy young girl at her high school located in the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. Considered an outcast by everyone, she sneaks into the background hoping she will not be noticed. After school, during the gym game of water volleyball, the ball lands in front of her and she is asked to spike to ball. She accidentally hits Sue Snell (Gabriela Wilde) in the head which makes everyone, including Carrie laugh. Sues friend, Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday) tells Carrie to "eat shit" so everyone starts laughing at her instead.After gym, Carrie starts to take a shower alone when she notices blood. She races to the girls for help, not understanding what is going on. The girls, led by Chris, realize Carrie is having her first period and doesn't understand it. Instead of helping, they throw tampons at her and chanting: "plug it up." Chris even films it on her iPhone. Even Sue joins in with the chanting and taunting. The gym teacher, Ms. Desjardin (Judy Greer) finds them and in an effort to calm her down, slaps Carrie to keep her from screaming. Ms. Desjardin yells for everyone to get out. As the girls file out, a light shatters. Sue looks at Carrie with deep regret and guilt.Carrie is taken to the principal's office with Ms. Desjardin as they try to explain what has happened (with the principal, a man, severely uncomfortable with it). The Principal tells Ms. Desjardin to handle the punishment of the girls that participated in the incident. The principal and Ms. Desjardin tell Carrie that they have called her mother to pick her up. Carrie goes completely white, begging them not to call her mom. Ms. Desjardin says they know the school has problems with her mother since they forced her out of home schooling but it will be okay. Carrie starts hyperventilating and a nearby water cooler shatters. Carrie leaves the office.Margaret comes to pick up Carrie. Nearby, Sue, Chris and her rough boyfriend Billy Nolan (Alex Russell) sit. Chris shows everyone the video of Carrie. Sue looks on at Carrie, and her face betrays more guilt.On the way home Carrie apologizes to her mother for making her come to school.When they get home, Carrie wants to talk to Margaret about why she didn't explain to her about her period. "I thought I was dying," Carrie says. Margaret is evasive and tells her to come inside. Carrie tells her mother she won't; she wants to talk about what happened. As Carrie sits in the car, a local boy rides around it on his bicycle and calls her "Crazy Carrie." Carrie apparently uses her powers to makes him fall off his bike, which scares him into fleeing.Inside the house, Carrie finds her mother banging her head on the wall. Carrie tells her to stop and just talk to her. Margaret however, is more concerned with praying for forgiveness and creates her own bibles verses on a whim to suit her needs. When Carrie objects to her mothers prayers, Margaret knocks her in the head with a bible. As their argument heads downstairs to the kitchen, Margaret calls her a sinner. "I did not sin," Carrie says. Margaret opens the "Prayer Closet" and tells Carrie to get in. Carrie refuses so her mother throws her in and latches the door, telling her to pray for forgiveness. Carrie bangs on the door, begging to be let out. "GOD, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Carrie screams, and then suddenly a crack is formed through the middle of the door to both their surprise. Carrie looks at a sculpture hanging on the wall of Jesus nailed to the cross. It begins to bleed to her horror.Meanwhile, Sue and her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) are having sex in a jeep, though Sue's mind is somewhere else. They get dressed, and Sue talks about her guilt about what happened to Carrie and how she initially helped. Tommy relates he once beat a bully that had tormented him. He says the guy had it coming. "What did Carrie White ever do you?" Tommy asks.At the same time, Chris and Billy, along with another girlfriend, named Tina, hang out at her house. Chris is unrepentant about what she has done, and on a whim, decides to upload the video to YouTube, humiliating Carrie even further.Back at the White household, Margaret is making clothes and singing bible songs. She eventually opens the closet and finds Carrie sleeping. She wakes her up and asks if she said her prayers. Carrie says yes, and Margaret becomes a loving mother again. They exchange" I love you"s.The next day, Ms. Desjardin lays down the law with Chris, Sue, and all the other girls that participated in Carries shaming. Ms. Desjardin asks about Chris and Sues dates for the prom and tells Sue she wouldve voted her Prom Queen but not anymore. Ms. Desjardin tells them it was a "very shitty" thing they did to Carrie and they are going to pay for it. They will be doing suicide sprints after school for a week. Anyone who refuses the punishment is suspended and cannot go to prom. "While you run, I want you to think long and hard about what it has to be like for Carrie White," Ms. Desjardin says.After a while, Chris calls "bullshit" on the whole punishment, saying Ms. Desjardin can't do it. Sue tries to tell her to take the punishment and let it go but she wont. Chris refuses, so Ms. Desjardin suspends her and revokes her prom privileges. Ms. Desjardin mentions that apparently someone took a video of the incident, looking at Chris as she is pretty sure that she did it. Chris says Ms. Desjardin cant take away prom from her and tries to rally the other girls to go with her. One by one, they refuse, including Sue, the only one who shows any true remorse. They continue to run while Chris screams: "This is not over!"Meanwhile, everyone snickers at Carrie, having seen the video. She goes in the bathroom and concentrates on the mirror. After a moment, she is able to smash it to her shock. Looking at the pieces she makes them levitate for a moment until another girl shows up. Carrie grabs her bag and leaves.Carrie goes to the library and looks to the web and numerous books about telekinesis.In class, Carrie looks at the flag outside the window, and makes it move. She grins.Carrie is called to the front of the class and reads a favorite poem. It is quite dark, but well written and people pay attention to her. The teacher is amazed she has talked at all, and asked if she has something else to say after scaring the classroom. "You asshole," Tommy mutters under his breath. The teacher asks what he said. Tommy said the poem was "awesome" and asks the teacher if he thought the same thing. Carrie looks at Tommy shyly and smiles.Meanwhile, Margaret is seen working at dry cleaner/seamstress store. Someone calls out for help and it turns out to be Mrs. Snell, Sues mother. She is picking up Sues prom dress. Mrs. Snell tries to apologize for Sues behavior and commends Margaret on the work she did. Meanwhile, Margaret is cutting herself on the leg with a needle, making herself bleed. "These are godless times," Margaret says before returning to her work.Chris gets a meeting with Ms. Desjardin and The Principal with her arrogant lawyer father to try and overturn her suspension and revoked prom privileges. Chris tries to play the victim, but Ms. Desjardin plays better hardball than her, saying there was a video uploaded and if Chris just proves it isn't on her phone, then she can have her prom after all. Her father tells her to give up the phone, but Chris refuses to and storms out, thus indirectly admitting her complicity and making sure her suspension and punishment stay active.Sue and the prom committee work on turning the gymnasium into the prom. Chris storms in and asks why the girls didn't back her up. She then asks why Sue didn't. Sue says because she deserved the punishment, they all did. Ms. Desjardin was right; they did a shitty thing to Carrie. Chris balks and says Carrie deserved it. "What has Carrie White ever done to you?" Sue asks her soon to be former friend. Chris tells Sue that she is not being high and mighty because she feels bad; its because she wants to go to prom with Tommy then have sex with him in the hotel she already booked. "You don't give a shit about Carrie White," Chris sneers, leaving.We see Sue at home, looking at her prom dress lovingly.Back at the White household, Carrie is in her room making books move, testing her powers. She eventually makes several levitate including her bed. Margaret hears the noise and takes a butcher knife to investigate. When she gets to Carrie's room, Carrie has fooled her, turning out the lights. Margaret puts the knife down and says she will never let anyone hurt her little girl. Carrie then accidentally causes the knife to stick into the floor, shocking Margaret.The next day, Sue watches Tommy play Lacrosse. Sue comes up to Tommy and asks for a favor; she wants him to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy is shocked, saying he wants to take her, but Sue wants to do something. "I'm trying to fix what I did," she says. Tommy tries to convince her, but Sue says she can't go and begs him to help her make things right.Tommy finds Carrie at lunch and shocks her by talking to her. Tommy asks her about prom and if she would like to go with him. Carrie runs off without responding. Tommy tracks her down and asks again, but Carrie thinks it is a joke. "Stop trying to trick me," Carrie says. "I'm not," Tommy replies. Carrie doesn't believe him however, and runs off.Carrie cries in the locker room when Ms. Desjardin finds her. Ms. Desjardin thinks the girls did something again but Carrie says she got invited to prom. Ms. Desjardin says thats a happy thing and asks who asked her. Carrie says Tommy Ross. Ms. Desjardin, realizing something is up, stays neutral saying he is a cute boy. Carrie says she knows he dates Sue Snell and thinks this a big joke to him. "They're going to trick me again," Carrie says. Ms. Desjardin says maybe not. Carrie ponders why Tommy would want to go with her. Ms. Desjardin directs Carrie to the mirror telling her she sees a beautiful girl and with the right dress and the tiniest dash of makeup she can stun everyone speechless.Ms. Desjardin confronts Sue and Tommy thinking they are planning something. "If the two of you are planning some kind of joke on a poor, lonely girl..." Ms. Desjardin warns them. However, Sue says she is trying to do a good thing for Carrie; allow her one good night and a chance to be social. Tommy says it doesn't matter since Carrie said no, but Sue tells him to try again. Ms. Desjardin tries to appeal to Tommy saying he will look weird with Carrie on his arm, but Sue says this is a private matter and they don't care how they look doing it.Tommy drives over to Carrie's house and tells her he is not leaving till she says yes to prom. Fearful her mother will see them, Carrie says yes but that she will have to be home by 10:30 pm. Tommy says he will pick her up at 7:00 pm. Carrie smiles.Carrie goes into town and sees a dress shop. She looks at one in the store front and her body reflected onto it. Going inside, she sees that they are too pricey for what she can afford. She sees some fabric and stares at awe at the potential. From across the street, Chris and her friends see Carrie at the store and Chris seethes in rage.That evening, Carrie walks home seeing her mom waiting for her in the front yard. Margaret is livid since she didn't know where she was. Carrie says she went into town to buy fabric to make herself a gown. Margaret says she is not allowed to go anywhere but school and home. Carrie then tells her the news; she's been asked to prom. Carrie tells her that she knows she is scared and she is too. However, the kids laugh at her and think she is weird. She doesn't want to be weird; she wants to be normal and thinks prom may be her final chance. "I have to try and be a whole person before it is too late," Carrie says. Margaret is livid and tells her to go to her closet and repent before it is too late. Carrie asks why she can't be happy for her. But the insane Margaret refuses to listen and orders Carrie to go to her closet. Carrie then has an episode and makes everything in the living room jump up. Margaret falls to the floor in shock and starts to pray. Carrie tells her mom to get up and when she doesn't, she raises her with her powers. Margaret calls Carrie a devil, but Carrie says she has powers and others have them too. Carrie states that her grandmother may have had them and it's possible that they skipped a generation to Carrie. Carrie places her mother down and her mother says she thought she was a cancer when she was born. Carrie tells her that is a horrible thing to say and levitates her again. She tells her she is going to prom, she will not stop her, and they are not talking about it anymore. Carrie then releases her.Meanwhile, Chris, Billy and a few others are at a pig farm. Billy crushes a pigs head and Chris slits the throat to collect the blood.The next day, Sue is working on the prom decorations when she feels sick. She runs to the bathroom and throws up. Shock hits her face; she thinks she is pregnant.We see Carrie make her prom dress. Chris and Billy break into the gymnasium and rig the pail with the pig blood. Billy tells Chris she can drop it on Carrie.Sue puts her dress away, committing to her decision.We see a montage of the students get ready and dressed for prom. We see Carrie put her dress on and apply some light makeup. She has fully transformed herself into the beautiful woman she was meant to be.Margaret tells her she looks like a deviant. Carrie, having enough of her mother's overly religious quotes, asks that for once that her mom could be happy for her. Margaret says they are going to laugh at her, but Carrie says to stop it. Tommy is a nice boy and everything is going to be fine. As Tommy shows up, Margaret tells her daughter that she was conceived by what was basically marital rape and how she tried to kill her as a baby. Carrie, finally losing all her patience, force-chokes her mom. "There will be a judgment Carrie", Margaret says. Carrie opens the closet and looks her mother in with powers, saying she will be back at 10:30 pm as promised. She then melts the door lock so her mother can't get out.Carrie goes outside to meet Tommy. "Do I look okay?" Carrie asks. "You look beautiful," Tommy says, meaning it.They drive to prom in a limo. Carrie requests a moment, thinking about the other students. Tommy tells her despite what she thinks they aren't all bad. Calming her down, they go in, where she is introduced to Tommy's best friend and his girlfriend, who goes to another school. The other girl compliments Carrie on her dress, and is pleasantly surprised to find out that Carrie made it herself.Carrie begins to loosen up. Tommy asks if she wants to dance but they agree to wait till a slow one comes on. Ms. Desjardin sees Carrie and tells her how beautiful she looks. While they talk, Tommy texts Sue, telling her that everything is okay, Carrie is enjoying herself and that he misses her. Sue smiles, content that she is making it right.A slow song comes on and Tommy convinces Carrie to dance with him. He teaches her how to slow dance and quickly learns. Carrie puts her head on his shoulder then backs away. Something crosses Tommy's face when that happens; while he is still obviously loyal to Sue, he is starting to grow some feelings for Carrie due to her being such a sweet person. Carrie, still unsure about his intentions asks why he asked her to prom. Tommy says that he wanted to, and is having a good time with her and hopes she is feeling the same way. Carrie nods yes. Tommy then says they will enjoy their time here then they can go to an after party and he will have back home on time. Carrie smiles, agrees, and notes that she can maybe stay out till 11.Thanks to a friend, Billy and Chris break into and sit in the rafters waiting. They hand off ballots to their friend.The voting for Prom King and Queen begin. Carrie questions voting for herself but Tommy tells her it isn't much to it, and she should have one chance to be in the spotlight. Carrie notes that the crowns are beautiful. "Devil with false modesty," Tommy says. Carrie is convinced so they vote for themselves. Meanwhile, Chris friends switch out the ballots to rig them in Tommy and Carries favor.Chris texts on her cell phone to Sue while Sue is getting out of the shower. She says "Your girl looks good. She wont be for much longer." Horror watches over Sues face; she knew Chris was vindictive but not to this extent. Sue races to prom to try and stop her.Chris seems to have second thoughts for a moment. Billy reminds her that what they are doing is criminal assault, and they need to bail the second they are done.Meanwhile, Sue gets to the building but can't get in. She sees someone open the door and sneaks in.The "ballots" are counted. Tommy and Carrie win. Carrie is stunned but happy. They walk up to the podium with everyone applauding.Sue looks around and sees Chris in the rafters. Chris sees Sue see her. She hesitates momentarily, but Billy goads her on to pull the rope. Ms. Desjardin sees Sue and misconstrues her reasons for being there and throws her out of the building without hearing her warning.Chris pulls the rope and the pig blood cascades down and drowns Carrie in it. Complete and utter silence follows. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Tommy yells at everyone, having and wanting no part in this unbelievable act of cruelty. Chris then hacks the video monitors and plays Carries period video. Most can't help but laugh but Ms. Desjardin among with a few others, are in complete shock. Ms. Desjardin goes to Carrie but Carrie pushes her back with her powers, startling everyone.Chris and Billy rig the rope and begin to flee but Chris wants to stick around and see Carrie squirm. The rope however gives and the pail that held the blood cracks Tommy on the back of the head, killing him instantly. Carrie turns back around and cradles his head her lap, absolutely devastated that the only boy that ever treated her kindly has been killed. Carrie looks up in the rafters and recognizes Billy's sunglasses. She knows who is responsible. Something snaps in her mind. She turns to the guests, as the blood on her body starts to levitate off it. A few see this and try to flee in horror but it is no use.Carrie finally loses control and force-pushes the entire crowd back, people hitting tables and each other. Carrie shuts all the doors of the gym so no one can get out. One of the girls, Heather, is force-thrown across the room and has her head smashed into a closed door. Jack and a few other guys try to escape by climbing the bleachers, so Carrie collapses them, gorily crushing Jack to death. As a boy films her, she throws a table at him, the force of the hit killing him. Carrie then trips the sprinkles leaving the whole room wet. As she sees the twin girls Nicki and Lizzy, friends of Chris, flee she forces-pushes them to the ground and lets them be trampled to death. She then takes electrical wires and whips another one of Chris' friends, Tina, which catches her dress sets it on fire, causing Tina to burn to death. As flames envelop the room, Ms. Desjardin tries to calm Carrie down but Carrie catches her in a force-choke hold and considers electrocuting her. However, her reasoning returns momentarily and she spares Ms. Desjardin as she was one of the few people that were ever nice to her. Carrie then levitates herself out of the building.By now the entire school is in flames. While people some escape, many don't. Carrie sees Chris and Billy's red car. Her rage returns.Chris asks Billy what they should do as their little prank is now responsible for at least a dozen deaths. Billy tells her they will leave town and never come back. Chris agrees reluctantly. As they drive off, Carrie is behind them. She stomps the ground and causes it to cave out ahead. Billy turns the car around and speeds back. Chris sees Carrie and despite everything, will not give up her vendetta. "RUN HER DOWN. KILL HER!" Chris snarls. Billy says he has it under control and charges Carrie. Carrie however is waiting for him and stops the car with her power, the force causing Billy to hit the steering wheel hard, breaking his nose. Chris comes to a few minutes later, and realizes Billy is dead from the impact. She cries but when she sees Carrie, she reaches for the keys and backs up, still hell-bent on killing her. When she charges again, Carrie pulls the car up high in the air, and then throws into a gas station pump. The force of the throw causes Chris' face to go through the windshield making shards of glass embed all around her face. Carrie watches as Chris breathes her last. As an extra precaution and because Chris deserved it, Carrie causes the leaked gas to spark, causing an explosion that guarantees Billy and Chris demise.Back at the burned gym, Sue sees Ms. Desjardin and they both sob at the destruction.Carrie begins to walk home, destroying everything in her path. When she gets inside, she sees her mom had forced a hole from the crack in the door and has escaped from the closet. Carrie calls out to her but gets no response. Her mother is hiding in the shadows.Carrie gets into the bathtub and cleans off all the blood, changing into a blue nightgown. She finds Margaret and tells her she was right about everything. They hug and Margaret suggests they pray. As they pray, Margaret takes her butcher knife and stabs Carrie once in the back. Carrie then pushes her mother back as she falls down the stairs. Their fight continues in the kitchen as Carrie begs her mother to stop what she is doing. "You know a devil never dies. You gotta keep killing it," Margaret says, manic. They struggle and she slices Carrie on the leg and arm. When she tries to stab Carrie in the face, Carrie stops the blade with her powers and then pulls up numerous sharp objects and points them in her mother's direction. Telling her she is sorry, Carrie lets them fly, and they impale her mother to the wall as if in a crucifix-like pose.Carrie, horrified by what she is done, releases the blades that pin her mother to the wall. Margaret dies moments later in Carrie's lap. Carrie cries at the loss.Moments later, Sue arrives at the house. Carrie is angry with her saying she just killed her mother and she wants her back. "Why couldn't you leave me alone?" Carrie asks. Sue says she tried to help her. Carrie puts Sue in a force choke-hold as the house begins to collapse around them due to her powers becoming uncontrollable. "Don't hurt me Carrie," Sue pleads. "Why not?" Carrie snarls. Then, Carrie puts Sue down. Sue tries to reach for Carrie so they can escape. Carrie places her hand near Sue's stomach. "It's a girl," Carrie says. Sue looks at her in shock. "You don't know?" Carrie asks. Carrie pushes her out of the house. Sue watches as rocks come out of nowhere and fall directly on the house, collapsing it on itself. Carrie holds her mother and kisses her forehead as the house finally falls down on the both of them. Sue looks on in horror and gingerly touches her stomach.An undisclosed time later, Sue is giving a deposition in front of the whole town (As to her pregnancy subplot, it is very unclear whether Sue is still pregnant or not and/or she kept the baby). The man interviewing her asks if what she saw happen could've been a natural accident. Sue however, stands by her story. Carrie was just a normal girl with normal hopes and desires like everyone else, and they pushed her and when people get pushed, eventually they break. They broke Carrie White.We see Sue at the graveyard where Margaret and Carrie are at a joint plot. Someone has spray painted "CARRIE WHITE IS IN HELL" on the gravestone with an arrow pointing down. Even in death, someone still had to be heartless to the poor, lonely girl who only wanted to be accepted. Sue lays a white rose at the grave and leaves. A moment later a force comes up from the ground, cracking the tombstone down the middle. In the middle, a crater forms in the shape of a heart. Carrie's ultimate fate is left ambiguous. | suspenseful, cruelty, murder, violence, psychedelic, revenge | train | imdb | null |
tt0107614 | Mrs. Doubtfire | Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a cartoon voice actor in San Francisco who quits his job at a local TV studio after a dispute with the director. As a father, Daniel is extremely passionate about his 3 children: 14-year-old Lydia, 12-year-old Chris, and 5-year-old Natalie. However his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), is frustrated with his lack of discipline. With Miranda still at work, Daniel hires a mobile petting zoo and throws a wild block party for Chris' 12th birthday, despite Chris being grounded for a bad report card. The party creates a major disturbance in the neighborhood. Miranda arrives, having been notified of the incident by a neighbor, and is furious with Daniel for planning and throwing the party behind her back. The couple have a heated argument which leads to a divorce. At their first custody hearing, the judge acknowledges that Daniel is a devoted father, but is currently unemployed with no place to live, so Miranda receives full custody of the children. Daniel's visitation rights are limited to Saturdays; however, the judge tells him that if he can find a steady job and residence within three months, he will consider a joint-custody arrangement.
With the help of a court liaison, Daniel gets a menial job at his old TV station. When Miranda seeks a housekeeper/nanny to spend time with the children, Daniel uses his voice-acting skills to "respond", having changed the phone number on Miranda's wanted ad. He calls several times pretending to be undesirable candidates before calling as an elderly Scottish-accented widow, referring to himself as Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire and presenting strong credentials. Miranda is impressed and asks Mrs. Doubtfire to come for an interview. Daniel enlists his brother Frank, a makeup artist, and his partner Jack to transform him into a 60-year-old woman.
Miranda hires Mrs. Doubtfire on the spot. The children initially struggle adjusting to their new nanny, but soon come around and thrive, while Miranda is able to become closer with them. Daniel learns several household and parenting skills as part of the role. One day, Chris accidentally walks in on him in the bathroom and sees what appears to be Mrs. Doubtfire standing to urinate. Alarmed, Chris reveals what he saw to Lydia and they panic until Daniel reveals the truth, telling them the only reason for the Mrs. Doubtfire persona is to spend more time with them. They are happy to have their father back, but Daniel warns them to make sure Miranda does not find out, and also not to tell Natalie, who is too young to understand.
Soon, Miranda becomes reacquainted with an ex-boyfriend, Stuart "Stu" Dunmeyer (Pierce Brosnan). As Miranda and Stu become closer, Daniel begins to resent Stu, especially after Stu calls Daniel a "loser". While working at the station, Daniel is seen by CEO Jonathan Lundy playing with toy dinosaurs on the set of a children's show. Impressed, Lundy invites Daniel to dinner to hear more of his ideas. Meanwhile, Stu invites the family, including Mrs. Doubtfire, out for Miranda's birthday at the same place, date, and time as the dinner with Lundy. Unable to reschedule and unwilling to let the family down, Daniel attempts to rotate back and forth between the two commitments, alternately changing his persona back and forth between himself and Mrs. Doubtfire.
After many drinks at both tables, Daniel becomes intoxicated; puts cayenne pepper, which Stu is allergic to, on his entree; and returns to Lundy's table still dressed as Mrs Doubtfire. He covers by introducing Mrs. Doubtfire as the host for a new children's show, impressing Lundy. At that moment, Daniel notices Stu choking on his dinner, has a change of heart, rushes over, and administers the Heimlich maneuver. Daniel is able to resuscitate Stu, but the top of his mask comes off, revealing his true identity, to Miranda's horror.
At their next custody hearing, Daniel explains that he has a suitable job and home, and gives a heartfelt explanation for his behavior. The judge is touched by Daniel's explanation, but disturbed by his actions, and grants Miranda full custody, with Daniel limited to supervised visitation every Saturday, much to his dismay. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda and her children become depressed, recognizing how much Mrs. Doubtfire improved their lives. They are surprised when the local station starts airing a new children's show, "Euphegenia's House" hosted by Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire. The show becomes a hit and is syndicated across the country.
Miranda visits Daniel on set and admits that everything he did as Mrs. Doubtfire was enough to convince her that the children need to have their father back in the picture. Soon after, a joint custody agreement is reached, allowing Daniel to see the children every day after school. As Daniel takes the children out, Miranda watches an episode in which Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl whose parents have separated, saying that no matter what arrangements families have, love will prevail. | comedy, bleak, dramatic, cult, suspenseful, entertaining | train | wikipedia | This movie has plenty of gags, but it all comes together in a nice, friendly framework that centres around one man's family and that man's love for his children that'll make him dress up as a 60 year old granny to get back into their lives!
First,performance of the voice of Robin Williams is very wonderful.For example, he uses a lot of funny ad lib in the stand-in of animation in the first scene.
Second, Robin Williams and Sally Field as well as the three children act very delightfully though the movie deals with a rather serious theme---warmth and importance of family.
Robin Williams makes audiences laugh and cry at his portrayal of a loving father who wants nothing more than to be with his children.
Robin Williams is brilliant in his 'dual role' as the rejected husband, Daniel, and the buxom British nanny, Mrs. Doubtfire.This movie tells the story of a bitter separation, when Miranda insists on a divorce from her immature, goofy husband.
Of course meanwhile Miranda has a new love interest named Stu.Williams' portrayal of Mrs. Doubtfire is hilarious in every way, shape, and form.
The most insanely funny scene is at a restaurant where Daniel / Mrs. Doubtfire must quickly be in two places at the same time, so he / she is forced to alternate between personae at lightning speed, sometimes forgetting which one he / she is at any given moment.
I won't give away the plot, but I nigh expired from laughing.Sally Field charmingly plays Daniel's now separated wife, Miranda, and Pierce Brosnan is suitably unsympathetic as her new love interest, Stu. We cheer for Daniel through his assorted antics as he tries to shoo away this romantic competitor for his ex wife's affections and especially, this new male threatening to usurp his role as father to his kids.Desite being a comedy, this film does on the serious side reveal the devastating effects of divorce on children's lives and also particularly on the noncustodial parent.
DOUBTFIRE (1993) ***1/2Starring: Robin Williams, Sally Field, Mara Wilson, and Pierce BrosnanDirected by Chris Columbus.
While Robin Williams is sadly no longer with us, his comedic timing and adlibbing of fantastic one liners will live on forever through Mrs. Doubtfire and so many other wonderful films.
The scene not only funny but also thrilling and my heart fluttered with worry, too.I know that some people claim that the storyline is too unrealistic, but I think there are few fathers who love their children as deeply as Daniel.This movie is not only funny but also impressive.
This is one of the best movies of Fall-Dawn funny, comical, and impressive.Daniel Hirard, played by Robin Willams, who is losing his job are declared divorce by his wife.
I really like Robin Williams, an actor that is I personally don't care for him that much as a comedian, and the roles of Daniel Hillard and Mrs Doubtfire were perfect for him.
This movie is very funny.The funniest scenes for me are when Daniel transforms into Mrs.Doubtfire.They are very wonderful !I think that R.Williams is one of the greatest comedians.Because,He has not only brilliant performance skills but also many kinds of voices.He is really a delightful actor.If Mrs.Doubtfire were performed by with a different actor,this movie would be a failure.Thanks to Robin's extraordinary performance,this movie has been a complete success.But it is true that R.Williams is so impressive that other characters are outshone by him.Overally, I can guarantee enjoy this movie.
As much as I respect Robin Williams as an actor, and I truly admit his performance is impeccable, there's more than simply funny and well-acted comedy in this movie.
Robin Williams is excellent as a divorced man, in order to get closer to his kids, dresses up as a nanny of his ex-wife.
Even though it may not be brilliant like "Tootsie," "Doubtfire" has wonderfully comic moments wrapped up into a heartwarming tale.Robin Williams stars as Daniel Hillard, a gifted voiceover actor who has a unique fondness for his three children, but is unable to hold down a steady job.
Some may think the film's second act as ludicrous, when Robin Williams tries to chase off Field's new boyfriend, Pierce Brosnan.
This gives the excessive slapstick and tomfoolery a deeper edge.I think film critics should have a heart when it comes to "Mrs. Doubtfire." It does have a certain magic to it that is so hard to find in movies nowadays.
She just never got over the network canning The Flying Nun, and has been weeping on screen ever since.Secondly, Robin Williams' character resorting to the deception of cross-dressing and acting out the role of an old woman just to be with his children.
Funny man Robin Williams morphs into an old nanny with a British accent, named "Euphegenia Doubtfire".
A serious message, pertinent to marriage and children, frames and supports the comedic plot, which gives the film depth and substance.The entire production hangs on the talents of Robin Williams: versatile, energetic, improvisational, and hugely entertaining.
And makeup artists must have had a field day with Mrs. Doubtfire, who, though rather imposing for a female, comes across quite believable, again given that the film is a comedy.My only "serious" complaint is the cinematography.
The theme of this movie is gFamily loveh but Daniel's love toward his family makes us laugh especially when Mrs.Doubtfire talks with Stu jealously.
One of his most well known characters of all time and one of the biggest family fun comedies of the 90's.Daniel Hillard, (Robin Williams) copes with his divorce from his wife, (Sally Field) by disguising himself as a nanny who works for her so he can be near his kids.
Determined to stay in contact with his kids, Daniel discovers that Miranda is looking for a housekeeper, so he becomes Mrs. Doubtfire, a Scottish nanny.Williams is at his brilliant best, and it's always a joy to see Sally Field (who still looked great in her late 40's) Pierce Brosnan looks fantastic as Miranda's new love interest, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence and Mara Wilson are all great as the kids.
Music is by Howard Shore and cinematography by Donald McAlpine.Robin Williams plays Daniel Hillard, a struggling out of work actor who when faced with divorce from Miranda (Field) and separation from his three children, disguises himself as an old female housekeeper in order to see them daily.Centrally as a film it is what it is, a chance for Williams (excellent) to dress up in drag and act the goof, but boy does he do it well.
Robin Williams is absolutely perfect in the role and the moment where he gives the hard-faced Mrs.Selner a preview of all his talented voices perfectly demonstrates why he's the best man for the role.There are countless classic, funny moments throughout "Mrs.Doubtfire" that makes it two hour running time go in a breeze.
I'm laughing now just thinking about it.Mrs.Doubtfire also has some incredible lines such as, "Stu, more of a thick soup than a name" and Robin Williams makes the preposterous idea somehow believable!
Robin Williams' star, which was shining bright in the late 80's and early 90's (Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Hook and of course Aladdin) gave the film a huge boost, but he followed it with a string of one disappointment after another (Toys, Nine Months, Jumanji, Jack, Father's Day, Flubber) and by the time he finally made his Oscar winning performance in Good Will Hunting (1997) he was considered an actor well past his prime; worse, he was really getting on people's nerves.None of which helped Mrs. Doubtfire, which aged badly as it is.
It's a family movie thats full of physical comedy, verbal gags and also the odd reference that adults will love that will go right over kids heads and much of this is down to the sheer strength of the performance of Robin Williams.He is totally convincing as both Daniel and Doubtfire and truly captures all the heart of this story effortlessly.
We feel deeply moved as Robin's character in the film is forced to take steps to be united with his children and at the same time look for a new job as well.
It seen that the happiness of his children is all that he wants in life and we see it during the court scene near the end of the film.The film has its phases: a comedic opening and a sacking, fight with the wife and eventual separation, beginnings of a transformation, the complete transformation and moving in with his kids plus dramatic change in lifestyle(!), fight with his wife's new playboy boyfriend (played by the handsome Pierce Brosnan) and eventual discovery of his identity.
Just before watching it, I knew it starred talented comedian/actor Robin Williams, whom I was a big fan of, and knew it was about his character disguised as a woman, which certainly sounded promising for a comedy.
My opinion on Williams as a performer hasn't changed since 2007, and watching this movie again turned out to be a lot like the first time.Daniel Hillard is a voice-over actor who quits his job after an argument with his boss.
With the opening sequence, showing Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) in the studio recording his voice-overs and then getting into an argument with his boss and quitting, the movie is off to a good and comical start.
It stays fairly consistent throughout, with many memorably funny scenes, such as the birthday party, Daniel doing numerous voice impressions in front of social worker Mrs. Sellner, the divorced father having to change back and forth from Mrs. Doubtfire to himself while Mrs. Sellner is in his apartment, Stu Dunmeyer (Miranda's new love interest) calling Daniel a loser in front of Mrs. Doubtfire (not realizing it's him) and getting fruit thrown at him, and many other things that happen on the main character's little adventure, as well as some funny lines coming from his alter ego.
Daniel Hilliard (Robin Williams) and Miranda Hilliard (Sally Field) get a divorce after many years of marriage and three great children.
Daniel decides to take matters into his own hands, with his unique characteristics as an actor in the film he disguises himself as British nanny named Mrs. Doubtfire to watch over the children while Miranda works so he can spend time with his children.
Over time he spends more time with his children and helps them cope with the divorce and also betters himself along the way.I believe Mrs. Doubtfire is one of the best family films of its time and still today.
I believe everyone should see this film and enjoy Robin Williams at his best as a British nanny.Mrs. Doubtfire was directed by Chris Columbus.
This movie can appeal to all generations.I'm convinced: Robin Williams may not be understandable on stage, but he does his best work on screen.Not only does this movie make me laugh after a good decade, but it also makes you think too.
It turned out that this was the movie and that Daniel Hillard (Mrs. Doubtfire)was doing voices for the characters.
Daniel is given only one day a week with the kids, but he can get more time as the new housekeeper Mrs. Doubtfire.Robin Williams is throwing all of his multiple personalities into this performance.
The kids will love the talented Williams playing a divorced father who disguises himself brilliantly, convincingly and humorously as an old English nanny; while the grown ups will be shocked at how crude the film actually gets, but can't resist laughing and continuing to watch.
Robin Williams plays a divorced dad trying to earn a living as a voice-over actor but finding his ex-wife (Sally Field) pushing him away.
Built on a cast of genuine and believably likable characters and presenting the audience with no obvious villain to be overcome, Mrs. Doubtfire tells us that divorce doesn't always have a bad guy, that family is as much a part of the heart as any emotion and that Robin Williams truly was one of the greatest comic actors to have ever lived..
Mrs. Doubtfire is one of those movies that you will be remember for a long, long, time.The story is about an unemployed and irresponsible Robin Williams who loves his kids with all his heart, unfortunately he can only see his kids once a week because of his divorce, to see them more often, he dresses up as a housekeeper and starts working in his wife's home.This movie is HILARIOUS!
'MRS DOUBTFIRE' was directed by Chris Columbus and stars Robin Williams, Sally Field and Lisa Jakub.
We see a well-meaning and decent mother played by Sally Field, trying to manage her professional job, three children and a loving husband and father played by Robin Williams.
The late Robin Williams (RIP xoxo) plays a husband/father who is going through a divorce with his wife Miranda (the incredible Sally Field).
Let me just take a moment and say that Robin Williams is great in this role, his portrayal as Mrs Doubtfire is just hilarious.
The story is that the wife's job alone is enough to villainies her: Miranda Hillard (Sally Field) is seen doing something terribly important involving fabric swatches, while her sweet, helpless husband, Daniel (Robin Williams), cannot stay employed dubbing voices onto animated films.
From the minute he poses as Mrs. Doubtfire, he delivers such pleasant laughter and charm to the film, and thanks to the incredible hair and make-up design, he is truly convincing as the old lady with a man who just wants to spend quality time with his children behind the mask.
Mrs. Doubtfire is a heartwarming movie that you cannot help but love, thanks to the blissful writing, director Chris Columbus's creative mind, and an impressive comedic chemistry by Robin Williams.
Mrs Doubtfire will make you laugh and bring you almost to tears at the same time, because underneath all the fun and games there is a powerful message about family and love that transcends separation or divorce.
This is a comedy drama that is great for the entire family, starring Robin Williams as a divorced husband Daniel Hillard who disguises himself as female housekeeper Mrs. Doubtfire to help tend the household for his ex-wife, who has custody over their children, so he could spend time with this three kids.The pace, acting, and character development fits the movie's script very well, and the movie is as funny as it sounds.
This comedy is so funny it can be watched over and over to get the same laughs each time, the scene were Mrs Doubtfire was caught urinating in the toilet like a man was hilarious and the part were someone tries to mug her in the street was so funny.
It is a very fun family film that is jam packed with scenes that will have the whole family laughing, mostly because Robin Williams comedic timing is unbelievably brilliant.
Very funny and sweet, Mrs. Doubtfire is certainly worth the watch if you are looking for a good film for the whole family to enjoy.
I said I watched this on TV quite a bit, where 1.) It was edited and 2.) my mother was never happy about.The movie is a great family film in a lot of ways.
unless the person is crazy, well the applications Robin Williams made with the voices in my opinion is the best part and also the fights between Mrs Doubtfire and Pieerce Brosnan's character was funny.My Overall Opinion: "Oh My God" - near ending of this movie.
Mrs Doubtfire is not the best comedy, and most certainly not the best movie, but it is a very heart-warming story about a father who is crazy about his kids, and when he gets a divorce he is willing to do "anything" to spend the time he needs with his children, including dressing up as a 60 year old woman.There are two major things that make this film an exception.
The movie sports a few genuinely funny moments, Robin Williams being Robin Williams in one of his better roles (and at his peak), and the movie represents your typical 1990s comedy flair perfectly, blending laughs with timely messages about the realities of family life, not necessarily winding up the way the audience expects (Doubtfire's "feel good" ending not really so happy as we might expect, but then again, that's life).Daniel Hillard is a talented voice over actor with a moral compass and a loving father to his three children.
It's a good watch for the whole family, because it contains no vulgarities, no profanities and it does instill good morals.Robin Williams is a great actor, and he tops his performance in this film !
Mrs. Doubtfire is surely one of my favourite comedies, there is an excellent performance from Robin Williams, he had to dress up as a women - so it was always a challenge, but he made it look easy.
'Mrs. Doubtfire' is a reasonable comedy-drama with Robin Williams disguising himself as an elderly female housekeeper so that he can spend some time with his children who are currently living with estranged wife Sally Field.
Robin Williams plays one of his best roles as Mrs. Doubtfire, even though this movie was made in 1993 it is still a sensational hit today.
Robin Williams acting as Daniel Hillard is in a testing relationship and becomes a divorced father who is at stake of only being able to see his kids for a limited time on certain days.
So if your ever looking for a good movie to watch, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) is a great one to pick up!
Robin Williams dressing up as a woman and playing nanny for his kids is the perfect idea to make a very funny comedy.
First, though it is very funny, this movie has the heavy topic of divorce looming over it, with the parents (Williams and Sally Field) arguing in just about every scene together.
Robin Williams (Good morning, Vietnam) stars as Daniel Hillard, a man who loves his kids and a man getting divorced. |
tt0963194 | Repo! The Genetic Opera | The film opens with a series of comic-book panels that explain how an epidemic of organ failures devastated the planet in the future ("Depraved Heart Murder at Sanitarium Square"). Out of the tragedy, GeneCo, a multi-billion dollar biotech company, emerged. GeneCo provides organ transplantation for profits. In addition to financing options, GeneCo reserves the right to implement default remedies, including repossession. For those who can't keep up with their organ payments, collection is the responsibility of "organ repo men", skilled assassins contracted by GeneCo. Repo men are ordered to recover GeneCo's property by any means necessary. One such Repo Man stalks and kills a client whose heart is then repossessed ("Genetic Repo Man").The president of GeneCo, Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino), learns that he is dying, while Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega), a 17 year-old girl with a rare blood disease that she's been told she inherited from her deceased mother, sneaks through underground tunnels to her mother's mausoleum ("Things You See in a Graveyard (Part One)").Shilo follows a bug out of the mausoleum in an attempt to catch it, and in the process, runs into GraveRobber (Terrance Zdunich), who is busy digging underground. They flee from GenCops and enter a massive underground graveyard ("21st Century Cure").After passing out from blood-pressure problems, Shilo wakes up ("Shilo Wakes") to her overprotective father, Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head). He has been keeping her locked in their house for 17 years due to her disease. Shilo is bitter towards her deceased mother for giving her this disease ("Infected"). Nathan, upset, gets ready for work as the head Repo Man for GeneCo ("Legal Assassin"). He takes great pride in his work, but knows that he can never reveal it to Shilo in fear of breaking her trust.Rotti's children, Luigi Largo (Bill Moseley), Pavi Largo (Nivek Ogre), and Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton), meet at a GeneCo warehouse for inventory and the two brothers begin to bicker over who will be chosen to inherit GeneCo after Rotti dies ("Mark It Up"). Rotti, however, begins to take an interest in Shilo ("Things You See in a Graveyard (Part Two)"), whom he invites to GeneCo's Genetic Opera ("Limo Ride"). Nathan, meanwhile, repossess a defaulted intestine and uses the victim as a puppet ("Thankless Job").Luigi kills two of his subordinates ("Largo's Little Helpers") while Genterns successfully attach a new face to Pavi ("Genterns"). The two siblings get on the nerves of Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman), a famous pop-opera singer who sings for GeneCo. When she tells them to behave, they argue back. Amber joins in and begins to harass Mag about being her replacement ("Luigi, Pavi, Amber Harass Mag"). Rotti then introduces Mag to Shilo ("Seeing You Stirs Memories"), who Mag thought died at birth.Nathan, while working and repossessing a spine, calls Shilo, who is at Sanitarium Square being guarded by Rotti's henchgirls while he's busy ("Inopportune Telephone Call"). GraveRobber arrives and helps Shilo slip away from the henchgirls ("GraveRobber and Shilo Escape"). Rotti, meanwhile, announces that Blind Mag will be performing her final song. He also announces that his daughter, Amber, will be the spokesperson for the newly revealed Zydrate Support Network, a rehabilitation center for those addicted to the powerful painkiller Zydrate ("Zydrate Support Network").Shilo watches as GraveRobber explains Zydrate, harvested from the brains of corpses and peddled to addicts. Those who are addicted to surgery, including Amber, need Zydrate to ease the pain. Amber arrives and gets a shot of it, explaining in the process that she will be replacing Blind Mag after Mag's eyes, which she got from GeneCo, get repossessed after her final song ("Zydrate Anatomy"). GenCops arrive and everyone scrambles to escape, except for Amber and her two valets, who hold her up as she passes out in a drug-induced haze.Nathan delivers the repossessed spine to Rotti, and he gives Nathan his next target - Blind Mag. Nathan refuses ("Who Ordered Pizza?"). Rotti, Pavi, and Luigi follow Nathan as he kills another victim, trying to guilt him into repossessing Blind Mag's eyes ("Night Surgeon"). He still refuses, and leaves once done with the victim.Later, Rotti sends his henchgirls to accompany Blind Mag to Shilo's house, where Blind Mag reveals to Shilo that she is Shilo's godmother, having been good friends with Shilo's mother Marni before she died. Blind Mag was sent by Rotti to convince Shilo to come to tonight's Genetic Opera. However, she also warns Shilo about GeneCo ("Chase the Morning"). Nathan arrives and, mad at Mag, starts an argument before kicking her out of his house ("Come Back!"). After trying to tell her dad that a Repo Man will take Blind Mag's eyes, Nathan tells her that there's no such thing as Repo Men and sends her to bed. When she argues, he asks what she, a seventeen year old, could possibly do ("What Chance Has a 17 Year Old Girl?"). Shilo retorts that it's better than being forty ("Seventeen").Amber, meanwhile, complains to her father that her latest surgery was botched, ruining her face. Rotti explains that he told her not to get so many surgeries. However, he eventually tells her that he'll take care of it ("Happiness is Not a Warm Scalpel"). After she leaves, Rotti voices his opinion that the only persistent thing in the world is gold and signs his will, which shows Shilo as his sole benefactor.Nathan discovers GenCops in his basement whose mission is to find the "rogue Repo Man" ("Nathan Discovers Rotti's Plan"). After realizing that Shilo isn't home, Nathan discovers that the GenCops have stolen Marni's body from the basement ("Tonight We Are Betrayed").Everyone gets ready for the Genetic Opera (Nathan puts on his Repo Man gear, Blind Mag walks through the cemetery on the way to the opera house, Amber picks up a last hit of Zydrate before the show, etc.) ("At the Opera Tonight"). GraveRobber, meanwhile, believes that there will be a bloodbath at the Genetic Opera, and that whoever survives it will inherit GeneCo ("Bloodbath!").The stories intertwine as everyone arrives at the GeneCo Genetic Opera, where the performance begins ("We Started This Op'ra Shit!"). Amber takes the stage for her premier as a singer, but her solo song is cut short when she trips and her face falls off ("Blame Not My Cheeks"). Mag begins singing her final song, ending it by gouging out her own eyes, stating that she'd rather be blind ("Chromaggia"). The cords suspending her in the air begin to snap "accidentally", dropping and impaling Mag on metal rods of a fence, killing her ("Mag's Fall"). Rotti insists that it's part of the performance and convinces the audience to stay by saying that he will cure Shilo's illness ("Pièce De Résistance").Shilo attacks Nathan in his Repo Man gear by hitting him in the head with a shovel, as Rotti instructed her to do earlier. Shilo realizes that the Repo Man is her father ("Let the Monster Rise"). Rotti then reveals Nathan to be the man who's been making Shilo sick by giving her poisonous "medication" ("The Man Who Made You Sick"). Nathan explains that he was only doing so to keep her away from the world, which he knew to be a terrible place. Rotti then tells Shilo that if she kills her father, she will inherit GeneCo ("Cut the Ties"). When she refuses, Rotti uses the last of his strength to shoot Nathan ("Shilo Turns Against Rotti"). Rotti then dies, on-stage, from his disease. Shilo and Nathan say goodbye to each other before Nathan dies from his wound ("I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much"). Shilo leaves, free from her genetic destiny ("Genetic Emancipation").The following day, GraveRobber reads about Shilo turning down the inheritance of GeneCo ("Epitaph"). Amber takes control over GeneCo in her place, and auctions off the face that fell off to her brother Pavi.
Provided by Wikipedia.com. | dark, cruelty, gothic, murder, cult, violence, flashback, insanity, sadist | train | imdb | null |
tt2872718 | Nightcrawler | It's late at night in the city of Los Angeles. Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) has broken into a train yard to try and break off a chain link fence. An officer approaches him and demands to see some ID. Lou keeps his cool and shows it to him, and then he attacks the man and kills him. Lou later takes the broken up fence to a scrapyard and sells the fence to the yard's owner while trying to negotiate a higher price. He then asks the owner if he is hiring, since he can start immediately. He uses his motto, "If you want to win the lottery, you gotta have the money to buy a ticket." The owner rebuffs him and says he won't hire a thief.A few cop cars pass Lou on the road. He pulls over to see what they're investigating. A car is on fire, and people are inside. A van of nightcrawlers - guys who record violent incidents at night for profit - pull up, led by Joe Loder (Bill Paxton). Lou sees Loder filming while two men pull a woman from the vehicle. Lou approaches Loder and asks about the job. Loder says it's a "flaming asshole of a job." Lou asks him if they're hiring and Loder says no.Lou steals a bike on the beach the next day and goes to pawn it off. The shop owner will only go as far as $700, but Lou asks for $800 in store credit so he can get a camcorder and a police scanner. Using these, he listens to reports of incidents in the area. He pulls up to multiple crime scenes and is told to leave by the police. He manages to get good graphic footage of a man who was shot to death after a carjacking. The police turn Lou and another nightcrawler away, the latter who angrily curses Lou out for ruining his shot. Lou follows the man as he calls his employer and overhears how much the man is set to make off the footage.Lou goes to the Channel 6 news station and meets news director Nina Romina (Rene Russo). He shows her and another station producer, Frank Kruse (Kevin Rahm) the footage, with good shots of the man dead and paramedics trying to revive him. Lou only makes $250 off the footage, despite trying to go way higher. He once again tries asking for a job or an internship position to no avail.Lou interviews a young man named Rick (Riz Ahmed) for an internship position, making it seem like he's heading some big news station. Rick is practically homeless and struggling to find work, and he has little experience in this sort of field. Lou simply asks him if he has a phone with GPS, and Rick says yes. Lou hires him on the spot and tells him he'll get paid $30 a night.Lou makes Rick read off directions to him as they go looking for incidents. Lou drives like a maniac and makes Rick nervous. He accidentally gives him wrong directions, and they arrive to the scene of a home fire too late, as paramedics have already wheeled the victim away. Lou is furious with Rick.People are gathered around a shooting in a suburban home. Lou sneaks in through the back and into the kitchen where he rearranges pictures on the fridge to focus on the bullet holes and a shot of the neighbors talking to police. Nina loves the footage but Frank says it looks like Lou broke in. She still uses it.Eventually, Lou and Rick are able to get a lot of new footage of horrifying incidents (with headlines like "toddler stabbed" and "drunk mom hits biker"), which Lou continues to sell to Nina. He gives her an impassioned speech about how he's come up with his business plan and how he has hoped to make a name for himself, which seems to almost move Nina.Lou stands by Nina when two anchors from her station are set to report on one of the incidents that Lou got on camera. He mentions a Mexican restaurant and invites Nina to go with him. Nina declines, as she doesn't want to compromise their professional relationship, but Lou implies that he'll stop giving her good footage if she says no.Loder finds Lou and offers him a spot on his team to deliver them some good footage. Lou turns him down, even as Loder persists. However, Lou very firmly rejects him, to Loder's anger.Nina joins Lou at the Mexican restaurant. He makes it clear he wants more than a professional relationship but she says this is just a courtesy date. He reminds her that the station is the lowest rated station in the area, and she needs him just as much as he wants her.Lou and Rick fail to arrive in time for another incident as Loder and his team beat him to the punch, leaving Lou with weak footage of a stabbing in Corona. Nina is pissed at him. Loder's coverage hits Channel 2 in all its glory. Lou smashes his bathroom mirror in fury. He goes to Loder's house and cuts the brakes on his van. This later leads to Loder crashing the van into a pole. Lou and Rick arrive in time for Lou to film Loder being wheeled away in a gurney, choking on his own blood.A big break comes when Lou and Rick happen upon a shooting/break-in at a large mansion. Lou sees two men fleeing the scene. He enters the house and films the dead bodies in each room. One victim is on the ground gasping for breath as Lou walks around him. He delivers the graphic footage to Nina, at which point he makes a demand for $15,000 for the footage, and not a cent lower, and he also wants the anchors to give him credit as Video Production News, and for him to be recognized as a credible news source. He makes it abundantly clear to Nina that he's calling the shots now. The anchors at the station report on the footage while Nina tells them what to say.Two detectives, Frontieri and Lieberman (Michael Hyatt and Price Carson), arrive at Lou's door to question him about the footage and if he saw the two men. He doesn't give a clear description of the men but he tells them that they were driving an SUV.Lou brings Rick to catch the killers and phone the cops. Rick demands a raise if he's going to keep tagging along on these sorts of missions. He meekly asks for $75 a night when Lou states he could've gone higher. Together, they find the killers and follow them to a restaurant. Lou phones the cops and says one of them has a gun. Two cops arrive and enter the place. Two more show up, and the killers begin to shoot at them. The cops shoot the larger killer dead while the other one gets away. Lou and Rick follow them in an intense chase. The cop car is hit by another car. Another cop car catches up to the killer and they crash. Lou stops the car and goes to get his shot. He tells Rick that the killer is dead. Rick goes to film the killer, only to find him alive and with a gun. He shoots Rick three times before crawling out. The killer aims his gun at the cops and is shot dead. Lou films his corpse and then films a dying Rick. Rick says Lou knew the killer was alive, and Lou implies that he did this since Rick threatened to compromise this whole operation. Rick dies.Lou brings all of this to Nina, who is enchanted by all the gruesome imagery. Detective Frontieri comes to the station and demands to have the footage as it is evidence, but Nina refuses to surrender the tapes. Frontieri later interrogates Lou, knowing he withheld information from them since he knew what the killers looked like. Furthermore, he remains unmoved by Rick's death, but he sticks by his word without flinching, and he is left free to walk.Frank approaches Nina and says the break-in at the mansion was really a drug robbery since there were multiple bags of cocaine found in there. He says this is the real story but Nina is focusing on the car chase and accident. Frank tells her she sounds like Lou, to which she replies that Lou has inspired them to reach higher.Now, Lou has established Video Production News with news vans and three interns. He gets then ready with their tasks, and adds that he won't make them do anything he won't do himself. With that, he guides them into the night to snap more footage of what the people really want to see. | dark, mystery, neo noir, murder, violence, satire | train | imdb | Nightcrawler throws you right into the gritty streets along with a hustling thief, Lou, who starts freelancing as a videographer of crime scenes and selling his footage to a news channel for money.
Also Gyllenhaal's chemistry with Rene Russo (the news director) is palatable and their work dynamic becomes more of a gripping co-dependency as the movie progresses.Nightcrawler is a must-watch for fans of cinema.
The film tells the story of Lou Bloom, a freelance videographer who covers the crime world in LA for a local news station and ruthless editor played by Rene Russo.
Bloom is a depraved individual and Jake Gyllenhaal deserves a hell of a lot acknowledgment for this role because he pulls off the tricky task of making the audience care about a character that is truly unlikeable and does so with not one false note.
He is brilliant when paired with the amazing monologue style rants written for him.Lou Bloom is a driven man reminiscent of a sociopath who finds he has a talent as "nightcrawling" in that he takes videos of true crimes as they are happening to be broadcast on the news.
His motivation and seeming lack of empathy allow him to break through and take the controversial images, and sell them with a strong aptitude for negotiation.As a character, he grows more and more "motivated" and seems to learn his business in such a way to bring him amazing success, but to the determinant, perhaps, of his assistant and the victims of these crimes.The writer/ director of this movie (making his directorial debut) certainly understands fear and comedy.
The film plunges us into the dark, seedy world of a nightcrawler, somebody who, often working freelance with his or her own equipment and schedule, patrols the streets of crowded cities with multiple police scanners searching for recently-committed crimes in the neighborhood, like rape, shootings, murders, car accidents, and so forth.
Job requirements include possible insomniac, lack of emotional connection or any immediate empathy to tragedy or horror, exceptional navigational/driving skills, and a load of free time.Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a man at rock-bottom living in Los Angeles, selling scrap metal to get money before eventually turning to the nightcrawling business.
Together, the two make for an amateur nightcrawling team, turning profit by selling the footage – expertly shot, analyzed, and even occasionally manipulated by Lou – to Nina (Rene Russo), the station manager of a severely failing news station that is in dire need to regain viewership.Ultimately, "Nightcrawler" juggles two tricky but immersing features with its material, simultaneously giving us a look into a grimy and often dirty gig as somebody who is essentially a voyeur into the most vulnerable time of the people he meets and posing frightening commentary on contemporary news.
Director Dan Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit (a frequent collaborator of Paul Thomas Anderson) do everything in their power to subvert our ideas of Los Angeles and focus on transitory locations that show the ugliest of human events in such a way that is beautiful and captivating thanks to crystal-clear photography.The other feature "Nightcrawler" toys with is the contemporary exploration of journalistic ethics and how, with local cable news competing with so many twenty-four hour news stations, who, in turn, are also battling more rapidly-updated social media websites, the manipulation of news is ever-present on Television.
He watches as Nina plays the tape on the air, directing the news anchors in such a specific way in terms of language and mannerisms that we see the fear-mongering happen right before our eyes.On top of all the social commentary, we see amazingly realistic crime scenes and car accidents to boot.
The attention to detail in these seems is simply exquisite and uncommonly believable."Nightcrawler," in addition, features a wonderful performance by Gyllenhaal who, like his co-star Paul Dano in last year's "Prisoners," plays detached and empty with such conviction, and channels something of an inner-Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Owning Mahowny," showing his character's complete fulfillment when obsessing over his job and his work.
This is one of the Gyllenhaal performances that will be remembered for his career.Out of common sense, this story may lead its main character to a moral about how much he is taking this job too far, probably destroying his humanity.
In addition, Riz Ahmed's Rick serves as Louis' gullible, clueless "employee" who just wants to escape the dispiriting state of homelessness and finally earn a living, completely unaware of the perilous and unethical situations he'll be cast in along his employer's selfishly ruthless path.This isn't the kind of film whose quality solely relies on a central performance because the narrative is just as cruelly gripping.
You shouldn't be enjoying this stuff.It's an exposition of entirely greed-induced (financial and ego driven) naked ambition that rivals Wolf of Wall Street for it's blithe abandon of normal ethical practice.Gyllenhaal, as Louis Bloom, almost cadaverous after his dramatic weight loss for the part, is as unsympathetic a movie character as you've seen in a very long time.
A loner, a drifter, a thief, unemployed (unemployable is the truth) and entirely without remorse - emotion for that matter - stumbles upon a freelance career as an, at first hapless then really rather good, ambulance chasing 'scene of the crime' news cameraman.Starting with motorway crashes and graduating to suburban crime scenes (where the threat of middle America being intruded upon by 'Hispanics' and other Liberal American ethnic minorities) he captures more and more challenging newsreel material that feeds the sensation-lust of an LA loser News Station's News Editor, Nina Romina, played deliciously by Rene Russo.Romina's sponsorship of, and belief in, the expert blagging of Bloom feeds his desire for greater success and indeed for Romina herself.
Certainly his hapless sidekick/assistant Rick, played by Riz Ahmed, has next to no chance in this little hothouse world of emotion-free ambition.Gyllenhaal's faux management style 'development' of Rick is at times darkly amusing but usually just plain vacuous and ironic given that he draws from real world self help and management lingo that's bad enough in the corporate world, but downright bizarre in this micro universe.The car chases are gripping edge of seat affairs, the plot, although it has holes in the final reel (quite big ones I felt) is nevertheless highly original and unfolds at a steady pace.The conclusion was, to my mind at least, a little disappointing, but aside from this a good, dark, star vehicle for Jake and possibly a step towards another best actor nomination..
Jake Gyllenhaal brings the performance of his career to this disturbing and compelling film that follows Lou Bloom in his quest to become the best at his newfound job no matter what the consequences may be.
The screenplay and direction from this film are brilliant, and they would be enough reasons to make it worthy of an enthusiastic recommendation, but the main pro from Nightcrawler is Jake Gyllenhaal's monumental performance, which perfectly allows us to see an intelligent and organized psychopath quickly advancing in an unethical but legal (most of the time) business which is designed for people with null empathy for other human beings.
In conclusion, Nightcrawler is an extraordinary thriller with an excellent screenplay, perfect direction and great performances (besides of Gyllenhaal and Russo, I would also like to mention the perfect works from Riz Ahmed and the great Bill Paxton).
This film essentially tells the story of an ambitious and somewhat psychotic news video freelancer (played by Jake Gyllenhall) who will do anything, literally, to make his way in the world and be successful and a media editor (played by Rene Russo) who,in her own world of news casting, also has few if any scruples when it comes to her career and reputation.
Put the two together and you get an escalating set of events in which the video freelancer goes to greater and greater extremes to film shocking scenes of crime, encouraged along by the media editor who is paying for his results.What makes the film more interesting than just another action drama is the social commentary and the character studies.
she needs him.Gilroy's script is sharp and intense, finding a strong plot to hang it on (it's still a neo-noir ultimately, with crimes on going on at LA at night, shot with a strong eye by Robert Elswit), and yet, for me, it works best as a character study.
It's a movie that challenges the viewer to go where this character does, to squirm, to recognize what is in this person as being something in the real world.Nightcrawler takes a risk to show this character - a cross perhaps between Daniel Plainview and Rupert Pupkin - and explore what happens when Capitalistic ambitions (and on a more we've-seen-this-before level 'if it bleeds it leads' critical pieces) go to/past their limits.
Every shot is perfectly done, the editing is sharp, the score nails the tone of the movie at every opportunity, and the film has just the right lighting to create an aura of creepiness that you still want to pursue.But it is the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal that makes Nightcrawler a discussion for the water-cooler.
Nightcrawler takes the characters, their motivations and their will and ups the ante by a hundred, giving us two 'protagonists' who test the viewer's boundaries on what they perceive as entertaining, and what they perceive as flat- out disturbing.The film centres around Lou (Jake Gyllenhaal); an incredibly diligent, hardworking man, who also happens to be a petty thief.
Lou believes this a good way to make some money, and goes out, buys a camera and a police scanner, and begins to shoot crime scenes of his own, whilst forming a professional relationship with a news director (Rene Russo) who appreciates Lou's commitment, drive and work ethic.Nightcrawler is at once both an immediately horrifying film, but one that is hard to look away from, just like the scenes that Lou and his assistant Rick are shooting to sell off to news agencies.
Part of this is due to Jake Gyllenhaal's performance, which is transformative, smart and entirely horrid (in the best way possible), and part of this is down the sensational writing, also provided by Gilroy, who provides a voice for this insane individual.To maintain a semblance of normality, Lou adopts a fake smile; a persona that carries through the entirety of the film.
Which you may almost believe by the end of this adrenaline rush of a film.Despite Lou's obvious sociopathic nature, we still root for him as he rides around the streets of Los Angeles, intent on getting to a crime scene first and grabbing the best angles achievable.
Jake Gyllenhaal gives the performance of his career as a man trying to crawl to the top of his game in the dark gritty media underworld of news footage peddling,.Nightcrawler is visually striking, the night streets of LA have probably not looked this good since Drive thanks to fantastic camera work and an excellent directorial debut from Dan Gilroy.
Driven Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) learns how to get there early and how to sell the footage to a station.Nightcrawlers is an expert thriller about footage jockeys and the ethics of manipulating news.
The film follows Lou Bloom (an emaciated Jake Gyllenhaal), an anti-social and driven man desperate for work who stumbles upon the world of "nightcrawlers" – freelance camera crews who film footages of car accidents, fires, shootings and all sorts of mayhem to sell to the local TV news.
Gilroy skilfully balances the dark comedy, thriller and satirical elements in the film, giving us a thematically-rich and suspenseful dive into the abyss that will surely stay with you long after the credits have rolled.There is an abundance of unsympathetic characters in the film, from Rene Russo's twisted TV producer to the fellow nightcrawlers Lou crosses paths with who will stop at nothing to exploit tragedy in hopes of making ends meet and surviving in a cutthroat society.
It's not just about being the first to reach the scene of the crime, it's about creating a story so shocking it would be impossible for people to turn away from.Jake Gyllenhaal gives a mesmerizing and disturbing career-best performance as one of the most memorable characters of the year.
Jake Gyllenhaal did a great job and I wouldn't be shocked if the right people thought he was Oscar worthy, but this film made me want to back away from the theater slowly.Louis Bloom is the person smart people cross the street to get away from.
Even one of my favorites along with Jake's other film End of Watch.The story to Nightcrawler is fantastic, running around trying to get news footage.
This is one of the best films I've watched in a long time - the script, the acting, the cinematography, and the direction is all excellent and Jake Gyllenhaal plays his role to perfection.
For me this film was all about this character though there are excellent points made on the way the news media work, how people like quick fix horror stories than any news of real substance and Lou Bloom(Gyllenhaal) is only feeding this beast.
This movie exposes the perverse nature of human entertainment and competition right in front of us, and while you might think it's something that won't affect you, this movie makes it apparent that no one is truly safe from the hands of those determined to get what they want.Set in the dumpy outskirts of Los Angeles, the main character, Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), is a lone man who is tight on funds and looking for a job.
Jake Gyllenhaal gives an excellent performance as Lou Bloom, one of the most compelling on-screen manipulators I've seen in a long time..
I am beyond proud of the work that Jake Gyllenhaal has been doing lately with his performance in the film "Prisoners", "Enemy", and most recently, "Nightcrawler".
What I enjoyed most was that at times I didn't feel like I was watching a movie at all because Bloom's character is too real; there are people like him who really do exist, which scary as hell!
The writing, directing and acting of this movie concentrated on perfecting the characters especially Bloom and Nina (the news director played by Rene Russo) while keeping the ambiance and use of graphics neutral.
Mr Gyllenhaal nails the role in a way that reminds of Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver (Robert DeNiro was 33 at the time - the same age as Jake now).Three other movies came to mind while watching this: Network (the lack of a conscience approach to ratings), Drive (the stylistic camera work and loner lead character), and Body Double (a fascinating Brian DePalma film from years ago).
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom, a conniving manipulator who is more character than personality, both smart (even though he doesn't come from a "proper education") and psychotic (he'll do whatever he needs to get ahead), in a performance so precise we always know what's going on in his head and his motivation (business, capitalism) so haunting he almost disappears as an actor.
The film itself almost makes you forget you're watching a movie from cinematography mixed with shaky-cam ("steady hands") so purposefully and editing that builds into an edge-of-your-seat climax culminating itself with a car chase of the like I haven't seen in years (even if it is still overly-edited).If this flick were made in the '80s, we would get sequel after sequel with new actors playing the main nightcrawler, but as the genesis film surely warrants a dozen rip-offs of an idea this great, this one will stay fresh in our minds for a long time..
The film features Jake Gyllenhaal in an award worthy performance, as the lead character, and also stars Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed and Bill Paxton.
Nightcrawler follows a Los Angeleno with no conscious (redundant?), Jake Gyllenhaal, as he finds his professional calling as a "stringer," someone who films accidents and violent crimes and then sells the footage to the morning news.
Russo and Riz Ahmed (as Bloom's assistant Rick) are really the only other two main characters in the movie and they all deserve accolades for their work here.As much as NIGHTCRAWLER is the tale of one psycho's rise to the top of his game, it's also a commentary on local news and the lengths to which they'll go to keep people tuning in.
You follow Lou Bloom, a man who goes from one payout to the next in a variety of illegal ways, until one night he discovers he has an unmatched talent for Nichtcrawling, which is the filming of crime scenes and violent acts for the seedy underworld of the late night news.
The whole movie essentially follows his journey up the ladder of the Nightcrawling profession, in fact I don't think there's a single scene in the film which he doesn't appear in, as the other cast members really do play supporting roles for the main even that is Bloom.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high- speed world of L.A. crime journalism.
Jake Gyllenhaal, as Lou Bloom, creates a memorable character in "Nightcrawler", reminiscent of the intensity of Deniro's role in "Taxi Driver".
As a result, the film turns out to be engaging and sort of a real procedural from a journalistic eye.Jake Gyllenhaal is terrific and totally into the character throughout the movie.
The movie is led by a sturdy, cold and dark titular character, the ambitious and sociopathic Lou Bloom played by The Academy Award Nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, End of Watch) in his careers best performance, a strong supportive role by Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed.
In Dan Gilroy's powerful first feature Nightcrawler, Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a free-lance photographer who prowls the streets of Los Angeles at night looking for disaster footage he can sell to TV news networks looking for sensationalism to attract viewers.
Jake Gyllenhaal lead this movie with a tremendous solo effort, to create, to be honest the quite creepy character of Lou Bloom. |
tt1726669 | Killer Joe | The film opens with drug dealer Chris Smith arriving at a trailer on a late rainy night. He pounds on the door until Sharla, his step mom, answers. Chris is there to see his father Ansel. Sharla and Chris argue and there is a small physical confrontation. Then Ansel and Chris get into it. Dottie, Chris' young sister, listens to the commotion from her bedroom.Sooner or later, Chris and Ansel leave the trailer and go to the strip club. Chris tells Ansel that he owes money to some people who will kill him if he doesn't pay. He talks about his mom, Adele, who has a fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy. Chris then tells Ansel about a police detective named Joe Cooper, who moonlights as a hitman. In the event of Adele's death, all the money would go to Dottie. Ansel needs some convincing, so the two get to talking about Adele and how badly she treats everyone around her, including her new boyfriend Rex. Ansel agrees.Joe Cooper arrives at the trailer one morning to meet Chris. Instead, he meets Dottie and the two make small talk. Joe tells a story about a man who lit his genitals on fire to teach his girlfriend a lesson about cheating on him. Dottie tells a story about how her mom Adele tried to kill her once when she was a baby. The phone rings: it's Chris for Joe. Chris tells Joe to meet him at an abandoned building. Joe tells Chris not to change plans on him again.Joe, with the assistance of Dottie, reaches the building where Chris and Ansel are. Inside this building, Joe instructs Chris and Ansel on his rules for if he was to kill Adele for them. Joe names his price: twenty-five thousand dollars in advance. Chris says he can't give Joe the money prior to the murder but he can give him a cut of the life insurance. Joe repeats: "No exceptions."Joe is about to leave when notices Dottie outside happily spinning around in front of a church. Joe then tells Chris that they never discussed the possibility of a retainer. Then he leaves. Ansel doesn't understand and Chris has to spell it out for him: Joe wants Dottie until he can be paid.The movie shifts to Sharla, who works at a run down pizza parlor. She is talking on the phone with an unknown man. She holds in her hand naked pictures of this man and jokes that his face can't be seen in them. Dottie appears behind her and asks for some money for dinner, Sharla pretends the person the phone was one of her old friends. She hangs up and goes to sit with Dottie. Sharla tells her that there will be a guest for dinner that night. Dottie knows its Joe. Ansel arrives and he tells Dottie he's gonna give her some money so she can buy something nice to wear. Then, he and Sharla talk privately. Sharla's mad at Ansel because he as yet to tell Dottie that she and Joe will be the only ones at the trailer.That night, when Dottie finds out the situation, she acts very strange and locks herself in her room. Joe arrives and doesn't get angry. He tells her that she doesn't have to come out of her room if she doesn't want to. After Joe tells another story, Dottie comes out of her room and the two have dinner. Dottie says that she had a dress she was gonna wear, but she decided against it. Joe said he would've loved to see it. At a certain point in the evening, Joe asked Dottie to put on the dress in front of him. Soon after that, the two have sex. Chris, from outside, sees the lights in the trailer go out.In another part of town, the same night, a yellow sports car is parked at a cheap motel. A man in a cowboy hat knocks on the door to one of the rooms. Sharla answers and lets the man in.Shift to the daytime. Chris is betting on some horses for money. He loses. As he walks outside, two big men stand in front of him. He starts to run away but he doesn't get very far and the two big men, on motorcycles, run him down. A big truck pulls up and Digger Soames gets out. This is the man Chris owes money to. Digger tells Chris that he better pay him soon. Digger leaves and the two big men beat Chris to a pulp.Chris has a conversation with Joe the next day. He doesn't want Joe around Dottie anymore. Joe says all Chris has to do is say the word and he will leave right now. Chris still wants his mom dead.That night, at the police station, Killer Joe gets ready. He grabs his gun, his gloves, his hat and walks outside. Chris is waiting for him and tells him he has second thoughts about going through with the murder. Joe tells Chris to get in his car.The two drive along ways to a closed restaurant. Joe goes to the trunk of his car and opens it. Chris looks inside... Adele's body is lying there. Joe has already killed her. Chris helps Joe dispose of the body in a way that makes it look like an accident.Days pass. Ansel and Sharla go to collect the insurance money while Dottie and Chris wait in the restaurant. When Sharla returns to the restaurant, she and Ansel are extremely mad.The family walks down the street. Ansel pushes Chris up against the wall and tells him that Dottie is not the beneficiary of the $50,000. Rex, Adele's boyfriend is the beneficiary. It is here where it is revealed that Rex is not only the one that told Chris about the life insurance, but is also the one who told Chris about Killer Joe. Chris, having nothing to pay either Digger or Killer Joe, decides to flee the country. He wants Dottie to go with him to Peru, but she says she wants to see Joe first.The yellow sports car drives down the street. It is pulled over by Killer Joe's police car. The driver of the sports car gets out. Here, it is revealed that the man in the cowboy hat (from the motel) is Rex.That night, Sharla and Ansel return to the trailer with some KFC. Joe is there and asks to have a chicken leg. Joe approaches Sharla and asks her about Rex. She says she doesn't really know him. Joe asks if she was gonna get a cut of the money. Ansel says he was gonna let her have a cut cause Sharla is his wife. Through some smart interrogation and trickery, Joe gets Sharla to reveal that life insurance was actually worth $100,000. Because Adele's death was ruled an accident, the life insurance doubles. Sharla was the only one who knew that out of the family. Joe then shows Ansel two things: a check made out to Rex for 100 grand, and the naked pictures of Rex that Sharla had on her person.In the most talked about scene of the movie, Joe punches Sharla, breaking her nose. Then he takes the chicken leg from KFC and lowers it in front of his waist. He forces Sharla to suck on the leg like it is his member. As this happens Joe says that since he will not be paid in cash, the retainer, Dottie, belongs to him now. He says he knows Chris is going to come over to attempt to take Dottie with him. Killer Joe states that "If this family allows Chris to leave this trailer tonight, I'll slaughter all of you like pigs."In the film's finale, Chris returns to the trailer. Dottie, Ansel, Sharla, and Joe all wait for him at the dinner table. Chris sits down and everyone eats together for a short while. Then, Joe stands and announces that Dottie has agreed to marry him. Chris is anything but happy. He tells Joe he can't let him have Dottie. Chris tells Dottie to go get her stuff. Joe tells Dottie to stay seated. Chris pulls out a gun and points it at Joe. Sharla grabs a knife from the table and stabs Chris in the shoulder. Joe tackles Chris and the gun slides in front of Dottie.Joe holds Chris in front of the refrigerator and bashes his face in with a can of pumpkin filling. Ansel grabs Chris legs so he can't run away. Sharla bashes a beer bottle of Chris' head. Everyone has taken their eyes off of Dottie, who has finally snapped. She picks up the gun and shoots it all over hell. Joe, Ansel, and Sharla, all go motionless.Dottie fires first at Chris, shooting him in the chest. He falls dead. Then Dottie shoots Ansel in the stomach, he screams in pain as he goes to his knees. Dottie then aims at Joe. Joe looks at her and asks her to put the gun down. She responds, "I'm gonna have a baby." She puts her finger on the trigger again.The final shot of the film is Killer Joe smiling in excitement. | comedy, neo noir, cruelty, murder, violence, storytelling | train | imdb | The story revolves around a trailer trash family and their plan to exploit an insurance policy on the husband's ex-wife because the son got wrapped up in a bad drug deal, so they hire Killer Joe to do the job.
They all have such subtle personalities, it seems as though they are playing themselves.As for the plot, it is somewhat standard fare, as the trailer could easily giveaway, however it's how it progresses and pans out, is the most interesting aspect of the film.There are a few scenes which some will find very hard to watch (in fact, during one now-notorious scene, dozens of people left the screening I was at), but if you stick with them, you will be in for a...
Here as Killer Joe he lays on a Faust like menace, delivering his lines with clinically calm precision, yet still there's a glint in his eye, we know a black heart beats there but he can charm a snake out of its basket, a girl out of her underwear...Unflinching direction, bravura performances and neo-noir at its near best, one of the best films of 2012 so far.
These three characters are this movie aptly supported by Gershon's conniving Sharla and Thomas Hayden Church's witless Ansel.Killer Joe has a down and dirty indie feel which is totally right.
William Friedkin's Killer Joe proclaims itself as a "totally twisted, deep-fried Texas, redneck trailer park murder story," but to be fair, I'm not sure that is even an accurate summation.
The film includes some of the most hard-hitting scenes of combat that I've seen in any other film this year, and I'd absolutely love to know just what scene the MPAA was referring to in the first place.The film centers around the family of twentysomething Chris Smith (played fantastically by Emile Hirsch, assuming the type of role he should continue to seek out), a lowlife drug dealer residing in a Texas trailer park, with his dim-witted father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), his annoying step-mother Sharla (Gina Gershon), and mentally disabled sister Dottie (Juno Temple).
Chris proposes the idea to hire "Killer" Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a sleazy cop who also works as an assassin, to kill his mother and receive a cut of the insurance money, with him, Ansel, and Sharla getting a good chunk of the profits.
However, things become incredibly twisted when Killer Joe begins to fall in love with Dottie, and how the whole family begins on an even steeper downward spiral due to a colossal misunderstanding thanks to Chris.Every character in the film is despicable in their own way, either by the shameful atrocities they commit or just because of the fact that their motivation is hopelessly self-centered and shockingly shallow and inept.
The fact that this film confidently branches out so far past the idea of a stage-play to the point of being unrecognizable from its roots is a huge accomplishment all on its own.I close with a forewarning that while I feel that the NC-17 rating Killer Joe received is somewhat questionable, I state with caution that this is a very violent picture, with several sequences of brutality that nearly channel the lines of sadistic depravity.
The film's charm is indescribable and its execution, fearless and zealous, making this one of the most surprising and impressive motion pictures of this year.Starring: Emile Hirsch, Matthew McConaughey, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, and Juno Temple.
In fact, it's more like a David Cronenberg film than Friedkin.If you've seen movies like The Acid House, or the 1998 Todd Solondz face-punch Happiness and find them amusing through the gaps in your fingers then you'll be sick enough to fully enjoy Killer Joe.Matthew McConaughey plays Joe Cooper, an unorthodox Dallas police detective who is 'hired' by petty drug dealer Emile Hirsch to whack his old lady and thus benefit from an insurance policy with his deadbeat dad (Thomas Haden Church in a wonderful performance) and virginal, oddball sister Dottie (Juno Temple).
Only they cannot raise the money to pay Joe so he agrees to spend some quality time with Dottie until the policy pays off in waiver of his upfront fee.It reminded me a lot of an Oliver Stone film called U-Turn, another Texas-based psycho-sexual murder plot filled with heat-waves and perpetual distrust, but was much more enjoyable.
After being refused money by his father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), Chris comes up with a plot to have his mother murdered, collecting the life insurance money that he believes will pass to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple).
This is Coen Brothers territory, taking place in that sweaty world of the Deep South, full of smoky bars, rusty trailers, cowboy hats, motorbikes and overweight, middle-aged men in vests, a modern-day noir world ripe with possibilities, one that I feel has been slightly wasted here.But if you've ever wondered if a film's climatic scene would ever involved a woman performing fellatio on a chicken drumstick, then here is your answer.
Killer Joe's final frames will undoubtedly divide audiences between those who get director William Friedkin's intentions to take things to Jacobian absurdity, to those who will feel it as a silly contradiction to the film early, more subtle black humour.
His performance is captivating; it creates a pervasive, looming sense of dread and depravity that suggests something very bad is going to happen at any moment.The praise doesn't stop with McConaughey, the whole cast delivers to the best of their ability, it really is an actors' film.
She shows good dramatic range as Dottie, the slightly strange, child-like girl at the centre of the film.William Friedkin has outdone himself with his second collaboration with writer Tracy Letts; he directs the taut, punchy material perfectly.
Killer Joe marks his return to the director's chair and it's one of the few returns I've anticipated the most in recent times along with the return of Walter Hill.Killer Joe was a hell of a gamble for Friedkin for a number of reasons, besides the fact that it was a film he knew the mainstream would absolutely not be interested in.For a start, the movie is white trash Texas AND based on a theatre play.
Emile Hirsch (who I don't like), plays Chris Smith, an annoying, horrid trailer trash drug abusing dead end kid who wants to have his own mother murdered so he can inherit her will.
Not having the money could mean paralysis or death in the near future.Getting his dad and stepmother involved in a plot to have a hit-man murder his mother (also the mother of Dottie, Chris's brain-damaged younger sister who has been wrong ever since their mother tried to smother her, and played to alarming accuracy by Juno Temple).In comes cold and somewhat calmly deranged 'Killer' Joe Cooper, a cop that murders people on the side as a second job.
Sensing everything falling down around him, Killer Joe remains in cop mode and finds himself at the centre of a bigger conspiracy.It's not so much the plot that's different here, it's McConnaughey as Killer Joe. I've not found him in many enjoyable roles since Dazed and Confused or Reign of Fire, but here, he delivers one of the most extremely charismatic yet psychopathic roles I have ever witnessed and this film is disturbing to its very core.The odd thing is that as disturbing as it is, you're either going to switch off out of disgust for what happens or the things your eyes will catch - as Friedkin is not one to hold back or be told he's out of order - and if you keep watching, you may very well laugh and find yourself extremely satisfied with the outcome.Killer Joe is about despicable people and not one of the characters are likable, but saying that, you do often pity Chris's honest but simple and burdened father Ansel (Thomas Hayden Church in possibly his best to date) and Dottie, who can't help but be Dottie, whatever the situation.This could very well have been a Gary Oldman film, were it British, which is also why I appreciate it so much.
Yes it has to be visually appealing but the subject matter of his work is always reliant on performances.So Killer Joe is another adaptation of a play by Tracy Letts and again has to rely on strong characters with convincing effort to make it come to life.
KILLER JOE is a tale set in the deepest, worst parts of the South in a rundown trailer park where Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) plots to murder his mother when she steals his drugs and leaves him indebted to a murderous local gangster.
If there is one good thing to come out of a vulgar for vulgarities sake film such as "Killer Joe", it is that hopefully this will put an end to the Tracy Letts experiment.
In yet another film from the dreadful collaboration of director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) and playwright Tracy Letts (Bug) "Killer Joe" is a star studded, putrid mess of a film, starring Matthew McConaughey (The Lincoln Lawyer) Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises)Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and Gina Gershon (Face/Off).
The plot follows a young man (played by Hirsch) who is deep in debt with "some very bad people" and decides, with the help of his father (Church), sister (Temple) and his step-mother (Gershon) to hire a hit-man, by the name of Killer Joe Cooper, to kill his mother so he can collect the insurance money.
Instead audiences are bombarded with mounds of disturbing visuals treated in a flippant manner, editing which is all over the place, nonsensical nudity, numbing violence, acting that is so over-the-top it is uncomfortable to watch and an entire plot that is drowned beneath a dark comedic atmosphere that basically confuses audiences to the point of repulsion (quickly bypassing annoyance).Matthew McConaughey's Performance: Before watching this film, I had heard an interview with McConaughey stating how the first time he read this script he turned it down simply on the basis that he thought it was an all around ugly piece of work.
A final thirty minutes that not only voids anything good about this film (the little that there is) but more importantly may unfortunately be the reason McConaughey will be overlooked come awards season.Final Thought: All you really need to know about "Killer Joe" is that this is yet another Friedkin/Letts collaboration that's sole purpose is to elicit a visceral response, not to tell a coherent story.
So, all things considered, and throwing in the most vile scene I have seen in any film since "The Human Centipede 2", I cannot in good consciousness recommend "Killer Joe" to anyone; especially if you are planning on going to KFC anytime soon.Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus.
Into this they call in 'Killer Joe' to do the job.It's a nasty movie, and treats the characters like trash.
It is Friedkin's second adaptation of a Tracy Letts play ('Bug' was his first) being based on Letts' debut play of the same name (the playwright also acts the film's screenwriter).The plot concerns the Smith family, spearheaded by the father/son duo of Chris and Ansel (Emile Hirsch and Thomas Haden Church forming an unbelievably gormless unit).
However, things become complicated when Joe takes Chris' simple-minded sister, Dottie (a superb Juno Temple) as a retainer for his 'services'.With his familiarity with the country that is home to this trailer trash culture, Letts manages to get past the characters simply being caricatures.
Additionally, the film also tiptoes around being misogynistic, something that is most notable in the now-infamous 'chicken leg' scene, which may cause you to never look at KFC the same way again.Yet, 'Killer Joe' is no depressing tale about a dysfunctional white trash family, instead it is an occasionally funny black comedy.
There is no reason to watch this film other than perhaps to see how much you can endure.The movie is based on a play by Tracy Letts and directed by William Friedkin.
For Killer Joe is one of the most uncomfortable films I have sat through in a very long time.Friedkin and his superlative ensemble cast suck you so deeply into the dead-end lives of the protagonists that, as the friend I saw the film with remarked, you forget that you are watching a movie.Of course, Friedkin is a past master of cinema verite.
I think he achieves that in Killer Joe. Whether you like the result will depend on whether you 'enjoy' watching people with little education, little money and little hope slowly and inexorably destroying themselves.Friedkin himself said, only half jokingly, that we weren't supposed to 'enjoy' the movie.
All the cast are good, and Thomas Haden Church as the bemused but essentially decent father, Matthew McConaughey as the eponymous lawman turned assassin and Juno Temple as his Lolita are all outstanding.Temple, daughter of British filmmaker and chronicler of the Sex Pistols Julien Temple, was 22 when she made Killer Joe, but she plays about 13 or 14.
William Friedkin clearly can still direct a bad-ass, butt-kicking movie and I think "Killer Joe" will be considered one of his best.
Matthew McConaughey is a very good actor, he was excellent with the role but the content was not his caliber.This is the worst movie that Matthew McConaughey has acted in, and I am surprised that he stooped so low do be part of such a low budget film.The movie was cheap and was not what I thought it would be.I kept waiting for it to get better but that failed to happen.Save your time and watch another movie that has a better story.If you want junk to entertain yourself with, this is it!I really don't understand how so many people would rate it above a 3.Cheesy and low budget..
But then it comes courtesy of William Friedkin who has never been know for subtlety.The story is not terribly unique: a drug dealing kid Chris(Emile Hirsch) needs money to pay off a bad gambling losses and hires a hit man who happens to also be a cop and a detective and is known only by Joe (Matthew McConaughey) to kill his degenerate mother for her life insurance money which is to go to the woman's daughter Dottie (Juno Temple) who lives with Chris' and her dad (Thomas Haden Church) and her new sleaze bucket mother (Gina Gershon).
In return this means that, for a movie like "Killer Joe" to work, the dialogs have to be extremely well-written AND the performers have to depict their characters with strong conviction and confidence.
McConaughey and Temple are ably backed up by Emile Hirsch as the indebted son Chris and Thomas Haden Church as the good- for-nothing father Ansel, whose world-weary one liners provide some much-needed comic relief during some of the most intense scenes of the film.
A young man, Chris (Emile Hirsch) in debt to a drug dealer and his father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) decide to hire a contract killer known as Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey) to kill Chris' mother in order to claim $50,000 life insurance money.
I guess, the presence of McConaughey, Hirsch, and Haden Church intrigued me and while I think McConaughey did an adequate job of playing Killer Joe, a police officer/hit man for hire psychopath, I just left feeling that there were very few redeeming qualities in this film.
Temple's character (Hirsch's sister, Dottie) is overly off, annoying, and strangely child like and there is one scene in particular that will forever make me feel awkward when eating fried chicken (who have to see it in order to understand - but I'd recommend You-Tubing that one scene and not wasting 2 hours watching the whole film).
Killer Joe is a neo-noir film with some excellent performances from the cast that critics have enjoyed and therefore put Friedkin on the map again.
Well of course something goes wrong in the transaction and all hell breaks loose in this pulpy dark film.As good as Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, Emile Hirsch, and Juno Temple are in this movie they are outshined by Matthew McConaughey's performance as this sadistic but charming detective.
Renowned director William Friedkin's ("The Exorcist", "The French Connection") take on Tracy Letts' screen/play "Killer Joe" is a timebomb of a movie.
Emile Hirsch can play desperate and dumb very well, Gina Gershon was cringingly good as the b- word of a stepmother, Thomas Haden Church convincing as the dumb yet resigned/given-up father, and Juno Temple's portrayal of the not-right- in-the-head sister is perfect considering the movie's atmosphere.Like "Bug", "Killer Joe" is based on a play, and on film it feels like one too - not necessarily a bad thing.
He consults his father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) about hiring detective-slash-contract-killer-on-the-side Joe Cooper to kill Chris' deadbeat mother in order to obtain a $50,000 insurance policy, which will go to Chris' younger sister, Dottie (Juno Temple).
Some of the other actors pull their weight, though - in particular, Thomas Haden Church, Juno Temple and Gina Gershon all deliver wonderful performances which give their relatively minor characters a lot more depth than the script gives them.McConaughey's acting isn't the only thing to keep Killer Joe from greatness, though; Friedkin juggles genres impressively, but it doesn't always work quite the way he intended it.
Joe makes Chris an offer, he'll keep Dottie as sexual collateral until the money is collected and his fee can be paid.Has I said in my Bernie review, 2011 was the biggest come back for Matthew McConaughey and in this movie he once again brings it his all and that's what I like to see from him.
This is a raw, independent film made by an Oscar winning director and adapted from a stage play.The screen story concerns a young drug dealer Chris (Emile Hirsch) in need of money hires a hit man who happens to also be a policeman Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to kill his estranged mother for her life insurance money.The proceeds will go to her daughter Dottie (Juno Temple). |
tt0480025 | This Is England | In 1983, 12-year-old Shaun gets into a fight at school with a boy named Harvey after he makes an offensive joke about his father, who died in the Falklands War. On his way home, Shaun comes across a gang of young skinheads led by Woody, who feels sympathy for Shaun and invites him to join the group. They accept Shaun as a member, and he finds a big brother in Woody, while developing a romance with Michelle, also known as Smell, an older girl who dresses in a new wave style.
Combo, an older skinhead, returns to the group after a prison sentence, accompanied by a knife-wielding moustachioed man called Banjo. A charismatic but unstable individual with sociopathic tendencies, Combo expresses English nationalist and racist views, and attempts to enforce his leadership over the other skinheads. This leads the group to split, with young Shaun, the belligerent Pukey, and Gadget, who feels bullied by Woody for his weight, choosing Combo over Woody's apolitical gang.
Shaun finds a mentor figure in Combo, who in turn is impressed by and identifies with Shaun. Shaun goes with Combo's group to a National Front meeting. After Pukey expresses doubt over their racist and nationalistic politics, Combo throws him out of his group and sends him back to Woody. The gang then engages in bigoted antagonism of, among others, shopkeeper Mr Sandhu, an Indian shopkeeper who had previously banned Shaun from his shop.
Combo becomes depressed after Lol, Woody's girlfriend, rejects him when he admits that he has loved her since they had sex years before. To console himself, Combo buys cannabis from Milky, the only black skinhead in Woody's gang. During a party, Combo and Milky bond while intoxicated, but Combo becomes increasingly bitter and envious when Milky shares details of his many relatives, comfortable family life and happy upbringing, everything that Combo lacked. Enraged, Combo enters a frenzied state and brutally beats Milky unconscious, while Banjo holds down Shaun, and Meggy watches them on in horror. A pissed-off Combo throws Shaun out of his flat after defending Milky, then slams the door hard. When Banjo attempts to hit Milky as well, Combo violently beats him and evicts him and Meggy from the apartment. Horrified at the realisation of what he has done, a remorseful Combo weeps over Milky's body. Shaun and Combo later take Milky to a nearby hospital.
The film cuts forward to Shaun, who's looking at a picture of his dad who died in the Falklands in his bedroom contemplating the incident and brooding about what has happened, with his mother Cynthia assuring Shaun that Milky will be all right. Shaun is then shown walking near the beach and throwing his St George's Flag, a gift from Combo, into the sea. | murder, realism, violence, atmospheric, brainwashing, suspenseful, storytelling | train | wikipedia | And coming from a director who used to be part of the real scene, it might be the most authentic picture about skinheads ever made.Although it didn't get as much attention as the Hollywood films that had their premiere at the Berlinale Palast, it's a lot stronger than almost all the films in competition.I hope it will make its way the movies and not end up as a direct-to-video-flick...
There is much in the film that will trigger moments of recognition in the viewer, especially (but not exclusively) those who were young in the 80s.As big time skinhead Combo (the other stand out performance of the piece from Scouser Stephen Graham) comes out of jail the film takes a U-Turn, presenting a troubling, unrestrained view on racism through extreme nationalism, getting deep under the skin to question the source and nature of such hatred.
It is in this that we realise this is a study of human nature as Shaun is presented with more extreme acts that drive him to question the moral behind such irrational prejudices.Book ending the film is real news footage of the political climate surrounding the events depicted, prominent among which is Maggie Thatcher's invasion of the Falklands (a conflict that's consequences prove key to the central narrative) When asked "Will we ever talk to the Argentines again?" on a radio interview Thatcher purrs "No
I don't think so" The parallels are fitting and thoroughly engaging.
Enter the gang Woody, Milky, Pukey, et all, a rag tag bunch of mods and skinheads complete with crimped haired girlfriends, with the absence of his father and any real sense of being part of something Shaun is quickly welcomed into the group and takes up not just the mannerisms or clothes but drinking, smoking and growing up to quickly.
The metaphor of the country getting behind Thatcher in the Falklands juxtaposed with that of the skinheads, including the initiated Shaun, getting behind the slightly off kilter Combo is handled with a great sense of poignancy and it is moving to see both stories unfold from within the film and library footage.
'This is England' is a must see for the type of persons who enjoy a good old 'innocence of youth' narrative (including a very comedic, almost cringe inducing, 'first kiss' scene) layered with powerful retrospective British realism reflecting early 1980's societal issues of the type that you wont see on any saccharin dipped 'i remember 1982' clip show.Based largely around the 'skinhead' activities of the early eighties its interesting to note that the story really draws distinctions between the types of skinheads - the nazi/racist and the two-tone/soul loving skinheads.Much like Mr Meadows other outings which tend to include a lot of relatively unknown and TV only actors/actresses, they all throw in sterling performances, particularly Stephen 'snatch' Graham as 'Combo'(sp.?) and the unknown Thomas Turgoose as young 'Sean'(sp?).The soundtrack is as usual strategically lined up to help convey with the overall look and feel, with musical styles ranging from reggae (toots and the maytals), punk and two tone.
A snippet of life in 1983- told through the eyes of an impressionable 12 year old-against the back-drop of the Falklands War.This film shows Director Shane Meadows at his best, a new generation Mike Leigh/Ken Loach.
Combo represents the pro-Nazi skinheads versus the fun loving petty vandalism of the Ska music and mod style teenagers.Steven Graham work deserves a standing ovation, far away of easy slapstick pop-corn performance he produced in Snatch (Guy Ritchie).
Although presented at a later stage in the movie as the anti hero, it is impossible not to feel for his profound facial expression and sympathise with his early age portrayal of innocence.Despite all round notable performances from the rest of the cast, I feel terribly let down by Jo Hartley's mediocre interpretation as Shaun's mother; however this can be considered a minor decay to an all round great piece of contemporary art.This is England crosses the boundary of the purely British audience oriented motion picture to a larger scale scenario where its intricacies are presented in manners which well enable the international audience to get a small picture of a bigger problem.In a world that tries to trade our eyes for feelings by diverting our attention to the big picture, such as United 93, it might be of some use to stop and stare at the small picture.
If political events take place AFTER the timeline the scenario is set then please don't include them In conclusion TIE had all the potential to be one of the great feel good movies ever to have come out of Britain a sort of THE FULL MONTY meets LITTLE VOICE and the way the film quickly becomes something " gritty and realistic " is somewhat unforgivable .
A film of raw, unrelenting and passionate power, This is England remains underrated director Shane Meadows greatest singular achievement and one of Britain's all-time great feature length films.Spawning a collection of worthy mini-series follow ups in the years that followed its critically praised initial release, This is England not only deals with a politically charged time in the United Kingdom's Maggie Thatcher lead period of the 80's but examines the deep undercurrent of racism often present in otherwise civilised western countries all the while being a touching coming of age story of Thomas Turgoose's 12 year old Shaun.Meadows, who has also displayed a power as a filmmaker to make uncompromising films of almost documentary style realism, evidenced in other standout efforts like A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, directs This is England with both an unflinching eye and a compassionate hand as his believable and lovable characters experience life changing events all the while surrounded by a country that has reached a boiling point of tension and rage.Led by Turgoose's incredible well-constructed debut turn as the vulnerable Shaun who finds himself a part of a ragtag group of skinheads and rascals, This is England's cast that includes such recognisable faces as Joseph Gilgun as the lovable larrikin Woody, Vicky McClure as the deep thinking Lol, Andrew Shim as the Jamaican/British Milky and a young Jack O'Connell as feisty teenager Pukey, is one of the Britain's best ever assembled casts, the case of the perfect performers coming together as a whole that proved it was no lighting in a bottle occurrence when the large portion of the cast returned again for Meadow's award winning TV follow-ups.As good as both Meadows and his cast are in This is England, this film is owned completely by one of the modern eras most commanding and attention grabbing performances by Stephan Graham as the racist, tormented and charismatic Combo.A performer who has proved time and time again that his one of the best working in the business, yet a performer who has yet to receive his just rewards, Graham's Combo is a creation that's hard to describe, a fully inhabited incarnation that can only be achieved by actors at the very top of their game.When Combo makes his entrance into This is England's characters somewhat carefree lives at the 30 minute mark of the film, Meadows film marks its change in direction and tone and enters into an hour or so of cinematic brilliance as we're driven along by Graham's tour de force turn and a story that may seem on the surface to be simplistic, but ends up flooring us with a knockout punch that will linger days after initial viewing.Encapsulating the time and place of this period incredibly well, a landscape full of checkered shirts, suspenders, shaved heads, Doc Martins and a killer soundtrack, Meadows team-up with his performers, that is steered on its powerful course by Graham, create the world that makes This is England such a special and in many ways important film experience.Final Say – Far from an easy watch, This is England may not be everyone's cup of tea but Shane Meadow's gut-punch of a film remains to this day one of the most deceptively powerful and memorably casted films of the 21st century that includes an outstanding debut performance from Thomas Turgoose and a career best turn from Stephen Graham.5 Ben Sherman shirts out of 5.
Its one, single, unique factor is that it portrays skinheads in their original identity - a bunch of fun loving, ganja smoking, reggae listening kids who dressed in those funny Erkle pants and red suspenders - then things get ugly.The events in this movie move along with no real purpose other than to move through a script and throw some heavy scenes in the viewer's face.
All in all an appalling piece of trite that is over marketed to to the masses I do hope the Americans don't believe we Brits were really like that..it was just a small minority that didn't have a a voice...Some of us were off tabbing around the Falklands at the time..much more interesting...but it wouldn't make a good film....
Set in the summer of 1983, it is a coming of age tale of Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) a 12 year old lad in a working class estate whose father died fighting in the Falkland's war.In one day he gets picked on several times and later gets befriended by a local gang of assorted street kids, some of whom are skinheads.
Pretty soon they are threatening the local Asian kids and robbing the Asian shopkeeper armed with a machete (who somehow never called the police.) You figure that pretty soon, Combo will do serious harm to someone.Director Shane Meadows does a good job in recreating the early 1980s scene in his film from art direction to costume design.
Even now over 30 years later they are still moaning and laying blame to whatever immigrant groups they can point to for their own failures.Meadows elicits good performances from a young cast but I was left nonplussed with the script and thinking about it we had many similar shows on television in the 1980s such as Going Out which starred Perry Benson who also features in this movie..
Still though, the performances were so amazingly real I was having a hard time believing they were acting and/or using a script.Then I realized the director was using the kind of style of films like Nick Gomez's "Laws of Gravity", except...
"This is England" is terribly tough but the moving neo-realist approach as well as Combo's stunning performance make it one of the best British films of recent times..
With young Shaun's mind being dangerously corrupted by Combo and his men, it's only a matter of time before things build up to end in disaster.Released a week before the elections, Shane Meadows' new film is in danger of being seen inadvertently (I'm sure) as a piece of BNP propaganda, with it's under-current of how racism and the motivation behind it has built up over the last twenty or so years in Britain.
It's only had a limited release so far, but it's been getting wide acclaim, especially for the lead performance of the young Turgoose (even being tipped as the next Jamie Bell.) I say dangerous because, as I said, the film is stabbing at how the threads of racism towards so-called 'minority groups' have been sown over the last twenty or so years in Britain.
I'm not racist and couldn't imagine a country with no black or Asian people (some of whom who I've met have been very nice.) But if I'm honest, there are times when I look around and worry, like Combo (and indeed the BNP) that there may be a bit too much immigration and that we're in danger of losing our cultural identity and I don't want that to happen either.
Shaun even takes a grown up girl, Smell (Rosamund Hanson), as his girlfriend and the film typically skirts a line between the shocking and the sweet in showing their relationship.Combo leads the men to a recruitment meeting of the racist National Front party and on to planned attacks on "Pakis." This rather quickly leads to disaster and tragedy.
The movie is a little less good than its reputation(from the critics to its prize at Cannes), but gives an touching and realistic portrait of England in the 80's.The all movie focuses on the point of view of a 12/13 years old boys, who's rejected by his fellow friends at school, but is attracted by an older group of Skinheads.
Its raw, gritty and comes like a wallop of nostalgia back to england in the 80's when having a laugh was getting wasted at a mates and chilling under the arches..then the confusion that came with these times encapsulated perfectly by shane meadows & a great cast..honourable mention has to be combo who stole the show in a masterclass of acting.
Thomas Turgoose puts in a very impressive turn as central character Shaun, the young schoolboy who falls in with a gang of skinheads, but for me, the standout performance comes from Stephen Graham as bitter ex-con skinhead Combo, a thuggish brute whose own personal issues have made him into a volatile racist prone to explosive outbursts of violence.
Twelve-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a lonely boy growing up in a grim coastal town in northern England, whose father died fighting in the Falklands War. Over the course of the summer holiday he befriends a group of local skinheads.
An uncanny evocation of a quietly pivotal moment in time, THIS IS ENGLAND bears witness to a young boy's coming of age while Britain's empire fades, Thatcherism devastates the working class, and skinhead culture takes a violent turn toward racist nationalism.
But there's humour here also, and heart.We witness the majority of the film through the eyes of Shaun Fields (Thomas Turgoose - his character's name a thinly-disguised spin on that of the director's), a ragged, bullied loner, who lives alone with his mother after his father is killed in the Falklands.
With some fun characters in the lighter moments, the film makes for a sweet main plot with the main character Shaun, but a dark and very dark of that vein with Combo, truly worth a watch if only for them two.The acting is good and Stephen Graham as the maniac of a skinhead Combo is great and although doesn't dominate the rest of the cast, probably gives the best performance.
In fact, the film buzzes with energy and humor, while propelled by brilliant, engaging performances.It's 1983 and 12-year-old Shaun Field (Thomas Turgoose) is an isolated lad growing up in a grim coastal town, whose father has died fighting in the Falklands war.
Combo is more than a heartless street thug, and that understanding is what makes Graham's portrayal so powerful.Meadows sentimentalism has sometimes gotten the better of his work, with tears and needlessly punishing violence, but not here.The film slows down and thickens as Shaun becomes embroiled in a subculture of hate – in moments, it's a little talky, but never loses its intensity.
Despite Shaun's iconic end actions the film doesn't bring out a positivity of overcoming the harsh period in his life I felt it would have benefit from having.This is England was one of the most enjoyable films I've witnessed for quite a while but with a little more originality and ambition during the second half it could have been a classic.Maybe next time Meadows..
This Is England goes some way to redressing the matter, but at the same time doesn't shy away from the more negative aspects that have become synonymous with the scene.The film tells the story of 12-year old Shaun, a young boy with few friends, and suffering at the hands of bullies in the playground.
Things are at the beginning positive for the boy, until Combo, an ex member released from prison, arrives, leading what was a group of alternative but good boys, to encounter racist and violent attitudes and obliging everyone, Shaun included, to make a choice.What stands out in the movie is the capability to render the deep needs stirring inside the young boy, a need for strength, for something and someone to identify with, with all the complexities and difficulties proper of the age, and worsened by a troubled social context.
Shaun (Turgoose) is being bullied at school and when Woody (Gilgun) and his gang invite him into their skinhead gang Shaun learns the difficult truth about Thatcher's England.Of all the brilliant British films to have been released over the last twenty years it is fair to say none have had provoked such a resonating truth to them as this Shane Meadows picture which is based on many of his personal experiences.This is England is set in the early 1980's a time of the Falkland's war that sets up the theme.
Set in early 80's England, it is the story of a wayward, intelligent young boy who loses his father in the Falkland War and drifts into the hands of a skinhead group led by a charismatic guy named Woody.
I would have liked to have seen the movie extended a bit more to develop the characters a little better so the questionable climax would not hold as much doubt, but even with all of it's imperfections, This is England is a well made coming of age story told with plenty heart and personality, and marks the complete arrival of Meadows as one of Britain's most important young filmmakers..
Of the cast, the experienced likes of Joseph Gilgun are as good as you'd expect, but the real triumph comes from the heartfelt and poignant performance of Thomas Turgoose, the lovable lead.The film starts off as a funny slice-of-life drama but gradually things take a darker turn with the introduction of a skinhead gang.
This is England is a decent story but at its heart it is a tale of belonging and how people fall into different social circles in order to obtain that feeling.The story is about a boy, Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) set in the 1980's, who is an outcast with school mates and lives alone with his mom after his father died in the Falklands war. |
tt0057443 | La ragazza che sapeva troppo | Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) is a young, sexually frustrated American woman who journeys to Rome, Italy to visit her elderly Aunt Edith. On the flight from New York to Rome, Nora is befriended by a young man sitting next to her on the plane who offers her a cigarette, and she accepts. He gives her his pack as a token of appreciation. Upon arrival at the airport, the man is arrested for smuggling drugs by custom officials who recognize him as a infamous drug smuggler.Upon arrival later that afternoon at her aunt's apartment, Nora is greeted by Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon). Marcello tells Nora that her aunt is very ill and that she needs absolute quite and rest. After giving her instructions in case of an emergency, the doctor leaves. Nora is obviously smitten with him.Later that same night, as a violent thunderstorm rages, Nora checks on her aunt who suddenly dies of a heart attack. After trying to phone Marcello at his house in which there is no answer, Nora flees from her aunt's apartment. On the street, Nora is attacked by a sailor-dressed purse snatcher. In the ensuing struggle with the thief, Nora is knocked unconscious. A few hours later, she is awakened by a woman's scream. To her horror, Nora looks up to see a young woman collapsing to the ground a few yards from her with a knife in her back. She also sees a strange man crouching over the dead woman's body. Nora then faints.The next morning, the soaked and unconscious Nora is discovered by a passing stranger, who attempts to awaken her by giving her some whisky. Noticing a policeman approaching, the stranger flees. The policeman notices the unconscious Nora and successfully revives her. But upon smelling liquor on her breath, the policeman immediately thinks that she's a drunk sleeping off a binge. Ranting a raving about seeing a woman killed, Nora is shocked when she sees that there is no body anywhere. With no identification on her, Nora is locked away in a hospital's lunatic asylum where she is diagnosed by a doctor an intern residents as suffering from "delirium tremors". Nora is soon rescued by Marcello, who happens to notice her while on his rounds.After she is released from the hospital, Nora tries to tell Marcello about what she saw. But he is skeptical, thinking that it was an hallucination brought on by double shock of her aunt's death and the subsequent attack by the purse snatcher. Convinced that she witnessed a murder, Nora plots not to give up and find the murder victim and the killer.At her aunt's funeral, Nora meets with Laura Craven-Torrani (Valentina Cortese) who introduces herself as a friend of her aunt's and she takes Nora to her house for some coffee. As she is going out of the country to visit her husband for a few days, Laura asks Nora to stay and look after her house. Nora is initially reluctant, but accepts the offer.During her first night at the house, Nora discovers a collection of old newspaper clippings. Among the articles is a story about Laura's sister, who had been brutally killed. The murder took place in the same area where she herself was attacked. The article also states that the crime was the latest in a string of so-called 'Alphabet Killings' (the first victim's last name began with the letter 'A', and then the letter 'B', and so on). Nora meets with Marcello the next day to tell him of her find and comes to two theories: first since no body was found, Nora thinks that she had a psychic vision of the killing. She might not have seen an actual killing, but the killing of Laura's sister in her mind's eyes. Second: since the last victim was named Craven, she realizes that the next victim will be somebody whose last name starts with the letter 'D', and her surname is Davis. Marcello again skeptically assures Nora that shes fretting over nothing.Meanwhile, Nora begins to receive crank phone calls. Afraid that her life is in danger, she rigs a crude burglar alarm by setting up a web of strings all along the entrance to the house. That night a policeman, who has been asked by Laura to stop by to see if everything is all right, enters and is attacked by Marcello who has been standing guard outside. The ensuing scuffle ends with the love-struck doctor falling on the burglar trap and breaking his left forefinger.Seeking to distract her from her worries, Marcello takes Nora on a trip to the various tourist sites in Rome. At the end of their day, they return to the Craven house where Nora gets another phone call. The anonymous caller tells her to go to a particular address. That evening, Nora goes to the address, which is a run-down boarding house, and is guided to a vacant room by the sound of a voice. Without realizing it, Nora has been followed by Marcello, and when he suddenly reveals himself, she hurts him once again by scratches his face, thinking him to be the killer. Together, they discover the voice to be emanating from a tape recorder. It warns Nora to leave Rome before she meets the same fate as Laura's sister. Nora and Marcello investigate and discover that the room is leased to a man named Andrea Landini (Dante Di Paolo), whom Nora recognizes as the author of the newspaper article regarding the Alphabet Killer.After several unsuccessful attempts to locate Landini, Marcello and Nora go to the beach for relaxation. Marcello's desires finally erupt and he practically forces himself on Nora. But Nora stops him by telling him that although she is interested in him too, she encourages him to wait for a more appropriate time to consummate their relationship. Upon their arrival back at the Craven house, they are shocked to discover a stranger sitting in the living room. It is Andrea Landini, who had been informed that they were inquiring about him. Landini explains that he became obsessed with finding the Alphabet Killer, and that he collaborated with the police while writing a series of articles about the killings. When the police arrested and convicted a man whom Landini knew to be innocent, he kept on writing articles, using them as a opportunity to criticize the police for jumping to the wrong conclusions. He soon lost his job at the newspaper, but he continued to investigate the matter. Landini also explains that he was the one who tried to revived with her whisky, and he believes her to be the mostly likely target for the killer. Because of this, he has been following her ever since. Though Marcello is distrustful of him, Nora agrees to collaborate with Landini. Nora's teaming with Landini finds them venturing across Rome inquiring about the first two alphabet victims and of their connection to one another. But the results only lead to dead ends.The following day, Nora goes to meet with Landini at his apartment. She is perplexed to find that the apparent sounds of typing are actually emanating from Landinis tape recorder. When she finds a photo of herself labeled 'Fourth Victim', she becomes convinced that he is the killer. However, the matter seems to resolve itself when she finds Landinis body, an apparent suicide, with a note of confession by his side.That same day, Laura returns to Rome from her trip abroad. Nora and Marcello plan to go to America the following morning, and she agrees to spend one more night in the Craven house. Then Nora reads the daily newspaper where the body of a young woman was found, and she recognizes it as the murdered woman she saw that night. After identifying it at the morgue, Nora begins to realize that she may have indeed witnessed the killing after all.That night, when Laura is apparently out, Nora notices that the study door is open. Especially since Laura had earlier remarked on her husband instance that the room be locked at all times. Nora cannot resist the temptation to enter the room. In the study, Nora notices an adjoining door, and s sliver of light shining thought the bottom. Upon opening the door, she sees a man rising uncomfortably from his chair. Nora recognizes him as the same man standing over the dead body of the woman from that night. He then walks towards Nora, and collapses to the floor with a knife in his back. Nora attempts to flee, but is prevented by Laura. No longer acting like the good-natured woman as previously seen, the crazed and wild-eyed Laura confesses to the killings and explains that she just stabbed her husband because of his attempts to turn her over to the police. Laura reveals that the alphabet system is all a hoax meant to cover up the real motivation: the desire to steal her sister's money compelled her to murder. The trill of killing has apparently warped her mind, and Laura is now completely deranged. Before she can kill Nora, Laura is suddenly shot dead by her husband through the study door.In the final comic scene, Nora is happily reunited with Marcello. Marcello asks Nora for a cigarette, but after she gives him one, she is reminded of an important incident. The pack of cigarettes that Nora accepted on the plane to Italy in the opening scene were laced with a marijuana and cocaine combination. On the night of her aunt's death, Nora smoked a few of these cigarettes, and consequently she had interpreted the situation incorrectly. Though she witnessed an actual killing, her blurred memory confused the facts. The man she saw at the scene was Laura's husband, but he was not the killer. He was merely disposing of the body of the woman that Laura stabbed. When Nora comes to realize this, she takes the lighted cigarette away from Marcello and crushes it, saying that it's about time they both gave up smoking. She takes the pack of cigarettes and pitched it over the balcony where they are. The tainted pack of cigarettes are picked up by a passing priest who takes one out to light it up. | insanity, murder | train | imdb | THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Mario Bava - Italy 1962).I finally got to watch this in the way of the relatively cheap French DVD-release LA FILLE QUI EN SAVANT TROP, which includes Bava's original Italian cut as well as the American cut (titled THE EVIL EYE), which has a completely different ending and excludes some references to marijuana, as well as a stronger emphasis on the romantic plot line between the two leads John Saxon and Letícia Román, reputedly to make the film more marketable for children(!), which I find impossible to comprehend, but apparently this was what U.S. distributors had in mind.
Nora Davis is seen reading a Giallo novel on the airplane; the foreigner as vulnerable outsider in Italy; an obsession with travel and tourism, the first murder takes place before the Spanish Steps, but the film shows countless tourist hotspots throughout Rome, and the fascination with fashion and style or the jet-set in general.
Wide-eyed Letícia Román is the kind of innocent looking girl with just the right combination of sexiness and innocence to pass as a very likable heroine, perhaps a touch too innocent and certainly worlds away from the sexually liberated female in later Giallos.Early sixties' fashions and habits abound, such as Nora Davis' exuberant snake leather jacket.
Perhaps Bava's way of saying the Italian police is always on top of these issues and malicious elements from abroad are dealt with in proper fashion.Masterfully shot in black-and-white, the film doesn't contain the outrageous imagery of THE BODY AND THE WHIP (1963) and BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, both sumptuously shot in colour, and certainly is much lighter in tone with the sadistic bloodletting so typical of that other pivotal entry in the development of the Giallo, BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, largely lacking.
Originally, it was conceived as a romantic comedy and - hence the title - as a light parody on Hitchcock's work, but Bava decided to put a larger emphasis on the more horrific elements of the story, but doesn't lose sight of the plot development, which I always found a major demerit of BLOOD AND BLACK LACE.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) is director Mario Bava's gleeful homage to Hitchcock; and one of the earliest examples of the Italian Giallo sub-genre of horror/suspense cinema that would go on to inspire an entire generation of horror filmmakers throughout the subsequent two decades.
If you're at all familiar with the work of director Dario Argento for example, then you can see the roots of films like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Deep Red (1975) and Tenebrae (1982) already being established by the skillful blending of low-key thrills, character development and good old fashioned murder mystery, as captured by Bava in this excellent, slow-burning suspense piece.
Although it may take some viewers a while to settle into the overall tone of the film - with those first few scenes presenting us with a veritable bombardment of information, both narrative and thematic, before the first murder has even taken place - the eventual unravelling of the plot, and Bava's excellent direction eventually draw us deeper into a story that is here punctuated by a charmingly romantic subplot, a miniature travelogue around the tourist traps of Rome, some subtle moments of almost slapstick humour, and the director's always inventive use of visual experimentation.The usual Gialli trademarks are already beginning to take shape here, with the film focusing on a foreigner - in this case, twenty-year old American student Nora Davis - who travels to Rome to visit her ailing aunt and inadvertently witnesses a murder.
Bava's film is also given a neat touch of self-referential sub-text; opening with a shot of the central character herself reading a Giallo murder mystery, casting some doubt as to whether or not the film plays out in the literal sense, or whether it is a merely a constructed reality, taking place in her own mind as she reads the book to herself.
This is a thread of interpretation that is examined throughout by the filmmaker, with the title of the book itself, "The Knife", having an importance on the plot that perhaps surreptitiously suggest some element of imagined fantasy.Once we get through those hectic opening sequences, which introduce the characters and a number of potential sub-plots that are essentially window-dressing to throw us off the trail, the film settles into the murder mystery aspect and the burgeoning relationship between Nora and her young doctor friend, Marcello Bassi.
Although the actual effect - which replicates the look of ripples on a pond - might lead a more contemporary audience to giggle or cringe, it does tie in with the continual use of water-symbolism in Bava's work, from the final story in The Three Faces of Fear/Black Sabbath (1963), and A Bay of Blood (1971) most famously, as well as a somewhat cheap gag about marijuana cigarettes that will pay off in the film's closing moments.Again, the use of humour taps into the spirit of Hitchcock, with intrigue, voyeurism, suspense and murder being reduced to mere complications in the continual romantic wooing of Nora by the charming Dr. Bassi.
Nonetheless, Bava also succeeds in throwing us into this enigmatic mystery; undermining our own perspective of the story by showing us important information early on, allowing us to feel superior to Nora with our benefit of a forewarning, only to then cast further doubt in our mind as the gallery of suspects mount up.Though still something of a minor work for Bava, The Girl Who Knew Too Much is undoubtedly great; enlivened by the fine performances from the two leads, John Saxon (a cult actor with an impeccable list of credits) and the delightful Leticia Roman (I'm honestly quite smitten), and absolutely brimming with style and energy.
Of course one year later the director would practically define the style with Blood and Black Lace, introducing other genre staples like the black-gloved killer, the garish colours and the gore but that doesn't detract from the ifluential status of this proto-giallo.As the title imples, The Girl Who Knew Too Much is with one foot firmly set in Hitchcock territory, but whereas Hitch films had a tendency of trying to be too many things at once (little bits of comedy, romance etc) something I always considered distracting, Bava allows nothing to come between him and his goal: a suspenseful horror thriller.The chiaroscuro photography is simply beautiful to look at, light and shadow play off each other in expressive ways, not unlike film-noir.
His black and white work is as good as his colour films.Minor quibbles I had with the film include that many scares turn out to be false, the first person narration (another film-noir influence) and the implied possibilities in the ending *was it all a dream?* Leticia Roman and John Saxon hit it off with great chemistry, the DP work is fantabulous, the opening 15-20 minutes leading up to the first murder are among the best 20 minutes in 60's horror and this an all around accomplished horror film that deserves every fan's attention..
but witnesses a second crime,the murder of a helpless young woman.In hospital,Nora is dismayed when everyone discounts her murder story-even her new acquaintance,a charming but rather clumsy young doctor,Marcello Bassi(John Saxon).But a strange man in a hat seems to be stalking her.And when she moves into a nearby flat adjacent to the ill-fated steps,she finds newspaper clippings about a string of killings called The Alphabet Murders.With potential murderers hovering all about,even the attentive Marcello begins to look suspicious."The Girl Who Knew Too Much" is a glorious Mario Bava's mystery with some giallo elements.The film is fast-paced and Bava's intensely dramatic lighting is used effectively.The overall tone of the film is light,even sometimes comedic.Bava's inimitable close-ups,favoring unusually wide,white eyes,are arresting just by themselves-there's a basic visual link from this film to "Blood and Black Lace",with its emphasis on glamorous,but often dead and glassy,eyes.Give this charming and unpredictable thriller a look.10 out of 10..
This Bava film (whose title is clearly a nod to Alfred Hitchcock), credited with being the first giallo, was also one I could have watched earlier – having long considered picking up the now-OOP Image DVD, not to mention via a DivX copy I've owned for some time – but thought it best to wait for this definitive edition (complete with a Tim Lucas Audio Commentary).Anyway, I don't know whether it's because I preceded it with Riccardo Freda's delirious and luridly-colored THE GHOST (1963) or the fact that the film retains an incongruous light touch (and leisurely pace) throughout – including the heroine's ruse to ensnare her stalker by the unlikely methods adopted in the pulp thrillers she avidly reads – but, while I enjoyed it a good deal, it felt to me like an altogether minor work from the maestro!
Still, Bava's consistent virtues – as a director – for creating tremendous suspense and the fantastic lighting and crisp cinematography that come with his intimate knowledge of the camera are well in evidence.The first half-hour is pretty busy plot-wise, as all sorts of things happen to the charming leading lady (the striking-looking Leticia Roman, daughter of Oscar-winning costume designer Vittorio Nino Novarese): first she gets involved with a drug-dealer, then the old woman she was to live with dies on her, after which she roams outside in a frenzied state to be held up by a small-time crook and witness a knife-murder across Rome's famous Piazza di Spagna!
Interestingly, since there was no yardstick for the genre as yet, Bava relied on such familiar film noir trappings as first-person narration to push the story forward.The film also features a young John Saxon in his first of many "Euro-Cult" outings as Roman's boyfriend and Valentina Cortese as her wealthy, eccentric landlady; the script provides plenty of suspects, but the final revelation comes as a surprise (though, in hindsight, it seems pretty obvious) – and this is followed by a lengthy explanation of the motive behind the killings, which became a standard 'curtain' for this type of thriller.
Surprisingly, Lucas also mentions that some of Bava's camera moves are more elaborate and graceful as seen in THE EVIL EYE (which makes me want to see it even more!) – but, then, important dialogue stretches heard in the Italian original involving the creepily asexual voice of the killer were bafflingly left out of the American version!!.
Mario Bava's "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1963) is considered the first 'Giallo' film.
With The Girl Who Knew Too Much, director Mario Bava planted the seed that would evolve into the sub-genre known as the giallo.
But it does introduce some of the motives that would go on to form an important part of giallo cinema such as the convoluted mystery, the bizarre reasoning for murder and the importance of optical subjectivity as well as the focus on style over substance.The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a film that should be seen by fans of Mario Bava as well as dedicated students of all things giallo.
Nora Davis (Letícia Román) is an American tourist in Rome who witnesses the brutal murder of a woman on her first night in the city, however circumstances prevail that no body is found and the police and pretty much every one else believe she is a little crazy, except that is for a young Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon)that she has befriended who plays along and helps her investigate.
.Its Mario Bava of course it was
..Filmed in stunning black & white the film boasts some fine performances from the leads, it is also regarded as the film that started the ball rolling for the giallo on film.The Girl who knew too much also gives a very firm nod to the work of Hitchcock whose "Man who knew too much" the title is borrowed from.The film is full of suspense with some very nice scenes and keeps you guessing until the end,as all fine Gialli should
..it is quite low on the bloodletting though, a trait the Giallo would ignore more and more as it entered the 1970's, but this is still an excellent film and well worth checking out
.if you can find a copy that doesn't mean breaking the bank.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)Well, this is a classic worth watching for film buffs interested in the first giallo movie ever made (if we ignore the Hitchcock precedents).
Nora accepts the invitation and decides to investigate the murder; she believes that the serial-killer of the so called Alphabet Murders is chasing her and she will be the next victim."The Girl Who Knew too Much" is an overrated melodramatic thriller of Mario Bava visibly inspired in Alfred Hitchcock.
The title of the film is an obvious homage to Hitchcock, but Bava's real inspiration for the movie is, obviously, the pulp Italian mystery books ('Giallo').
The only thing that doesn't work out is some of the comedy, although it is funny that Saxon ends up with various injuries as the film carries on.My favourite scene is when Nora visits someone else investigating the murders, and from outside the apartment hears the hammering of a typewriter.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)*** (out of 4)American Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) travels to Italy to see her aunt but right from the start things go bad.
THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH is created as being the first giallo and it's a mighty impressive one.I think the best thing working for the film are the performances as well as Bava's style.
Bava's style and the performances really make this film stand out, although the end result isn't as ground-breaking as the director's next giallo BLOOD AND BLACK LACE..
This review pertains to my viewing of "The Girl Who Knew Too Much."I would describe the film as a suspenseful murder mystery, one of the first Italian Giallos.
The two leads are a young female American tourist named Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) and a youthful Italian doctor named Dr. Bassi (John Saxon).
A tourist (Letícia Román) witnesses a murder and finds herself caught up in a series of bloody killings.Not only was this Mario Bava's final film before switching to color, but it is widely considered a seminal work in the giallo subgenre.
All of Bava's Movies are Visually Stunning, Creative, and Fun. His use of the Medium as an Artist's Playground was Immensely Influential for other Practitioners and Directors.The Story can be Befuddling to Follow, especially in the American Version, but it Matters Not. The Agatha Christie Mystery Formula is there as are the Twists and Turns, Red Herrings, and when all's Said and Done the Movie is Fun, Great Looking, and an Example of Mario Bava's Style (Eye) that made His Movies Magnificent Mini-Masterpieces in the B-Movie Market.Bava's Groundbreaking way of Making Movies has Gained and Maintained a Legacy of Legendary Status and is Commented Upon Repeatedly to this Day by Film-Makers and Fans..
During their search, Nora and Marcello encounter a broken, pitiful former newspaper reporter, Andrea Landini(Dante DiPaolo)who followed the Alphabet Murders case and felt responsible for putting the wrong man behind bars for the crimes.Bava's visual eye shows wonderful things as he shoots this film in B&W displaying a type of Rome both beautiful and, at the same time spooky, equipping the surroundings with the right pinch of dread and danger.
Sweet American tourist and murder mystery novel fan Nora Davis (a wonderfully charming and vibrant performance by the lovely Letica Roman) witnesses a serial killer's latest slaying in a park in Rome, Italy.
View on the film:Whilst MGM have sadly kept the American cut of the film (titled:The Evil Eye) in storage,with no sign of it ever having come out on Video/DVD (Luckally,the fantastic commentary by Tim Lucas on the Italian cut, goes into a lot of detail about the "missing scenes")After having a very catchy Roberto Nicolosi song play over the opening,Mario Bava starts brilliantly entering the viewer into Noras gradually fearful,paranoid- fulled world.From the moment in the film where Noras passenger "friend" is taking by the police,Bava (who also wrote the stunning screenplay,along with four other people)begins to show that Nora really wishes that this was a bad dream,due to her only experience with violence being from pulp novels.One thing that really struck me during my viewing of the film,were the very clever nods to Carol Reeds classic 1949 British Noir film The Third Man,with Noras constant attempts to get any of the townsfolk to open there mouths or believe her about seeing the murder,which most of them,including Bassi begin to think that it is an event which never took place.Bava also shows the huge impact this film would have on the Giallo genre,with Noras troubles of not knowing whats real or fake,and the activates of the killer,being something which clearly influenced Dario Argento and other similar film makers.for his directing,Bava gives the film a fantastic,almost haunted appearance ,with the scenes of Nora in the guest house,terrified of the killers sudden appearance,being filled with a huge amount of tensions,thanks to a very clever suspense building building appearance,and a fantastic performance from the beautiful Leticia Roman as Nora Davis.
However, the real inspiration obviously came from the aforementioned Italian Murder Mystery books.Nora Davis (Laetitia Roman), a beautiful young American woman, comes to Rome in order to visit her aunt.
Some Giallo fans may feel that the comedy content is simply too much, and that the body count is too minimal, but the director does tell a decent story (he was also one of the credited screenwriters) that wraps up within a reasonable amount of time.Leticia Roman stars as Nora Davis, an attractive young American woman vacationing in Rome.
"The Girl Who Knew Too Much" marks two moments in Bava's career in filmmaking: it is both his last film in black and white and first film that will further refine the giallo genre.It is easy story about American girl (Nora) visiting old family friend Edith who lives in Rome, Italy. |
tt0093011 | Fatal Beauty | Detective Rita Rizzoli (Whoopi Goldberg) an undercover narcotics police officer,stages an undercover buy with drug dealer Tito Delgadillo. During the bust she sees her friend and informant Charlene being dragged out of the bar by her pimp and runs to her aid, thus alerting Delgadillo of her being an undercover cop. After saving Charlene and shooting the pimp, Rizzoli notices all the money used for the buy is missing. Delgadillo retreats to a warehouse in Los Angeles where a family of Asian immigrants is preparing plastic envelopes of imported cocaine stamped with the gang's brand name "Fatal Beauty". One worker, however, has been sampling too much of the drug and, in his intoxicated state, prepares envelopes with a fatally high concentration of cocaine and a misaligned stamp. Delgadillo discovers the error but before they can correct it, the house is attacked by two small-time hoods, Leo Nova and Earl Skinner (Brad Dourif and Mike Jolly) who kill everyone within including Delgadillo and steal the lethal product.
Back at the police station, Rizzoli is chewed out by her boss, Lt. Kellerman (John P. Ryan), for ruining the bust.He receives a call saying Rizzoli is needed at the warehouse where the drugs were being made. At the warehouse Rizzoli identifies Delgadillo (the only victim authorities weren't able to identify because his face was mutilated during the attack)by pointing out the diamond pinkie ring on his finger bearing his initials that he showed Rizzoli earlier that evening. Rizzoli also discovers traces of "Fatal Beauty"and Charlie Dawson's body, which was stuffed in a van labeled "Kroll Enterprises". The next morning Rizzoli receives a call from Charlene, asking for money. When Rizzoli refuses, Charlene offers some information about the drug-related murder the previous night, hoping to sway Rizzoli to give her the money. Charlene tells Rizzoli that there is a goon squad looking for the killers. She also tells her that the person, to whom all the drugs belonged, drove a "Rolls." That prompts Rizzoli to pay a visit to Conrad Kroll (Harris Yulin), whom she accuses of drug dealing.
After leaving Kroll's home, Rizzoli hears a call for assistance over the scanner involving a police standoff. Realizing that Charlene lives there, she immediately rushes to the location. At the location a man who is hopped up on drugs emerges from Charlene's house and is shot several times but doesn't go down right away. After the man finally falls to the ground and dies, Rizzoli runs into Charlene's house, where she attempts to resuscitate her with no success. Rizzoli is told by a boy at the location that both Charlene and the man who was shot, "Big Bubba" were both taken out by the new drugs and that they got it from Charlene's new pimp, "Jimmy". Rizzoli and her partner Detective Jimenez (Ruben Blades) find him in a restaurant, where Rizzoli places him under arrest; when he tries to escape, she shoots him in the buttocks. After hanging him up in the freezer and threatening more bodily harm, Rizzoli gets him to reveal that he purchased the drugs from a buy house from a man named Rafael. Rizzoli heads to the buy house the pimp told her about and is greeted by a man named Epifanio, who tells her he will get her what she wants. She is able to get Epifanio to take her to Rafael, but a hood from the night she staged the bust with Delgadillo recognizes her as a cop and immediately alerts Nova and Skinner. Rizzoli is able to get locked in a room with Rafael, where she gets Rafael to admit he is fronting for Nova and Skinner right as two of his crew members shoot their way inside. Rizzoli dives for safety, but Rafael is killed in the crossfire. Rizzoli shoots down one of the thugs, but the other gets the drop on her, but she is saved by the timely arrival of Mike Marshak, Kroll's bodyguard (Sam Elliot) who shows up at the buy house to help Rizzoli, and admits that he has been following her around since the night before by using a transmitter concealed under her bumper. After taking out the rest of Rafael's gang, Rizzoli and Marshak come close to apprehending Nova and Skinner when a section of the a roof collapses on Rizzoli; Marshak immediately runs to her aid, letting Nova and Skinner escape.
Rizzoli is taken to a nearby hospital, Vista Verde where Marshak goes to visit her. Upon walking into Rizzoli's room, Marshak sees Rizzoli and Jiminez going over the mug shots of Nova and Skinner and Jiminez immediately leaves after Marshak's arrival. When Jiminez goes toward the elevator he notices Nova from the mug shot carrying a package and orders him to freeze. Nova pulls out a shotgun from the package and fires at Jiminez, missing him. After getting into an argument about what Marshak's boss Kroll is allegedly doing, Rizzoli agrees to let Marshak drive her home. Rizzoli notices her cat on the roof and explains to Marshak about her cat's fear of heights and her front door being open. They both go into her residence see Zack Yeager (James LeGros) asleep. Yeager tells Rizolli that all his friends have died from using Fatal Beauty. This is further confirmed when he, Rizzoli and Marshak arrive at the home of one of the kids who threw the party and finds them all lying dead in the living room. Yeager tells Rizolli he got the drugs from his mother, Cecille (Jennifer Warren). When Rizzoli goes to Cecille in an attempt to get information about where the drugs came from, the two get into a physical altercation until Marshak arrives to break it up and takes Rizolli home. At home Rizzoli invites Marshak into her house for some coffee and receives a phone call that four young children had died from using Fatal Beauty; Rizzoli then has a breakdown and tells Marshak that she is a recovering drug addict, having quit after her daughter got into her drug stash and drowned in a swimming pool. Rizzoli takes a shower, during which she receives a call and notices Marshak has left, and that he went through her police files of the suspects she was after. At the point Rizzoli learns that Kroll had sent Marshak not to protect Rizzoli, but to spy on her to find out who ripped him off.
Rizzoli receives a call from Cecille learning that Zack had cut his wrist and was in the hospital. Cecille asks Rizzoli to meet her at the hospital where she reveals who she bought the drugs from and that her supplier, Denny Mifflin, will be making a pickup from his suppliers Nova and Skinner at Kroll Plaza. Rizzoli and Jiminez head to Kroll plaza and are spotted by Kroll's security team. Rizolli and Jiminez are watching Mifflin and Rizolli orders Jiminez to get the drugs away from some kids that they spotted Mifflin selling to. When Jiminez gets the drugs from the kids he is knocked out by one of Kroll's security men. When Kroll is alerted to Rizzoli's presence, Marshak who is with Kroll notices Nova and Skinner entering the plaza. Kroll orders one of his men to take out Nova and Skinner and then orders Marshak to take out Rizzoli. Rizzoli meanwhile notices Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and his bodyguard, Frankenstein meeting together in a mall store to discuss drug distribution and follows them into the store. Rizzoli is followed into the store by Kroll's security team with their guns drawn. Just as Rizzoli is about to bust Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and Frankenstein she is accosted by Marshak who warns her it is a wipeout in which all five of them are going to be killed. Rizzoli then punches Marshak, which frightens Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and Frankenstein. When running in the store, Frankenstein is grabbed by one of the security guards. He then stabs him in the stomach. The security guard falls to the ground knocking over a rack of clothes. Frankenstein then is grabbed by Kroll's bodyguard, Eddie and is shot three times in the stomach. Frankenstien slashes Eddie's arm with his switchblade, forcing him to back off, but dies seconds later while calling to Mifflin for help. Rizzoli then shoots Mifflin after he fires at her. Rizzoli and the security guards pursuit Nova and Skinner, who open fire in the mall, killing several guards and Eddie, and then retreat into a sporting goods store, followed by another of Kroll's men and three surviving guards. Nova and Skinner race to the back of the store and shoot the fuse boxes, cutting the main power to the store lights (but the emergency lights come on seconds after). Rizzoli cautiously makes her way through the store, but the security guards get the drop on her, but she is inadvertently saved by Nova and Skinner when they gun the guards down. A short gun fight ensues between Rizzoli and the two men, but she runs out of ammunition. Nova and Skinner try to move in and finish her off, but she manages to give them the slip long enough to break into a gun cabinet and get a shotgun and some bullets. After Rizzoli kills Kroll's other bodyguard who was poised to ambush her from above and takes his gun, the shelf he was standing on collapses on her and Skinner prepares to kill her; at the last minute, however, Marshak appears and guns him down. Nova wounds Marshak before he, in turn, is wounded by Rizzoli, and retreats from the store. Rizzoli pursues Nova and runs into Kroll, who is about to kill her when Nova jumps out of a hiding place and kills him. Rizzoli follows Nova into a parking garage and shoots him several times, apparently unable to injure him. After Nova reveals to Rizzoli he was wearing a bullet-proof vest this whole time Rizolli pulls out a gun she stole from the dead guard and shoots Nova in the throat, killing him.
Rizzoli meets the paramedics outside the plaza, where Jiminez is waiting along with Marshak, who muses to Rizzoli that he might be going to jail for a long time because of his connection to Kroll. Rizzoli agrees, but tenderly tells him that she'll be waiting for him when he gets out. She then gives him a kiss and tells him with a smile that he'll be fine. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0037365 | The Thin Man Goes Home | Nick and Nora visit Nick's parents (Lucile Watson and Harry Davenport) in Nick's hometown, Sycamore Springs, in New England. The residents are convinced that Nick is in town on an investigation, despite Nick's repeated denials. However, when aircraft factory employee Peter Berton (Ralph Brooks) seeks out Nick and is shot dead before he can reveal anything, Nick is on the case.
An old childhood friend, Dr. Bruce Clayworth (Lloyd Corrigan), performs the autopsy and extracts a pistol bullet. Then, when Nick searches Berton's room for clues, he is knocked unconscious by Crazy Mary (Anne Revere), a local eccentric.
Nora's innocent purchase of a painting for Nick's birthday present turns out to be the key to the mystery. When she shows it to her husband, it brings back unpleasant memories for him, so she donates it to a charity bazaar. When Edgar Draque (Leon Ames) offers Nora a large sum for the painting, Nick wonders why it is so valuable. Nick learns that Draque's wife Helena (Helen Vinson) bought the artwork, but she is knocked out and the painting disappears. Nick discovers that Crazy Mary is Berton's mother and goes to see her, only to come across her lifeless body. Nick and Nora's dog Asta finds the painting in her shack.
Nick puts the pieces together and has the police bring all the suspects to his father's house. (Early on, it is revealed that Nick's father, Dr. Bertram Charles, has never been overly impressed with his son's unusual career choice, so this gives Nick an opportunity to change his father's mind.) Using Dr. Charles's fluoroscope, Nick shows that there is a blueprint hidden underneath the paint. Several people identify it as part of the specifications for a new aircraft propeller worth a great deal to a "foreign power". Berton had copied the blueprints and concealed the copies under five paintings. He had a change of heart and was going to confess all to Nick, but was killed by the spies he was dealing with. Nick has a souvenir World War II Japanese sniper rifle belonging to Dr. Clayworth's brother brought in, and claims it was the murder weapon. Then, after proving that the Draques are members of the spy ring, Nick reveals the identity of its leader: Dr. Bruce Clayworth. Clayworth's first slip was the bullet he showed Nick. Nick knew a handgun bullet would not have the power to penetrate as far into Berton's body as the real one went. Clayworth grabs the rifle. He confesses to the murder, and also to a deep hatred for Nick for always being better than him in their youth. He tries to shoot his nemesis, only to find that Nick had taken the precaution of removing the firing pin. Nick's father is very impressed. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0069738 | The Asphyx | Two police officers run to the location of a car crash. The lethal accident threw two people through the windshields of each car, instantly killing the, but one of the people involved miracously survived. One of the police officers pulls one man out from under the car.Cut to title credits.19thC carriage and clothes. English country squire Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) arrives to his manor house, where his two sons -one adopted, Giles (Robert Powell), the other one being Clive (Ralph Arliss)- and one daughter, Christina (Jane Lapotaire) are already waiting for him. The three children are grown-ups now. He introduces to them his fiancée, Anna Wheatley (Fiona Walker), whom he intends to marry the following Saturday. The father also announces that he's brought with him a special camera.At the manor house library, Hugo explains to Anna that he enjoys taking photographs of dead people. He is not alone on this weird passtime, as his friend Sir Edward Barrett (Alex Scott) also enjoys so.We see a slide presentation in front of a small audience. Edward and Hugo explain that they found a dark romboidal stain in photographs of people who had just died. They think they have photographed the souls of the people who died leaving the body. Hugo tries to explain to Clive - who looks like his favourite son - that with power comes responsibility when the son comments on Hugo's generosity towards the waiting servant. He also says that death is the last change. Hugo still misses his late wife.It's March at the manor house during Hugo and Anna's visit, and it's freezing cold. He insists to record everybody soaring on a boat. First, it's Giles and Christina, then Clive and Anna. Clive's oar gets stuck in the mud, which causes him not to see a branch of a tree. A sharp pointed part of the tree stings him, who falls to the muddy river. Anna also falls to the water. Giles tries to rescue them but the water is so muddy that he can't see anything. Clive and Anna's muddy body will appear later on during the night.Two weeks later, Hugo checks on the motion picture. There appears the same black stain, so he decides to photograph the two-week old corpse of Clive.Giles is worried about Hugo's unhealthy obsession, because it causes him to disregard himself. Hugo starts thinking about the Asphyx, a spirit which appears near people who are about to die. Hugo starts looking a bit out of his mind, even asking Giles to photograph him while drinking a cup of poison.There is going to be a public hanging the following day, says Edward. Hugo wants to photograph the execution.Hugo kills a mouse so that the Asphyx appears and he can imprison it in a kind of laboratory tube with strange liquids. With a strong lamp, Giles has captured in in the halo of light. Christina appears to question what the racket was about.Later, Christina goes on her own and takes the guinea pig out. She wonders at the strange box at his father's laboratory. Hugo -with Giles at his tail as usual- goes to visit a home for the paupers. There, one of the homeless men (Terry Scully) is severely ill.Christina questions Giles about what she saw at the laboratory. Giles is worried for Hugo but can't explain it all to her because he swore to secrecy. Christina tries to console Giles even though he can't confide on her. Hugo gives the sick man home, food and shelter. The bump is so sick that he'll only live one or two days more, says the doctor. The homeless man coughs and coughs. When he is about to die, the Asphyx appears, and Hugo captures it with the strong focus light. However, in his last moments, the dying man picks up the acid which Hugo had shown Giles before, and he splashes mit all over Hugo's face. He will be left with the scar for the rest of his life. Christina has been woken up by the acute shrieks of the Asphyx, so she arrives to the laboratory to see it all.Hugo has the idea of electrocuting himself in an electric chair while Giles traps the Asphyx. Christina appears and panics, but Giles slaps her and she is the one who moves the light to trap the Asphyx inside the coffin-shaped box. Giles and Christina put the Asphyx inside of a safe box. That night, Christina is woken up by something in her bedroom: it's the guinea pig she's let loose before. She takes the mouse outside of the house and releases it just outside the door. It looks like the mouse prefers to stay inside, where he is safe and has food, water and shelter without having to survive by itself!So Hugo recovers from the electrocution. He has not died.From that moment on, Hugo behaves weirdly. He wants Anna to marry Giles -is that even possible legally?- so that they have children and the lineage goes on forever. Christina doesn't like his father's plans, but she finally obliges. Hugo wants to make them immortal, the same as him. First goes Christina. Hugo wants to trap the Asphyx when it appears to claim her. They are going to cut her head with a gillotine. But the mouse she released appears to bite off the pipe which carries the water to make the lights work. The light goes out, in the panic Hugo causes Giles to release the guillotine, and Christina dies because her head was severed off.Giles feels guilt of Christina's death. Hugo wants to die now: he wants to join his children. Giles puts the mouse inside the lamp, and doesn't allow Hugo to check it before attempting to catch the Asphynx again. Giles has thought about the way: he will be enclosed in a plastic box and then Hugo will put gas in through a pipe. When Giles is about to die and the lamp doesn't work, Hugo has time to put oxygen in. But Giles wants to die, so he takes a match out. He softly whispers "Christina", and lights the match. That causes an explosion. At that moment, Hugo realises that he has killed his two remaining children. Hugo is not alone though: he has as a companion... the mouse.BACK TO MODERN TIMESA man - Hugo with a completely disfigured head - caresses a mouse. He steps onto the road from the sidewalk getting in the way of two cars which are about to collide. | insanity, gothic, flashback | train | imdb | This is one of those rare small movies which has a great plot, decent special effects (for the time), and good acting.
Nineteenth century , England , a mad doctor is studying death when he discovers the Asphyx , an obscure supernatural power , it is the key to immortality on the subject .
This eerie movie deals with a man : Robert Stephens who attempts to trap the spirit of death but things go awry when he practices his experlments with his descendants : Arliss, Jane Lapotaire and adopted son , Robert Powell .Scary picture with a promising notion in which a scientist discovers an aura that surrounds persons just before they die ; however , his irresponsability in unleashing the rare entity on the world brings a swarm of unforeseen consequences , ominous distresses , irreversible problems and grisly murders .
This isn't surprising - The Asphyx takes elements from supernatural horror and there's a little bit of sci-fi involved, but selling this film couldn't have been easy as there's no way to pigeon hole it.
The plot focuses on Hugo Cunningham - a man who discovers that when we die, what's called an 'Asphyx' appears.
He then proceeds to test the procedure on himself, and after becoming immortal decides he wants his young assistant and daughter; who want to get married, to become immortal also
The Asphyx is a British film set in Victorian times, and director Peter Newbrook does an excellent job of producing the period setting.
Set in 1870's England, aristocrat Sir Hugo (Robert Stephens) accidentally photographs an entity (mythological name Asphyx) entering a person's body at their death.
Although like the implications of time travel, half the fun is speculating on the ramifications of the idea.There is a pleasant and very haunting score and the story has a nice touch of irony as Sir Hugo's first experimental subject is his eventual downfall.The real strength of this film is the production design.
All looks great on the big screen and is probably fine on the letter boxed DVD, but the VHS tape is of marginal quality and the 4x3 aspect ratio does not do justice to the frame.Few films from the era that did a better job of filling their frames than "The Asphyx" (credit to Academy award winning cinematographer Freddie Young), but this just magnifies the problems of the full-screen version.
That's one of the reasons why The Asphyx was a box-office flop, fondly remembered by a select few who never forgot this quirky little "thinking man's horror film" (as Variety called it), in which a 19th-century British philanthropist and amateur psychic researcher embarks on a fateful quest for immortality.
Sir Hugo Cunningham (nicely played by Robert Stephens) has a morbid hobby of taking photographs of dying people, and this leads to his discovery of a nebulous spirit of the dead--known in mythology as the Asphyx--that appears (only visible on photographic plates) at the moment of death.
With its talky, literate script, well-drawn characters, and fascinating themes, The Asphyx bears closer resemblance to the Hammer horror films that became passé in the early and mid-1970s.
Filled with foreboding atmosphere, this is an intelligently conceived horror film that relies more on story than shocks, although the screeching Asphyx is eerily haunting.
Kudos to Allday Entertainment for producing this DVD--The Asphyx has been rescued from obscurity, painstakingly remastered in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio for discerning connoisseurs of high-class horror..
Sir Hugo Cunningham becomes obsessed with the possibility of becoming immortal after discovering the Asphyx, or Spirit of Death, which seeks out the dying and finds release in them, killing them at once.
On the back of the DVD cover, some critic called it "the thinking man's horror film".
A clever, likable story of one man's quest for immortality, this film is something of a neglected gem in the horror genre.
The Gothic atmosphere makes it feel like one of the better Hammer films, while the supernatural events which occur are actually believable (the use of the real-life society of psychical research adds to the authenticity) and therefore all the more frightening because of this.
Some people have criticised the film for being too talky and too boring, but there are loads of scientific experiments going on in the best Frankenstein tradition to liven things up.Robert Stephens puts in an unlikable yet accurate performance as a man who will stop at nothing to achieve immortality, his character understandable yet despicable at the same time.
Jane Lapotaire adds some conviction to her role as a female victim (she doesn't just scream all the time), and at least everyone looks the part in this film.The one truly memorable thing, though, is the special effect of the Asphyx itself, a creature which possesses the body at the moment of death.
It has only been some 30 years ago but I remember the line of the witness when the movie opened when the bus?/truck screeches over the old man, MY GOD HE'S STILL ALIVE the guy says as the guinea pig runs across the screen to the left.My memory of the asphyx being caught in the light, and the noise of the thing screeching, the man they were hanging was moving around and twitching on the end of the rope, still just freaks me out..
It was on TV, on one of those Creature Feature-type Saturday shows(other movies I saw at this time were The Thing That Couldn't Die, Dinosaurus!, & Angry Red Planet).
(Oops, sorry...bad joke.) Rather, "The Asphyx" is a finely constructed film that tells of a British scientist in 1875 who, with the aid of some novel equipment, realizes that he can photograph this eponymous "spirit of death" that hovers over people who are about to die.
The asphyxes (asphyxi?) themselves look like no critter you've ever seen on screen before, and the film keeps getting better and better as it goes along.
The Asphyx is one good horror film in that it has a credible plot about a ridiculous story.
Very good; consider this a 70's Brit Horror B movie/ a little gem which i don't think has been touched upon by Hollywood yet.
It's not Body-Horror like the Thing but rather the condition of the human spirit/ tragedy/ death; which are played to the extremes.
It had some good writing(especially poignant towards the end) and special effects that certainly served their purpose without being hokey.Well worth a look if you are seeking an obscure, well made British horror film..
19th century scientist Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) creates a crystal light beam that can illuminate The Asphyx, a screaming death spirit that appears in the moment of one's death.
....Immortality instead of youth,and "technology " replaces the Devil;Maybe Alejandro Amenabar borrowed his "photographs of the dead album " from "the Asphyx " for one of his scenes in "the others".It also might have inspired David Selzer when he wrote "the omen" which Richard Donner transferred to the screen in 1976 (David Warner's photographs) After an intriguing start (the scenes on the river) ,the movie remains too predictable and relies on tricks which are worn out such as the French guillotine (which was actually invented by the Chinese).And we do know that any attempt to challenge God and His plans are doomed.Robert Powell (who was the best Christ of all time in Zeffirelli's version) does not seem to care too much for what happens .
Stylishly filmed in TODD-AO-35 system this clever little horror film once again tells about certain dangers of an over-ambitious attempt to play God. A nineteenth century nobleman discovers by an accident the secret of human soul and immortality.
But when everything is not going according to plan the immortality can become quite a long time.Somewhat over-acted in very theatrical style the film does have enough charm, good look and a decent story to overcome this.
When Victorian scientist and budding photographer Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) records people at the moment of death, he discovers a strange apparition on his images.
Further investigation leads him to believe that the phenomenon is an asphyx, a spirit of the dead come to claim the soul, and that by trapping it, one can attain immortality.An excellent Gothic horror, intelligently written, expertly directed, and well acted, The Asphyx shows the possible tragic outcome of becoming obsessed with the finality of death.
And of letting a guinea pig roam free around your laboratory.Told at a measured pace and totally free of gore, the film might be a little too leisurely and 'dry' for today's horror fans, but those who can appreciate subtlety should find much to enjoy, with the scenes involving the capture of the asphyx full of tension, the spirit itself a crudely executed yet strangely unsettling spectral creature that screeches when it is caught.
To me this is the kind of horror film that you don't see much or at all any more, which is part of what makes it great for me; it's also something really different which is something I always look for in the horror genre.I really like the production value, it was done on a low budget but it was used really well and right, another example of why these type of budgeted films equal good quality.
It really capture a Victorian times long gone, from the buildings, locale, wardrobe, to even certain customs.The effect I thought was very good, I really like the look of the Asphyx spirit from it's color and the scream it makes which makes it really creepy.
It's true that this was a hand puppet (or glove with a really detailed sketch on it) but wow, it was such a simple prop piece that surprising worked let alone it was practical, so it just shows sometimes old fashioned are still the best ways.I even like the sequences when Hugo shows the photographs and even the film reel of the sightings of the Asphyx, which I think are great they remind me of the kind of photos from some of those unexplained phenomena cases from the ghosts, UFO, Bigfoot, you name it.
But most importantly I just really like the story which is different in horror because it's a supernatural story but with science involved and just a bit of Greek myth since The Asphyx is a figure of it.
As British horror was making it's move to Satanic ritual and loads of blood, here come a film about metaphysics and immortality.
A film out of it's time, so to speak.Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) an interest in photography that reveals to him the existence of the Asphyx, a spirit that the Ancient Greeks believed arrived to whisk people away to death.
The rest of the film, essentially his punishment for "playing God" and beating the system, consists of him using increasingly ridiculous methods to begin to bring his family and friends close to death and capture the spirit in the process.
The Asphyx is a genuinely creepy British horror film with wonderful cinematography and an intelligent script.
The acting is good too, from such well-known actors as Robert Stephens.An eccentric scientist tries to gain immortality by capturing his Asphyx (the spirit that appears as you are about to die).Watch out for the first and last scenes of this movie, as they really are eerie and clever.
It would perhaps be better if we couldn't see the "Asphyx" at all - and if we had to see it, it should have been a more "abstract" form, not a cheesy little creature.Also, horror films usually work better when a character you can identify with gets into trouble.
English country squire Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) searches for immortality by literally 'bottling up' the Spirit of the Dead, or Asphyx.I love the awesome photographs of the dead in the beginning of the movie -- look at those faces!
I also love that when the moving pictures are being developed, somehow the film captured was the same as what we had seen just before -- including a cut to a second camera.This is actually a pretty good horror film, and I am surprised I had not heard of it before.
However, when he later uses a completely anachronistic* movie camera and a special blue light, he discovers that some creature he labels 'the asphyx' is released by the body upon death.
1st watched 8/29/1999 - 5 out of 10 (Dir-Peter Newbrook): Chilling, morbid horror movie about a man who trapped the Greek creature (Asphyx) and therefore immortalized himself.It does scare you but the preposterousness of the story and it's attempt to make you think that these people actually believed in God as well is too much.(Titled- "The Horrors of Death" in viewing I watched.).
The sets and costumes look good, and the effects for the asphyx itself are acceptable, but the hanging scene is poorly executed when it could have driven home the grim subject of the story.
Resolute amateur scientist Hugo Cunningham (splendidly played with fiery aplomb by Robert Stephens) discovers the secret to immortality by trapping an apparition which materializes at the moment of death called the asphyx.
This movie further benefits from uniformly sound acting from the capable cast: Stephens excels in the lead role, with fine support from Robert Powell as his disapproving son-in-law Giles, Jane Laportaire as Hugo's sweet daughter Christina, and Alex Scott as sage colleague Sir Edward Barrett.
One of my all time favourite horror films this features hardly any gore at all, rather it weaves a chilling and thought provoking tale of a psychical researcher in the Victorian era who believes he can prevent death and sets about trying to prove it with harrowing results.From the very opening scene where a policeman pulls someone from the remains of a fatal car crash you know this film will keep you interested, and it does.The story is gripping and tense, the acting not always the best but good never the less and the few small plot holes can be forgiven if noticed.Like many good horror films this relies primarily on a gripping plot and our interest in the fate of the characters to keep it interesting rather than on gore.
When we do see gore, such as the severed head or the explosion it is toned down and shown briefly, and the only weak spot is when we do see who it is pulled from the wreckage at the end the makeup effects are a little bit underwhelming but then for the period they were pretty good.Fans of Hammer films such as the Dracula outings of Christopher Lee should enjoy this as should anyone interested in a good story.Like "The Survivor" (a later horror chiller with co star Robert Powell) this is effective because the original idea is just that, original, and because Stephens and Powell work so well together.A good fun old fashioned horror movie with that Gothic Frankenstein feel to it..
Further research, following the tragic accident of his oldest son and with the help of his adopted son Giles, teaches Sir Hugo that the process of the spirit – or Asphyx – leaving the body can be evoked by simulating death, and that it can even be captured and locked!
Sir Hugo is eager to test his theory on himself and then subsequently on his remaining family members, but let's just say that a thing or two goes terribly wrong during the preparations
I truly love "The Asphyx" because it's an incredibly original and absorbing film that finds a proper balance between suspenseful thriller, authentic family drama and gruesome horror.
The curious choice of death devices that are used to summon the Asphyxes, for example
I'm sure that every fanatic horror lover – myself certainly included – will be thrilled to watch a film that features an authentic guillotine, but what a dumb idea to use it as a tool to simulate a deadly accident!
The thinking man's horror film..
Hugo is sure that if someone's asphyx is trapped they will become immortal & unable to die, with this in mind he persuades his adopted son Giles (Robert Powell) to assist him in an experiment to capture his own asphyx & thus give him immortality...This British American co-production was directed by Peter Newbrook & while I have to give it credit for being different & trying it's hardest to be original that doesn't automatically make it a good film, does it?
Anyway, even if it was a bit predictable I must admit I liked the twist ending & how it came together but I couldn't help but feel the story would have been better served as a half an hour Tales from the Crypt episode (1989 - 1996).Director Newbrook does a great job & The Asphyx looks good throughout, there's some cool cinematography & lighting, the production design & period sets, costumes & props are lush & give The Asphyx a nice atmosphere.
The fine details added in to make the time period so authentic really go a long way in this movie.When Sir Hugo accidentally captures a picture of a spiritual creature heading towards a dying man, he starts to question what this is.
With the help of Christina, Giles captures his Asphyx and seals it away, ensuring his immortal life.
The story is unique and interesting, the immortality via the Asphyx is clever as are the methods of the characters killing themselves.
Before watching The Asphyx, I had never thought of what it would be like if someone adapted a junior scientist playset instruction manual into a feature film.
This 1973 comedy-opus is one of the infrequent bad movies so harmlessly but fundamentally incompetent that it earns its title as a cult classic for the cinemasochist who surely goes out of her way to see it.The film goes out of its way to let us know that it takes place in the 1870's where Sir Hugo Cunningham (Stephens) has observed a celestial body that appears right when hanged men are about to die.
"The Asphyx" is good, solid, imaginative horror dealing with that timeless theme of learning to deal with death, and the desire to avoid it if possible, or even if one *should* avoid it.Robert Stephens is aces as 19th century scientist Sir Hugo Cunningham, who loses son Clive (Ralph Arliss) and daughter in law Anna (Fiona Walker) to a horrible canoe accident. |
tt0068408 | Conquest of the Planet of the Apes | The opening titles set the film in "North America – 1991." Armando (Ricardo Montalbán) explains that in 1983 (ten years after the end of Escape from the Planet of the Apes, which was set two years ahead of its theatrical release date), a disease killed the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping apes as household pets. Realizing the apes' capacity to learn and adapt, humans train them to perform household tasks. By 1991, American culture is based on ape slave labor (just as Cornelius described would happen in the previous film). It is also suggested that the North America of the 1990s is at least partly a police state, as apes and humans are being watched at all times.
Armando and Caesar (Roddy McDowall), a young chimpanzee horseback rider in Armando's circus, distribute flyers around a large city to advertise the circus' arrival. Armando warns the chimpanzee to be careful....should anyone learn his identity as the son of Cornelius and Zira, it would mean their deaths. They see apes performing various menial tasks, and are shocked at the harsh discipline on disobedient apes. Seeing an ape being beaten and drugged, Caesar shouts "Lousy human bastards!" Quickly, Armando takes responsibility for the exclamation, explaining to the policemen that it was he who shouted, not his chimpanzee. The surrounding crowd becomes agitated, and Caesar flees.
Hiding in a stairway, Armando tells Caesar he will go to the authorities and bluff his way out of the situation. Meantime, Caesar has to hide among his own kind (in a cage of orangutans) and soon finds himself being trained for slavery through violent conditioning. He is then sold at auction to Governor Breck (Don Murray). Breck allows the ape to name himself by randomly pointing to a word in a book handed to him and the chimpanzee's finger rests upon the name "Caesar", feigning coincidence. Caesar is then put to work by Breck's chief aide MacDonald (Hari Rhodes) who sympathizes with the apes to the thinly veiled disgust of his boss.
Meanwhile, Armando is being interrogated by Inspector Kolp (Severn Darden), who suspects his "circus ape" is the child of the two talking apes from the future. Kolp's assistant puts Armando under a machine, "The Authenticator," that psychologically forces people to be truthful. After admitting he had heard the name Cornelius before, Armando realizes he cannot fight the machine. A guard comes in to force him to continue the interrogation, but Armando struggles and jumps through a window falling to his death. Learning of the death of his foster father, the only human that cared for him, Caesar loses faith in human kindness and begins plotting a rebellion.
Secretly, Caesar teaches combat to the other apes and has them gather weapons. While doing an errand with Caesar, MacDonald expresses concern for the rising problems and wished he could communicate with Caesar. Caesar exposes himself as the lost circus ape and tells MacDonald of his plans to depose Breck. MacDonald, while understanding of Caesar's intent, has his doubts about the effectiveness of revolution, as well as Caesar being dismissive of all humans. Meanwhile, Breck learns from Kolp that the vessel which supposedly delivered Caesar is from a region with no native chimpanzees. Suspecting Caesar is the ape the police are hunting, Breck's men arrest Caesar and electrically torture him until he speaks. Hearing him speak, Breck orders Caesar's immediate death. Caesar survives his execution because MacDonald lowers the machine's electrical output well below lethal levels. Once Breck leaves, Caesar kills his torturer and escapes.
Caesar begins his revolution with the first objective to capture Ape Management. The apes are victorious after killing most of the riot police. After bursting into Breck's command post and killing most of the personnel, Caesar has Breck marched out to be executed. MacDonald, whose ancestors had been slaves, begs Caesar not to succumb to brutality and show mercy to one's former masters. Caesar ignores him and in a rage declares:
Where there is fire, there is smoke. And in that smoke, from this day forward, my people will crouch, and conspire, and plot, and plan for the inevitable day of Man's downfall. The day when he finally and self-destructively turns his weapons against his own kind. The day of the writing in the sky, when your cities lie buried under radioactive rubble! When the sea is a dead sea, and the land is a wasteland out of which I will lead my people from their captivity! And we shall build our own cities, in which there will be no place for humans except to serve our ends! And we shall found our own armies, our own religion, our own dynasty! And that day is upon you NOW!
As the apes raise their rifles to beat Breck to death, Caesar's love interest Lisa (Natalie Trundy) voices her objection, "NO!" She is the first ape to speak other than Caesar. Caesar reconsiders and orders the apes to lower their weapons, saying:
But now... now we will put away our hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the night of the fires, and those who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane. Destiny is the will of God, and if it is Man’s destiny to be dominated, it is God’s will that he be dominated with compassion, and understanding. So, cast out your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes! | violence, suspenseful, alternate history, murder, sci-fi | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0905994 | The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It | written by KrystelClaireA young boy, Max (Alex Winzenread), feels terrified: he can't sleep in his room because everything scares him, from the twigs tapping on the window to the door of his walk-in wardrobe. He constantly calls for his mum and dad, and consequently, they can't sleep at all. Finally, Dad/Jack Keller (John Hawkinson), promises him to buy his longed-for videogame if he sleeps quietly on his own. The young boy promises to try, but then, the door to his closet opens up again. He leaves bed to close it up, but then, a green hand appears. The boy screams and his parents come once again. This time, we can see it was his sister Cassie Keller (Emily Osment)The film now focuses on Cassie. She is a fifteen-year-old teenager Goth full of angst. She dresses as if it were Halloween all year around, and her mother Eileen (Michelle Duffy) can't convince her of wearing even one of the pretty clothes she has bought for her teenaged daughter. Back at her new high school the following morning, she tries to talk with the boy she likes, attractive but dumb Sean (Cody Linley). Priscilla Wright (Brittany Elizabeth Curran) is the most popular girl in school, and she expects to be crowned Pumpkin Queen in the approaching high school ballroom. Priscilla humilliates Cassie by throwing food over her in the school canteen, as she wants to mark her territory with Sean. He will go to the ball with Priscilla because she has offered to do a class assignment for him.In frustration, Cassie wants to buy a new Halloween outfit, although Mum tells her she is too old to go trick-or-trading. Cassie finds a new costume shop at the end of a corridor. The weird shop assistant, (Tobin Bell), tells her that he only opens in Halloween. Cassie buys the only book on store, entitled The Evil Thing. The first page clearly states DO NOT READ ALOUD. Cassie becomes more aggresive, and she spoils Priscilla's moment when, after having been crowned as Pumpkin Queen, she tears open a piñata and worms fall on her.Cassie has to baby-sit Max while their parents are away. He insists on being read a horror story, something which Cassie doesn't want to do at first because she knows that Max will have nightmares later on. Max insists and he turns her computer off, making her lose the horror Hollywood story she has been writing for some time. Cassie is angry. A noise is heard outside: she goes to look what happens, and a witch doll falls on her. She screams, and suddenly, Priscilla and Sean appear from the shadows: she has told him to record Cassie's terrified screams, and the next day, all high school will see the video and laugh about Cassie. Angry, Cassie reads The Evil Thing aloud and then tells Max to wash his teeth and go to sleep.A huge monster appears. theoretically, it only appears if you believe on it. It has two heads, with one it sucks blood and with the other one it tears flesh out to eat it. It also picks people and puts them into coccoons until its children are born and eat the humans.The monster captures Max, the pizza guy and Priscilla. It's Cassie and Sean's turn to do something. Cassie remembers the shop assistant, but he doesn't want to help her. He explains that his shop appears at Halloween for one day and disappears the rest of the year. He says that he opens the shop close to the home of the child who wants to scary everybody the most, and this year, Cassie has won over the other "contestant", a ten-year-old who loves Halloween as well. He tells her to use two heads instead of one. Sean finds a solution: make one head of the monster eat the other one.Cassie and Sean go to the gutter where the monster is nesting. The eggs are about to hatch. They find Max easily, and they free him, but the monster appears. It's Max who has to throw blood all over the monster. When Cassie encourages him, Max can eventually carry out the plan. The monster attacks itself and the babies are easy to kill.Priscilla, freaking out because she is covered in slimy goo, gets angered at Sean, but seems to be cleverer that what everybody thought, but not quite. The pizza guy invites Cassie, Sean and Max for pizza, but Priscilla wants to walk home on her own in the night.Back and safe at home, Cassie burns the book in the chimney. Her parents come back, and they find Cassie and Max hugging each other, so they are contented. Jack sees something in the chimney - it's the book The Evil Thing. He reads it aloud, and the monster wakes up once again. | horror, gothic, prank | train | imdb | The cartoon network is not my normal source for Sunday night movies but when I saw the previews for this new movie based on the R.L. Stein book it reminded me of my days of reading Goosebumps and decided to give it a try.
I must say that I was pleasantly surprised as it was a fun movie with its share of spooky moments that children will love around Halloween time.
The acting by the kids is well done, and Emily Osment (of Hannah Montanna) is great in the lead role.
I recommend this to all parents wanting to watch a spooky movie with their kids.
The version of the movie I saw was a special version in which Emily Osment did commentary along with the movie so that was pretty interesting too..I am not sure if this is on the DVD version but if it is it's an added bonus..
Horror-obsessed Cassie Keller (Emily Osment) likes to scare his afraid little brother.
Cassie buys a book "The Evil Thing" at a mysterious Halloween store from a mystery man (Tobin Bell).
Priscilla wins Pumpkin Queen at the Halloween dance and Cassie plays a prank on her.
Cassie reads the book to her little brother despite the warning "Do Not Read Aloud" bringing forth something evil.R.L. Stine is a widely liked kiddie horror series.
Totally entertaining Halloween movie.
Okay, I had never seen Emily Osment, either (although I knew she was Haley Joel's sister, for which I should be awarded some points, I think), but I thought she was excellent, as was all the cast.Guess what: when Halloween came around this year, I found myself looking for this movie again!
It is entertaining for kids, older kids and adults, and I recommend it highly for just about any age group (the icky monster stuff may be too much for really small kids), and as a family watch-it-together movie.
The thing that made me bring this movie down a few stars then i would have is the little brother, he is such an annoying pest and is scared of the silliest things.
Emily Osment looked completely different in this movie compared to her character in Hannah Montana, it was pretty cool to see her dressed as a goth.
The parts were played well and the kids did a good job bringing the characters to life.
All in all, remove the commentary, and this is a very good Halloween movie!.
Over the years, they've made lots of Halloween movies, usually kids movies and you can find them on TV like on ABC Family during Halloween.
You can also find some random Halloween movies you haven't heard of like at RedBox during Halloween.
Most of the Halloween movies are kids movies, and a lot of them seem more cheesy than they are scary.
It seems like a more entertaining film to watch on a big screen than Hocus Pocus which is like the most watched Halloween movie and which made the movie theaters.So, I watched this movie today after my work shift got cancelled because of the bad weather.
This movie seemed to entertain me more today than when I watched it on my computer.
I even thought of the movie as a little scary, and there was a scene that made me move back on my chair and gasp.
I like this movie as it's an entertaining Halloween movie.
We have Cassie who is played by Emily Osment and instead of being the blonde we recognize her for she is a goth.
We also have her little brother Max who wants to be close to his older sister, but she gets annoyed at him and he is scared of everything.
We have Sean who is the cool guy in the school and Priscilla who is a popular school girl, but enemies with Cassie.
This movie makes you feel a little at home and can even get you in the Halloween spirit early.
It's also cool how this movie was filmed in my home state, Pennsylvania in Cranberry Township where my sister used to live by Pittsburgh.
Or, I would even consider this number 1 of what he made and possibly the best Halloween movie.
But, the real thing that helped me from this movie in a positive way.
Lots of movies will try to leave you with good messages that can be helpful in life and characters that can be role models or characters we can relate to.
This movie will show messages like caring for family, and bravery, but here is how the movie helped me for a more personal example.
So, this R.L. Stine movie had a character who helped me out in real life where I figured if I needed help I should ask for it, and I don't have to think less of myself because of it or have to hide it anymore.
After trying to scare her brother with a tale of a monstrous creature, a teen finds that the titular creature has been released into the world and must try to stop it before it consumes more people from their town.This one ended being a pretty interesting teeny-bopper horror film that's quite fun.
Though a majority of these scenes serve as the building of their relationship and home-life that gives their relationship a nice touch with all their teasing and tormenting, and the school troubles thrown in there's a great balance here of acceptable teen melodrama with the flirtings of a decent horror story.
However, once the switch-over occurs, it's a lot more enjoyable here, starting with a creepy legend at the center of the film told within the book that's all quite fun overall.
Great family Halloween movie....
This movie is so very suited for Halloween, especially if you are a kid, teenager or if you got a family with kids.
The movie is just the right amount of scary and thrilling to be great for family entertainment for the most spooky of Halloween eves.From the creator of Goosebumps, R.
L. Stine, comes the thrilling tale of 13-year old Cassie who is stuck with her younger brother Max on Halloween.
Being fed up with her brother and his mishaps, Cassie decides to tell him a scary story from a book that she acquired from a very odd Halloween store.
Being spooked out of his mind, Max's imagination runs rampart, but the Evil Thing is not only a thing of his imagination.The acting in "The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It" was really great, and the actors/actresses really brought the story to life on the screen.
Emily Osment (playing Cassie) really carried the movie.
So for me, she was doing a great job in this particular family movie."The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It" tells a really good story that will keep the entire family entertained from start till end.The creature in the movie was great as well.
Of course, it wasn't super CGI effects like in those blockbuster Hollywood movies, but still, the creature looked nice and was nicely made.
If you got 1 hour and 23 minutes to spare on Halloween, then "The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It" is well worth watching, be it alone or with your family..
Emily Osment was able to pull the far stretched character of Cassie, the goth girl very well.
The fact it is a horror/comedy meant for the family seemed odd to my opinion, but The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It is now my favorite movie, granted I am a HUGE Emily Osment fan.
Although, I must admit the yellow monster goop towards the end of the movie was kind of weird looking.
Whether it was Sean (Cody Linley) acting goofy with a shocker pen or Cassie (Emily Osment) saying her amusing lines.
For instance, at the end Sean (Cody Linley) says to Cassie (Emily Osment) to "Stay weird." I personally loved the movie and hope you all do to.
But one thing that did annoy me was the movie's script at certain points.
For example, a bit before the end of the movie Sean (Cody Linley) says "Oh dang, gotta jet." I must admit, the line made me giggle but seriously, who speaks like that?
Haha, anyway this is a great movie and worth watching on TV/buying the DVD.
I'm not usually one to watch Cartoon Network, but I decided to make an exception for this movie.Young actress Emily Osment stars in this flick alongside Cody Linley and Alex Winzenread.
The acting is very, very good in this movie..
I liked that things didn't always work out for the characters the first time they tried it, like in most movies.The worst thing about this movie was the effects.
Of course, after I saw it, I actually enjoyed it.Emily Osment's character Cassie, is a welcome change from the normal female protagonist: a goth!
As much as I liked this movie though, there was something that bothered me, and this has probably been mentioned before: the ending.
It starts the whole thing over.The good news is that it was really well-scripted and just plain funny and fun to watch.Other than that one minor hitch, this movie is excellent.9/10.
Haunting Hour: The perfect halloween movie!.
i watched this when it first came out with my sisters, i wasn't a fan of goosebumps, and since it was Emily osment i was expecting a girly Halloween movie.
Emily is supposed to be a goth, and i could sense she did have some hidden issues, thats how good her portrayal was, the other characters are funny, except for her little brother who kind of annoyed me with his cowardice, but towards the end when he faces his fears, i was very pleased with him.
And now, for the best part of the movie, Emily is walking down a street and looks into an ally and sees a secluded Halloween store, the minute she walks in, i was in awe, they put a lot of work into it, and then she meets the shopkeeper, who is very creepy but mysterious, and hes played by none other than jigsaw from the Saw franchise!
of course i didn't know this when i was a kid, but later when i found out it was the same guy i realized he had the same demeanor, in fact it felt like it was jigsaw, his motives were very similar as well!
this thing gave me nightmares for weeks, its aesthetics were so good, and for a children's movie it looked super real, also i felt the dread when Emily was told never to read the evil book out loud, just like from the evil dead!
this a great Halloween movie, that is funny and scary, but not grotesque in any way, it was perfect when i was a kid, and it made me like horrors films after that.
And every year me and my siblings still like to watch this movie to get us all in the mood, watch this movie, and remember don't think about it....
I know I'm 3 days late, but this was a really good children's Halloween movie.
Emily Osment was very hot as the Gothic chick, Cassie.
Cassie's younger brother, Max is annoying and is afraid of everything.
Cassie is new in school, and made fun of for looking and acting different than the preps, except for Sean, who likes her for being weird.
After an embarrassing episode in the school's cafeteria, she runs into The Stranger, who sells her a book called The Evil Thing.
On Halloween night, the Evil Thing comes alive and attacks anyone who gets in its way.
It's up to Cassie, and Sean to save everyone and stop the Evil Thing.
First of all, the movie was pretty good, but there are two drawbacks: 1 They overdid the whole "halloween" tone of the movie 2 This is what really bothered me: has anyone seen "Godzilla 2000 Millennium?
still, I enjoyed the movie, I liked it better than the Goosebumps series, no offense intended, Everyone's entitled to their opinion..
Emily Osment steps outside of her goody goody personae as a goth girl who has had to move with her family to another town.
She then gets tasked with watching her brother on Halloween and when he accidentally turns off her computer she reads him a special book.
This book brings forth "The Evil Thing".
Now her brother is a super wuss and I did not like his character at all.
It is okay to be afraid of things but not like this kid is in this movie.
Of course the Evil Thing shows up and kidnaps the brother, a pizza delivery guy, and the queen of the dance.
To make a long story shorter Emily and the boyfriend use the blood from a roast to get the Evil Thing to eat itself.
It was a lot better than I imagined.It is perfect for children and I think kids will get a kick out of this movie.
I had a great time watching this film.The acting in the movie was pretty good.
At first, it was a little difficult to see Emily Osment as a goth, but I feel she pulled it off very well.
It was a stretch for her and I think it's great she's expanding her roles.Overall, great family movie!.
Cassie is a thirteen year old goth girl attending her new school where a preppy and rich snot named Priscilla goes out of her way to make Cassie's first days a misery.
Meanwhile at home, Cassie has to try and convince her parents to accept her Gothic lifestyle, and also enjoys scaring the head off her little brother, Max.One day while going to the local library, clad in the stereotypical goth black cloak and carrying an armload of horror novels, Cassie comes across a secluded Halloween store and her curiosity gets the better of her.
She meets a creepy old salesman who sells her a book called 'The Evil Thing', and she also gets her revenge on Priscilla at the school dance by filling Priscilla's pinata full of cockroaches.
Everybody begins calling Priscilla the Cockroach Queen, so Priscilla dares Cassie's crush, Sean, to read her diary.While babysitting Max on Halloween night, Max accidentally deletes Cassie's homework (kids, write by hand, you'll save more time), and to scare him she reads him 'The Evil Thing'.
Sean apologizes for Priscilla's jerky behavior but it isn't long before the Evil Thing monster comes to life...
can Cassie and Sean rescue Max, Priscilla and the local pizza dude from becoming food for a monster's newborn babies?
For kids this certainly isn't a bad movie.
It's a horror movie but no one dies aside from the monster, there is very little, if any, gore and it isn't very scary.
Cassie, Sean and Priscilla all look to be high schoolers, not to mention the school itself has a high school appearance.
The scenes at the school are like something out of a Lifetime anti-bullying film, and Cassie is too stereotypical, as if all goths do is act depressed, hate their parents, throw on a pair of headphones to listen to alternative rock, borrow horror novels and constantly think of death and creepy things.
And if you think I don't know what I'm talking about, I only graduated high school a year ago so I definitely know what real kids act like, it most certainly isn't this.
Priscilla's snob personality was way too overdone, as was Cassie's goth personality, to the point where both characters seemed incredibly fake.That being said, The Haunting Hour isn't a bad kids' film, although I liked R.
L. Stine's two-part TV movie Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House (1997) much better.
If this movie was ever remade, I think they should tone down the Wednesday Addams act from the role of Cassie.
Either way, check it out, it's not too bad and for kids who like horror but you're afraid Stephen King or George Romero might be too much for them to handle, this is a great compromise..
the story's all about this goth girl (Cassie) who loves reading horror.
she finds this out of the blue shop, where she bought herself a book called 'the evil thing' from a white haired weirdo.
It turns out that this books so called 'evil thing' turns alive if you read it aloud.
So soon, this evil monster grabs Cassie's brother Max, a pizza boy and the 'Pumpkin queen' Priscilla and locks them up in a spider web cocoon.
Great Halloween Movie for People Who Don't Like Horror.
Emily Osment did an amazing job playing Cassie.
And I think the ending could've been a little better, but I saw that the title said "Vol. I" or something..so maybe a sequel?
Even though it was really fake looking, I have to say parts of the movie I did get creeped out.
All in all, it was a great Halloween movie.
A fun thing to watch with your family or something..
It is so bad that by the end of it I can guarantee you will have completely lost all faith in a decent horror movie.
The cast: The main characters are an extremely annoying family of four made up of: two parents who add literally nothing to the story and who seem not to care for their children whatsoever and leave them alone for basically all of the film; their daughter, a Goth who has less acting talent then Johnny Rotten on crack cocaine and who always plays tricks on her brother; who in turn is an excruciating boy with the most irritating accent I have ever heard who constantly screams for his mother.
Then the Goth buys a horror book and her brother (while still screaming for his mother) begs her to read the book.
It is without doubt the worst film I have ever seen and I didn't even watch it to the very end (thank God!). |
tt0337921 | Cellular | The film opens with Jessica Martin, a high school biology teacher, talking to her son Ricky, while escorting him to the school bus. After she returns home, mysterious assailants enter her home through the back door, kill her house maid, kidnap her and confine her in the attic of their safe house. Ethan, the gang leader, smashes the only telephone in the attic to prevent her from contacting anyone. She has no idea who the kidnappers are or what they want. She pieces together the broken phone to randomly make a connection. She finally reaches the cell phone of Ryan who has just been dumped by his girlfriend for being too irresponsible. He takes it as a joke, but Jessica persuades him to go to the police. At the police station, Officer Mooney tells him to go to the detectives on the fourth floor. He begins to lose the signal in the stairwell, and must turn back to avoid losing the connection.Meanwhile, Ethan returns to the safehouse and asks Jessica about something she doesn't know. When Jessica tells him that she doesn't know, he tells her that he is going to get her son. Ryan, who overhears them, realizes how serious the kidnapping situation is. After Ethan leaves, she tells Ryan to get to her son's school before they do. Unfortunately, he is too late and her son, Ricky, is kidnapped and he quickly chases them by stealing a car owned by a school security officer. Because his cell phone's battery is dying, he drives to a shop for a charger. After being repeatedly redirected from counter to counter, he uses a gun from the security vehicle to hold up the store at gun-point to obtain the device.Sgt. Mooney, meanwhile, decides to check on the kidnapping claim that he received. He uses the Department of Motor Vehicles records to find the address of Jessica, but when he comes to her house, a woman meets him, telling him that she is Jessica and that everything is fine. Believing it to be a false alarm, he leaves. It is revealed that the woman is Dana Bayback, an accomplice of the kidnappers.Ethan returns to the safe house and asks Jessica for the location of a place called "The Left Field", where her husband, Craig, was. Ethan then shows that he has imprisoned Ricky in the garage and threatens to kill him if Jessica does not tell him what this this information means. She tells him that Left Field is a bar in the LAX airport. As he leaves, she tells Ryan that they have gone to get her husband. Suddenly a cross-connection between phone lines threatens the carrier signal. A lawyer talking to his mother breaks in. Ryan is able to find the lawyer and steal his car and phone, since his phone was cut off from Jessica's and the security car was just destroyed by an oncoming vehicle. She tells him to head for LAX and find her husband. At the airport, he tries to stop the kidnappers by planting the security firearm in the bag of one of them as they go through security, but when they are apprehended, they reveal that they are cops. This causes Ryan and Jessica to realize that Ethan and his gang are dirty police officers. Ryan then finds a man that apparently matches Jessica's description of her husband Craig, but this mistake in identity permits the kidnappers to apprehend the real Craig.On exiting the airport, he finds that the lawyer's car has been impounded. Meanwhile, a series of bizarre incidents have snaked their way into the news, including the one about a gunman who took a mobile charger and overpaid for it and an interview with the lawyer who states that his car was stolen by a man claiming it was to rescue a woman named Jessica Martin. Mooney sees the news and identifies Ryan. He calls Jessica's home and gets the voice mail, but this time notices that Jessica's voice on the answering machine is very different from the accented voice of the woman who claimed to be her.Craig is brought into the attic and forced to reveal the location of a videotape. He tells them that it is at Centurion Bank in his safe deposit box, but that they need him to retrieve it. Before they leave, Jessica acts a little fanatical to whisper in secret to Craig that he will have help at the bank. Ethan and his friends Dimitri and Deason go with Craig while another kidnapper stays on guard. Ryan also reaches the bank. The kidnappers retrieve the video-camera, but Ryan knocks down Dimitri, takes the camera, and flees to roof alone after failing to take Craig with him. However, he accidentally drops the lawyer's cell phone off the roof, smashing it to pieces. He manages to escape in a taxi-cab, telling the driver to go to the LAPD Auto Impound. In the cab, he checks out the camera. He sees that when Craig was taking some video footage of houses for his realtor job, Craig accidentally shot footage of Los Angeles Police Department Detectives Ethan, Mad Dog, Dimitri, Bayback, Deason, and Jack Tanner, a friend of Mooney, robbing and murdering drug dealers (which is a good thing that Ryan left the police station when he did, as the detective that Mooney was sending him to was in fact Tanner). After getting off at the impound lot and sneaking in while the receptionist is distracted by the lawyer trying to get his car back without paying a fee, Ryan steals the lawyer's car again and gets back his own cellphone, relieved to find that Jessica's call is still on hold.Mooney returns to the Martin residence, where Bayback shoots at him, injuring him. He retaliates and kills her, but learns to his dismay that she was a cop, too. Meanwhile, Mad Dog stumbles upon the phone line Jessica is using from the downstairs phone, and Jessica is forced to kill him by cutting his brachial artery before he could kill her causing him to bleed out in seconds. She attempts to escape with her son, but Ethan returns with Craig as a hostage and stops her. He is angry with her, wanting to know who that kid at the bank was. Before Ethan can do anything, Ryan uses his cell phone's memory to contact Ethan and makes a deal directly over the phone: the video tape in exchange for the Martin family. Upon learning of the meeting, Tanner convinces Mooney to delay his trip to the hospital for stitches, so that he can identify Ryan, who Mooney still thinks of as a prime suspect.The deal goes down at the Santa Monica Pier. Ryan tries to handle it his way in disguise, but his ex-girlfriend accidentally exposes him, after which Mooney is able to finger him. While Tanner sends Dimitri to help Mooney get needed medical attention, he takes Ryan to Ethan. Ethan destroys the video recording and Tanner radios the order to kill the Martins, although Deason in the van suggests to wait until they get to the safe house. However, Mooney overhears the radio transmission from Dimitri's radio and he realizes that Tanner is one of the kidnappers. Ryan escapes following a distraction from his friend Chad, while Dmitri attempts to kill Mooney, but Mooney overpowers and handcuffs him. Tanner and Ethan confront Ryan in a boathouse, where Ryan knocks out Tanner with a surfboard, but Ethan beats him up with his superior fighting skills until Mooney intervenes. After a brief cat and mouse game, Ryan, wounded, notices that Ethan has circled behind Mooney, and helps Mooney by calling Ethan's cell phone (revealing that Ryan's phone somehow was not water damaged after jumping into the river). The ring of the cell betrays Ethan's hiding place, and Mooney promptly shoots him dead. As Ethan falls, he looks dumbfoundedly at Ryan ... and then at Ryan's cell phone, the "weapon" that got him killed just before passing away.While this was going on, Jessica manages to strangle Deason with her handcuff chain from the rear of their van, then free her husband and son. But Deason was merely stunned, and aims his gun at them. Then Ryan suddenly intervenes and smashes him around till he's unconscious.While Ryan and Mooney are being treated by medics, Tanner is also exposed, because Ryan had made a copy of the videocam recording onto his cell phone, and the Martin family is set free. Jessica finally gets to meet the man who has risked his life saving her and her family. Ryan jokingly requests for her is never to call him again, and they laugh. | mystery, murder, violence, action, claustrophobic, suspenseful | train | imdb | The best part about this movie is that you actually feel sympathy for the victims, the plot is probable, and the action scenes do not require that the actors possess superhuman strength.
A kidnapped woman (Kim Basinger) frantically dials a random number on a broken telephone, reaching the cellular phone of a young man in a different state (Chris Evans) who begins a race against time to find and save her before the connection is lost or she is killed.Cellular is a fast paced, exciting and entertaining movie.
A thriller worth watching for its exhilaratingly fast pace, situational humor, and Chris Evans' star-making performance..
To try and patch things up, he promises to run a few errands for her, but on the way, he receives a call on his cell phone from a stranger named Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger), a woman who claims she's been kidnapped and is being held in the attic of an unfamiliar house.
Unfortunately, obstacles to keeping the phone signal going present themselves at every turn, and Ryan finds he must go through some extreme measures to keep Jessica on the line.It's these obstacles that make up at least half the fun of watching Cellular.
Even more troublesome is the climax, which has the unfortunate task of resolving every introduced plot strand, and while the results are still highly entertaining, it comes across a bit messy (though ironically finishing things up on a nice and tidy final note).Still, the story makes a lot of right choices when a lesser movie would have simply veered off course for good.
The movie also satisfyingly chooses to reveal its surprise villain halfway through rather than saving it for a silly last-minute unveiling.The film also boasts a good sense of humor, a lot of it coming from Evans, who handles the comic moments with natural ease (no real surprise, he was also very funny in Not Another Teen Movie).
This film revolves around Jessica(Kim Basinger) she was kidnapped, and she dials a random number which is Ryan's number (Chris Evans) who being coward person , he avoids helping people too .Howeve Ryan will launch in an incredible race against time to save Jessica, as well as he has no idea about what await him.The film was very amusing,exciting and entertaining.
We as Moroccan people we can watch it with our parents, that's means that this movie does no include scenes which are inappropriate, so "Cellular" can be watched by all age categories.Personally I think that this film transmit an important message to boys, especially to careless boys.All in all, I really enjoyed watching this captivating film.
Ellis, however, "Cellular" becomes an unintentionally hilarious cousin to Brian de Palma's "Raising Cain" and "Snake Eyes."Ellis seems to have unwittingly spliced together two different films with mismatched tones: Kim Basinger as the kidnapee and Jason Statham as the kidnapper occupy the deadly-serious, straight-to-video thriller half, while Chris Evans as the rescuer and William H.
Straightforward good cop, bad cop movie plot supporting the central star of a cellular phone.
If you expect substance, this movie is not it -- director Michael Mann's recent film "Collateral" 2004, with Tom Cruise, Jaimie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith, did optimize the cellular phone as part of a substantial plot progression.
It's a timely reflection, or reminder, of how cellular technology is consumingly inhabiting our lives, and here in this breeze of a movie, we have a life saver adventure -- a day in the life of Ryan (Chris Evans), to the rescue of a civilian family from the claws of relentless bad cops (well, nothing so complicated or devastatingly psycho-play as "Training Day," of course).
One would forgive or welcome the convenient plot points that Basinger happens to be a teacher of science/biology handy with wires (harkens the beginning credit of production company name -- "Electric Entertainment," hm), and Macy's soon to retire good cop happens to follow his curiosity instinct, and thank goodness Evan's character turned out to be not so goofy but smarter and thinking by the minute.
This movie proves that Hollywood has too much money and too many incompetent scriptwriters, producers and other people who make such awful bombs.The whole plot of this movie could be ended from the very first minutes at any time by just one phone call to the police.
it has a very disappointing start, middle and end, a terrible cast of basically nobodies, there isn't a single hot guy in this flick to perve on (come on gals, we all know we do, it's like a force of nature to look for a hot guy to perve on in a movie!)not to mention nothing for the guys...but apart from all that, it is still an awful movie!!
Take an episode of 24, remove any believable elements of the plot, replace the cast with actors who really REALLY cannot act (even Basinger is dreadful, more's the pity), sprinkle liberally with clichés and one-liners so bad Arnie would think twice, and you have Cellular.The movie starts with middle-class suburban American (Basinger) putting blonde-haired, blue-eyed all American son on school bus.
The movie has enough action that works to be entertaining for stretches and Kim Basinger does a commendable job with a strangely written role.
This movie was so fake, cheesy, and silly it took me 2 days to watch just 94 minutes of film.Chris Evans is hot and was some nice eye candy to look at but not even he can save this film.
The whole story is centred around the main young guy, who has nothing to offer as far as acting or action skills are concerned.I watched movie on the first day, in accompaniment of teenagers.
When I seen it I just can't explain how much I loved the movie and I knew would of liked it because phone booth is one of my favourite films.
Duhhhhhh.Get this....Basinger's kidnapped character, who must be president of the Extra Slow Talkers Club of America, so sloooooowly states her dire plight on the kidnapper's smashed(but quickly fixed by her!)phone to a dumb kid she happens to get on a cell phone and then she tries to get him to help her get away from her kidnappers, and she doesn't even think to ask him to look at her caller phone number on his cell, and then call the police so it could be traced in minutes to the place she is being held so she can be found!!!
But unlike story-provider Larry Cohen's sort of companion piece "Phone Booth," it's not quite as riveting.It's not the basic situation of Kim Basinger's life depending on her staying in touch with innocent bystander-listener Chris Evans (not that one); it's how it plays out.
Chris Morgan's screenplay also could have done with less absurd roadblocks to get in the way of the suspense rather than enhance it (how convenient is it that a riot should break out in the police station our hero goes to?) and a few less references to the Big Book Of Screen writing Clichés (ever noticed that movie cops on the verge of retirement always have to have something come up on the day they leave the force?).
It's been suggested on one of the forums I visit that "Cellular" is the kind of movie the Board would make if it was real, but it's not quite as imbecilic - it holds the attention and benefits from its cast (Basinger, Evans, Jason Statham, and especially William H.
Jason Stratham, you know from The Punisher & as handsome Rob in the Italian Job, does a great crooked cop role who is holding jessica (kim).Chris Evans is not only handsome but proved himself to be quite the actor as he is the only one who can save Jessica and her family.
I have seen quite a lot of Jason Statham movies and he is one of my favourite actors, somehow I managed to miss this one out and have only just seen it now, 9 years after it was released.I think the plot is fairly simple and easy to follow, the action starts pretty much straight away.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsJessica Martin (Kim Basinger) waves goodbye to her son like she would any normal morning.Then,men suddenly burst into her house,kill her maid and kidnap her,holding her in a barn with a phone which the chief villain,Greer (Jason Statham) promptly smashes up.However,she manages to piece it back together again and manages to contact Ryan (Chris Evans) a teenager with a hectic personal life,who becomes embroiled in a desperate battle to save Jessica and her family.Everything happens much too quickly for anything to have any effect and without enough dramatic build-up to the characters,their motivations and their roles.Not only that,Cellular is just full of implausibilities.Just exactly WHY does Jessica end up getting through to Ryan of all people without even apparently phoning a number?Why do the bad guys choose to store Jessica in a run-down,ramshackle barn that oh-so-conveniently manages to have a phone anyway?When the bad guys arrive at Ricky's (Jessica's son) school,why does he just wonder over to a car he isn't familiar with without the bad guys actually grabbing him before he steps a few feet or so (didn't his mother teach him never to approach strangers?!?)When Ryan's in the phone store,why does he just faff around with the other customers and the staff without alerting them to (and given) the urgency of the situation?When Ryan is searching for Craig Martin at the airport,why does he not just ask the guy he grabs and pulls into the mens room if he's him or not ("Is your name Craig Martin?",doesn't take a lot,does it?!?)There are a few more,but I fear they may give away crucial plot details.On the performances front,Evans sort of plays like someone you're just glad isn't Paul Walker,despite being the unfortunate namesake of a certain zany UK TV presenter who's been hitting the papers again lately.But Statham is a really,really poor villain.His character has no bite and no edge,even despite the air of mystery surrounding his abduction of Jessica and her son,and only manages to bite off chunks of mostly really inane dialogue in as forced a manner as possible.In the lead role,you can take or leave Basinger,but the movie benefits from the always reliable William H Macy in a supporting role.Despite it's mountain of flaws,it still manages to inexplicably hook you till the end.But when the novelty's worn off,this ultimately emerges as nothing but a wasted opportunity at something that could have been really fantastic but is instead just a really botched job.**.
After a few humorous quips and put downs ('lets see how FAR this will GO, William' and 'we'll get back to you in, say, 9 1/2 weeks, Kim')the committee decide that this would be the perfect film to revolve entirely around cellular phone technology, and after all there's that guy who writes stories about phones, Ethan?
My main problem, however, that i will share, was the fact that though Basinger's character phoned an apparently entirely random number she managed to get hold of someone who didn't just speak her language, or even just live in her own country, but she contacted someone who was about 5 miles away and who amazingly had nothing else of any significance to do all day besides from run round helping her.In conclusion, though, it wouldn't be fair to concentrate on these quirks, as it has to be said that the movie makers achieved their ends fabulously.
However the first twenty minutes of Cellular proved that not only were all the characters stupid in behavior, the acting was horrible, there were way too many convenient consequences for the character Ryan, and too many unbelievable situations (anyone in southern California will tell you how rare it is to find a parking spot right in front of every building you go to!) Although I didn't watch the entire movie I seriously doubt if it could have morphed into something remotely enjoyable or entertaining in it's last 75 minutes.
The desperate woman reveals herself as a science teacher held hostage in her attic while a bunch of unknown guys have taken over her home and want to kidnap her son and kill her husband; she doesn't know why it's happening except it's on her.Ryan does what he can to make sure the woman is alive while staying on the phone meaning that there's no way he can hang up.
A riot breaks out in the station before the woman could be saved.It's a race against time with Ryan as he goes all over the city like a maniac looking for various cars and various chargers for the phone while encountering many people from a crooked face lawyer to the thugs that want to hurt the family."Cellular" is one great thriller that plays like the film "Speed" where we don't know what's going to happen next.
'Cellular' looks to be one of the latter.Written by old-school TV writer Larry Cohen, this is not his first film where the whole premise of the movie has been based around a telephone conversation.
His previous film 'Phone Booth' (2002: Colin Firth and Keifer Sutherland) was admittedly quite good, however as is inevitably the case with sequels, when something works the first time it is often reproduced at a far inferior rate to that of the original (perhaps this time it has something to do with the absence of Joel Schumacher in the director's chair).The basic plot of the story is that Kim Basinger gets kidnapped and locked in a room while the bad guys are trying to find her husband.
The idea that this young guy goes from taking photos on his phone and having a good time at the beach, to running wild all over LA with a gun, is I think asking a bit much for the audience to believe.
I don't mind suspending reality for a couple of hours, but when something doesn't make sense it takes the focus off the story, which is what a film is supposed to be all about.While I am a big fan of some of the actors in this movie (William H Macy, Jason Statham) I feel that none of the cast were given good enough material for them to be able to create convincing characters and perform at their best.
The characters are never really developed - the hero goes from bored to excited but never takes a pause to think or anticipate; the heroine alternates between terror and misery (yet she shows thought once or twice); the bad guys are adapted wholesale from other stories; and the assistant good guy is disengaged throughout most of the movie, almost as if he realizes what a snoozer this flick is.
A bad story of a guy being called on his cell phone what ruins his day.If you were ever considering seeing this movie, I have one advice.
If i were a bad guy i'd have shot Kim Basinger's character at the start of the film.
As we might expect, kidnap victim Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger) is descending further and further into desperation but remaining strong the whole time; her contact Ryan (Chris Evans) is overall clueless but has a heart of gold; cop Mooney (William H.
I saw this movie way back in 2004 when it came out on DVD.One of Chris Evans' first major films, co-starring with Kim Basinger, he really shines in this film.
I remember watching 'Cellular' back in 2004 - a film about a woman (Kim Basinger) who gets kidnapped and imprisoned while be tortured by Jason Statham's attempt at an American accent (why didn't they just let him use his native British accent?!).
All these years and I've only just watched it again to find that this 'everyman' just so happened to be Captain America (only without his shield), Chris Evans.'Cellular' does feel like a bit of a 'nineties' action movie (even though it was made in 2004).
Macy is also a great actor to watch, but I couldn't help but think that every aspect of his (police) character had already been done (better) in 'Falling Down' courtesy of Robert Duvall.And yet, despite all these gripes (and more!), I still can't bring myself to coming anywhere near close to hating this film.
Often, cell phones in movies have little to no signal when the plot calls for it, but CELLULAR goes too far in the other direction.
Seriously, with all of the obstacles that Chris Evans' character comes across there's no way that his phone, much less one made in the early 2000's, could have withstood everything that happens in the film.
Let's start with acting.Chris Evans was OK as this kid who gets a cell phone call and decides he's finally going to think about somebody other than himself.
If Ryan (Chris Evans) and Jessica (Kim Basinger) had thought for just one second the way to go about things the movie could have been over in 5 mins.
You have William H Macy, Kim Bassinger, Jason Statham and Chris Evan( most of you r probably thinking he normally does comedy but in this film he can act and be funny at the same time).
I couldn't get that song out of my head, it suited all the action scenes brilliantly and also for the end credits with all the names popping up on cell phones of all the characters.To most people, this film is pretty far fetched but, in another way, it's a message which tells us that bizarre events can happen!
Action at the beginning started very quickly, more like a crime based television series than a film, not giving any time to get to know the main characters or relate or empathise with them in any way. |
tt3531824 | Nerve | Venus "Vee" Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior living on Staten Island. She surfs the web and gets a Facebook notification from her crush, J.P. (Brian Marc), who tagged her in a photo that she took. Vee gets a Skype chat invitation from her friend Sydney (Emily Meade). Syd mentions a game called 'Nerve' that is about to launch for the next 24 hours. The game involves "watchers" and "players" - the players are given dares to do in exchange for money, while the watchers pay to watch everything happen. Syd has signed on to play and encourages Vee to join her, but she declines.Vee wants to go away for college but is worried about leaving her mom Nancy (Juliette Lewis) behind all by herself. It's been years since Vee's brother died, and neither of them have really gotten over it.At school, Vee takes photos for the yearbook, but most of them feature J.P. She joins her friends Tommy (Miles Heizer), Liv (Kimiko Glenn) and Wes (Marc John Jeffries) at a pep rally. Syd gives Liv her phone to record her dare. She joins her fellow cheerleaders and moons the entire school. Her dare is complete.The gang later goes out to eat. Syd keeps trying to get Vee to join Nerve since Vee never takes risks. They see J.P. sitting with his buddies. Syd decides to go over and talk to J.P. for her. She asks him if he would be interested in going out with Vee, but J.P. says she's not his type. Upset, Vee leaves and goes home. She logs onto Nerve and is told the rules before she makes a move. Dares must be recorded on the players' phones, and if they bail or fail, they lose their money. Also, nobody can snitch on Nerve, or it'll end very badly. Vee decides to become a player. Immediately, Nerve starts to obtain all of Vee's personal information.Vee calls Tommy to take her to a diner for her first dare. She must kiss a stranger for five seconds to get $100. The clock is ticking as she hesitates to pick someone. She spots a guy named Ian (Dave Franco) reading her favorite book, Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse". Vee kisses him while Tommy records. The dare is done. Vee goes over to Tommy, who is more annoyed than anything (he secretly likes Vee). When she turns around, Ian is gone. He is then spotted going all around the diner singing and putting on a grand performance as part of his dare. He goes to Vee's table, and she is dared to go to the city with him for $200. Although uncertain at first, Vee joins Ian on his motorcycle, leaving Tommy behind.Vee and Ian make it into the city and part ways. She then gets a new dare to try on a couture dress. Vee tries it on and then finds Ian in the same store trying on a suit. When they go back into their dressing rooms, they find all of their stuff is gone. The next dare for both of them is to leave the store. They remove their clothes and leave in their underwear. A bunch of watchers record them as they leave. They find the clothes from the store on Ian's motorcycle for them to keep. Their phones then buzz for the next dare. Before they head out, a player named Ty (Machine Gun Kelly) passes them and comments on their dares, and he also implies that he personally knows Ian.Tommy stays at the diner and decides to watch what Vee is doing. He gets in touch with his hacker friend Azhar (Samira Wiley) and asks for "a ticket to Aruba". Azhar thinks it's risky, but she sends him a code for access to a site called Aruba. Tommy discovers past videos of Ian playing Nerve a year earlier. He stole the motorcycle and was hanging from a crane with two other guys.Syd is going around the city with Liv and Wes to continue her dares while gaining more followers. She becomes displeased when she learns Vee is catching up to her watcher count.Vee and Ian go to a tattoo parlor. Ian draws a secret tattoo for Vee to get. It turns out to be a lighthouse as a nod to her favorite book.Nancy then notices that money is being transferred into her and Vee's joint account. She calls Tommy to ask what's going on. Tommy, unable to snitch, says Vee got a job and is having money transferred to her account.Vee and Ian then ride a carousel. Syd and her friends watch at a house party. Vee talks about joining Nerve to get Syd off her back, claiming that she always makes it look like Vee is insecure when it's really Syd that is insecure, and how she always has guys come over when her parents are away. Hurt, Syd seeks out a new dare. She encounters Ty at the party, who suggests that she team up with him. Syd declines. Ian then suggests to Vee that they go to the party.Syd gets really drunk and is then dared to walk across a ladder from one apartment to the next. It's especially terrifying for Syd because she's afraid of heights. After making it halfway, Syd slips and drops her phone. She bails out of Nerve.Vee and Ian arrive at the party. Syd takes the chance to call Vee out on what she said, leading to a huge fight between them, leaving Syd humiliated. Vee decides to complete Syd's dare and she walks across the ladder almost effortlessly. When she goes back to make up with Syd, she finds her making out with J.P. Vee then learns that Ian was dared to go to the party to get Vee and Syd to fight. Angered, Vee decides to tell the cops. Ian runs after her and pleads with her not to do that, but she doesn't listen. Vee sees a cop and tells him about Nerve, but he does nothing. Nancy then calls Vee and says all the money in their account has been taken. Now alone, Vee comes across Ty, who says he has to win the game, and he knocks her out cold.Vee wakes up in a freight container with "SNITCHES GET STITCHES" painted on the walls. A TV in the container turns on with a computer voice telling Vee that because she snitched, Nerve now controls her life, family, and future. The only way for her to escape is to win the game. She gets out of the container and is told to get on the ferry. She runs into Ian, who explains to her that like him, she is now a prisoner of the game. For Ian, it happened a year earlier when he, Ty, and a third guy named Robbie were dared to hang from a crane. Robbie slipped and fell to his death. Ian and Ty went to the cops, but Nerve ruined their lives and took away his money and his father's job. Ian says he will do a dare that places him ahead of Ty so that he and Vee can make it to the finals.Vee meets up with Tommy and Syd, where she reconciles with both of them. They get in touch with certain people as part of a plan. Meanwhile, Ian takes a dare in which he must hang from a crane with one hand for five seconds. He succeeds and advances to the final. Vee goes through the city and must pick up a package, which turns out to be a loaded gun.Vee and Ian make it to an arena in front of over a hundred watchers for the final round. Tommy and Syd meet up with Azhar to hack into Nerve's server, and Nancy meets with them there to watch the final round. The dare involves Vee and Ian having to shoot each other. Ian tells Vee to shoot him so she can win. Vee refuses. Ty appears and says he will shoot one of them. The watchers cheer him on. Vee decides to take the shot over Ian. As everyone records, she calls everyone out on wanting to watch someone die for the sake of their entertainment. Nerve then decides to put Vee's life to a vote. The majority votes YES for her to get shot. Ty fires the gun, and Vee goes down in Ian's arms. Every watcher then has their names exposed and a message notifying them that they are accessories to murder, with the option to sign out. Everyone does, allowing Azhar to crash Nerve's server and shut it down for good. Vee then reveals she was alive, having orchestrated the whole thing with Ty involved (he fired a blank).Everything goes back to normal, and Azhar makes it so that Vee and Nancy get their money back. Vee and Ian (who says his real name is Sam) decide to pursue a relationship. They share a kiss as the sun rises on a new day. | revenge, suspenseful, romantic | train | imdb | This movie comes at the perfect time with the craze of Pokemon Go; a time when you literally see millions of people obsessed with an app - where you can find videos of hordes of people in NYC all running after a particular Pokemon.This is essentially the premise of the movie: a new app (game) comes out that takes teens in a particular city by storm, except the consequences can be much graver.As to not give anything away, I try to be brief:The acting was great; the pacing was great, the color pallet and tone of the movie were all top notch.
The movie tries to win you with likable characters, scenes that show familiar problems to most internet users (e.g.Skype call glitching) and with a cute little morale story at the end but fails as it provides no depth to be discovered.
Some scenes are super cringe worthy and left me feeling uncomfortable about my movie picking skills.It's just one of those films you watch and forget about in a day, doesn't leave you questioning some character's decisions or the way it ended which left both me and my girlfriend disappointed.
It also acts as a vehicle for up and coming talents such as Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, who both give good performances.Roberts in particular shines in every scene, and it is her character of Vee who goes through the biggest journey throughout.The plot doesn't hold up to much scrutiny, but it is an action packed film, that proves entertaining.If you can stomach the fact that it's really just people doing lots of irresponsible things then you'll enjoy the film.
This was a movie that I thought had a very cool premise, but at the same time, its trailer appeared to leave no surprises to be discovered.The Good This film's premise is definitely a fun one, and at the least, this movie was almost constantly entertaining.
The dares that these people are forced to do as well as the reasons for why people are playing this game are things I found very fun and interesting.Emma Roberts and Dave Franco both give solid performances in this film, and they each work well off of each other.
The style of this movie is also a reason as to why this film feels original, as the sleek visuals create some very cool scenes.The Bad Nerve can be very fun when it wants to be, but the problem is that it also takes itself way too seriously in many scenes.
The whole plan doesn't make much sense at all, and there are way too many unanswerable questions to just let go how convoluted it is.While I did like Roberts and Franco, I had a massive problem with Emily Meade.Whether it is the design of her character or the performance, Meade is completely unlikable and lacks any sense at all, and that would be okay if we are supposed to be against her.
Nearly every dare, every important conflict, and even the plot twist can be found within this movie's official trailer, and I highly recommend avoiding that trailer like the plague if you have any interest in seeing this movie.Conclusion Nerve has good performances from its two leads and a unique visual style, and it certainly has its fair share of entertainment.
Always timidly in the shadow of her best friend – the extrovert Sydney (Emily Meade) – Vee pooh-poohs Sydney's compulsion with the new viral internet game 'Nerve': a social media 'Truth or Dare' ("but without the truth") challenge game where you can either be a "Player" or a "Watcher".
But this is a novel approach to a teen flick, bang on the topical money in bringing in the frenetically viral nature of social media and aspects of the 'dark web', cyber security and open source programming.The film manages to generate significant credibility about the impact that a game like this would have among a teen audience.
That's the question at the center of the NYC-set millennial thriller 'Nerve.' The Emma Roberts-/Dave Franco-starrer is a commentary on the perils and pitfalls of our budding voyeuristic society as our lives continue to shift from the real to the virtual world.When an underground online game sprouts up among high school-aged kids that rewards those who dare to accept dares, all kinds of havoc is unleashed on the boroughs of New York.
Also, really you should shut off the movie now if you even have a remote understanding of the term open source.Kind of not worth your time anyways unless your understanding of tech is limited to that of an 80 year old North Korean farmer.However the characters and setting are pretty well done.
In other words, I saw the end.The film has a deceptively clever little setup; Vee (Roberts) a goody-goody living on Staten Island is coaxed into an online truth or dare game, only without the truth.
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman may have been channeling Nicolas Winding Refn or Rick Famuyiwa's work in Dope (2015) but they really only succeed in reaching the sophistication of Untraceable (2008) drenched in warm neon.Our leads Vee and kinda-sorta Nerve teammate Ian (Franco) don't really feel believable within the context of the film not to mention believable as teenagers.
Ian's backstory remains murky until near the end but upon closer scrutiny post-credits his "too-cool-for-school" act feels more like a story contrivance than honest characterization.What separates Nerve from other YA screen adaptations, and truly makes this film beyond loathsome is its rather cavalier and quite frankly disgusting attitude towards privacy, technology, social media, democratization and human nature.
I much rather believe as Thomas Jefferson once did that "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." Nerve puts that idea into doubt forcing me to fall back on the tired refrain of it's just a movie.And it is just a movie; the walls of Jericho are not going to be tumbling down just because Emma Roberts made out with Dave Franco at a diner.
This is a hard movie to review because there is really no point to it.It is probably meant as a statement about the danger of the internet, the addiction and the pressure associated with social medias, and how detached we are from all the suffering in the world through our screens and phones.
Basically, we just follow a teenager (Emma Roberts) trying to figure out her future by having a crazy night-out and going out of her shell by using the application "Nerve", where "watchers" proposes challenges to "players" with an increasing difficulty as well as money if they complete each of them, until a final showdown at the end of the night between two players who have the most watchers.
The worst part is, if we take away the "Nerve" game and replace it with Dave Franco being a classic attractive bad-boy with a mysterious past who seduces Emma Roberts, it would have work pretty much exactly the same.
"Nerve" is a very disappointing movie which looks good in terms of cinematography and that is easy to watch without being too bored.
Nerve is very self-aware when it comes to these issues and uses them in an original and interesting way, influencing the film entirely.The plot is well influenced by this self-awareness, as we follow Venus or Vee (Emma Roberts) and Ian (Dave Franco) through an Internet game of truth or dare minus the truth, where you sign up to the game as a watcher or a player.
Nerve is a step in a new direction of noir films of today; taking into account the ideas and concerns about technology and uses them to entertain, shock and thrill us from start to finish..
It is a nationwide phenomenon that is the subject of Nerve, based on the Jeanne Ryan novel, a timely piece of summer entertainment that gives teenagers what they want simultaneously with what they need.Thank goodness this type of mobile game doesn't exist, but thank even greater goodness that directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3 and 4) made it feel as close to real as we could probably grasp it.
But the directing team's most creative narrative technique is the unsettling effect of putting us behind the point of view of the phone screens, as if we're the watchers communicating with the players.Joost and Schulman similarly draw us in at the start of the movie with a wonderfully stylistic opening hook, where a teenage girl's PC fills up the entire screen as if we were the ones running the show.
With Lionsgate wrapping up their insanely successful Hunger Games franchise with Mockingjay (Part Two) last year and stepping on egg shells with the Divergent series, this is exactly the sort of film that they should pursue as they attempt to craft their new wave of cinema.Summary: Nerve takes an intriguing premise and selection of themes, two charming leads, solid direction and beautiful visuals to deliver an adrenaline-packed, original film, that may just be one of the strongest of the summer.
Emma Roberts plays V and she does an alright job in this film, she gives her best to the role it is just her character isn't that interesting.
The story of the film has some interesting dares in it as you see these two people work there way through the challenges, I can't deny that it is fast paced and interesting to watch.
Again, I never cared for her character, partly because of the writing (she makes one of the quickest 180 degree turns in personality you will ever see), but also because Roberts was just not able to sell it for me.So far this feels like a very negative review, but the truth is I didn't actually mind the film too much.
I base my reviews and recommendations on one thing and one thing only—"Was I entertained, and do I feel like the movie was a worth my time and money." With Nerve, the answer is an emphatic "Yes".Granted, the movie isn't without its plot holes, and events that defy belief.
Franco said he did not previously know how to ride one, so the directors gave him a motorcycle and a couple weeks to learn before letting him loose on the streets of New York and trusting him to drive co-star Emma Roberts around.Someone also asked whether or not there is any concern that someone will now try to create a similar game in real life.
Not that the possibilities for shrewd commentary on the dangers of covert cyber surveillance are not manifold; it's just that the heroine, Venus (Emma Roberts), is too clueless about the ramifications of playing Truth or Dare on a phone with millions of watchers zeroing in on you as Player.The thriller first becomes absurd when Ian (Dave Franco) drives his motorcycle blindfolded with Venus guiding him.
The plot is "A high school senior finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of watchers." The sad thing is, this is not the story and when you will watch the movie you will get confused that, what is the synopsis and what is the actual story.
If there's anything that we should take away from the movie, it's that spending all one's time on an online game can be dangerous (never mind the fact that people can use those games to collect your personal information).So, it's not my first recommendation if you're looking for something to watch..
To start, the soundtrack was effective and enjoyable.The plot itself and lack of development did the cast a disservice.Great cinematography to boot was appreciated, NY is a top city and I have visited many times.The script itself was poorly written, no advanced vocabulary whatsoever.The twist at the climax of the movie was completely underwhelming, the opportunity to create a link with the lead actress dead brother was so obvious but over looked by the writers.
What a waste to use an actress of her caliber so sparingly.The narrative for me is social media is getting completely out of control and its better living through reality, doing so is much more likely to bring you love and meaningful connections.I had high hopes for this film after scanning reviews on here, I'm an avid movie fan.
Nerve: first of all, has a wonderful scenario.like the blue whale game was formerly populer game on earth.If we go to the movie,I've sensed disconnections in some scenes,especially in transitions.I can say that there were irregularities in some scenes at camera angles.Because the whole image is either attracted by viewers or broadcast owners, and We can watch the film through their images,I may not have fully understood the balance.
This is a very entertaining film about daring game, a genuine adrenaline rushing game,will make you jump off your seat due to its suspense, the ending was kind of meh, and dissapointing for me but the overall idea and performace were striking there were several suprising appearances of celebrities so many were involved in this movie , really recommend it for the adrenaline junkies out there ..
Emma Roberts her part perfectly but I feel that this movie should have had some more character development in regards to Dave Franco and Machine Gun Kelly's characters but over all, I enjoyed the film..
This film does a good job of making you care about the characters, even if the rules of the game are muddled and the ending feels a bit forced.
Cinematography and everything was solid but the movie feels like it is as empty and vain as the characters in the film.
Nerve(2016) Starring: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade, Kimiko Glenn, Juliette Lewis, Samira Wiley, Miles Heizer, Marc John Jefferies, Machine Gun Kelly, Brian 'Sene' Marc, and Ed Squires Directed By: Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost Review I was actually looking forward to seeing this film when it originally came out in the summer but I didn't get too see it because it came the same week as Star Trek and well I of course saw that first or it came out around like that time and I just had a bunch of other movies to review first.
A high school senior named Vee i finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to be manipulated by an anonymous community of "watchers." If there was any other thing that made me want to watch this film aside from Emma Robert's(who I personally think is a fine actress) and ave Franco(who is an actor who I wasn't too familiar about but I theorized he had a relation to James Franco) was just the idea of an online game where you almost threaten your life for money and with everyone watching.
The two who last the longest without giving up go to the finals.The rules of the game take much of the film to get a grasp on, but it makes sense when it needs to.Along the way, Vee meets Ian (Dave Franco)--another player.
Her friend Sydney (played by Emily Meade) is a big player of the online game Nerve, which is a dangerous "Truth or Dare" challenge where watchers pay to watch and players play to earn money.After a humiliating rejection from a guy she likes, Venus signs into Nerve as a player, where it collects everything about her (bank statements, I.D., social media pages, etc.
It at least makes a lot of the dares interesting.Both Emma Roberts and Dave Franco have good chemistry and are fun to watch.
Instead this is just a fun movie that leaves the viewer as a watcher of the two popular contestants played by Dave Franco and Emma Roberts.
Now when I write these things, I am not against people themselves enjoying a video game here, or there (although I think there are a lot better things you could be doing with your time), or saying that I am against all technology and social media at all (even though I choose not to really use any of it myself).
The new film, Nerve shows us these cautions as the characters in the movie are engrossed in a mobile device game of more, or less Truth or Dare.
In Nerve, Emma Roberts stars as a young woman whom is in talked by her snobbish best friend (Emily Meade) into playing an online truth and dare game, which players are dared into pulling crazy and dangerous stunts, which they win prize money.
The film has a good message and it teaches us about the dangers of online gaming and social media.
While I was sitting in the theater watching Nerve, all I could think about were things that I thought could have improved the movie going experience.
Let's get startedThe GOOD Fun Adventure Great Acting Decent Story When I saw the trailer, I though the movie was going to be more of a serious thriller.
Her best friend is an extrovert who makes it her life goal to have the most fun possible at all opportunities, and has signed up for a city-wide internet dare game called Nerve.
Especially when it keeps a pretty fast pace the whole time.Overall it's a good little movie that is fun to watch and doesn't get too dumb towards the wrap-up.
Once dared by her best friend Sydney (Emily Meade of "Money Monster") to try Nerve: an online reality video game of objective-focused "truth or dare" where people either enlist online as "players" or pay to watch as "watchers".
It actually does a good job in displaying the kids of this generation, and it reflects what this generation likes and what its about.Nerve is a game played on the internet.
The movie also has us believe that every little thing Nerve does is completely automated, except for the dares sent by the watchers. |
tt0110823 | Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead | Immediately after his apparent demise at the end of Phantasm II, a new Tall Man emerges from the white room dimension fork. During this time, the hearse driving Liz and Mike carries on and explodes. Reggie, who was attacked by the Alchemy/Tall Man creature, rushes over and finds Liz dead and a dwarf devouring her face. After killing a few dwarfs with his 4-barrel shotgun, the Tall Man appears, apprehending Reggie and an unconscious Mike but leaves when Reggie threatens to detonate a grenade. Stating that he wants Mike in one piece, the Tall Man leaves with Liz's head in hand claiming to return for Mike when he's well again.After apparently spending two years comatose in a hospital, Mike has a near death experience, in which his brother Jody appears and tells him he's not ready to cross over into the light. Mike walks on but the Tall Man stands in his way causing him to wake up. Just as Reggie arrives, Mike is attacked by a demon nurse but fights her off. A sphere emerges from her head and crashes out through the window. Back at home, Jody appears again to warn Mike but the Tall Man arrives via dimension fork, fights off Reggie and Jody (now forcibly transformed into a charred flying sphere) and draws Mike through the gate with him.The next morning, Reggie (with the Jody-sphere) travels to the small town of Holtsville, which turns out to be deserted. Reggie is captured by three looters who lock him in his Cuda's trunk and drive on to another house. There they are attacked and killed by a little boy named Tim, who also releases Reggie.After they have buried three looters in the yard, Tim tells Reggie how the Tall Man took his parents and destroyed the town. In the morning, Reggie and Tim find the three graves empty and their pink hearse gone. Setting out to find the Tall Man, Reggie wants to leave Tim with a woman looking after orphans but the boy hides in the trunk and comes along.Reggie enters the Holtsville mausoleum and is confronted by a sphere. Before he can destroy it, he is assaulted and subdued by two young black women, Tanesha and Rocky. Reg tries to warn them but the sphere kills Tanesha, as well as damaging Rocky's nunchaku. Tim appears and shoots it out of the air with his pistol. The three join forces and drive on, looking for a town called Boulton, which contains a large mortuary. On their way the come across a convoy of hearses driven by gravers and follow them.As they camp outside, the Jody-sphere floats over to Reggie. In a dream, Jody appears and leads Reggie to the Tall Man's lair, where Mike is imprisoned in a small cell. The two free him but the Tall Man reappears and pursues the three. Jody is transformed back into a sphere and Reggie awakes. Jody appears again, opens another gate and Mike emerges. The Tall Man tries to emerge as well but Reggie manages to shut the gate just as he was about to reach through, cutting off the Tall Man's hands. They manage to fight off the small creatures the hands morph into and also later the pink hearse containing the three comically-zombified looters.They reach Boulton mortuary, where they come across a cryonics facility, which reminds Mike that the Tall Man dislikes cold. While Reggie, Rocky and Tim are separately attacked by the looters, Mike consults with the Jody-sphere, who explains that the Tall Man is amassing an army to conquer dimensions. He also shows him in a dream what the Tall Man does with the dwarf creatures he has created from the dead: he removes the sapient part of the brains to create the spheres, turning the body into a drone and the mind into a killer. The Tall Man senses their presence and before they can leave, and paralyzes Mike. Surrounded by hundreds of spheres, the Tall Man reaches for Mike, who wakes up and finds himself strapped to the table. The Tall Man grabs and subdues the Jody-sphere and welcomes Mike. Soon after, two of the looters, Rufus and Henry, wheel in Tim. Mike tries to give a message to the boy, saying "There are thousands of them", but is paralyzed beyond speech by the Tall Man.Rocky meanwhile manages to shake off her attacker and goes on to fight off Reggie's. Cut free by the Jody-sphere, Tim runs into the remaining looters who are killed by the Jody-sphere and Reggie's 4-barrel shotgun. The trio crash into the embalming room, where the Tall Man has begun operating on Mike. Rocky impales the Tall Man with a spear dipped in liquid nitrogen, causing his flesh to begin melting. Rocky and Reggie lock him into the refrigerator room. A golden sphere breaks out of his head, crashes outside and chases through the corridors. Surprised by the golden sphere, Reggie catches it with a plunger and is almost overpowered by it. With help from Rocky and Tim, he submerges the sphere in the nitrogen tank neutralizing it.In the meantime, Mike climbs from the table and sees yellow blood issuing from his wound. He looks into a mirror and sees a golden sphere in his own head, concealed his torn skin. Just after the Tall Man's sphere has been dumped into the nitrogen, Mike appears, showing silver eyeballs, complaining of the cold and walking outside. Reggie chases after him but Mike warns him to stay away. Jody leaves as well telling Reggie that they'll be in touch.Reggie suggests searching the mortuary but Rocky leaves having had enough of dealing with the undead. Reggie and Tim go back inside and Tim reports that Mike said that "There are thousands of them." Unknown to them, dozens of spheres are hovering above them.In the next room, Tim finds the poles of the dimension fork and the nitrogen tank overturned. He goes back to find Reggie pinned to the wall by force of the spheres. Tim tries to get his gun but a new Tall Man reappears and watches as Tim is pulled through a window by a creature followed by the sound of him getting torn apart and killed... continuing the films' trademark ending. | good versus evil, paranormal, cult, comedy, violence | train | imdb | It also, like the second one, shows that the ending you THOUGHT you saw isn't exactly what happened...and somehow Reggie survived in order to keep fighting The Tall Man. However, Mike IS gone...and he only appears in the film as more of a guest star.
And let's not forget one of the creepiest screen villains in the last 30 years - Angus Scrimm as the ubiquitous Tall Man. This time around Reg and Mike continue to battle the Tall Man from the last scene in Phantasm II - eventually Mike is kidnapped and Reg finds some new pals - an eleven year old that has holed himself up in his house whilst battling intruders and killing many of them as well as a martial arts using woman with that Grace Jones look and the sizzle of speech that a film like this needs sometimes.
i remember being pumped up about seeing the original cast of mike and jody returning to the phantasm series but being just as dissapointed with this 3rd installment.for one you have too many villains to deal with.it's not just the TALL MAN but these hoodlums which eventually turn into zombies working for the tall man.the TALL MAN doesn't need any more people helping him other than those dwarfs and it just takes away from his character.the spheres are back and just as impressive but this film is just a liitle too campy and does not satisfy your loyal phanatics like myself.the little boy character was a nice addition so he could tag along with reggie and help our hero, but the rocky character should have been left out.it is somewhat humorous watching reggie trying to snag her throughout the flick.good special effects for a low-budget movie and somewhat entertaining but not containing any real suspense and that weirdness factor if you will that the first one had and the second one had as well.definately the weakest in the series but does get you ready for the fourth one {OBLIVION}which is considerably better.
I just don't get it.Some people say this is the worst in the series and it's not.Phantasm 4 is,anyway Phantasm 3 picks up right where part 2 left off.Phantasm 3 has a great movie plot, in my opinion my favorite movie in the series.The characters are well played and seem life-like.The sets are stunning and give the movie more of an errie felling.I found the Boulton Masuleom the scariest and best set of them all.The zombies weren't that boring and there one liners are pretty funny.The music is great like always and the Tall Man returns will more deadly flying spheres, gore, and horror.I recently just bought the uncut version on Ebay and I must say it is better than the cut version.The cut version is good though.the movie is worth seeing..
Better Than Part One, Slightly worse than Part Two. After seeing Phantasm III about 5 or 7 Times i can only reach one conclusion...It is a Darn good movie, probably 2nd best in the Whole Series.
Continuing off "Phantasm 2", Reggie (Reggie Bannister) just lost Mike (Michael Baldwin) to that evil being called Tall-Man (Angus Scrimm).
Reggie joins with orphaned 11 year old Tim (Kevin Conners) and feisty militant woman Rocky (Gloria Lyn Henry) to ward off the Tall-Man's minions and try find out his secret.Another exciting installment of the unique Sci-fi horror fantasy saga "Phantasm" from writer and director Don Coscrelli.
Included are a kid who is a horror-movie version of Kevin McAllister, a butt-kicking karate fighting black woman who uses nun-chucks for no other reason than they differentiate her from the other characters, that guy with the skullet who has been in all the Phantasm movies so far, and the horribly uncharismatic kid from the first movie, who has thankfully grown up and is less annoying this time around, though his presence adds nothing to the movie besides a call back to the first one for those who still remember it.The Phantasm movies are famous for two things: Angus Scrimm in the role as the villainous Tall Man, and the flying silver balls he employs to drill into people's heads.
The second Phantasm movie provided some background to the Tall Man's movements in the series.
Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury return as brothers Mike and Jody in Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead.
With the story it was beginning to feel that Coscarelli is going back to the same well perhaps too many times by the third movie with some story points, but some of the new characters do assist with this (e.g. Rocky being the attempted love interest and giving Reg some attitude).
The two points though weren't enough for me to not enjoy the movie as a whole and Scrimm is still and always was great in the role as The Tall Man. But, if you love the spheres they get a real showing here with a lot more info about them, so if that interests you that may be a plus for you as well..
I just saw Phantasm 3 for the 1st (yup!) time, and one of the reasons is I'd seen the 2nd film, a (long!) whilst back, and was do turned off, I didn't feel like moving ahead to the next film.What a pleasant surprise!The 'hyphen'; 'director/writer/creator', Don CoscarellI, got his groove back on, and made what's a fun, road-trip-type film, with a wonderful threesome; Reggie, the young boy, Tim, and Rocky, a young woman, who's army-trained.I give the creators, and stars of this film kudos, because they could've made a(nother) clichéd film - and had they dine so, it would've really killed Phantasm.However, this straight-to-video film shows that it's NOT the amount of money spent on a project, it's TALENT, which makes a difference, and this is a film which should show ANY up-and-coming film maker that you do your W-O-R-K - get a good (decent 😉) script, and actors who know how to act, and you can actually make something which will easily be better than ANYthing the horrors, made by such no-talents as Bey, or any 'actor' who's 'talent' is equated with a price tag.A social thumb's up to both Ms. Gloria Lynne Henry, as 'Rocky', and Kevin Connors, as 'Tim'.
Like with every sequel in the series, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" begins immediately where the previous film leaves off (in this case "Phantasm II").
Michael Baldwin after being replaced in part 2) get away, and run into Jody (Bill Thornbury), Mike's brother killed years earlier by The Tall Man and has become a servant of his.
During his search for Mike he runs into a sexy looter (Cindy Ambuehl) and her friends, a kid (Kevin Conners) who can shoot straight, a girl named Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), and more of The Tall Man's flying silver spheres.
Plus the Anchor Bay US DVD is great pretty good.CONS: Killing/ignoring Liz, a few continuity errors annoyed me, Michael Baldwin's performance wasn't very good in comparison to the first and fourth films, seeing Bill Thornbury was nice was it wasn't really necessary, the thing with brains and extend able eyeballs in the silver spheres I wasn't really fond of, and of course, the whole thing with Liz.OVERALL: "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" is a very fun and humorous fantasy/action flick that is very enjoyable.
Michael Baldwin's return didn't really thrill me like it did others since he appears very little and gives a below par acting job (he gives a great one in "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" though) but Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister are great as usual.
In the third entry of the Phantasm series, Mike and Reggie continue chasing the Tall Man, assisted by a trigger-happy 9 year old, a black G.I. Jane and the spirit of Mike's deceased brother (he died in the original Phantasm).
Michael Baldwin as Mike, and Bill Thornbury as Jody, who returns from the dead(!) to warn his brother Mike that the tall man is more determined than ever to not only succeed in his plan of human enslavement, but that he also wants Mike himself this time.
This time, Reggie's got two new sidekicks (a tough kid and an even tougher chick) and he's out to track down the Tall Man, who has kidnapped Michael for some reason.
In this case it's the Silver Sentinel Balls of Hunting Death (or whatever they're called), which by this instalment have lost a fair bit of their menace.The film does serve it's purpose as a sequel though by fleshing out the Tall Man's motivations and revealing a bit more of what's going on whilst still confusing you with it's surreal logic (or lack there-of).There's also plenty of laughs, as it's mining the same vein of slapstick horror as the 2nd movie, and while the new sidekicks couldn't be more ludicrous if they tried, we have to assume that they are trying and that Coscarelli is every bit as aware of the ridiculousness of a nunchuk wielding ex-military hottie as the audience is.
It's also hilarious to watch Reggie continue to develop into a Bruce Campbell style horror hero, especially he's the least likely loverman you're likely to see in a movie.Like the 2nd film, you're not going to be scared but if the humour is on your wavelength then you should find it a very enjoyable fantasy adventure..
Being in college, and having recently rented the first Phantasm, and somewhat liking it, and renting the second one, and liking it more, and becoming an overnight Reggie Bannister fan, I had to get this one to see more of the story.This movie answers a lot from the first two, which suck at story telling and excel in plot holes.
Our heroes Reggie and Mike are going after The Tall Man once again.Chasing him they stumble across all manner of friends(a militant chick and the annoying kid who seems to pop up in films when all else fails).The comedy aspect featured here is pretty weak-Reggie Bannister has some good one-liners though!There is plenty of gore as people are dismembered in various ways.The film is never boring,so if you like "Phantasm" series give this one a look!.
However I would have preferred him to concentrate more on scenes like the creepy house where Tim is found and other times like when Reg is alone in a deserted town these scenes had a really good chance of being both suspenseful and creepy but little is made of them.Overall the movie is good for fans of the series, it answers questions and asks new ones which leave you wanting more.
More directors nowadays should attempt this when making horror films, because the style back then mixed with horror much better than the glossy atmosphere that is too often done today.Reggie Bannister is as much the Phantasm series as Don himself is.
In "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead," we learn that there are thousands of these balls, and it made me wonder how The Tall Man has so much time to construct them, in between robbing graveyards, dissecting bodies, creating evil dwarves and driving across the country in pursuit of new towns to ruin.
Just like the "Critters" series, "Phantasm" falls back on flashbacks, recurring characters, movie in-jokes that reference earlier sequels, and familiar gimmicks (such as the endings).
Did they really make that much money?Taking place directly after "Phantasm II," this film has Reggie joining up with Tim (Kevin Connors), an orphaned child, to help find Mike (now played by the original A.
With the help of old and new friends, Reggie finds himself face-to-face with The Tall Man and another dimension, where he finds Mike trapped and unable to escape.Hunky 80s teen icon James Le Gros (well, he was popular in Japan) looks absolutely nothing like puny A.
I didn't think was as good as Sequel, I did find some part of this movie just bit better then first.I really enjoyed how the movie started off, was really good, there a few good decent scare scenes at the start.I thought it was great to start this movie however the movies soon dies down and takes it's while for it's to get going again.There few scenes that enjoyed but it shame the scene before and after a little bit dull, I didn't really like that more people got involvedeven for few seconds I thought I was watch Home Alone Horror style, when added the new kid to the movie , I wasn't sure were the plot was going in this one, it all come together in the end.Near the end of the movie, I was only really half watching, So overallit's not were near as good as the second movie, i found some part of the movie better then first.The acting in this movie from some of the cast is really wooden at times,6 out of 10.
The Phantasm franchise starts to take an unfortunate dip as the story between Mike, Jody, Reggie and The Tall Man progresses.
I feel that that the Tall Man takes a back seat in this film and Reggie and the two new, over the top characters take the lead.
The best thing about all the movies is perhaps the evil tall man character, who deserved to be part of a better or at least more interesting movie series really.
With the help of Jody (who is mainly in the form of a silver sphere now) and some others that he picks up along his journey, including a young boy named Tim (Kevin Connors) and a woman from the Army, Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), Reggie begins a relentless search for the Tall Man's current location, where he has Mike, and what he plans to do with him.A different but very entertaining entry, "Phantasm III" is a very fun film.
Not only do we have The Tall Man plus his dwarve-creatures and army of spheres, but we also have a trio of thieves that Reggie stumbles upon, who end up as zombies that continue as antagonists throughout the film.
And while I thought the new character of Rocky almost seemed misplaced (kick ass Army chick with an attitude), I liked her a lot and I thought the actress portraying her did a great job.Overall, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" is a sequel that has it's share of problems, and differs a lot in style from the other movies.
He teams up with a resourceful kid and an ex-army chick to find Mike and continue his hunt for the Tall Man while dwarfs, sentinel spheres, gravediggers and zombies are all on their trail.The following hokum will seem very familiar as it's almost exactly what happened in Phantasm II, so while it's certainly not original in this respect I still found it to be loads of fun as the pace just doesn't let up and new characters and locations keep popping up to keep things interesting.
Picking up after the dreary and depressing Phantasm II ended; The Tall Man kidnaps Mike, while Reggie and new kid Tim spend most of the rest of the movie trying to get him back, and not end up as slaves on the Tall Man's "Red Planet".
Like the other Phantasm movies, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" has a colorful--arguably a little TOO colorful--set of characters.
Reggie finds out that the Tall Man has a lot of balls and gets nailed to the wall while some dwarves take that Tim kid away...Now try to explain all that with a straight face.Overall, it's a quirky, decent movie worthy of a 7 rating (10 being the highest).
Also there is a severe lack of midgets running about.The only good bits are the cracking start and, of course, Reggie B.(Possible SPOILER coming Up)To me this film seems like a filler between II and IV as extra characters just leave at the end so can continue with main 4 in IV.Overall very, VERY disappointing.
Universal Studios was going to put this out in theaters before differences with Coscarelli, yet the direct to video release of this film was in the top 100 rentals of that year - ah, the magic days when video rental could help a movie succeed!Right after the end of the last film, the Tall Man comes back from the Red Dimension just as the hearse with Liz and Mike in it explodes.
The minute he wakes up, his nurse turns into a demon with a ball inside her skull.Soon enough, the Tall Man is back, transforming Jody into a sphere and taking Mike with him, sending Reggie on a road trip.
He ends up in a small town where three gangsters - somehow this movie becomes The People Under the Stairs for a bit - throw him into the trunk of his car but are thwarted by Tim, a young kid who has been fighting the forces of the Tall Man.Of note, Tim's house is the same house from House!Much like how Princess from The Walking Dead comic has to be directly influenced by Alma from Warriors of the Wasteland, the way Carl Grimes dresses seems like too much of a coincidence when we see Tim in the film.Reggie and Tim make their way to a mausoleum where they team up with Rocky, a tough woman who is good with nunchakus.
Fans of the PHANTASM films are thrilled to be getting these movies released on blu-ray format from Well Go. Sure they've been available as DVDs but the clarity and crispness of these blu-rays feels like seeing them for the first time.At the end of the second film the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) was supposedly dead only to come back once more.
There they find the Tall Man & attempt to rescue Mike from his clutches...Written, produced & directed by Don Coscarelli the third film in the Phantasm franchise isn't an overly impressive one.
And to you who doesn't liked it "It's time for you boy" Phantasm III lets us follow Reggie and Mike from the end of PII. |
tt0000417 | Le voyage dans la lune | At a meeting of the Astronomic Club, its president, Professor Barbenfouillis, proposes a trip to the Moon. After addressing some dissent, five other brave astronomers: Nostradamus, Alcofrisbas, Omega, Micromegas, and Parafaragaramus agree to the plan. They build a space capsule in the shape of a bullet, and a huge cannon to shoot it into space. The astronomers embark and their capsule is fired from the cannon with the help of "marines" (most of whom are played by a bevy of young women in sailors' outfits). The Man in the Moon watches the capsule as it approaches, and it hits him in the eye.Landing safely on the Moon, the astronomers get out of the capsule (without the need of space suits) and watch the Earth rise in the distance. Exhausted by their journey, they unroll their blankets and sleep. As they sleep, a comet passes, the Big Dipper appears with human faces peering out of each star, old Saturn leans out of a window in his ringed planet, and Phoebe, goddess of the Moon, appears seated in a crescent-moon swing. Phoebe causes a snowfall that awakens the astronomers, and they seek shelter in a cavern where they discover giant mushrooms. One astronomer opens his umbrella; it promptly takes root and turns into a giant mushroom itself.At this point, a Selenite (an insectoid alien inhabitant of the Moon, named after one of the Greek moon goddesses, Selene) appears, but it is killed easily by an astronomer, as the creatures explode if they are hit with force. More Selenites appear and it becomes increasingly difficult for the astronomers to destroy them as they are surrounded. The Selenites capture the six astronomers and take them to the palace of their king. An astronomer lifts the Selenite King off his throne and throws him to the ground, causing him to explode.The astronomers run back to their capsule while continuing to hit the pursuing Selenites, and five get inside. The sixth astronomer, Barbenfouillis himself, uses a rope to tip the capsule over a ledge on the Moon and into space. A Selenite tries to seize the capsule at the last minute. Astronomer, capsule, and Selenite fall through space and land in an ocean on Earth, where they are rescued by a ship and towed ashore.The final sequence depicts a celebratory parade in honor of the travelers' return, including a display of the captive Selenite and the unveiling of a commemorative statue bearing the motto "Labor omnia vincit". | psychedelic, satire | train | imdb | Influenced by the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, as well as Adolphe Dennery's adaptation of those pieces, the story is about a gang of astronomers, who, launched from a cannon onto the Moon, encounter explosive aliens (or "Selenites", as Méliès called them).Méliès used the stop-motion (or substitution-splice) effect and arising smoke for explosive characters in many of his films--same with superimpositions, animated miniatures and placing a fish tank in front of the camera.
As one of the first films of the science fiction genre, "Le Voyage Dans la Lune" (or "A Trip to the Moon") is revered as the greatest achievement of stage magician and film pioneer Georges Méliès and one of the most important movies ever done.
Written and directed by Méliès himself, "Le Voyage Dans la Lune" is a wonderful visual fantasy that shows Méliès' imagination at its wildest form, and how with limited resources and lots of creativity he managed to make a film like nothing the world had ever seen before."A Trip to the Moon" is loosely based on the books "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne, and "The First Men in the Moon" by H.
After arriving to the Moon in their bullet-shaped spaceship (it was launched by a giant cannon), they discover the Selenites, the people from the Moon; and as their presence is unwelcome, the group of astronomers will have to fight for their survival.With a runtime of barely 14 minutes, "Le Voyage Dans la Lune" is an awe-inspiring ride of fantasy, adventure and magic that more than 100 years after its release, still captures the imagination with its wonderfully crafted visuals and its charming comedy.
The now iconic image of the Man in the Moon being hit in the eye by the spaceship is only one of the many amazing scenes that the genius of Méliès crafted with great imagination.Director D.W. Griffith said about Méliès, "I owe him everything" and Charles Chaplin called him "the alchemist of light" and both men were absolutely right in their remarks.
"Token" is important there, as this surely isn't the first film we could call sci-fi--even Trip to the Moon director/writer/producer/star/production designer/etc.
But this is the first widely known and accepted sci-fi film, with a significant length, and it has the important distinction of a pithy, well-told story, which Méliès based on Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon), first published in 1865, and parts of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, first published in 1901.
Thus, he made rapid advances in production design, literary content, special effects and further developed an early form of editing, providing a bridge between the early shorts, which were purely mise-en-scène, to a more modern form of montage.A Trip to the Moon's scenes, with their elaborate production design, complete with backdrops painted by Méliès, are still constructed in a way similar to Thomas Edison's The Barbershop (1894), or the Lumière Brothers' Baignade en mer (1895)--that is, with complex, layered, contrapuntal motion playing out before a static camera, which represents the audience's point of view as they watch the action unfold on a "stage".
George Melies's `A Trip to the Moon' welcomes a change in film making of the twentieth century.
George Melies's `A Trip to the Moon' welcomes a change in film making of the twentieth century.
Still used today, Melies's special effects, small models, painted backgrounds, weird makeup and costumes were just some of the important things used in the movie `A Trip to the Moon.'For the filmmaker Melies, the use of stop action photography played an important role in `A Trip to the Moon.' He specialized in making objects vanish or change by stopping and restarting his camera.
Nowadays we have a bunch of options before choosing a movie, from realistic dinosaurs to computer generated images and from mind throttling actions to terrifying stunts, we have them all but in this era of technology nobody can ignore the true genius of George Melies, as I had seen 'A Trip to The Moon' I was amazed that what he had done in 1902 with all his limitations.
The film is an embodiment of cinematic revolution coming only eight years after the Edison shorts, which had been dazzling when first released, it made all other films look ordinary and unimaginative in the face of the abounding creativity that the film demonstrates.The special effects are mind-blowing when taken in the context of the era in which it was released and the tight, structured narrative provides amusement and enjoyment for fans today, over 100 years after the film's release.
They even feature this movie on the famous HBO series "From the earth to the Moon" complete with an archieve interview of one of the person involved, I forget his name, but all fans of the wonderful film, should catch the last part of that series, they show how in great detail how the film was made and all the troubles they went through.In all, anyone can enjoy this, who knows?
Full of imaginative uses of editing and photography and inspired by the works of Jules Verne, the film contains one of the most recognizable images in motion picture history: the sleek, steel-riveted rocket ship jutting out from one of the eye sockets of an expressive man in the moon.
From a technical standpoint, the special effects set a standard for its time.Anyone interested in the origin of film should make it a point to view this classic film that is one of the first complete stories, and an entertaining piece of cinematic history..
One comical moment shined when the explorers were loaded into a spaceship shaped like a bullet, and were shot into the "moon's eye," through a giant size cannon.I agree with the user: Snow Leopard's review in the films entertaining and historical value.
But because this film came WAY before moon landing existed, it's still incredibly intriguing seeing how people thought space travel might be like then.
Looking through some of the reviews, others have stated the same sentiment, but nevertheless, I cannot think of a better term to describe this, it really is magical.I was aware of the famous still of the moon before I had actually seen this movie, but had no idea where it came from and it ended up being years before I would stumble upon this.
A Trip to the Moon is the most famous movie by Georges Méliès, who made over hundred films, mostly in theatrical manner, and is pioneer of special effects.
These desires were translated in George Méliès' 'Le Voyage Dans La Lune', and that - added to the fact that it was the first science fiction movie ever made, and the first film with a proper plot and storyline – was what made the film a tremendous success with the public.
The story about a group of astronomers that travel to the moon in a rocket ship, explore its surface and return to earth with a captive lunar inhabitant fascinated the audience, for it was something never done before in entertainment history, and because it captured the spirit of innovation, of technological advance, and of discovery of the time.This is what made the film so relevant at that time, and what contributed to maintaining its relevance throughout the years.
The scene where the spacecraft lands on the moon is legendary, and deserves to be!The movie is just a prime example of the best of cinema back when film was still an art in development, and the people behind the scenes really were writing the language of film-making in the process of making the actual motion pictures.10/10!.
On top of it lies the fact that this 12 minutes long film was released in 1902 which may indicate just how influential it has been to later film-makers.The story itself is based on the famous and genre-defining science fiction story "From the Earth to the Moon" ("De la terre à la lune", 1865) by French author Jules Verne (1828-1905).
On the moon, however, trouble stirs as the newly arrived explorers may not be alone.A lot of effort has been put into it, making use of a team of acrobats, well made costumes, great designs and visual effects all contribute to an experience that some would find difficult to believe has been produced at the start of the 20th century.The film can be enjoyed by people of all age groups and as one of the truly pioneering works of fictional film-making it's a must-see for film lovers..
Georges Melies' 'A Trip to the Moon' is considered the first Sci-Fi film by some, and some say it's just a fantasy.
And not only - it is science-fiction action film, because how else could you view the fight scene between scientists and the Selenites.Georges Melies was a pioneer of narrative filmmaking.
A lovely short, that even the technical difficulties of its time can't stop the viewer from escaping to the fantasy world that Georges Méliès has so beautifully crafted.The aesthetic of the film is truly mesmerizing, especially in the hand-colored version.
Any movie buff should of watched Georges Méliès's 1902 cinematic classic, A Trip to the Moon.
Originally called Voyage dans la Lune, this film was made in 1902 and is considered to be the first actual film made - of course the definition of film is up to you as the first ever motion picture was back in 1878 - but this is a movie specifically shot to entertain an audience, it had a plot, characters and special effects.The story consists of a group of astronomers (who seem to resemble wizards) who travel to the moon and then meet alien beings.
I think A Trip To the Moon just shows us how far we've come in the last century; just over 100 years of cinema and we have CGI, 3D, motion-capture, fantastic concepts that really did seem alien in 1902.
A Trip to the Moon is widely regarded as a landmark film in the origins of cinema and showcased the fantasy elements of storytelling and special effects.The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston.
The film has elaborate production designs, animation and truly innovative special effects especially the iconic scene of the rocket landing in the moon's eye.It was a very popular short at the time and has been imitated countless times or paid home to especially in a popular music video by the band Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s..
The way events are sequenced and the parts of the tale that the filmmaker chose to portray on the screen, with all the costumes, running characters, smoke, 2 shots of the same event (landing on the moon), and the marvelous sets; a trip to moon is a film that entertains and creates awe.The effects created leave us thinking about the tricks adopted and how can we do something so simple yet fascinating with just a camera, some space in-front of it, and some people, because at the end of the day its about communicating and sharing stories.
Using that standard, Georges Lumiere made a brilliant film, which, in many ways, is certainly much more charming than a lot of today's sci- fi blockbusters.It's a simple and very fast paced (even frenetic) story that begins with a group of astronomers gathering to devise a way to travel to the moon, continues through the building of the rocket ship and the entry of the explorers into it, continues with their flight to an exploration of the moon and finishes with their triumphant return home - all in less than 15 minutes.The sets and costumes are wonderful.
110 Years Later...Not Bad. Before This, All Film Was Experimental, With Shorts Like "Roundhay Garden Scene" Or "Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge" This Is Not News To Anyone, Even Those Who Only Know Film As "A Way To Be Entertained".Enter George Méliès, A French Magician Who Saw The Ability To "Make Magic" Through Film.Now Because Of What Little People Knew Of Astronomy Back Then I Will Lay Off The Obvious Plot holes Like "The Moon Doesn't Have A Breathable Atmosphere" Because Back Then They Didn't Know.
But watching this with it's release year in mind, it's actually fascinating that they managed to conceive a story like this into a 14 minute film that wraps up like it does and moves along at a good pace.The imagination and special effects in this are really quite cool.
This movie has such a good look to it, and the special effects are good for the time, including a very impressive shot where the moon gets closer and closer until the space shuttle hits the "face" of the moon which uses an actual human face.
Often cited as the first example of a film in the Science Fiction genre, Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) (English: A Trip to the Moon), is nothing short of impressive considering the elementary state of film-making at the beginning of its history.
As well as advancing techniques in areas such as production design, special effects, and early editing, the film pioneer took cinema to new heights when he recognized the storytelling ability of the medium.Indeed, Le Voyage dans la Lune illustrates in 8-14 minutes (depending on the fps) what it would take a modern film of the same plot and premise an hour and a half to show.
Either way, Le Voyage dans la Lune is a spectacular practice in special effects, with a simple, but engaging story and fantastical mise-en-scene that adds up to an extremely entertaining experience.Recommended to both Science Fiction and Fantasy film enthusiasts who wish to see the origins of their beloved genre in film.
Georges Melies' short film, "A Trip to the Moon" is the birth, the quintessential first born, of the sci-fi genre.
With amazing special effects, imaginative characters, and a story that loomed with eerie darkness, Melies proudly created a film that everyone, with no exceptions, would try to mimic through the next century and beyond of cinema.
Without continuity editing and other types of shots movies would not make any sense.His mastery of entertainment on the screen and behind the camera along with his brilliant knack for writing is what makes Le Voyage dans la lune (The Voyage to the Moon) such a timeless treasure.In this film you see Méliès pull out his whole bag of tricks using highly decorated sets and costumes along with great editing and excellent performances for a silent film.
As one of the first science-fiction movies ever created, A Trip to the Moon enthralled both French and American audiences alike with special effects and cinematography ahead of its time.
A Trip to the Moon, directed by Georges Méliès, is one of the first science fiction films ever made.
George Melies' A Trip to the Moon is a short but insightful film on the manner in which technology was viewed in the early 1900s.
George Melies creates the first action film and the first sci-fi film with his production of A Trip to the Moon.
Based on Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune, the film sees a group of astronomers travel to the moon inside a large bullet fired from a huge cannon; once safely on the moon's surface, the scientists explore the terrain and discover a strange race of creatures called the Selenites (portrayed by acrobats from the Folies-Bergere).I feel like something of a philistine for not absolutely adoring Méliès' A Trip To The Moon: it's an undeniably important work in terms of furthering the art of movie-making, introducing such techniques as cuts and fades, but this classic of fantastical cinema made far less of an impact on me than I expected it to.
Watching it today, it looks very quaint (no closeups or medium closeups and carried forth like a stage play) but the sets are amazing for their time and who hasn't seen the iconic shot of the rocket in the Moon's eye??
(*Note*) - Due to A Trip To The Moon's age, I have cut it a lot of slack with my 6-star rating.Released in 1902 - This novel, hand-tinted, Sci-Fi short (now 113 years old) has got to be one of the most technically innovative films produced up to that time in movie-making history.For its day, this film's special effects are really quite impressive and entertaining.
From pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès and inspired by Jules Verne, it's the story of a group of astronomers who launch themselves to the moon on a rocket.
However, because film has existed only in the relatively recent past, and also because at some point all projected motion pictures have left behind their original camera negative, we can fairly definitively create a full appreciation of the history of cinema.Georges Méliès' A Trip To The Moon cannot, however, claim to be the first ever piece of film to be shot, with that particular honour going to a 1888 feature, Roundhay Garden Scene.
By the time he produced A Trip To The Moon, he had been creating special effects based on his experience as a magician, for six years.
Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon) is an early experimental film produced in 1902 by film pioneer Georges Melies.
While George Melie's film only runs 14 minutes, projected at 16 frames per second, which was the standard frame rate at the time, the uses of innovative animation and special effects was ground-breaking.
i think this movie is fun to watch because this movie was filmed before people really knew what the moon actually was like .
Georges Méliès's trip to the moon is a marvelous film that has Jules Verne and fantasy written all over it.
Georges Méliès was a revolutionary in film, and "A Trip to the Moon" is the quintessential example of his pioneering work.
Overall, Georges Méliès short film, "A Trip to the Moon", was a film that sticks with us today because it was far ahead of its time. |
tt0055830 | Carnival of Souls | While out for a drive, three girlfriends get into a car race with two boys. As the car chase takes them down backroads, they come to a bridge. Trying to get across it, the girls car ends up crashing through the side and the car sinks into the water.Some time afterward, a search party is brought out, but after several hours, there appears to be no sign of the car. However, things take a turn for the surprising, when one of the girls, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), emerges from the water, cold and shaken. Some people ask her questions, but she does not give any answers at that time.Some time afterward, Mary gets a job as an organ player in Utah. Before she leaves, she stops by the organ factory in town, and places on their organ for them. The place she is going to has an organ made from the same factory as well. When the Factory owner requests that Mary come back some time to play for them again, she claims she will not be returning.Mary then takes off on her trip. As she nears Salt Lake City, Utah, her vision is drawn to a dark pavilion lying back a ways towards the horizon. As she glances out the passenger side window, she is shocked to see a man staring in at her! Mary turns away and looks back, but the figure is soon gone. However, Mary is shocked again when the same figure appears on the road in front of her, causing her to drive off the road. Collecting herself, Mary gets back on the road, and heads towards Salt Lake City.Mary rooms at a residence, presided over by a woman named Mrs Thomas (Frances Feist). There is another person rooming at the house, a rather slimy warehouse worker named John Linden (Sidney Berger).After putting her things in her new residence, Mary goes off to the church to meet the Minister (Art Ellison). She practices on the organ, but after some time, stops and sits by a window to contemplate. The Minister asks her if she would like to take a ride with him to an appointment. Mary also makes a request that since the appointment is outside of town, if they could drive by the pavilion she saw on the way in.The Minister agrees, and they drive up to the entrance. The Minister explains that the place is gated off to keep people out. Mary seems curious to go in, but the Minister says he won't, given that there are rules forbidding people to enter.Returning back to the apartment, Mary takes a bath, but is interrupted when John knocks on her door. He offers to buy her dinner, but she refuses. After John has left, Mary walks out and looks over the railing, only to see the man she saw before standing in the 1st floor foyer! As he walks towards the stairs, Mary returns to her room and bolts the door. Sometime afterwards, Mrs Thomas comes up with a sandwich and some coffee. When Mary inquires about the man she saw, Mrs Thomas claims she didn't see anyone on the way upstairs. Mary insists she saw someone, but the landlady claims that Mary's mind must be playing tricks on her.Mary soon after attempts to go to sleep, but her mind finds itself drifting away to the pavilion.Waking up, Mary finds a knock on the door, and John enters offering homemade coffee. As they talk, Mary then explains to John her job as being an organist for a church in town. John thinks that Mary must be a very religious girl, but she explains that she doesn't care either way, and that she plays just so she can get paid. Mary thanks him for the gesture, and then goes out to shop for clothing.Going into a Department Store, she tries on a dress, and then changes back into her own clothes. However, upon exiting the dressing room, Mary is surprised when it seems that the sound of the world has stopped around her, and nobody can hear or see her! Wandering out of the store and into a nearby park, she breathes a sigh of relief when she hears some birds chirping, and the sounds of the world seem to start up again.Going over to a drinking fountain, Mary stops to drink, but upon seeing a black suit in front of her, Mary looks up and panics! Rushing over to a nearby man, she insists that the man by the drinking fountain is the one she's been seeing...but it soon appears she was in error, even though Mary insists it was him.The man she rushed to is a Doctor. Intending to calm her down, he takes her to his office nearby, and listens to everything Mary has to say. The Doctor assumes that the appearance of this apparition to Mary may have something to do with the trauma she experienced after surviving the car crash. When pressing Mary to see if the figure resembles anyone she knows, Mary insists she's never seen the man before. Feeling that the man may have some connection to the abandoned pavilion outside of town, Mary decides to go there, cutting off the Doctor in mid-analysis.Mary soon arrives at the abandoned pavilion, and begins to walk around. Strange things happen here and there, but she soon calms as she walks around.Returning back to the house, she meets up with Joe who again offers to take her out to dinner. Mary claims she already ate, but when Joe offers to pick her up after her organ practice at the church, Mary agrees, claiming she doesn't want to be alone.Mary then goes to the church, but as she plays the organ, something strange comes over her, and she finds herself playing a strange, and eerie melody on the organ. As she plays, a vision comes to her of a group of people inside the pavilion's enormous ballroom area, dancing. Each of them resembles the man with pale skin, and dark areas around their eyes.Suddenly, the Minister's hands press down on Mary's, ending the song. The Minister is shocked at the music that Mary has chosen to play, and orders her to resign from her post. At these words, Mary quietly gathers her things and leaves.Outside, she runs into John, who eagerly takes her to a club. John keeps trying to be sociable to Mary, but she just seems distant and unable to respond, even though she claims she likes being with him.Going back to the house, John attempts to get intimate with Mary, but she does not seem to welcome any of his advances. As she goes over to her dresser with a mirror on it, John walks up behind her, but to Mary, the reflection is that of the eerie man she's seen before! Mary then yells for John to stay away from her, and John leaves, as Mary pleads that she doesn't want to be alone.The next day, the doctor whom Mary had met previously shows up. Inquiring to Mrs Thomas, she explains that Mary was moving furniture in her room around all night, and would not let her in in the morning. The Doctor claims he gave Mary advice, but Mrs Thomas claims to the Doctor that she doesn't want Mary lodging with her any longer. The Doctor then assures the landlady that Mary intends to leave soon.Sometime afterwards, Mary packs her suitcases, and quietly leaves the house, not saying a word to Mrs Thomas when she speaks to her.Mary's car gives her transmission trouble, and she ends up going to a local service station. When the station attendant asks her if she wishes to get out of the car, Mary refuses. She stays in the car as it is lifted into the air on the service station's platform. As a customer pulls in for gas, the attendance leaves Mary alone in the garage.As she waits, she hears the sound of a door open, and heavy footsteps. A hand then turns the release valve for the lift, and the car slowly lowers to the ground. Mary has the doors locked, but as she hears something that makes her back towards the passenger door, it suddenly flies open!Mary runs for her life down the street. As she does so, suddenly she finds that like in the Department Store, she has become invisible to people, as well as the sound of the world cuts off.Rushing into a bus station, she finds tries to buy a ticket, but the attendant will not listen. Suddenly, a loud speaker blares of a bus leaving from gate 9. Mary rushes from the gate and quickly rushes onto the bus...only to be met with the wide-eyes stares of the apparitions she saw dancing in the pavilion's dance hall! They smile and chase her off the bus as Mary runs for her life, calling out and pleading for someone to hear or see her!Mary returns to the park from the day before, and just like the day before, she hears birds chirping and the sounds of the world start back up again. Mary then rushes to the Doctor's office, requesting that he help her,feeling that she is really going crazy. The Doctor's chair has been turned away from her, but as it turns around, she finds the man from before sitting in it! Mary lets out a scream--and wakes from her daydream, still in her car in the garage (though the lift is now down instead of up). Mary quickly throws the car into reverse, and heads out of town, back to the pavilion.Going into the abandoned ball room, she soon finds the same apparitions she has seen in her dream (as well as on the bus). Slowly, they start to dance. Mary watches, and as the music begins to turn eerie and the beat of the organ fills her ears, she cries out and runs off, with the apparitions in pursuit. They chase her all over the pavilion grounds. Mary tries to escape but falls and lies screaming as the dead-eyed figures close around her.Sometime afterward, a search party looking for Mary finds her car at the Pavilion's gates. Searching the grounds, they find her foot prints rushing off into a sandy area, and an imprint on the ground where her body was, but no sign of her.Back in Kansas, the search party has finally recovered the car that fell into the lake. After pulling it out of the water, we see that not only are the other two girls still in the car, but so is Mary's body as well! | cult, psychedelic, atmospheric, gothic, haunting | train | imdb | null |
tt0107448 | Love Bites | Dwight Putnum [Roger Rose] has just asked Kendall Gordon [Kimberly Foster]
for the 10th time to marry him, but Kendall is still unwilling to commit. She has
this idea that the perfect man for her is still out there. Vampire Zachary Simms [Adam Ant]
has just awakened in his coffin from a 100 year sleep in the crypt under
Kendall's house and comes out through the secret door in her fireplace to
face the brave, new world. When the two meet, it isn't quite love at first
bite, but Zachary spends the next day in her bed anyway, which really
angers Dwight when he tries to put the make on Zachary, thinking that the
lump under the covers is Kendall.It doesn't take long before Kendall and Zachary become friends, and
Zachary tells her how he came to be a vampire. He was born in England in
1660 and moved to Boston in 1675. In 1688, he was bitten by a vampire
named Nerissa, and they lived together for 100 years before she suddenly
decided to run off with a Washington politician. Zachary pined for Nerissa
for the next 100 years and finally decided to sleep it off. Unfortunately,
he forgot to wake up until another 100 years had passed.And, oh, how the world has changed. Zachary is entranced by such
devices as refrigerators, electric lightbulbs, and cars that talk. Zachary
is also entranced by Kendall, and before long, they are a twosome. Zachary
decides to end his existence as a vampire and asks Kendall to help him in
'reviving his digestive system' so that he can eat human food. Before
long, Zachary is slurping down spaghetti and munching on pizza. When he
finds that he has a blood pressure, can go outside in the daytime, and
drinking blood makes him gag, he proclaims himself 'rehumanized.'
Everything is going great, until 1) Zachary lands a job with Dwight's
insurance firm, 2) Dwight hires Vinnie Helsting [Philip Bruns] to do a little detective
work on Zachary, and 3) Nerissa [Michelle Forbes] shows up wanting Zachary back.Zachary starts working the night shift in the data entry department.
One night he discovers $1,300,000 that has been moving from department to
department in small increments. Dwight rewards him for his find by making
him an executive vice president and giving him a company car. Within a
short time, Zachary is using his bloodthirsty skills to put the bite on
potential clients, proving that he can make a killing in the business.
Unfortunately, he's spending less and less time with Kendall and becoming
more and more of a yuppie. When Zachary suggests to the board of directors
a plan that will increase their profits 30% each year for 100 years, they
make him chief executive officer of the company, which effectively puts
Dwight out of a job.While Zachary is rapidly moving up the ladder, Helsting can't find
anything on him. No birth certificate, no credit cards, no paper trail, so
he begins tailing Zachary wherever he goes, taking photographs, and casing
the house Zachary shares with Kendall. One night, when no one is home,
Helsting enters the house, notices the secret door in the fireplace, and
discovers the crypt and Zachary's coffin. While there, he overhears
Zachary's message machine taking a phone call. 'Hello. I can't come to the
phone right now. I'm dead.' Then Nerissa comes on, warning Zachary to be
careful so that Dwight doesn't find out what Zachary really is. Helsting
puts two and two together and figures it out...Zachary is a vampire.It looks like Zachary is about to be defanged. Dwight wants his
business back. Kendall says Zachary was more human when he was a vampire
and wants him out of her life. Nerissa says that the only solution is to
'revamp' him, so she gets the process started by biting him on the neck.
Dwight takes back his business, setting up Zachary as a consultant with a
perpetual income that will make him rich for centuries. Kendall informs
Zachary that she is pregnant with his baby and agrees to allow him to
'vampirize' her when the baby is old enough to understand. Nerissa agrees
to become the baby's godmother and buy her pretty dresses or take her to
Mets nightgames. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.] | adult comedy | train | imdb | Poor Ole Zachary.
I must say, as vampire movies go, this one is just adorable.
I have seen some comedy vampire movies, but this one just grabs you.
It took me years to find this movie on video for US video, the only ones I could find were for British video and every time it would come on TV would be about 2 in the morning.
Adam Ant was great as well as everyone in the cast.
It put a different take on the whole vampire legend thing and the dialog between Zachary and Kendall was just terrific, especially their first meeting.It really was a feel good movie from start to finish and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a light hearted comedy with a hint of the supernatural..
Maybe It's Not the Best Movie, but I took a liking to it.....
Sorry, the way I see it there are maybe two types of good movies, one that is just brilliance, a 5 star all the way, and a movie that you just plain like for some reason.
And I just liked this movie...why I can not say.
It just grows on you?.
Yeah, it's kinda cheesey...
but Adam Ant is in it!.
If you are in the mood for a farce of all things Vampire, then this is the movie to watch tonight.
It is a little cheesey, but it's a hyperbolic satire on the whole Vampire mythos so it's just doing it's job.
Besides that Adam Ant plays a great Romantic lead and just as good of a Vampire as Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt could ever hope to pull off...
at least he has a convincing accent...
Bottom line: Don't take it seriously, don't over analyze it, Don't turn it on expecting Bellalugosi....
and you may just enjoy it!.
I loved it!.
Okay, so it's not your regular vampire fare.
But this movie is so cute, with such sweet chemistry and oddly working storyline, that it works.
Sure, it's rather silly.
But this movie has a quality I can't describe which just makes you love it.
The actors aren't particularly talented (except for maybe Adam Ant and Michelle Forbes who were just great) but they made it work.
IT was cheesy, but in that "gotta love it" way that actually worked.Adam Ant was just great.
He turned in a great performance, and he just had a way with the part that was wonderful.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud as he "turned into" a bat, or when he discovered about alarms ("You are too close to the dishwasher...step away from the dishwasher...").All in all, I loved this movie, and I have to say that "Love Bites" is probably the sweetest, cutest, most feel-good vampire movie I've even had the joy of seeing.
And Zachary Simms has to be the most perky, nice vampire in the world....
light hearted approach to the vampire film.
Has to be a maximum score from me.
Always been a huge fan of Adam Ant and I think he is absolutely perfect in this role.
I genuinely liked the film aside from A.Ant being in it.
Its been a while since I've seen it and gave up looking for it a while ago on video/DVD.
I love anything to do with vampires and I really enjoyed the more light hearted approach of this film.
I would recommend this film to anyone who wants an easy going amusing romantic film with a touch of the English eccentricity found in Adam Ants vampire character.
I'm sure the critics would have panned this film when it was released but I don't care I'll always love this film! |
tt0448124 | Snow Cake | When the eccentric drifter Vivienne Freeman gets a ride from a reluctant recluse Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman), she is killed by a transport truck side ramming the car, while Alex only gets a nosebleed. Everybody agrees that it is not Alex's fault. He visits Vivienne's mother, Linda (Sigourney Weaver), to deliver Vivienne's gifts and to provide support. She has been informed about her daughter's death a few hours before Alex's visit, but does not show any signs of grief. However, she has a cleanliness mania which involves her constantly making sure everything in her home is neat, and prevents her from touching garbage bags. Her problem is finding someone who will put the garbage outside to be collected, as this was always something done by her daughter. Linda insists that Alex stay a few days so that he can do it for her. He agrees and also arranges Vivienne's funeral.
During his stay he begins a relationship with one of Linda's neighbors, Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), who Linda mistakenly thinks is a prostitute. A local policeman warns Maggie of Alex's intentions because he has just served time for a man's murder. Maggie does not confront Alex about the matter, but instead waits until he brings the subject up himself. Alex reveals that he killed the man who caused his son's death in a car crash while his son was on his way to meet Alex for the first time — Alex had only recently learned about his existence, the result of an affair a long time ago.
Linda dislikes Maggie to the point where she initially refuses her help. But after Alex leaves to see the mother of his son, she allows Maggie to come into her home and help her. | psychedelic, cute | train | wikipedia | This is the world of Linda Freeman, high-functioning autistic.There are two sides to Linda: the world she lives in is undoubtedly extraordinary - her version of Scrabble leaves Alan Rickman's character (Alex Hughes) looking severely unevolved - but it is balanced by her lack of empathy for 'normal' people.
What makes Weaver's performance so remarkable is that she conveys the logical certitude of Linda's position with such force that we, like Alex, start feeling a bit dumb.
If Rain Man was the gold-medallist of autism, Linda Freeman is simply a non-glamorised regular sportswoman, and in that she conveys a more real person than any Hollywood-ised super-character.Alex (Alan Rickman) opens the film, flicking poignantly at a small photo as he sits out a long flight.
A very down to earth script ensures the laughs are grounded (Love Actually but without the unbelievability), even if in most cases Rickman is principally a foil for other characters: such as when Linda likens eating snow to an orgasm or Maggie breaks off dinner because she hates having sex on a full stomach.We soon realise that Linda's childlike behaviour thinly disguises a penetrating intelligence, but her intelligence doesn't enable her to solve everyday problems such as putting the rubbish out.
It is not only heart-warming and moving but a great insight to the lives of not only people suffering from autism but the people around them too.Snowcake is a must see for anyone who enjoys to watch a well written all-round good film!
Without giving anything away, I couldn't work out why Alex (Rickman) was so antagonistic towards the truck driver but the film answers the question near the end when Alex's past tragedy becomes clear; also, the attention to the characters in particular was outstanding.
Vivienne (Hampshire) has the interesting quirk of putting her McDonalds fries in her burger and then eating it, Linda (Weaver) is able to identify that Alex is wearing her 'third favourite sweater' and all throughout the film, sounds and noises in the background of dogs barking, birds chirping and distant traffic puts us there.I got the feeling that before every take whilst shooting; the filmmakers thought of everything they possibly could to either hint at past and unseen events or just ask themselves 'this situation has arisen what would happen' and this is where the script being re-written and thought through on such an impressive level comes in that it's hard to think of another recent film that is as impressive as this.
Having Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Ann Moss away from trying to either blow up John McLane, fight off Aliens or box a bunch of Agent Smiths is a real treat and you quickly forget who's who these are really recognisable faces in a film you don't expect them to be in and for me to forget who they are and just accept them as characters is really impressive.
I especially liked the way that Alex and Maggie's lakeside conversation was intercut with shots of melting ice coming apart as Alex himself describes how his life melted away and came apart when he suffered his past tragedy again, attention to detail is the key here as a seemingly straight forward conversation has been thought through with shots of melting ice.Snow Cake is the sort of film you watch and allow yourself to get wrapped up in.
I would be blown away if she gets an Oscar nod and although I have not yet seen the Queen, Helen Mirren probably has a lock this year, but I hope this performance is seen and remembered at awards time.Alan Rickman plays a tortured soul like no other actor, and gives a moving performance.
Mr. Rickman's portrayal of a flawed Alex Hughes is utterly flawless in and of itself.From what I have read, the most controversial aspect of Snow Cake is in Sigourney Weaver's performance.
I'm very appreciative that Ms. Weaver studied her part so thoroughly, whereas some actors would have not done nearly as meticulous a job of getting into the mind of an autistic person.I've watched Snow Cake five times even within the past three days, and I have yet to tire of its breathtakingly moving performances, beautiful artistic cinematography, and heart-wrenching storyline.
The voice of Alan Rickman, the sensuality of Carrie-Ann Moss and the the brilliant mixture of childishness and maturity in the Sigourney Weaver character.
I saw it at the International Film Fest (in Berlin), where it was also nominated for best Director.The movie starts with the introduction of Alan Rickmans character, who is obviously a man who isn't open to the world.
Her characters are human to the core and we become absorbed in their lives and really care about them.The movie centers on the fine acting of Alan Rickman as Alex Hughes, Carrie Ann Moss as Maggie and most importantly, Sigourney Weaver as Linda Freeman.
so I braced myself for a boring and well-planned travel through sentimental-land, with all the buttons pushed at the right time, to force you to squeeze your tear ducts in your eyes.Mind you, I like everything that has Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver or Carrie-Anne Moss, in it, but I was wondering why these three would congregate to make a "romantic drama".At first, at the opening of the movie (a bit slow-paced for my taste), nothing new on the western horizon.
If you haven't seen her work in this movie, you simply cannot appreciate the great professional talent she has and the true gamut she can span when allowed to do so.Of course, she already revealed herself as a very skillful comedian in "Galaxy Quest" (also co-starring with Alan Rickman), but here she hits the high note of her entire career, blasting all the crystals in the house.She portrays and reproduces an autistic woman in every detail.
The acting is excellent, both Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman are fantastic and show an able chemistry, and Carrie-Ann Moss is also very good.
But I found Snow Cake's formula to have; wonderfully developed and believable characters, who where skillfully filmed with purpose and thought, placed within an intelligent and emotional script, all of which moved a deeper theme forward.
Not just Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver but also really surprisingly enough Carrie-Anne Moss is excellent in the movie.
Rickman as Alex, Weaver as Linda, and Hampshire as Vivienne are fantastic in their presentation of the characters.
Let's hope people don't stop there.This in mind, it's impossible to ignore the real inspiration of the story, as Pell's autistic son contributed to the character of Linda (Sigourney Weaver).
And the quality of actors and actresses drawn in by the script, with Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss who played the almost femme-fatale Maggie.
As we tackle the reality of Vivienne's premature death, it is hard to fight back a tear for the change it inspires in Alex who, for an initially withdrawn and quite man, has a huge emotional journey, from which he is clearly far from the character we initially meet.Boldly confronting the problems of autism in Sigourney Weaver's character Linda, the audience can't help but laugh at some of the interactions she has with Alex (Alan Rickman).
It is hard not to feel the presence of some guilt, as some of the humour is set in an almost mocking tone, but the true beauty of the film is that the laughter actually veers away from this and leaves us laughing as we warm to the characters involved.For a film with a strong plot, a good cast to support it and the star's fan bases in tow, the movie has not been done justice in the slightest in its distribution.
Last night I was very excited to attend the Stanford University screening of Snow Cake, the first in the states since it's debut at TriBeCa. It was an amazing movie, though the character of Linda was not exactly what I expected it was a brilliant performance by Weaver.
Guilt-ridden after a young woman hitching a ride with him dies in his car, a Brit visits and ends up befriending the woman's autistic mother in this Canadian drama starring Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver.
It has the virtue of being at least partially homegrown product, but it also has big stars Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss in it and is far more Hollywood/Awards-season ready than particularly weird or homespun.
Rickman, feeling both guilty and compelled to grieve in the mother's place, ends up sticking around for the funeral and strikes up a relationship with a local woman (Moss).Weaver is the big problem with the film, of course, not least of all because it is simply hard to accept one of our smartest actresses in the role.
The resolution of Rickman's issues are a little too neat, but he's excellent in the film, and I liked the early scenes between he and the hitchhiker enough that the appearance of Weaver's character wasn't quite enough to immediately kill all of the good will I had developed toward the film at that point.
Snow Cake is a story set in wintry Canada where Alex (Alan Rickman) encounters Linda (Sighourney Weaver) a live for the moment childish person with autism.
I think the director tried to make a big philosophical point of bringing out an importance of moments and reflections in ones life through interesting characters.Alan Rickman an ex-convict who has been convicted of murder and assaulting a cop; Sigourney Weaver an autistic mother whose only daughter is killed in a car accident involving Alan and the third character is Carrie Ann Moss a middle aged neighbor of Sigourney who loves having sex this time with Alan; who has come to apologies to Sigourney about his involvement in the accident that killed her daughter.
A beautiful film with a truly impressive performance by Sigourney Weaver as an autistic woman that befriends traumatized Alan Rickman.Helmed by Walesian director Marc Evans, "Snow Cake" is set and shot in the Canadian province of Ontario.
sensitive and thoughtful film about a gentle ex-con (a sturdy but evenly tempered Alan Rickman) and his encounter with a high functioning woman with autism (Sigourney Weaver) in the Canadian suburbs.
In reviewing this movie, the first thing that has to be mentioned are the great performances from the two leads: Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman.
Weaver was absolutely unbelievable as Linda Freeman, a woman suffering from autism who is confronted by her daughter's death in a car accident, while Rickman was almost as good (almost because he has a less demanding role) as Alex Hughes (the man who was driving the car in which Linda's daughter was killed.) After the accident, Alex takes it upon himself to visit Linda, and the movie basically follows the relationship the two develop.
The rest of the story happens in the ensuing week in Wawa, where Alex tries to help Vivienne's autistic mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver) arrange the funeral.
An absolutely amazing film, I just saw it at SIFF.A great film, Alan Rickman does an amazing performance, and you actually believe Sigourney weaver is autistic, Carrie-Anne Moss is also good, and Emily Hampshire gives an extrodornary performance for such a small part, although it does set the tone for the film, In my opinion if the opportunity presents itself to see this film take it, it's absolutely stunning, and it makes you believe Marc Evans is the world's greatest director when really he's just starting out.Today most films, especially dramas, are easy to have predictable endings and character origins, but this one really surprised me, from the beginning of the film you hear that Alex "killed someone" this made me believe he didn't kill them and possibly an autistic man he lost his patience with, when in all actuality he accidentally killed the man who killed the son he never knew.
Alex feels immense guilt over the girl's death and goes to see her Mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver) to offer his condolences, at his arrival he notices that Linda is Mentally handicapped and suffers from severe Autism, and she manages to get Alex to stay with her to sort out the girl's funeral & put out the bins as she 'dosen't do garbage'This does sound very depressing, but It's actually funny & sad in equal measure, Weaver gives a career best performance as the Autistic Mother and is greatly believable, Rickman is very understated but also gives a wonderful performance as the driver who seeks some sort of redemption - despite the car accident not being his fault.Co-starring Carrie-anne Moss (The Matrix) as Maggie, Linda's oversexed neighbour who Alex begins a sexual relationship & Directed by Welshman Marc Evans, who includes songs by Welsh bands in the picture - this is a truly wonderful film that's well worth watching and nowhere near as depressing or PC as it sounds**** out of *****.
...thanks to a fine script by newcomer Angela Pell and adept direction from Brit Marc "I'm not a household name" Evans that delineates the personal healing of a wounded soul (superbly played by Alan "Die Hard" Rickman) when he meets the autistic mother (Sigourney "you ought to know by now" Weaver) of a young woman who has died in his company (the very winning Emily "Ruby Gloom" Hampshire), as well as a concerned neighbor (Carrie-Anne "Fido" Moss) who proves more nurturing than one might otherwise expect.
carry ann moss' character was unfortunately meaningless, only good for alex' development (and one of the funniest scenes in the movie) - not her fault.
And I would agree that the single most compelling aspect of the film is the multi-layered character that Weaver plays: 'Linda', a fully functioning adult autistic woman.
One of the most enjoyable moments in the film is when she plays scrabble with Alex, using only made-up words.Vivienne, Linda's daughter, is also another fascinating character who we only meet briefly at the beginning of the film as she's soon killed in the accident.
From director Marc Evans (My Little Eye), this mix of both comedic and tragic moments is a very good look at Autism, almost as effective as Rain Man. Basically Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman) is a recently released (for murder) man travelling to Winnipeg to see an old friend, and along the way he gives the annoying, but vivacious Vivienne Freeman (Emily Hampshire).
After a difficult meeting with the mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver), he afterwards talks to neighbour Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), who explains to him that she has autism.
Snow Cake is directed by Marc Evans, written by Angela Pell and stars Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Carrie-Anne Moss.Alex(Alan Rickman) is driving and at a roadside diner allows a young woman called Vivienne(Emily Hampshire) to hitch a lift with him.
She is going home to see her Autistic mother Linda(Sigourney Weaver).Tragically during the journey they are involved in a car crash and Vivienne is killed.Alex goes to see her mother to explain and be with her but finds himself completely caught up in how she sees the world and the people in it.Sigourney Weaver gives such a powerful performance as the mother who has just lost her daughter but struggles to understand what that actually means.
He befriends a neighbour of Linda's called Maggie(Carrie- Anne Moss), she offers him the comfort he needs so desperately.This is also a good film to watch especially if your interested in autism, Sigourney has obviously done a tremendous amount of research and it shows.
The translation of an autistic woman completely transformed my view of Sigourney Weaver and I completely was drawn into her as Linda Alex was just as great in his role as an emotionally walled man who probably wanted nothing but to be left alone cut off from all human contact Somehow the two came together perfectly portrayed There is so much to laugh at too, many small details in the tragic situation that is so much like real life.
In something of a masterstroke the writer, director, kill off the most colorful character - up to that point - Emily Hampshire's Vivienne, inside half an hour having first skilfully built up an off-beat relationship between this minor kook and Alan Rickman's withdrawn Alex that could, I feel, have sustained a film by itself.
Alan Rickman is superb as Alex, and Sigourney Weaver shines as Linda.
I must admit though that some scenes with Sigourney Weaver were good, but then again, I have only met one autistic person in my life.In overall, I've rated this movie with a 6 because it is entertaining to watch and you really want to see what happens at the end.
Alan Rickman was horribly out of place but the only person in the whole movie worth watching - Sigourney Weaver was downright irritating and far from portraying a high-functioning individual was barely functioning at all - she did autism no favours if encouraging acceptance of autistic people was supposed to be the point of the film.
And now there is this movie, which is an equally interesting character study.Alan Rickman plays a troubled Englishman travelling through Mid-West America who picks up a lively young hitch-hiker Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) before he's involved in a car accident that spares his life but kills her.
Emily Hampshire is excellent in the brief role of the doomed daughter, and Carrie-Ann Moss gives Rickman a convincing romantic foil as the neighbour who lives next door.I panicked when I heard that Sigourney Weaver was playing an autistic person.
Went full retard, went home empty handed." - Kirk Lazarus"Snow Cake" stars Sigourney Weaver as an autistic woman living in small town Canada. |
tt0124198 | Very Bad Things | Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau), days away from his wedding, welcomes his bachelor party weekend as a chance to break free from his control-freak, Bridezilla fiancée Laura (Cameron Diaz). Along with his best friend Charles (Leland Orser), his friends Michael (Jeremy Piven), and Boyd (Christian Slater), and Michael's brother Adam (Daniel Stern), they celebrate in a Las Vegas hotel room complete with drinking, drugs, and a stripper (Kobe Tai).However, trouble begins when Michael accidentally kills the stripper in the hotel bathroom after paying her extra money to have sex with her. Michael, in his sexual aggression, accidentally flings her across the bathroom and she hits the back of her head against a towel hanger, killing her instantly.A hotel security guard shows up to respond to complaints about the noise from the party. He starts to leave after the guys promise to quiet down but spots the hooker's body in the bathroom. He prepares to call the police but is killed by Boyd who stabs him with a corkscrew and prevents him from leaving the bathroom until he dies. Boyd takes charge of the group and devises a plan to dispose of the bodies by burying them in the desert. Everyone grudgingly goes through with the plan, but soon guilt and nerves begin to destroy the group.Upon returning from Las Vegas, during Kyle and Laura's rehearsal dinner, Adam cracks under the pressure, leading to a confrontation between Adam and Michael in the parking lot. The rest of the group breaks up the fight, convincing Michael to leave, but instead he decides to crash his Jeep into Adam's beloved minivan. Seeing his brother's intentions, Adam darts in front of the Jeep at the last moment and is crushed in the collision.At the hospital, Adam whispers something to his wife, Lois (Jeanne Tripplehorn), before he dies. Soon afterward, Lois calls everyone over to her house. Lois states that Adam mentioned that something had happened in Vegas, but died before he was able to tell her. Seeing Michael in a state of despair, Lois prods him for information, threatening to call the police if she is not told the truth. As Michael is about to crack, Kyle quickly makes up a story about Adam having sex with a prostitute in Vegas. Lois appears to believe him, and the group leaves.After dropping Kyle, Michael, and Charles off at a nearby bar, Boyd returns to Lois' house, where a violent fight ensues after Lois realizes that Boyd intends to kill her. After they struggle, it is implied that Boyd succeeds in killing Lois. Immediately afterwards, Boyd calls Kyle, telling him that Lois wishes to speak to Michael. Kyle and Charles then take Michael to Lois' house, and, moments after Michael goes inside the house, a loud noise is heard and Boyd enters the car without Michael. Boyd then concocts a false love triangle story to explain Lois and Michael's deaths, in case any of the remaining three friends are questioned by the police.The next day, Kyle and Laura discover that they have been awarded custody of Adam and Lois' two disabled children and their dog. This angers Laura, but even more so after they learn that Adam's life insurance policy is only worth $14,223. This new stress proves to be too much for Kyle, who confesses to Laura what happened in Vegas. Instead of being horrified at the confession of the murders, Laura is enraged that there is yet another distraction from her wedding, dismissing his confession.On the day of the wedding, Boyd confronts Kyle about the Adam's insurance money. Kyle attempts to tell Boyd that there was no money, but Boyd attacks and begins strangling him, only to be bludgeoned from behind by Laura, knocking him unconscious. During the wedding, it is discovered that Boyd had the rings for the ceremony. Charles goes to retrieve them as Boyd is crawling up the stairs towards the wedding hall, leading Charles to inadvertently knock Boyd down the stairwell. Reaching into Boyd's coat for the rings, Boyd once again wakes and grabs his hand. However, he quickly loses consciousness and dies, as Charles retrieves the rings and rejoins the ceremony, which ends without further incident.Later, Kyle attempts to talk to Laura about his confession and is horrified to hear that she wishes more loose ends were tied up, ordering Kyle to kill Charles. She also orders him to kill Adam's children and their dog to rid her of her responsibilities towards them. Kyle takes Charles, the dog, and a suitcase containing Boyd's body back out to the Vegas desert. After burying Boyd, Kyle appears to be preparing to bludgeon Charles with his shovel, however, the next scene shows them all driving back from the burial site. On the way back, Kyle loses focus while daydreaming, crashing head-on into an oncoming car.Some time later, Laura is scrubbing and cleaning her house, living the life she always detested. Kyle, Charles, the dog, and Adam's children are now all disabled in some way and rely on Laura to take care of them. (Kyle has lost both of his legs and is now a paraplegic; Charles is a quadriplegic; and the family the dog now has only three legs and one eye) Laura, distraught over the pressures of all her unwanted responsibility, runs out into the street and falls down, crying and shrieking in anguish at this fate worse then death that she has landed into for the rest of her miserable life. | violence, comedy, dark, murder | train | imdb | null |
tt2543164 | Arrival | The film starts with the voice of Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) speaking to someone. We see moments of Louise with her daughter Hannah, from her birth, through her childhood years, up until her death at a young age from a fatal disease.Louise is a linguist and language professor. She begins her lecture to a small class when the students' phones go off. One student asks Louise to turn on the news. It is reported that in at least 12 sites around the world, there are enormous extraterrestrial vessels touching down.Louise is visited in her office by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to utilize her linguistic skills to attempt to communicate with the aliens. At night, Weber shows up in a chopper to escort Louise to the base. She joins them and meets a theoretical physicist named Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner).The team arrives at the Montana landing site, while the other 11 sites around the world have bases set up as well and are continuously updating each other on any progress. Louise, Ian, and several others are brought up to the top of the pod, where the lack of gravity allows them to stand before the barrier that keeps the aliens back. They are surrounded by a mist and they appear as large tentacled creatures (later called "heptapods"). Louise attempts to communicate with them by writing "human" on a board. One of the creatures emits a black cloud that forms a circular symbol. In a bold move, Louise removes her hazmat suit, attempting to gain their trust. She presss her palm to the barrier. One of the creatures extends a limb and presses it against the barrier in an imitation of Louise's gesture. After Ian shucks his hazmat suit, he decides to call the two aliens "Abbott and Costello."Tensions rise around the country as uncertainty in the heptapods' intentions has sparked panic, causing people to loot and riot.As the sessions go on, the team records the symbols produced by the heptapods to determine which symbols are translations of the words that Louise has been teaching them ("love", "time", etc.). Later when Louise "touches" them again, she starts to see visions of Hannah.China's General Shang (Tzi Ma) doesn't trust the aliens and has his team deviate from the set plan by not having the Chinese site communicate their intelligence to the other sites. The Chinese site attempts to communicate with the heptapods through a game of mahjong.Louise starts to experience dreams in the alien language, while still seeing memories of Hannah as a child showing Louise a drawing of her parents in a TV show she made up. Hannah asks Louise if it's her fault that her father left, but Louise assures her that's not the case. In the present, Louise questions the aliens as to who this girl is.The aliens deliver a message that is translated to "Use weapon", which generates even greater tension among the other sites. The Chinese deliver an ultimatum to the aliens - they have 24 hours to leave, or the military will initiate a strike. Several other sites gear up to do the same thing, while the sites all disconnect from each other. Louise tells Weber that they need to make sure the aliens know the difference between a weapon and a tool.Louise and Ian go up into the vessel by themselves, unaware that some of the soldiers placed a C4 bomb in there. As they try to communicate with the heptapods, Abbott starts to create a message with hundreds of tiny symbols scattered all over the place. As the bomb is ready to detonate, Abbott drops Louise and Ian from the vessel as it explodes.Louise awakens in the base camp. With a strike set to happen, she and Ian race to decode Abbott's message. Ian deduces that many of the symbols for "time" are scattered, but he can't exactly determine what it all means. Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) then tells the others about how severe the situation is since Russia has reportedly executed one of their own in order to keep their secrets.Louise rushes toward the vessel, which sends down a small pod to allow her to go up to the ship. She comes face-to-face with Costello, who tells her that Abbott is dying from the explosion. Costello emits more black symbol smoke, causing Louise to remember Hannah again. Costello then helps Louise to realize that the heptapods' language is meant to be their tool, or rather, a gift to the humans. By understanding their language, they are able to see into the future. This means that all of Louise's memories of Hannah weren't flashbacks, but flash-FORWARDS. Costello explains that they were sent to give humans their language so that they may help the aliens in 3,000 years time.18 months into the future, Louise and Shang will meet face-to-face, and he will express gratitude for her work and efforts, which ended up convincing him just what the alien's true intentions were. Louise takes Halpern's phone and contacts Shang to his personal number. She and Ian lock themselves away as she tries to send a message in which she tells Shang his wife's dying words.The Chinese military decides to stand down as reports start flooding in from all over the world. The vessels all rise from the ground and leave Earth in a cloudy mist. Louise and Ian watch them leave. Ian says that the biggest thing about the whole process wasn't meeting the aliens, but it was meeting Louise. Louise then sees more visions of herself with Hannah, but this time with Ian in the picture. They are to become a couple that will eventually become parents to Hannah. In the present, Louise and Ian embrace, and she tells him she forgot what it was like to be held by him. | flashback | train | imdb | People trying to point out every possible flaw to look and sound smarter while at the same time hailing far worse movies.
Actually what you get is a film that approaches the grandeur of "Close Encounters" but interlaces it with the intellectual depth of "Inception", the mystery of "Intersteller" and a heavy emotional jolt or two of "Up".Amy Adams ("Batman vs Superman") plays Dr Louise Banks, a language teacher at a US university facing a bunch of particularly disengaged students one morning.
Assisted by Ian Donelly (Jeremy Renner, "Mission Impossible IV/V", "Avengers"), a theoretical physicist, the pair try to crack the code against a deadline set by the inexorable rise of international tensions – driven by China's General Chang (Tzi Ma, "Veep"; "24").Steven Spielberg made a rare error of judgement by adding scenes in his "Special Edition" of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" showing everyman power guy Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) entering the alien spacecraft.
If I were to be critical, some of the dialogue at times is a little TOO clever for its own good and smacks of Aaron Sorkin over-exposition: the comment about "They have a word for it in Hungary" for example went right over my head.Denis Villeneuve ("Sicario") deftly directs, leaving the pace of the story glacially slow in places to let the audience deduce what is going on at their own speed.
The film in fact has very little exposition, giving you lots to think about after the credits roll: there were elements of the story (such as her book) that still generated debate with my better half on the drive home.Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner are first rate and an effectively moody score by Jóhann Jóhannsson ("Sicario"; "The Theory of Everything") round off the other high-point credits for me.An extraordinary film, this is a must see for sci-fi fans but also for lovers of good cinema and well-crafted stories.(Agree?
You see, the way I understand it is that the director had to dumb it down for us and wrap this movie in a sci-fi genre and add aliens so you could relate it to something you are familiar with and hoped, really hoped that we try to understand the true purpose, the message behind all this.
Arrival was one of my most anticipated movies of 2016 I loved all the trailers for this film and the talent behind it made me even more excited to see the final product and I can safely say that I was blown away by the final product.
The whole mystery of why the aliens are here is done perfectly you're more that likely to change your mind at least once and when a mystery like that is built up for so long it's hard to make the eventual discovery satisfying but in this case it was, the eventual reveal makes you look at this film in an entirely different way, the film also doesn't feel the need to answer every question it asks leaving certain things ambiguous that allows the viewer to think on their own answers.
This decade, Villeneuve has crafted some fantastic works of art in the form of 'Prisoners', 'Sicario' and now this science fiction gem, and here's hoping his career further develops with more movie masterpieces coming our way.
In a world where mysteries remain and the possibility of extraterrestrial life still stands unanswered, 'Arrival' approaches this with it's cliché-free take on the genre.The relatively unknown Bradford Young provides the film with some of the most stunning cinematography ever conceived, taking advantage of the twilight hour to give the film its somewhat unique look, supported magnificently by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson whose score is both haunting and beautiful.
If you're someone looking for a science-fiction tale that keeps you guessing and thinking throughout, with fantastic performances, cinematography, music and near-flawless direction, then 'Arrival' is the film for you.
The book is out there, so if you really must know before you see a film, read, "The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang...but I highly recommend you see the movie first.
Other films have tackled the question of humanity being alone in the cosmos, from classics like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) "The War of the Worlds" (1953) "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) "Arrival" deals with the idea of alien landings in a much different way than traditional Sci-Fi films.
But the stand out performance was that of Amy Adams who played a truly troubled and conflicted character.In "Sicario" Vileneuve finished the movie with unanswered questions and left a lot to the imagination.
Too often we see science fiction films, particularly involving aliens, that are only interested with how we, as a species, would fight back against them.Every now and then however, we get a film like Denis Villeneuve's Arrival that comes along and offers something totally different.
The film uses its tagline "Why are they here?" quite literally to deliver one of the most fascinating films you will see all year.Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is one of the world's leading linguists, who gets recruited by the military to assist in translating alien communications.
Along with mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), Louise attempts to get answers as to why twelve alien spacecrafts have landed at different locations around the world.I had only seen three of Denis Villeneuve's previous films before yet I have been impressed with the diversity of his films, a trend he continues with Arrival.
He instead makes films to challenge the audience, leaving them to either complete the puzzle themselves or question the morality of his characters.With Arrival, Villeneuve has crafted a truly thought provoking science fiction film, telling the story in a slow yet masterful manner, leading to a beautiful pay off.
Young's cinematography captures the sense of wonder perfectly while Jóhannsson's score heightens the sense of mystery surrounding the alien visitors and their intentions.Coming to the performances, Arrival features a real emotional heartbeat thanks to a fantastic performance from the always dependable Amy Adams, who conveys such a wide range of emotions as Louise, growing in confidence with each session she gets with the visitors.
Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker offer some fine support for Adams but there is no doubting this film belongs to her.Arrival is one of the best films of the year and a really great example of science fiction filmmaking from Denis Villeneuve, who is perfectly suited to bring us the sequel to Blade Runner next year.
I would happily put this film in the same league as something like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, one of the all time greats of sci-fi..
Consider the DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951/2008) or CUBE (1997) or the more recent MARTIAN (2015).The second type is an oddity because most of the heavy lifting takes place in your brain, not on the screen.I consider ARRIVAL the best example of the "Smart" genre ever done.These films, because they are so subjective, require a central character that the viewer can identify with.
I'm not saying that all the bad reviews have no merits, we all know that we sometimes wake up on the cynical side of the bed, but most of them in this matter, are written by empty tripe(s) waiting to be filled at the sausage factory, or by cynics way too enclosed in their narcissistic bubble to realize that the quietness in the theater at the end of the movie, was because of the introspection of a moved audience.
The influences of Stanley Kubrick on science fiction films has been noted time after time, but Arrival picks up its Kubrick vibes with it's slow sense of discovery, even if Amy Adams and her technology moves around the screen more frantically than 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A lot of sci-fi films (like the new Star Trek released this summer) don't create that unfolding sense of science/alien-related mystery.
The studios hold up known actors (we know how they will react or act in each situation - to ensure a fat box- office), a director known to the general public and who has a few well received films on the critics, and try to create these supposed sci-fi movies very close to the scientific aspect of science and reality.
Putting thus absurd ideas, nothing to do with reality, and in the middle of the film, transform it into a drama (sometimes in a melodrama - Interstellar), in order to try to manipulate the audience, emotionally.Arrival is the other of this new sci-fi wave, it is beautifully photographed, with great special effects, excellent soundtrack (which does not represent the quality of the technical team at all, only that the director and the producers have a big budget to spare at will), but in the background these new movies are not sci-fi movies in any aspect.But things are starting to fall in the last act of the film, when filmmakers have to appeal to the emotional side.
The story could be fun, the reviews looked fine.The first 2 minutes into the movie, you start already to get doubts it will be good.
The producers run out of money already, You end up with a lady who has a paranormal mind, can suddenly talk with the aliens.The aliens prepared for millions of years to meet this hot lady to tell her sweet stories, and then leave.PS: When Amy and that other guy are in the field looking at the spaceship, you can see the mountains in the far distance.
After the arrival of the crafts and the initial meeting of humans and aliens it went downhill from there and I was pretty bored and glad when the movie finished.
First of all i have to laugh at all the so called scifi intellectuals who think this is a good scifi film and decry anyone who doesn't like it as a moronic sheep.It actually proves who the sheep are - just because a film has a totally moronic plot that defies explanation that immediately makes it profound and somehow mind expanding and that a select few Scifi fans with their heads up their bum understand - yeah right.
Having cinema-goers leave the cinema thinking they maybe have learnt something which is false is unforgivable emphasising once more what a con this movie is and how blinkered all of these so called intelligent Scifi buffs are!The movie moves along like a funeral procession with an awful dirge of whining violins how depressing but it illustrates the directors high opinion of what he thinks he is making.Folks this is no epic in any way - its some guy who saw a couple of octopi in an aquarium squirting ink to get rid of predators and thought hey i can make a movie out of this and so proceeded to do so.There are so many plot holes and unbelievable things in this movie like the army being involved in all the decisions - nowhere do we see the President or anyone in charge of operations , a bomb mysteriously gets planted in an alien ship that has travelled millions of miles yet doesn't detect it , the ships mysteriously disappear in a cloud of dust.The whole movie actually looked like it had been shot on a shoestring budget from the poor black eggs hanging in the sky to the cheap ships interiors and if that wasn't bad enough Jeremy Renner looked like he was bored stiff and just looking to pickup a nice paycheque!The only thing i enjoyed was reading the pontificating so called scifi fans that are so much more intelligent than us mere mortals that they thought this film was too intelligent for us to understand - no guys it is you who are too up your own bahookies to see that the director was taking the Mickey out of all of the hoighty toighty Scifi buffs who have no life and cant see the wood for the trees and trees for the wood by making a morose and clichéd retread of a zillion other better movies about the human condition and the meaning of life!
He thinks he can achieve profundity by having lots of loud music which drowns out the actors' voices, by having them mumble and whisper, by most of the scenes being so dark you have to peer through the gloom (all the better to see nothing, my dear), by having one of those identikit Hollywood children who lisps like an infant and cannot speak clearly, by not really showing his aliens except through a haze, by pretending to be something of a philosopher, with all the assiduity of a drunk ranting in the street.
I will never understand why people rate films highly based solely on a twist at the end, when there is little or no tension, little or no atmosphere building throughout.I think people value a twist too highly.This movie also exhibits one of my other great hates.
I give it 1 out of 10.This film COULD have been something, but is really NOTHING.There is no satisfaction, no real good plot, writing is awful, the movie is boring, this is utterly a waste of time!The only thing that is aceptable is the music and camera work.
I'm a big sci-fi movie fan especially if its story is quite philosophical and cerebral which IS the case with Arrival, but it got bogged down in the complexities of showing how humans would communicate with a superior alien intelligence amidst a distrusting and violent Earth society.
There are dream like flashbacks that at first don't make sense, combined with a lot of Amy Adam's long drawn out ogle eye'd tearful stares of bewilderment morphing to fear bordering on amazement as she attempts to communicate and build a vocabulary as a translator with the alien entities.
Great visuals and audio to keep me interested in how this was done.But this movie relies heavily on building tension this way from an audience with high expectation and anticipation of what's going to happen next with a pay out that is a bit of a let down, drawn out and confusing to keep up with.
There were just a handful in the audience that night.Besides I was expecting something more profound than Jodie Foster's "Contact", a much better movie at relying on audience expectation and anticipation from experiencing a unique imagining of what it would be like to communicate with extraterrestrial alien intelligence that also explains how they overcome the limitations of space travel.
I read the reviews and it is remarkable to see that people either hated this film and referred to it as a snooze-fest, or praised all the nuances from Amy Adams' acting to the musical score, to the message for humanity.
The review guidelines says I need to leave at least five lines of text, so in order to do so, I will have to say I did like the color, music completely wrong selection and absolutely nothing original in the film..
First the good,Great graphics, well filmed.And the bad,No real story, left wondering what is really going on, Guess what, not a lot.An hour of working out translations and then it morphs into the latter part of 2001 space odessey, in the sense that there is some mystical significance which is not explained of course.Great long meaningful looks and remembrance's by the lead figure , not explained and overall the pace is glacial.Don't bother in my opinion..
I would rather watch the trailer several time than waste 2 hours of my life on this boring movie.
The CGI would not look out of place in 2006, the designs are too grey and familiar to hold one's attention, and the film is too sedentary with its fantastical elements to qualify as a visual spectacle.The characters for the most part are flat archetypes, such that were it not devoid of all humor, one could be forgiven in mistaking Arrival for a Roland Emmerich movie.
I will not discourage anyone from seeing the movie, it boasts a few solid performances and isn't at all an unpleasant time sink for an evening out or an empty afternoon, I will sum up my feelings to say that Arrival is harmless entertainment that is too conventional for its own good and makes poor use of its ideas..
The story was woeful and the script was downright stupid and boring.I completely disagree that watching this is a waste of 2 hours though, I'm sure I'll be laughing at how bad this film was for months..
Amy Adams= mehJeremy Renner= I actually like him and was disappointed that he chose to do this movie.
Most of the time the movie was spent trying to decode the Aliens language which was like deciphering an ink blot test.
By talking in whalesong.All over the world, the greatest minds are trying to establish some sort of understanding with the spacefreaks, but then Amy Adams, or the scientist she's playing, has the wonderful idea to write down the sentence "Hi, I'm Amy" on a piece of paper, and the aliens are like: Wow, we traveled over hundred of lightyears, and wanted to communicate with you in writing, but we wanted YOU to initiate it.
This is by far Villeneuve's biggest film he has tackled yet with so many strong universal themes but yet also feels very emotional and intimate from the perspective of Amy Adams's character.Unlike Villeneuve's previous works like Prisoners and Sicario, Arrival isn't a dark or twisted look at humanity.
This should have been brilliant!****SPOILER ALERT*****I love Amy Adams and think she is a great actress, and the first half of this films is suitably spooky, fully of mystery - but as soon as she gets in to the alien space ship and starts writing her name LOUISE, I just shook my head.
There are such good actors in this movie, but except for the lead Amy Adams, they had almost no role to play that contributed to the story. |
tt0070666 | Serpico | Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) covered in blood and slumped in the backseat of a police car as it races to a hospital with lights and sirens blaring. He has just been shot in the face. The rest of the movie tells the story of Serpico's career up to this moment, starting with him becoming a police officer in 1960. He is very idealistic and believes in non-brutal methods to catch criminals. Serpico also refuses to join in on police corruption, specifically that which involves shaking down and taking payoffs from gambling and drug dealing organizations. His refusal to take bribes earns him the suspicion of his fellow officers throughout the majority of the precincts to which he is assigned. Additionally, Serpico finds trouble fitting in due to his embrace of the counterculture of the 1960s: He moves to Greenwich Village, grows his hair and beard long to the point where he must maintain a plainclothes appearance, and associates with a more left-wing crowd that is distrusting of the NYPD.At first Serpico tries appealing to his bosses about the corruption, but gets nowhere. He enlists a highly-connected fellow officer, Bob Blair (Tony Roberts) in his fight against corruption, but not even he can crack the city administration's general indifference. His campaign and the resulting complications and harassment within the department take a toll on his mental health and his relationship with fiancee Laurie (Barbara Eda-Young), who ultimately leaves him. After meeting a sympathetic police inspector who agrees to assist him with both disrupting the gambling rackets and later calling attention to the problem by going to the New York Times, he is transferred to narcotics, as he has always wanted. However, he finds himself in an even more corrupt and hostile atmosphere than before, where he has mostly enemies and almost no allies due to the reputation he has garnered. As a result, he is shot in the face during a raid on a heroin lab due to his fellow officers' reluctance to come to his aid. After being left for dead and eventually discovered by two uniformed officers, the story takes over from the beginning and shows a recuperating Serpico being tended to by his family and few remaining friends as well as being anonymously harassed with hate mail.At the end of the film, Serpico testifies to the Knapp Commission on police corruption. The film ends with him waiting to board a ship; despite being promoted to detective (a lifelong ambition of his) and being decorated by the department for "conspicuous bravery in action" (along with the two officers who abandoned him during the drug raid) he resigns from the NYPD and emigrates to Switzerland. | dark, neo noir, violence, atmospheric, flashback, romantic | train | imdb | He acts with such charm and smoothness in some scenes, while explosive and intense in others.The movie gets into a big plot line about police corruption and Serpico blowing the whistle on the department.
It's scenes like those that make you sympathetic for him.Sidney Lumet and Pacino made a great team for this movie, and proved to be a great team for Dog Day Afternoon a few years later.
Sidney Lumet proved himself to be a highly competent and effective director/storyteller for the true story of New York Officer Frank Serpico, who became famous after appearing to testify before the NAPA Commission about payoffs and corruption in the Police Department.
Serpico was an officer in a time when political corruption was rampant and many of his brethren were found "on the take." The true story is brought to the screen under the superb leadership and direction of Sidney Lumet and the brilliant performance of Al Pacino as Serpico.
In 'Serpico' he uses an excellent script to tell the story of an unorthodox character in Frank Serpico, a hippie in a time when most cops were square as a doorway but whose honesty when faced with police corruption marks him out as a man of remarkable character.
I'd been wanting to see SERPICO for some time; this real-life crime drama based on Peter Maas' nonfiction bestseller about an honest cop fighting corruption in the NYPD was one of the few grim-and-gritty New York crime dramas that my older brother didn't take me to see when I was a kid!
The guy is a bundle of contradictions, the kind of man who could charm you, move you, and drive you crazy at the same time: a nice Catholic boy who can't commit to any of the devoted women in his life; an honest, downright rigid moralist who's also a free spirit known as "Paco" to his friends and lovers; and an undercover cop with detective aspirations whose hippie-like appearance rankled his superiors and fellow officers even as it helped him blend in on assignments.
Rent the DVD to see some fascinating extras about the making of the film and the filmmakers' experiences with Frank Serpico himself, including interviews with Lumet and producer Martin Bregman (no Pacino, alas)..
The name of Pacino's character, "Serpico," has become synonymous with "honest cop." It demonstrates what a strong impact this movie had on millions of people.
Sydney Lumet spares us little in this gritty urban drama using almost fly-on-the-wall documentary technique to involve the viewer in the action and stand us directly alongside Pacino as crusading street-wise cop Frank Serpico.
It takes a great acting performance to carry the viewer all the way through this lonely journey, even when the character himself becomes at times obnoxious and unfeeling to his (few) supporters; thankfully Pacino gives a performance the real-life Serpico deserved.
The movie tells the true story of Frank 'Paco' Serpico who was about the only honest cop of the entire New York police department at his time.
The movie provides a realistic view in the corrupt and tough world of the New York police and tells the story of Serpico in an intriguing and realistic, perhaps maybe even documentary like way."Serpico" is a movie with a typical fantastic '70's atmosphere and it's a movie that still holds up today.
Pacino was just a young beginning actor at the time (He had just done his first big role and movie; "The Godfather".) and he obviously had still a lot of learning to do.The rest of the cast consists out of unknown actors (with the exception of apparently Oscar winner F.
Al Pacino dominates every scene he is in as Frank Serpico, a New York City policeman who feels that it is best to be honest and not stick out in public.
And when he decides to do something, he may get more of a fight from his fellow law-protectors than the criminals he is trying to bring down.A year after breaking open in The Godfather, Al Pacino gives a gritty, tough performance as a man who knew what to do that was right and was determined not to let anything stop him.
With a strong leading performance, solid writing, and slick directing by master of setting director Sidney Lumet, Serpico ranks as one of the best cop movies and a shining testament to the goodness of one man despite all the corruption around him..
The true story of New York cop Frank Serpico's battle against the corruption that permeated the NYPD in the late '60s and early '70s is just such a story.Everything about "Serpico" feels 100% real and authentic.
If you want a movie that makes you feel like you were there at a particular time and place with a particular person, "Serpico" is it.It also bears mentioning that Pacino-as-Serpico is just about the coolest-looking protagonist in film history.
In the late 60's, in New York City, the idealistic Italian descendant Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) joins the New York Police Department and on his first day, he learns that his colleagues are dirty, sharing money received from the extortion of criminals.
Finally, Switzerland gives political to him and he moves to that country."Serpico" is one of the best films by Al Pacino and Sidney Lumet about the true story of idealism versus police corruption fought by an idealistic man.
Stories like that of Frank Serpico, a NYC cop in the late '60s - early '70s who bravely testified against police corruption, fascinate us because they make us wonder what we would do in that character's shoes and feel glad that at the end of the day we don't have to answer that question.
Al Pacino stars as the man with these trivial choices, Frank Serpico, who was asked to be the snitch for the NYPD in the Bronx in terms of identifying officers taking bribes from criminals, a role that subjected him to harassment and threats from his fellow officers and caused him extreme amounts of trauma affecting his job and his personal life.Well all come to believe that a police officer's first duty is to the people -- to do the right thing.
There is an excellent scene at a party where he asks his girlfriend (Cornelia Sharpe) not to tell anyone he's a cop given people's reactions, perhaps sowing the seeds that he needs to help change the police force.We are given a deep look a seedy and uncertain New York, filled with criminals who can bribe their way free and cops who are a happy to turn a blind eye as long as they get a cut.
Any film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino should be great, but "Serpico" is mediocre at best.
Chronicling the true-life story of Frank Serpico, a police officer who exposed corruption in the NYPD, the film comes from that exquisite golden age of cinema, lasting from the late '60s through the late '70s, when paranoia infected the country and our most trusted and honored institutions were becoming suspect.
This is based on the true story of Frank Serpico, a New York cop who was an honest man from a good Italian family.
This means the movie is based almost literally on what Frank Serpico saw and did as a moral and unshakeable cop in New York just before the film was made.
Granted, it is based on the true story of an incorruptible Italian-American cop named Frank Serpico who brought down an entire police precinct that was "in on the take." But true stories aren't always warranting for great films.
Did they not notice that every time a crucial character moment came around this really, really bad music started to play over the actors'?The plot is pointless because I've already delved into it--a downtown police precinct is corrupt and they can't stand Serpico's morality.
When the film Serpico was being made it was only a year after the real Frank Serpico resigned from the police force.Al Pacino gives a raw powerful performance as the keen, clean cut rookie policeman trying to resist the cancerous corruption rife in the police force where almost every officer is on the take and bending police procedures.
His performance in Serpico playing the title character, an honest cop who refused to participate in the corruptive system that surrounded the NY police department, is considered by many to be his best work, which is saying a lot when you take into account his other films during that four year span: both Godfather films, Dog Day Afternoon, and Scarecrow.
Al Pacino is the only actor who really gets to stand out here because the entire focus is on him and as time passes the rest of the characters come in and out of his life, but he is reason enough to check the film out.
For years I had been wanting to watch this movie I knew it was one of Pacino's best, and I must say "Serpico" didn't let me down it's a wonderful film that with each scene you watch you feel the gripping drama and intense power it brings.
And Sidney Lumet does it again he shows he can direct stories so well yet he was probably helped here since this was an actual real life thing that occurred on the New York City police force in the early 1970's.
And really Frank Serpico should be given a hand for the way he stood up to police corruption.As you can see from the first parts of the film when newly hired rookie policeman Frank Serpico(Al Pacino) is hired he's young eager and has the desire and will to be a superhero type of a cop.
The film really combined the elements corrupt establishment and counter culture well as Al in his role is such a hero for standing up against the big crooked bad guys.Really "Serpico" is a great character story of one man's brave real life courage who fought for truth and honesty.
For his second Academy Award nomination and his first in the Best Actor category, Al Pacino essayed the title role in Serpico, the true story of an incorruptible cop and a man who Diogenes could have ceased his search for an honest man with.As I'm sure many idealistic young people do, Frank Serpico joined the New York Police Department with hopes of making a difference in society.
Oddly enough Save the Tiger is about another man at a crossroads in his life and his choice is break the law.Sidney Lumet does love New York, so many of his good films are based and shot there.
The true story of a cop who stands up to corruption in NYC police department makes for a gritty film.
Pacino received a richly deserved Best Actor Oscar nomination for his sharply edged performance as real-life undercover narcotics cop Frank Serpico who exposed a wealth of corruption in the New York City Police Department facing all too many tempting offers of bribery, promotions, and ultimately retribution by his fellow brothers in blue.
I mean, I would feel disappointed if I paid to see one of his movies without it.But this is his early work, this was when he was developing himself as an actor and actually acting like different people, not just playing Al Pacino.So we get to see what Pacino could do before he was delegated to only play Pacino, which alone is a breath of fresh air.But we also get to see a problem with the police departments that we are still grappling with today, a problem that is even more in the headlines and one that wasn't solved despite Serpico's involvement.If nothing else it makes this film all the more illuminating.It's a movie frozen in time and, unfortunately, possibly doomed to be relevant far into the future..
Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) wanted nothing more than to be a police officer in New York, but once he gets there, he finds that things aren't as he'd hoped.
Frank Serpico (Pacino), a legend to us mere mortals out on the street, but the most hated man on the NYPD, so much so he almost paid for his sense of what's right and wrong with his life.Picture follows Frank through his integration on the force and onto the build up of corruption he comes across.
All the time we are also getting an insight into the man himself, his life and loves outside of work, with Lumet and Pacino making sure Frank is not painted as a saintly perfectionist, there is no halo above his head, he has flaws like everybody else.
And "Serpico", the cop who fought police corruption to the point of being almost alienated by his own convictions and risking his own life, is an extraordinarily story of gritty realism, carried by one of Al Pacino's most defining and iconic roles.What is so powerful about the film is its total detachment from any desire of making Frank Serpico like a kind of modern Robin Hood.
As you would always expect, Al Pacino offered a solid and steady performance as New York City police officer Frank Serpico, an honest cop stuck in a sea of corruption in the department who earns the enmity of his fellow officers by trying to blow the whistle on the goings on.
Based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who eventually went undercover to expose the corruption of his fellow officers, after being pushed to the brink at first by their distrust and later by the threats and intimidation they leveled against him.
Certain scenarios such as marrying love of his life Laurie (Eda-Young); whether or not he gives an officer 'the arrest' after doing most of the work in running the crook down and when the envelope of money arrives, it acts as the catalyst for bigger things to come.With regard to its study of one man ignoring the conventions, Serpico as a film still carries a hard boiled edge but it's more prescribed to other cops; a bathroom beating in another room entirely acts as a good example.
This is a true story.It tells about a NYPD officer Frank Serpico who testified against police corruption in 1971.In this film by Sidney Lumet the story of the good cop is very well told.Serpico from 1973 stars Al Pacino.There's nobody who could do the job better than him.He is very intense in portraying the character.And he also looks pretty much like the real Frank Serpico with his beard and untidy appearance.Then there's the late great John Randolph portraying Chief Sidney Green.Jack Kehoe plays Tom Keough.Biff McGuire is Capt.
The film is based on a true story and explores the career and personal life of Frank Serpico.Al Pacino delivers a skilled and forceful performance as Frank Serpico.
The story of police officer Frank Serpico who, practically single-handedly, took a stand against the enormous corruption within the NYPD, and paid for it dearly, is still fascinating and still relevant; and thanks to a killer performance by Al Pacino, this biopic by Sidney Lumet stands the test of time.
Al Pacino portrays real-life New York City patrolman Frank Serpico, who is ostracized by his colleagues after exposing corruption within the police force.
Clearly I am in the minority for those who have commented on this film before me as I did not find it anything but average.Serpico tells the story of Frank Serpico, a young cop who only wants to do his job and lead an honest life.
The true story is brought with suspense and especially Al Pacino as Frank Serpico makes the movie better than it actually is.You know Serpico will be shot later in the story because the opening scenes reveal that.
Because the smart way the story is edited in the beginning and the terrific performance by Al Pacino this is better than the average police film..
The movie is based on a true story, which makes it more powerful, and after the universally loved The Godfather, it's nice to see Al Pacino playing a good guy.Expect a lot of grit amidst this 1970s exposé, as well as a typically made film of the decade.
One year later, he outdoes himself as Frank Serpico: a policeman who battled police corruption everywhere in New York, as he was the only honest cop on the force.
The sense of foreboding, given that the viewer knows the outcome, is second to none, and there are some electrifying stand-out moments, like when Serpico absolutely loses it when bringing in a suspect.Sidney Lumet's excellent direction adds to the real-life and inherently gritty of the movie, while the New York backdrop is expertly realised.
Al Pacino gives an excellent performance as Frank Serpico,an oddball undercover policeman in New York who refused to take any bribes or kickbacks like everyone in the department does.
Serpico is a perfect film that tells the true story of how the police were corrupt in New York City way back in the 1970's.
This film is based on a book by Peter Maas, it tells the true story of cop Frank Serpico and how he exposed corruption amongst members of the New York Police Department.
I know six cops who said they'd like to." Fresh out of the Godfather, Serpico was the film that further cemented Al Pacino's status as a powerhouse performer.
The true story about an honest New York cop (Al Pacino) who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.What can I say?
"Who can trust a cop who don't take money?" Keough asks Serpico, reasonably.What Lumet gives us in "Serpico" is not just a police corruption story but a real character piece.
The way Al Pacino Played the character of Frank Serpico is truly great.
Tony Roberts is great in a supporting role as Serpico's friend, Bob.Sidney Lumet directs it well, but the movie could have been a tad shorter; it feels like we didn't really need to see some of the scenes which the film could've easily done away with. |
tt0166843 | There's Always Vanilla | There's Always Vanilla follows the life of Chris Bradley (Raymond Laine) a former U.S. Army soldier who has become a drifter and makes money by various means, from pimping to guitar playing. Chris returns to his home city of Pittsburgh and visits his father who owns and operates a baby food factory. After an evening out with his father of drinking at a local bar, and visiting an old girlfriend named Terri Terrific (Johanna Lawrence), Mr. Bradley wants Chris to abandon his bohemian lifestyle and do what was agreed upon when he separated from the military; return to the family business, but Chris refuses.
At a local train station, Chris meets Lynn (Judith Ridley; billed as Judith Streiner) a beautiful young woman who works as a model and actress in local TV commercials. Chris charms his way into Lynn's life and moves in with her. At first their relationship is a pleasant escape from daily life, but when Lynn starts to resent supporting the freeloading Chris, she motivates him into getting a steady job. Lynn learns that she's pregnant and, knowing how irresponsible he is, decides to get an abortion without telling Chris.
Chris lands a job at a small advertising firm but when he's given an account to advertise enlistments for the U.S. Army, he quits out of his resentment of his military past. Meanwhile, Lynn cannot bring herself to have an abortion, she abandons Chris, and moves in with a high school boyfriend who agrees to marry her and raise the baby as his own.
His romance with Lynn ruined and his lifestyle destroyed, Chris swallows his pride and moves back in with his father, still unable to decide what to do with his life, but believing he ultimately must accept the old values like his father has. Chris has more encouragement after a talk at dinner at a Howard Johnson's with his father where he tells Chris that life is like an ice cream parlor, and that of all of life's most exotic flavors to choose from, there's always vanilla to fall back on.
The film's final scene shows a very pregnant Lynn living in a suburban house with her new husband. A large packaged box arrives at their house addressed to Lynn with Chris' home address on it. Upon opening the box on the front lawn of their house as instructed on the box, helium-filled balloons float out of it and float away into the bright blue sky. On the bottom of the box is a note from Chris addressed to Lynn telling her to always remember the care-free time they had together. | satire | train | wikipedia | I think this movie, Romero's follow-up to Night of the Living Dead, compares favorably to The Graduate.
Ray Laine is great as the lead in this movie.
I liked how Ray Laine's character addresses the camera giving the audience a insight into his life and times.
Romero's camera work, direction and editing are real good in this flick.
I thought it would be a snooze fest but once again Romero proved me wrong.The title refers to a line in the movie that Laine's father tells him when he sees him for advice.
Romero and the Latent Image, his production company that previously established itself big-time with Night of the Living Dead, decided to go a more romantic/dramatic route, as there seemed to be a possible small market for it.
Unfortunately, the scriptwriter, Rudy Ricci, was haphazard and scatter-shot with his contributions, and the script was never finished until the end of filming (it came to the filmmakers scene by scene), so even though there are characters to get interested in as a 'character study', Chris Bradley and Lynn Harris (Ray Lane and Judith Streiner respectively), sometimes the dialog and situations become contrived.
The main thrust of the story comes from Lynn's relationship to Chris, as Chris is a sort of man-child, who comes into her life suddenly one day after abandoning an older women he may or may not have fathered a kid with, and somehow through his constant sarcasm and lackadaisical charm that gets her into bed.
It all leads up to his father relaying a 'meaning': there's always vanilla.It's not totally incomprehensible to see why Romero, on an interview featured on the DVD, is completely assured with his feelings that it was a low-point in his career where he tried to gain more experience as a filmmaker and fell flat on his face.
But a filmmaker sometimes has to feel that way about certain films, as the experience making it becomes a personal struggle whereas other times it could become a personal triumph (he still considers Day of the Dead a favorite, mostly for the experience making it).
It's no Cassavetes- as another reviewer noted- but he treats the material with a control that wavers between late 60s early 70s exploitation film-making (of the period, of course, with some scenes with psychedelia bits and music and pot), and a more grounded tone for the actors to follow.
And sometimes Romero's given by Ricci a compelling scene to shoot, like when Lynn has to deal with a certain 'problem' she may need to take care of, but decides at the last moment to run away from it.Or, of course, when Romero cuts the scenes together, sometimes around Chris's confessions to the audience about his mistakes and own feelings at certain times, which pop in at a good rhythm.
Or the way he doesn't putz around with montage- often a high-quality trademark in Romero films- even when dealing with schmaltzy scenes like the quasi courtship of Chris and Lynn in a park or on a boat (I also really liked the one liners each character traded off on one another in the park- marking the shallowness of the period).
And the actors do bring qualities of believability to scenes that somehow work almost in spite of the flaws in the material; Laine is actually charming and affable, carrying over similar qualities from the next collaboration with Romero in Season of the Witch, and Streiner is even better here than she was in 'Living Dead', as a woman who has to contend with being the mature one in a relationship where a falsity to it rings true almost every day.
He's a controversial figure even twenty years after his death.Anyway, despite the video notes from Something Weird, Ray Laine looks and acts just like Russell Crowe.
While Judith Ridley (here billed as Streiner) is just as lovely as ever and, surprisingly enough in light of her unimpressive turn in "Night of the Living Dead," can actually act.Okay, so the flick is full of standard issue seventies lingo and some of the most godawful fashion statements since Mrs. Roper, but the writing and direction make up for it.
Romero's editing and shot compositions are, perhaps, the best I've seen from him to date.
(Why is it that all these "Love Stories" have to feature a musical montage of the two doe-eyed young lovers going to a play ground, going on a picnic, eating ice cream, etc.?) The final third of the film, as the relationship hits the rocks, however, more than makes up for it with moments truly disturbing.
Without resorting to hard core gore or exploitation techniques, Romero manages to provide a real wince inducing air of suspense and danger that will probably be remembered long after the cutesy-poo stuff is forgotten.All in all, I must say that Romero needs to take stock of his film output over the last few years.
If I were him, I'd bring back "TAV" on a deluxe package DVD replete with audio commentary and plenty of extras and start issuing some damning (or, at least, distancing) statements about "Monkey Shines", "Two Evil Eyes" and "The Dark Half."Movie Fun: Try and spot all the actors from "Night of the Living Dead" that also made their way into this film.
Funny, surprising, sharply directed, engagingly written (great movie line: "our very existence depends on that beer"), well performed, and absorbing all the way.
(Yes, it is explained in the film.) As Jonathan Rosenbaum has pointed out, There's Always Vanilla is highly evocative of the early 70s; and like many timely films of that era, it has been unjustly neglected.
Little seen Romero non-horror film.
Romero's films after Night of the Living Dead (1968) and probably the least seen.
Romero feared being pegged as a horror film director and launched himself after the release of Night with this Graduate-type romantic drama, written by his associate Rudi Ricci.
It opens with a guy named Chris Bradley (Ray Laine who appeared in Jack's Wife (AKA: Season of the Witch)) who returns to his home city in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a year or more after his discharge from the U.S. Army and serving a tour in Vietnam.
Chris' stern but benevolent father (Roger McGovern) wants him to abandon his new lifestyle and return to the family business of making baby food in a local factory which Mr. Bradley owns.
On the street, Chris meets a beautiful young woman named Lynn (Judith Steiner) whom is about 10 years older than him and makes a living by modeling in local TV commercials.
Chris charms Lynn into letting him move in with her.For a time, Chris and Lynn's relationship is good with both of them sharing their love of of lovemaking, pot smoking, and rock and roll music.
For the rest of the film, it does downhill from there and for Chris heading towards ruin and misery.If it was restored by Anchor Bay or Blue Underground, it would be an interesting look at late 1960's early 1970's life with lusuous visuals (the grainy color of the aging VHS tapes is the disadvantage).
Sad to say that even Romero himself disavowed this film for its not all bad despite the bleak storyline.
As said here previously, THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA is a far better film than its reputation suggests (or director Romero himself apparently believes).
As with all his best work, the writing is snappy and original, and quite unlike his best work, it proves that he could have (had?) a career with non-horror pictures if he wished so.The film is told in flashback, with the main character (played excellently by Raymond Laine) ruminating in seemingly improvised sequences about his failed relationship, as the film illustrates its path.
I'm a lovable schnook" persona made me want to murder him when I revisited the film recently, Laine's portrayal of a sort of anti-hero in emotional turmoil here actually rings true.Among the many pleasures in the film is seeing various cast members of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (to say nothing of lead actress Judith Steiner) back again in completely different roles.
But there are also a host of terrific set pieces, a great, HUSBANDS-like night of stoned debauchery with father and son among them.It doesn't all work - there are two pretty awful sentimental montages which fail - but there's plenty of spirited jump-cutting, frame flashes and other unique touches which show a thoughtful stylistic hand at play.
Romero's second film isn't as bad as you think or what the filmmaker said about his second film..
A free-spirited young man (The late:Ray Laine) comes back home to Pittsburgh trying to make a new life for himself but when he meets a beautiful young model (Judith Ridley) that affects his life and they fall in love.
But the two couple are so different from each other and they try to make their relationship work, despite their complicated lifestyle.Directed by George A.
Romero (Creepshow, Knightriders, Martin) made an interesting, bittersweet drama that is a certainly an Unusual film even for director:Romero.
Romero made this film, because he feared being typecast as a "Horror Director".
Romero claims this film to be his worst, because he felt his heart wasn't in the right place.
But i liked this film, because of Laine and Ridley strong performances.
The behind the scenes moments where Ridley makes Television Commercials are the highlight, that's what Romero was doing in his career at that time.DVD has an fine non-anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) transfer and an fine-Dolby 2.0 mono sound.
Only faults in the film is Romero's use of flash cutting at several moments and an flawed conclusion.
The film has amusing moments for Romero's fans, which Romero close friends like John A.
Russo, Russell Streiner, Bill Hinzman and the late:Vince Survinski were involved with Romero's first film "Night of the Living Dead".
Definitely in Romero's TOP 3 FILMS.
Romero's distinct framing of shots and brilliant editing techniques are in full force; and anyone who appreciates Romero as a director (not just horror movies) should definitely see it.
Considering Romero is as political a director as he is an artistic one, this is a perfectly logical follow-up to his horror masterpiece, "Night of the Living Dead".
There's Always Vanilla tells the story of Chris, who has recently returned home after serving in the Army in Vietnam.
He doesn't have a steady job, instead making money by playing guitar on other people's records and through a variety of other implied methods, eventually moving into the apartment of a young woman he meets and mooching off of her while he tries his hand at writing.
His father offers him a secure "vanilla" job at his factory, but Chris rejects the offer as it doesn't suit his lifestyle.There's not much new and exciting in this film.
The director, George Romero, called it his worst film, and it is often overlooked even by fans of his work.
I would argue, however, that it is well worth watching for two reasons: the dialogue and the lead actor, Ray Laine.Laine, who plays the sarcastic, apathetic Chris in one of his few film roles, delivers a fun, memorable performance.
The film is never boring and the reason for that is Ray Laine, who dominates almost every scene.It's hard not to like the character he brings to life and his dry humor and constant sarcasm, even if we almost never agree with his selfish actions and motivations.
I must say, however, that the performance is a bit spotty and drags at times, but for the most part it is solid.Similarly, the dialogue is almost always unrivaled, especially when it comes to nearly every single one of Laine's lines.
Several of the other characters have some great lines too.One particularly memorable moment is when Chris appears at his girlfriend's apartment long after she's kicked him out.
She wants to know why he's come to bother her and he knows that that's what she's asking, but instead of answering that question he simply shrugs and replies: "A peanut butter sandwich." This film is by no means a masterpiece, but it is entertaining at the very least and watching it would not be a waste of time.
Sure, we've seen this same old story a hundred times before, but rarely, if ever, has it come packaged with the wonderful performance and brilliant dialogue found in There's Always Vanilla..
This film is not as good as not of the living dead but it still has it's merit if not just for the fact that George A.
This film has spots where it is heard to understand what is going on but with the narration that Romero wisely added as a wrap around the film comes together and tells a fine story about a misguided man trying to make it in the early 1970's.
I think the film does a great job of showing his journey and what this man needs to do.
The only reason to watch this is so that you can say you've seen all of George Romero's movies.
It's feels like an hour and a half long student film and about as much fun..
A young man returns to his home city of Pittsburgh and moves in with an older woman whom he begins to rely on for emotional and financial support.Following the international success of George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", it was only a matter of time before Romero and his production company (Latent Image) made a follow-up.
Though, as Romero would later concede, "Vanilla" is the worst film of his career and not surprisingly was never released on VHS and thus rarely seen before the DVD era.Latent Image, which involved most of the people from "night", was largely doing commercial work, as well as some segments of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".
Rudy Ricci never finished the script by the time shooting began, dragging what should have been four weeks to over a year of filming.
Writing came from Rudy Ricci (as mentioned) expanding on a short film he penned, with production officially handled by "Night" veterans John Russo and Russ Streiner.
Tackling the score was Steve Gorn.Bill Hinzman, George Kosana and Judith Ridley (wife of Russ Streiner) are in the cast, as they had been in "Night".
Hinzman would handle much work for Romero both behind and in front of the camera as the years went on.
McCollough would be editor and composer for much of Russo's work between 1976 and 1996.Originally distributed (poorly) by Cambist Films, it was later picked up by Anchor Bay on DVD, tacked on as a bonus feature to "Season the Witch".
A cleaner picture obviously does not magically turn a bad film into a good one, but thanks to the audio commentary and special features (including a 30-minute making-of with Russo and Streiner), we get an in-depth look at the world of Romero and Latent Image.
Like it or not, this film is the bridge between "Night of the Living Dead" and Romero's later work, thus making it a crucial watch for any student of his films..
My grandfather put forty plus years into the blast furnace; his friends all worked there or in other mills, gathered around the bar drinking Pabst or Iron City, telling tale of dealing with foremen or how much they could make off a double or triple shift.There's more of this erosion to come in Romero's work as the 1970s go on in Season of the Witch and particularly Martin, which is a grisly reminder of how it only took eight years to make the Steel City look like the end of the world.Also known as The Affair, Romero would say that this film was a "total mess" and that the budget hampered what could have been a better film.
Romero's follow-up to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is about as different as you can get but, as the director stated, he didn't want to become known simply for making horror movies so what we got is a romantic- drama.
The story follows Chris Bradley (Raymond Laine) who is just returning from Vietnam and spending most of his time with drug dealers and strippers.
For over thirty years this here was the hardest Romero film to see and it's one that he often calls his very worst when asked during interviews.
I think the legendary horror director is being a tad bit harsh because there are a few interesting touches here and there but on the whole it's a pretty forgettable cause except for those who want to see everything the man has done.
Of course, one of the biggest reasons for Romero fans to check it out is that Judith Ridley played Judy in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and she's actually not too bad here.
Laine is also pretty good in the movie as long as they're not trying to get any strong emotions out of him.
Romero has said that the screenwriter was lazy and pretty much gave up on the picture so the director had to work with what he had.
Romero's direction keeps the picture moving well enough and there are a couple good shots (including a nice sex scene) but in the end this is a pretty forgettable movie.
The 70s were full of movies about drifters and this one can't come close to best so there's not really any point except for die-hard Romero fans..
One can't help but imagine that this one echoes Romero's own Existential Angst at that time: the scenes involving the ad agency execs clearly suggest as much.
Imagine the insights someone like Romero could bring to such a movie...) THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA, whatever its merits (or lack of same), is evidence enough that Romero as a Filmmaker was capable from early on of making WHATEVER kind of movie he might've WANTED to make- Horror or Western or Contemporary Drama or anything else.
(The abortion scene is short but powerful Dramatically.) Romero's movies are always worth a look. |
tt0456912 | Dalkomhan insaeng | Kim Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) is a high ranking mobster and enforcer for Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), a cold and calculating crime boss to whom he is unquestionably loyal. The two share concerns over business tensions with Baek Dae-sik (Hwang Jung-min), a son from a rival family, which is when Kang assigns Sun-woo what is perceived to be a simple errand while he is away on a business trip — to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo (Shin Min-ah), whom he fears is having an "affair" with another man, giving Sun-woo the mandate to kill her (and her paramour) if he manages to discover it. As he performs his duty — following Hee-soo, and escorting her to a music recital one day — he becomes quietly enthralled by the girl's beauty and innocence as glimpses into his lonely, empty personal life become more prevalent. When he does come to discover Hee-soo's lover directly in her home, he fiercely beats him and prepares to inform Kang, but his attraction to her causes him to hesitate. He thus spares the two on the condition that they no longer see each other again, earning him Hee-soo's enmity.
Meanwhile, Sun-woo continues to be embroiled in personal business with Baek Dae-sik over having beaten up several of his henchmen earlier for overstaying their welcome at the hotel. He is then threatened by one of his enforcers to apologize, but he adamantly refuses, fueled by his frustrations over Hee-soo. As he relaxes in his apartment later one night, he is suddenly kidnapped by Baek's men to be tortured, but before they can do so they receive new orders via phone call and he is abruptly carried off to Kang, who has returned from overseas and has found out about his attempted cover-up of Hee-soo's affair. Kang's men torture him into confessing why he lied until he is left alone to think about his answer. A daring but messy escape follows, after which Sun-woo plans his revenge.
Help from one of Sun-woo's loyal men provides him with money and new clothes to go about his plan: he secretly delivers Hee-soo a gift to make amends and sets up a meeting with some local arms dealers, but as they are affiliated with Kang's organization he ends up killing them over a deal to buy a handgun — this incurs a vendetta with the brother of one of the dealers, who promptly sets out to find Sun-woo. He then goes on to set up a veiled rendezvous with Baek Jr. and kills him after a brief conversation, but he is viciously stabbed in the process. Bleeding, his violent shooting spree leads directly to Kang amidst one of his business meetings, where he vents bitterly over how badly he has been treated despite his seven years of service. Kang does not answer, and instead asks if Sun-woo's actions were directly because of Hee-soo. Sun-woo then shoots him, prompting a shootout with Baek Dae-sik's henchmen, who had quickly picked up his trail.
Sun-woo emerges as the only survivor of the battle with the arms dealer's brother finally catching up to him in the same room. Now dying from multiple gunshot wounds, he calls Hee-soo and pauses to reminisce on his only day with her, when he had escorted her to her music recital; in his memory, as he watches her play her cello, he finds himself overwhelmed with emotion and, in a rare moment of contentment, he smiles for the first time in the entire film. As he sheds a tear over this memory, the brother of the arms dealer executes him.
The film ends with a continuation of an earlier scene of Sun-woo looking out of a window at the city below him. After making sure he's alone, he begins to shadowbox his reflection in the glass, looking very happy. | revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | Not to mention the fact that it has the same sort of humor.Now, I am a film student who has actually gotten a lot of praise from students and teachers and whatnot for my first film project
That's great and all, but after seeing this film I am reminded of what Steven Spielberg said after he saw The Godfather; "I guess I should quit now, because I will never make something this good." I am, in no way, comparing myself to Spielberg, I'm just describing the feeling of, "holy s***, this is amazing," and "wow, I could never do this ever
"See this movie before you die
Or before it gets remade..
The gun battles are reminiscent of Scarface, the martial arts are gritty and realistic, the poignancy of unrequited love is painful, there is a deep philosophical current that underlies this film, and the camera work is superb-but that's not what carries the movie.
Wholesale death, blood by the gallons, broken bones and multiple beatings with humongous pipe-wrenches, two-by-fours, and lead pipes are on order, right after a heaping dish of innocent love and a guy trying for once to do the right thing.The plot, well you see, it's like this: you can see everything coming a mile away, the movie plays it straight, and follows the exact path you know it will and the exact path you hope it will.
And he says no matter how dark and moody it may seem, his new film ''A Bittersweet Life (Talkomhan Insaeng)¡¯¡¯ is no exception.''This movie basically deals with relationship breakups resulting from small communication breakdowns,¡¯¡¯ Kim said during a news conference Monday after the preview screening of ''A Bittersweet Life.¡¯¡¯ Without calling it comedy exactly, sometimes audiences have to laugh at very serious or ironic situations, Kim said.Kim has shown his unique morbid sense of humor in previous movies such as ''The Quiet Family,¡¯¡¯ a black comedy about a family who kill visitors to their cottage, ''The Foul King,¡¯¡¯ a comic drama about an amateur wrestler, and one horror contribution work for the omnibus film ''Three.¡¯¡¯ Kim is also behind ''A Tale of Two Sisters,¡¯¡¯ the psychological horror film that became a summer hit in 2003.''A Bittersweet Life,¡¯¡¯ starring Lee Byung-hun from ''Everybody Has a Little Secret¡¯¡¯ and Shin Mina from ''Madeleine,¡¯¡¯ portrays the desperate and brutal revenge of Sun-woo (played by Lee) after he is expelled from his gang and comes close to being killed by his boss.Lee Byung-hun is a hit-man who falls for the girlfriend of his boss in the stylishly violent ¡°A Bittersweet Life.¡± Conventional ideas of causation are put into doubt in director Kim Jee-woon's twist on film noire.
''A Bittersweet Life (Talkomhan Insaeng)'' is what Korean critics are describing as ''Action Noire.'' In it, he tweaks the traditional Korean gangster story line, presenting a work with film noire undertones and stylish cinematography.Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) is a revenging dark angel dressed in black.
Gang leader Kang (Kim Young-cheol) assigns Sun-woo, his right-hand man, to watch after his nubile girlfriend/professional cellist Hee-soo (Shin Mina) while he is away and find out about the other guy with whom he suspects she is messing around.The plot is complicated by Sun-woo's existential decision to stray from the explicit instructions with which he is charged.
The music of the film was also wisely selected.Some -few- funny moments in the film help the viewer lighten up and get ready for what I saw as brilliantly directed fighting scenes, that neither bored me nor made me look away.At the end of the film, when the desciple was crying for "a dream that can never come true" I was absolutely sure that what I saw was nothing less than a true work of art..
In his previous film, the marks of originality, intellectual challenge and superb visual style hailed the possibility of a brave new voice in Korean cinema.A Bittersweet Life commences with similarly awesome photography and ambiance.
A tinkling piano (Chopin is used as part of the score) adds a delicate counterpoint to what we know will surely be an overload of violence and mayhem.Sun-Woo has served his boss, President Kang, faithfully for seven years and is now manager of Dolce Vita as well as Kang's right hand man.
When you sit back to watch this film, be prepared for a film that will open your mind,a film that will make you question humanity, and be prepared to be floored by a visual masterpiece which is rare by gangster movie standards.From the first few shots we are feasted with beautiful shots, angles and little references that are simply delightful.
The film then plays out to its darker half and we are shown the bitter side of life, which i wont go into and destroy for you.Everything about this film just...Works, even the martial arts scenes are well edited and seem clever, rather than tricking us with quick camera cuts, we get a raw and violent slice of brutal gangster revenge, which again simply delights in a strange bitter way.Simply put, A bittersweet life is simple plot, filmed and played exactly how it is meant to be, exactly how you want it to be.
Director Kim Jee-Woon has given us a gripping tale of revenge that treads a well worn path, yet does it with enough panache and style for us to forgive the occasional cliché.Byung-hun Lee plays Sun-woo, cooler-than-cool right-hand man to crime boss Kang, and manager of a swish hotel.
An extremely miffed Sun-woo then sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for trying to bump him off.With a plot that is neither as fresh or as clever as that other recent great Korean revenge drama, Oldboy, Kim Jee Woon's movie owes a lot of its success to lead actor Byung-hun Lee who puts in a confident performance that is the epitome of cool: dressed in a snappy suit, this hard-as-nails gangster is an unflappable fellow, even faced with what seems like certain death.As one would expect, there is plenty of violence, which slowly escalates until the inevitable final showdown between Sun-woo and Kang.
These scenes are handled with aplomb and will go down well with fans of action cinema.With an ending that is open to interpretation by the viewer, A Bittersweet Life leaves one thinking about the film long after the credits have rolled.
The trouble here is that stock characters are put through the motions of living stock feelings and the bodyguard ordered to watch his boss's girlfriend falls in love because the film demands it of him.
No other part of the film receives the care and attention of the scenes of violence.Yet by the end of it, KJW isn't satisfied with a crime flick where blood gushes out of bullet holes (of which it's a good one), he wants emotion to pour out of the finale.
The violence is gratuitous - shootings up close, bleeding by the buckets, hand-breaking, fist-fighting, at times making the audience cringe at too much crimson.But thumbs up for the action pieces, which were well choreographed, especially the escape fight scene (you must learn, never to give a few minutes to a hit-man), and the climatic shoot out finale.
This movie delivers on gangster action and torture scenes but flops on the love side of the story and the plot twists.
What I liked in this movie was some of fight scenes were a bit rough and crude and not as dance-like while others were very slick- it gave a good feel for the different ways a fight can go down.PLOT: A man's world goes all to crap in the gangster business and he can't seem to figure out why even though the answer is so obvious.
Not a lot of films in this genre leave a big smile on your face when they end this with its irony does.The other major difference would be feeling empathy, while Sundance and other festival showcase the hard hitting dramas of Hollywood, pick a Korean action film and it still would make you feel something.The cinematography is phenomenal it doesn't go crazy with color tones and doesn't care much about CGI its all really nicely thought out shots and well done stunts.
With ancient philosophy adding a final twist right at the end this is one the best foreign action films I have seen for a long time..
It would be perfect if you watch this movie, alone, at your home, or alone without your crew at the cinema.I enjoyed in the life of the main character, in my eyes he has perfect life, he has reverence from the people, he has perfect apartment, he didn't had time for love, but when he saw perfect silky skin, and perfect crazy soul, and the moment he saw her in the perfect classical music element, when she connected with her soul to the instrument and to the music, and when the gleam of light permeate her silky skin, he absolutely knew, that his life will be bittersweet, because he needed her more than life.The main reason, for watching this movie, alone, is that it makes you think like you are the main character in the "A Bittersweet Life".
And I was blown away!A Bittersweet Life quickly jumped to the top of my re-watch pile and I was telling everyone I knew about this awesome movie.Leading star, Jeong-min Hwang is Korea's Chow Yun Fat without a doubt.
Handsome, fantastic actor, and great at action (further seen in his Hollywood debut - the p*ss poor GI Joe movies), Hwang is a star!His role in A Bittersweet Life just confirms that, and instantly earns him fans as viewers become hooked by him in this incredible film.I can't praise it enough and don't want to give anything away.
Yet as Sun Woo's life begins to break down after a costly mistake, the quality and drama quickly takes a backseat to the all too familiar genre of action and revenge.
I lived in South Korea for 3 years, and Lee Byung Hun who play Sun Woo is my favorite Korean actor - admittedly, I think he's very handsome, but I also think he has some genuine acting talent too - and that's why I had high hopes for Dalkomhan Insaeng.
Everything has been seen so many times.I must admit that this movie is real,close to the real life,it is not that the main character can beat 1000 guys with one kick,but..., who knows, maybe with some more fantastic fight scenes the movie would be more interesting.
To qualify my tastes, I like gangster/triad/yakuza films, and I love the new wave of genre-busting Korean films."Bittersweet Life" is the story of Sun-Woo, a workaholic enforcer who operates out of a hotel.
He seems like a person who is used to doing everything his boss tells him, but one job makes him hesitate, and the mafia goes after him.The way Sung-Woo's situation changes from being respected to hunted is expected yet perfectly subtle at the same time, and watching his character develop during the movie was rewarding.
Movie: A Bittersweet Life (18)Rating: 4/5I've previously said this: Kim Jee-Woon is my favourite South Korean director and Lee Byung-hun, my favourite South Korean actor.
A cinematic jewel from start to finish, A Bittersweet Life is a remarkable portrait of the lifestyle & ethical codes of Korean mobs & tells the story of a high-ranked mobster named Kim Sun-woo who has been extremely faithful to his boss, Kang.
When Kang asks him to keep an eye on his young mistress while he is out of town on a business trip & eliminate her if she is found dating someone else, Sun-woo ends up finding himself in an unwanted situation & makes a moral choice that turns his life upside down, setting in motion a chain of events that ends with an unforgettable finale.Kim Ji-woon's direction is slick & stylish from the opening moments and the film is brilliantly scripted too with Ji-woon properly weighing each sequence on paper before executing them on screen.
Guaranteed to please not only the gangster films' fans but almost every viewer, A Bittersweet Life is one of the best films of its year, one of the greatest Korean films of all time & one of world cinema's finest crime dramas that's as razor sharp in its approach as it is unforgiving in its climactic moments.A masterpiece, by all standards.
As a big fan of the current South Korean cinema who has seen the amazing vengeance thriller "I Saw The Devil", I was excited to watch an earlier collaboration of director Kim Jee-Woon and actor Lee Byung-Hun in this movie that got internationally known as "A Bittersweet Life".
The choreography is superb and you find yourself flinching at some of the fight scenes.I was impressed with the acting throughout and some of the cinematography was astounding.If you haven't been made aware of some of the excellent Korean movies around at the moment, i.e A Bittersweet Life, Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance to name a few, take my advice and see these films immediately!
The story is also very good and in some parts original, but sadly the movie in the final third I feel takes a bad turn and becomes a bit too John Woo for my liking (not that he's really all bad).
Action takes over too much and spoils what was a developing story line.Regardless, a good entertaining movie, which is worth watching alone for the setting, direction and main actor.
But very good action indeed.Although movie feels weak at points where the main character, who is shown to be very sharp and master of martial arts, under estimates the situation and opponents.
The basis of the plot line is revenge, in this case from both sides thou its the main character Sun-Woo you will be rooting for.There's also plenty of laughs in this film (if you like you're comedy a little darker) some of the best laughs coming from the villains, or the several ingenious fight scenes.The ending however may leave a few people confused I certainly took a couple of viewings before I understood.
This is a cool movie with great set pieces and good violent action scenes.
part KILL BILL,part LEON : THE PROFESSIONAL,.A BITTERSWEET LIFE is another greatness from kim jee woon,.now official to become one of my favorite director.he really can turn a well established genre (horror with A TALE OF TWO SISTERS,and now gangster),into something entirely different (well,not entirely,he's sometimes borrows one or two things from other movies,but still) and highly poetic.a must see it's hard to choose my favorite scene from the movie.from the opening scene,the torture scene,the 'violin watching' scene,the 'merchandise' shop scene,the last showdown,the ending,all is worth to be remembered.anyone please see this movie,and you won't gonna regret it.
Yes, it's another sometimes devastating Korean gangster story, made with all the slickness and style of far eastern cinema.It's a downbeat and depressing film that explores the very depths of the human condition, and I have to say that I found the main character's journey to be pretty upsetting.
Lee Byung-hun went on to bigger things after this (a Hollywood career and I SAW THE DEVIL) and it's no surprise, because he's excellent in the central role: extremely subtle and yet with his eyes brimming with feeling.As the title would indicate, A BITTERSWEET LIFE isn't a feel-good action film with the hero blasting away various well-dressed criminals: this is a crime film in which every action has a consequence, and you can guarantee there won't be a happy ending.
The underlying philosophical overtones didn't resonate that well with the plot.The French film 'Leon''s influence is clearly seen, and the simplicity of the plot, instead of making it different and visceral, finally acts against the movie.But with a director like Kim Jee-Won, after a movie like 'A Tale of Two Sisters', and an actor like Byung-Hun Lee, this is a Total disappointment.
When I first watched this film, it was incredible to find it as a Korean movie, especially a story about gangsters.
I could understand better what the director wanted to say in this film after watching it again with his commentaries.Many scenes depicting violence and fights are well placed in the film to describe subtle emotional changes of the hero (Byung-hun LEE) and the unexpected situation that he encounters.
Everything is believable, from the small things like the way in which the main character first falls in love with his boss's girlfriend because of the delicate curve of her neck and the way the main character fumbles with a gun for the first time while he tries to put it together, to the theme of revenge that this films is propelled by.The main character (Sun-Woo) has lived most of his life serving his 'Hyong-Nim' (Korean for boss in the gangster underworld).
The theme of revenge stems from this, as Mr.Kang feels like a betrayed father, with his underling, Sun-Woo protects his boss's girlfriend from getting caught cheating.
But, I feel that many viewers may be missing the twist at the end.By 'twist' I mean after Sun-Woo's death the film goes back to the beginning, revealing that he only fantasised the whole thing.
however the introduction of an extra character near the end scene was a bit confusing as we are not told who he is how he is related to the story ( well not in great detail ) i will be looking for other films from Korea and what i now call new cinema rather than world cinema, mainly because of the quality i spoke of earlier in directing, acting, cinematography, story and choreography.
At the start of the film, the audience is told a story about a disciple that awakes in tears, upon questioning by his Master as to why he is crying, the disciple replies - "Because the dream I had can't come true." I did not understand this story at first, but after you've watched 'A Bittersweet Life' you'll (hopefully) understand.Sun-Woo is a hotel manager as well as a feared mob enforcer. |
tt1290135 | Children of the Corn | In an attempt to save their failing marriage, Burt and Vicky, a bickering couple, are driving to California for vacation. As they drive through rural Nebraska, they accidentally run over a young boy who ran onto the road. Upon examination of the body, Burt discovers the boy's throat had been slit and he was bleeding to death before he was hit. After opening the boy's suitcase, they find a strange-looking crucifix made of twisted corn husks. Knowing they will have to report this to the authorities, they place the body in their car's trunk. After arguing over where to take the body, Burt decides to go to Gatlin, a small, isolated community which is right down the road. Vicky wants to take the body to Grand Island (which is 70 miles away), but Burt argues that it would not be a good idea to take the body so far away.
When they finally arrive in Gatlin, it appears to be a ghost town. As they explore the town and visit a gas station and an empty lunchroom, the couple notice that many things about the town are out-of-date, such as gas prices and calendar dates. Vicky starts to get a bad feeling about the town and wants to leave, but Burt insists that they keep going until they find the police station. When they finally reach the center of town, they find no one there either.
Burt then sees a church with a recent date on the sign out front. In stark contrast with the rest of Gatlin—which has been neglected for years—the church is reverently cared for. After telling Vicky he's going to have a look inside, they get into another argument. After Vicky threatens to drive off and leave him stranded in Gatlin, Burt grabs her purse, and takes out her car keys. Vicky, on the verge of hysteria, begs him to leave Gatlin and find another place to call the police. He ignores her and walks away.
Inside, Burt finds that someone has torn the lettering off the walls and created a strange mosaic of Jesus behind the altar, as well as ripping out the keys and stops of the pipe organ and stuffing its pipes full of corn husks. At the altar, Burt finds a King James Bible (with several pages from the New Testament cut out), and a ledger where names have been recorded, along with birth and death dates. While reading the ledger, he notices that twelve years ago all names were changed from modern to Biblical ones, and that everyone listed as deceased died on their 19th birthday. Burt comes to the horrifying realization that twelve years ago the children of Gatlin killed the town's adults and that members of their community are sacrificed on their 19th birthday.
After hearing Vicky sound the car's horn, Burt runs from the church to find that a gang of children dressed in Amish-style clothing and armed with farm tools have surrounded the car. Vicky tries to fight back, but the children drag her out of the car and slash holes in all of the tires. Burt tries to intervene, but one of the children (a teenaged boy with red hair) throws a kitchen knife at him, stabbing Burt in the arm. The teenager then attempts to claw Burt's eyes, but he pulls the knife out of his arm and stabs the teenager in the throat, killing him. The children step back in shock. Burt then realizes that Vicky is gone. When he asks where she is, one of the children holds up a knife and makes a slashing motion.
Burt then is chased into an alley. Managing to outrun them, Burt ducks into the corn field and hides while his attackers search for him. He notices several odd things: there are no animals or weeds anywhere in the cornfield, and that every stalk of corn is free of any blemishes. As the sun begins to go down, Burt becomes lost and wanders around until he stumbles onto a circle of empty ground in the middle of the cornfield. There he discovers Vicky's dead body. She has been tied to a cross with barbed wire, with her eyes ripped out, and her mouth stuffed with corn husks. Gatlin's previous minister and police chief, who are now skeletons, have also been crucified. As Burt starts to flee, he notices that every row in the cornfield has closed up, preventing him from escaping. Burt soon realizes that something is coming for him. Before he can do anything, he is killed by a giant red-eyed monster that comes out of the cornfield. Shortly thereafter, a harvest moon appears in the sky.
The next day, the children of Gatlin (all members of a cult that worships "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", a wrathful deity that inhabits the cornfields that surround the town) meet where Burt and Vicky were slain. Isaac, their nine year old leader, tells them that He Who Walks Behind the Rows is displeased with their failure to kill Burt, an act that the deity was forced to commit on its own, as it did with the former minister and police chief. As punishment for their failure He Who Walks Behind the Rows commands that the age limit be lowered to eighteen years old.
As night falls, Malachi (the killer of the boy that Burt and Vicky ran over) and all of the other eighteen-year-olds walk into the cornfield to sacrifice themselves to He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Malachi's pregnant girlfriend, Ruth, waves goodbye to him and begins to weep. It is revealed that she has a secret hatred for He Who Walks Behind the Rows and dreams of setting the cornfield on fire, but is afraid to actually do so because He Who Walks Behind the Rows can see everything, including the motives inside human hearts. The story ends with the simple statement that the corn surrounding Gatlin is pleased. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | The children aren't even in the least bit scary and the little boy who played Issac recites his lines like he's still trying to remember them.
Of all the Stephen King books and films, I find the movie Children of the Corn to be about the most interesting.
As a fan of horror movies, I think films with children as villains seem to work for me.
Children of the Corn is one of the most interesting of these films because of it's originality, atmosphere and it involved many kids, not just one.
The most recent in the series was a remake on the Syfy Channel in 2009 eight years after the last one.This remake uses most of all all the same ideas of the original including corn fields in Nebraska and kids with religious views who have killed their parents and looking to strike again.
This time the victims are an argumentative couple who were on their way to a honeymoon trip in California.As a creepy kid film, it is very important that there are good performances from the child actors.
A minor flaw maybe but still hard to overlook.I found Children of the Corn to be disappointing and a movie with an hour and half plot that ran too long at two hours.
Anyone who would suggest this version of Children of The Corn is in any way superior to the original 1984 adaptation is completely out of their freakin' mind!!This is 'MOVIES' we're talking about here...not a 'MOST FAITHFUL STEPHEN KING ADAPTATIONS COMPETITION'.
Like Kubrick's Shining, the choices made in the earlier adaptation were obviously smart and effective (not designed to please the author, but to please AUDIENCES)...but here..oh dearThe script, acting and execution of this Children of the Corn 2010 version is probably one of the most embarrassing train wrecks, even for modest budget horror I've had the displeasure of sitting through in many years.Kandyse McClure's performance is particularly noteworthy as embarrassingly hysterical and silly.
Its difficult to cast children for TV movies, I assume, but at least get some kids who don't speak as though they've been novacained.If you're a Stephen King fan, this might be worth exploring.
Now this is not a perfect film by any means, so don't watch it expecting emmys, there are moments when the dialogue could indeed have been done better, but it is not so low as to make it unwatchable, and the bickering between the husband and wife does seem a bit much at times, though its nothing that doesn't actually happen in the real world.
Everything felt real to me, like this could actually happen which is one thing I look for in good horror films.
There are many things that backfire in this movie from the miscasting to the changes to keep in line with the original story and none of them work for the better.
I remember the Children Of The Corn movie from 1984, and as an big admirer of Stephen Kings work, I was somehow pleased even in not so great movie, of the overall impression watching it.
While we had there fine acting from actors, good atmosphere and rhythm, and the most important thing scary feeling of children there, in this crap which is a true shame to be called adaptation of Stephen King work we have nothing but low level entertainment.
Not scary at all, terrible acting, everything so amateurish that hurts my stomach.Some effects that was used to create scary atmosphere failed, using part of the music from first movie to create tension of it, nothing helped here.I really don't know how it is possible to show that kind of junk to audience that admire good horror movie, especially for those that also like master King.It is a shame.
I'm not entirely sure whether this thing is supposed to be a remake of the 1984 film or simply just another adaptation of the same short story by Stephen King.
I found nothing sympathetic in either character and just wanted them gone, unlike the original film where I liked and cared for the two leads.
The characters have no likable personalities and are badly underdeveloped, while the acting is terrible, especially from a painfully dull and melodramatic Kandyse McClure though a lot of the main cast are bland and the children are robotic.
In conclusion, a waste of time, the original movie and King's story are not exactly masterpieces of their respective forms but they are much more worthwhile than this irredeemable turd.
I love the genre and am a Stephen King fan however my cat has coughed up more impressive things than this movie.Listening to the children was akin to listening to a recitation of the times tables, providing the dialogue could actually be understood.Some of the special effects were OK and I enjoyed the corn.
This SyFy remake at least tries to keep itself faithful to the original short story by Stephen King.The movie begins with a group of children gathered inside a tent, where a young boy dressed in a kiddie cowboy suit gives a creepy lecture to the rest of the congregation, while a pig is being sacrificed.
The child playing the preacher is not as creepy as the actor that played the same role in the 1984 movie, but I do not subscribe to the notion that is is necessarily a liability - the children may not look like psychopathic killers, but that was the whole point: the kids are not deranged (you will have to see the movie to find out why.) Bottom line, while not as scary as, for instance, The Myst, the movie still holds its own compared with the original 1984 theatrical release, which while enjoying a much bigger budget and special effects, the story itself ends up being increasingly preposterous and lame..
After trying to find a police officer or anyone to report it to, they stumble on the town's secret: no one over a certain age is alive, and children are commanded by a prophet for a pagan harvest god.All I want to say about this film is that it is a weak, pathetic interpretation of the original, and can be disregarded.
I remember reading the original short story and being taken with both the reality of the dialog between the main characters (it was written the way people really speak) and the disturbing effect of the subject matter.
I would accuse the principals of overacting but they weren't given a lot to work with.Unlike the original movie, this adaption did stick close enough to the story satisfy most King fans and to catch some of the uneasiness the story evoked.
The second (small) screen version of Stephen Kings' short story stars David Anders and Kandyse McClure as the couple Burt and Vicky Stanton.
Making it to the nearby tiny town of Gatlin, they are soon confronting the towns' children, who have turned murderous and now pray to a different sort of God named "He Who Walks Behind the Rows".This version is scripted by King himself and director Donald P.
He's still a stubborn dummy, of course, and their inability to get the Hell out of Dodge before the excrement hits the fan merely serves to seal their fate.One new wrinkle this time is to make Burt & Vicky an inter-racial couple, not that it actually adds anything to the story.
Robert Kurtzman supplies the decent enough gore.This viewer didn't hate this adaptation nearly as much as some people, but will concede that the '84 film shows people a generally better time, despite its utterly goofy, upbeat ending.If you stick it out to the bitter end, there IS a final scene following the end credits.Six out of 10..
On a road trip through rural Nebraska, a divorcing couple find an abandoned town to be the home of a cult of children worshiping a bizarre figure that lives in their cornfields and must find a way of stopping the kids from turning them into their next sacrifice.This is a pretty troubling if somewhat watchable effort.
It's really not that much of a remake of the original, it's like a completely different movie.
To clear up any confusion (well, mostly just for myself I guess) there is only one remake - and here I am reviewing it.The classic 1984 version of Children of the Corn is based off a short story written by Stephen King.
I never wanted to ponder on this topic too long though because underneath it all, Children of the Corn is still a horror movie, and the 1984 film captures this wonderfully.
It's probably worth mentioning that the child actor who played the role of Isaac was pitiful and I hated every second of it...it almost reminded me of Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, a WRETCHED film that annoyingly watches your every move only to weasel its way back into the dark recess it crawled from never to be heard of again, eventually surfacing once more on the seedy side of Frank's discount movie bin.
The movie is really far from exciting to watch, especially as an horror.It seemed like a good idea to modernize the story more, for the 21th century, with todays style of film-making.
Next time they should however put someone in charge who seems to know what he or she is doing and can make a decent film, out of a potentially decent concept.Strangely enough you're far better off watching the 1984 version of the Stephen King short story, or any of its many sequels for that matter.3/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Originally a short story by Stephen King, the CHILDREN OF THE CORN concept has produced a veritable goldmine for Hollywood producers over the years, ever since the 1984 film adaptation proved a smash hit and the inevitable sequels followed.
Yes, I'm talking about Kandyse McClure's character of Vicky, the protagonist's wife, who shrill and incessant howling every time she appears on screen is enough to make the ears bleed.Still, the rest of the film isn't anything to write home about.
The titular children aren't menacing in the least; one thing I remember from the original film is how creepy the actor playing Isaac was, but the Isaac here is much younger, cuter, and hearing him preach in that soft, whiny little voice is anything but frightening.
Basic plot: the very vivacious Vicky(Kandyse McClure)is sadly married to a dork "Marine" Burton (David Anders), he who acts like he barely passed Cub Scouts, travel to a small town in Nebraska and encounter biblical bigots hiding in the cornfields.I can't believe there aren't more movie with Kandyse in them.
Finally just seen the last of Corn movies.Children of the Corn (2009) This is not one of 3 worst in series, as better then the 5,7 and 8 movie series but this movie is 4 worst in series.I found this movie really entertaining and did stay faithful to main story and like however they did add for new think to remake, which i think worked well with movie.
The acting in this movie decent, for a movie in the corn series, not saying or even good and same goes for movie,even i thought it would be a lot worse (like 8 movies series that just came out in 2011) Isaac When first saw Children of corn(1984) about years ago, I found Isaac voice so annoying that it took me 10 years to re-watch this movie.But in this Isaac (A thing that I thought i Would never say) was even more annoying, it not the voice this, it just not believe at all, it did not the suit roll at all, it just flat for whole movie, he was one of the main probably in this movie and women Kandyse McClure who played Vicki Stanton in this, was really unbearable to watch, all she did for first ten minutes was shout, moan, whine about anything, i felt like turning it off, went shouting none- stop for 3 minutes of movie, even though it felt more like 2 hours and was so clad she got slapped in the face then, I hated her so much..I could not wait for her to get killed and when evil kids found her, I Cheered.
Children of the Corn (2009) ** (out of 4) Remake of the 1984 cult film based on Stephen King's short story.
This time out a fighting couple (David Anders, Kandyse McClure) are driving to California but while going through the corn they hit and kill a young kid.
The debate on remakes will never die but I'm not of the fan of the original film so I thought a reworking of the material might have been a good idea.
The performances by the children were better here than in the original film but I'm sure much debate will follow on the leads.
Here is a review that is about the good stuff, not the bad.The remake is definitely stays faithful to the short story by King.
And as much as I disliked the character changes and the Vietnam story arc, I've got to give them credit for switching things up a bit unlike the remake of Psycho which stuck to the original practically word for word.
I've liked Stephen King's Children of The Corn series since I was a kid and I was very interested when I heard that they were remaking them.
I felt like I was jumping into a movie after missing the first half hour, besides that, the acting was so-so, and overall the film was okay at best.
Apparently all the good scenes in the original movie (The killing of the adults, Isaac and Malachi going at it in the climax, were his invention.) This movie cut all that good stuff out and replaced it with the Viet Cong and public child sex.The blame rests squarely on Mr. Stephen King’s shoulders.
I don't know why, but I was really hoping for more from the SyFy original remake of Children of the Corn.
They especially happen when he's in the cornfields because they look just like Viet Nam. Wow - how original.This recently came out on DVD in an uncut version and I wish I could believe that it might help the movie.
This is a completely different movie which follows the original short story.
One of the only things I didn't like about the first Children of the Corn movie, was that it took it's own path and decided to have a happy ending.
I honestly would have stopped watching the movie but, I was hoping for the scene in the first one, where the children kill the adults in the diner.
Although, it does resemble the Stephen King short story more than the 1984 original, especially the ending, it is not it's equal in overall quality and creepiness.
Stephen King wrote this adaptation with David Borchers; unlike the original Children of the Corn film in 1984, the screenplay of which was written by George Goldsmith and BASED on King's story.
Not to mention that it gives a really interesting view of the children's religion, with scenes that I feel could have come right out of the original story.
They realize that, on their way through Gatlin, that there is no life in it besides the kids and that they are in for more than they expected.This was so terrible to me, that I stopped for commentary.Point #1 - Burt and Vicki.For what feels like 2/3s of the movie, all you have is Burt and Vicki bickering and arguing.
I didn't see in detail what the children were eating, but they couldn't survive on corn alone, even if they used nixtamalization to prevent pellagra.If I see enough of these horrible TV and film versions of Stephen King's work, I might just get motivated enough to see if I do as bad a job myself.
In a time like ours, when Hollywood is remaking so many classic horror films that don't need to be remade, I'm impressed by all the recent remakes of Stephen King stories...
Unfortunately, the nearest town is Gatlin, which at first glance seems to be deserted, but the couple realize all too late that something is wrong in this town when the only signs of life appear to be children, and fanatical ones at that.I just watched this film for the second time, and on viewing it again I realize how well the filmmakers did in capturing the sense of building dread present in the original short story.
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to loving the original 1984 film of Stephen King's CHILDREN OF THE CORN.
The film also casts to type- there are actual kids here, not 20-somethings playing teens, and Isaac is only about ten (although he's not as good an actor as original Issac John Franklin).
The acting is alright, the two leads do what's asked of them even if their character's are unlikable.Children of the Corn is a good story & I have to say that I like both the original 1984 adaptation & this 2009 version although I prefer the former, this isn't that bad at all actually & thought it was perfectly watchable & even quite effective at times although maybe it doesn't satisfy completely..
I love the original Children of the Corn, a little campy and perhaps not overly faithful to Stephen King's story but there was a true feeling of disturbing isolation and twisted religious fanaticism the way it was meant to be.
Part of that problem in my opinion is the children in this remake do a good job but don't even hold a candle to the original cast of kids from the first film.
Here the kid looks like he needs a time out and a nap.None of the actors even tried to act, keeping the same facial expressions throughout and this doomed any chance to make this travesty into a so bad its good type of film.I don't blame Stephen King from disowning it and wanting the rights restored. |
tt0100114 | Marked for Death | Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher returns from Colombia, where drug dealers killed his partner Chico. As a result of Chico's death and years of dead end work, John retires and heads to his family's home in suburban Chicago. He visits the local school to meet his old friend and former U.S. Army buddy Max (Keith David) who works there as a football coach and physical education teacher.
As John and Max celebrate their reunion, a gunfight breaks out between local drug dealers and a Jamaican gang at the bar where they celebrate. The gang, known as the Jamaican Posse, is led by a notorious psychotic drug kingpin named Screwface (Basil Wallace) full of West African Vodun and sadism. John arrests one of Screwface's henchmen as the gunfight ends. News that Posse crimes occurring in Chicago and across the United States spread as the Posse increases their crime and members. The next day, Screwface and his henchmen do a drive-by shooting on the house where John, his sister Melissa, and Melissa's 12-year-old daughter Tracey live. Tracey is injured and hospitalized in critical condition.
John encounters a gangster named Jimmy whom he is forced to kill. A Jamaican gangster named Nesta arrives and is subdued by John, who asks about Screwface. Nesta gives information but tells him to go after Screwface alone and jumps out the window to his death. The next day, John discovers a strange symbol engraved on a carpet, and with the help of Jamaican voodoo and gang expert Leslie, a detective for the Chicago Police Department, he learns that it is an African blood symbol used to mark their crimes. John decides to come out of retirement to join Max in a battle against Screwface.
At the same night of their rendezvous, John gets a phone call from Melissa, which is cut short when Screwface and his men invade the Hatcher household, but they leave upon his arrival. The next day, John and Max encounter another batch of Screwface's henchmen which results in a car chase wherein one of the henchmen is killed. The henchmen's car crashes into a mall wherein they are subsequently killed by the duo amidst the chaos of shoppers fleeing the scene. During a meeting with Leslie, John realizes that the only way to stop the Jamaican Posse is to bring down Screwface. That evening, Screwface ambushes John under the guise of a construction crew; John escapes and survives after Screwface plants a molotov cocktail in his car.
The two team up with Charles, a Jamaican-American detective of the Chicago police, who has been trailing Screwface for five years, and trying to get to the root of the drug problem in the city. They acquire weaponry from a local weapons dealer, and, after testing the arsenal, they head for Kingston, Jamaica to find Screwface. Upon arrival, Max and Charles ask people in the streets information about Screwface's and his hideout. A Jamaican local presents them a photo of a woman who is acquainted with Screwface. John meets her in a nightclub, and she describes hanging out with Screwface, his drug business, and his hideout. The woman also informs John of a cryptic clue: the secret of Screwface's power is that he has two heads and four eyes.
By nightfall, John, Max, and Charles (disguised as members of the Posse) head for Screwface's mansion, where there is a party in progress. Secretly infiltrating the premises through a nearby plantation, John assassinates three henchmen on the balcony with a silenced sniper, plants a bomb at a nearby power station and infiltrates the inner grounds by climbing across roofs. While Max and Charles keep a lookout, John detonates the bomb, causing the party to erupt in violence and gunfire. With Max and Charles opening fire on the ambushing Posse gang, John enters the building and disposes of many henchmen. He finds a sacrificial area but is captured by Screwface and his remaining henchmen. John manages to break free and kills every henchman before decapitating Screwface in a sword fight.
Upon returning in Chicago, the trio displays Screwface's severed head to the Jamaican Posse to get them to end their crimes and leave. However, Screwface's identical twin brother, who runs the Chicago Posse crime business, arrives and kills Charles, causing the gang (as well as the audience) to think that Screwface has returned from the dead. At this point, it is revealed that the twin brother was the real mastermind of all Posse crimes in Chicago and the entire United States while the real Screwface supplies him with drugs and money. The meeting erupts in chaos, and the gang members open fire on the duo.
During the gunfight, Max holds off the henchmen despite being shot in the leg while John kills more gang members before he engages Screwface's twin brother in a sword fight. The fight moves to a nightclub owned by the twin himself wherein Hatcher gives him more fatal injuries by gouging his eyes and breaks his spine before dropping him down an elevator shaft, impaling the twin in the process. With both the Screwface brothers dead, the surviving Posse members are presumably arrested by law enforcement.
The final scene shows John carrying Charles' body with Max limping next to him before ending with Jimmy Cliff's song "John Crow" being played in the credits. | comedy, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, humor, revenge | train | wikipedia | Marked for death is one of them.This film has loads of martial arts, Yardies, drugs, black magic, Drive by shootings, people dressed like Aswad, and the big black guy from platoon who escapes from the shootout at the end by getting rotated back to America.
Hatcher and Max soon run into a bunch of ruthless Jamaican drug dealers who have moved in on the area, and their voodoo practising leader SCREWFACE...Que violence galore!!Expect bone breaking violence from this film, as Hatcher and Co. shoot, beat and tackle their way through the posse in order to save Hatcher and his family's lives-who have been "marked for death" by the gang.
I happen to be a huge fan of Seagal's early work, particularly this film, along with Out for Justice and his Under Siege flicks.Here, Seagal is ready for retirement when he accidentally pisses off some Jamaican druglords who have in turn marked him and his family for death.
He is the greatest American action star (well in his early films at least) and marked for death portrays him at his brutal bone snapping best.This is one of the fastest films i have ever watched, not only is it never boring but it is constantly entertaining.
Screw kill bill no one serves up a bit of revenge like Seagal.You know the plot.........find it elsewhere thats not important he and his family are MARKED FOR DEATH.
The ending itself is excellent, ending much more openly than the average action fest.Seagal is on top form as always, Keith David is good as his friend, Basil Wallace justly insane as Screwface and Tom Wright is likable as the Jamaican sidekick.
In 'Marked for Death,' Seagal is simply a retired undercover troubleshooter for the DEA who moves back to his home town ignoring that Jamaican drug pushers known as posses are invading his old neighborhood...
Also, its damn cool to watch bad-ass Steven Seagal getting it right completely.'Marked for Death' stars Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter.
Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by the twisted Screwface.'Marked for Death' is Power-Packed, Fast-Paced & Loud Cinema at its best.
Marked for Death has Steven Seagal playing John Hatcher a cop whose out for revenge against a gang of Jamaican drug dealers.
Be warned though, like most of Seagal's films, in the U.K Marked for Death was cut badly by the censors so nearly all of the bone breaking violence is now gone, leaving just a standard badly edited action film.
It's not all happiness and handshakes though, as the terrifying Jamaican Voodoo Posse, run by Abu Qua High Priest madman Screwface, have infiltrated Chicago and are dealing death to schoolkids.Irie, Irie.Hatcher wants nothing to do with it, and would rather just mind his own business despite the protest of best friend Max (a mostly wasted, but brilliant as always, Keith David).
After his first two impressive efforts, Above the Law (1988) and Hard to Kill (1989), this third Steven Seagal picture makes the idea clear: anyone who opposes him is meant to look like a fool; the bad guys are just there to make him look good.Seagal had been steadily building an audience that seemed a bit larger than those that follow the kick-'em-up antics of Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme.In Marked for Death, Seagal tosses aside any pretense at style and heads full throttle into exploitation.
And he deserves some real blame for this lapse in taste as a producer of "Marked for Death."Seagal plays John Hatcher, a retired DEA agent who comes home to Chicago, where his family is being attacked by a Jamaican street gang, who attack his sister's house, and the film proves that it isn't squeamish when Hatcher's niece (Danielle Harris) is shot in the crossfire.
Hatcher gets mad, and he decides to team up with his old friend, Max (Keith David), a school gym teacher, and Charles (Tom Wright), a Jamaican cop.Naturally, Hatcher declares war on the chief bad guy, a dread-locked Jamaican voodoo priest called Screwface (Basil Wallace), a nickname that apparently means "outrageous overacting." And it is almost unbelievable in the way Seagal picks off various members of the gang: he gouges one guy's eyeball, he breaks a guy's back, and he breaks numerous arms and limbs.All logic for this movie is thrown out the window- -through the glass, that is.
His sisters house is attacked and when his niece is shot, Hatcher and Max team up with Jamaican police man Charles (Tom Wright) to find Screwface and end his reign of terror.Clearly neither Screwface nor his ever-dispensable gang of cronies have ever seen a Steven Seagal film, or they would have left him the f**k alone.
Yet this derives from the unintentionally hilarious dialogue, woeful acting, some appallingly gruesome action scenes, and plot devices that simply defy logic.Possibly the funniest moment in the film has Hatcher, who has, by the way, just committed murder (he's retired from the police) and has to be the police's main suspect, taking part in a high speed chase through the city that sees one car drive along the pavement causing massive damage, only to later fly through the window of a department store.
Yes, yes, I'm missing the point, this is a dumb action film - this is hardly trying to be The Wire.Marked for Death does have the sense to show off Seagal's martial arts skills.
He finds that there are plenty of Jamaican drug dealers who sell marijuana and crack to teenagers.One day, he is at a bar with his old friend and a shootout between the jamaicans and these other guys ensue.Seagal protects one of them by beating on a Jamaican, afterwords he swears revenge.So the jamaicans start trying to kill his family by shooting at them.They also engage in voodoo rituals.The gang is led by "Screwface" who is probably the scariest villain in a Seagal film.So Seagal with the help of his friend and a Jamaican cop, go and try to kill Screwface before he can kill them.As usual, the fight scenes are great.
Steven Seagal on a string of late 1980's action hits returns as DEA agent John Hatcher who leaves the profession for a matter of minutes before getting pulled right back into it after his family is attacked by some dope crazed islanders.
This one was pretty decent,, not his best work,, but pretty good nonetheless, he is supposed to be retired just coming back from Columbia where his partner was killed, he get's mixed up with the Jamaican's and get's "Marked for Death" both him and his family, the film is mainly set in Chicago, which i always liked, then switches to Jamaica at the 3/4 pole,, there are a lot of good fighting scenes, and martial arts where Seagal just does what he does best in these films and kicks butt up and down the street,, he even has a few funny lines in the movie.
I believe this was his second film and it has all the action one could wish for in a kick-butt martial arts action movie.You are not here to see Oscar-worthy acting or sumptuous costumes and sets, you are here for an adrenaline-pumping vicarious thumping of the bad guys - in this case Jamaican drug dealers.
Marked for death , is corny , i don't care i hate this film it is a story about Jamaican drug fdealers ,, oouuggg horrible the accent and dialouge goes into a childish form , kids will love this garbage but as an action film it is a cartoon , the violence is tame and horrible because the film has no realistic fights the revenge action scenes ares simple , ohhhhh , shoot em up , no death that is good.
**SPOILERS** After a blotched up drug bust in Mexico where both his partner Chico, Richard Delmente, was killed and the women member of the Mexican drug gang who killed him was in returned shot to pieces by DEA agent John Hatcher, Steven Seagal, the very dependable and cool as a cucumber drug cop just about had it with his job as a law enforcer.
Enraged that anyone would dare lay a hand on one of his gang members posse leader Screwface, Basil Wallace, has not only Hatcher but his entire family marked for death.One of Seagal's lesser efforts not that "Marked for Death" lacks any of the usual trademark gore and violence, in fact it's one of the most violent films that Seagal ever stared in, that's so common in his movies.
The posse members end up giving Steven Seagal the hardest time I can remember him having with the bad guys in any of his movies.
Taking his friend high school football coach and former DEA agent Max, Keith David, as well as visiting Jamacian police captain Charles, Tom Wright, along with him and an arsenal of weapons Hatcher is now going to make sure that Screwface and his posse will never threaten him his family or anyone else again.
The movie opens with Seagal running full speed in pursuit of another man setting the pace and atmosphere early letting you know you are in for a full throttle ride.This time Seagal plays the part of John Hatcher, a former DEA agent, who returns home to find some peace and healing with his family.
Marked For Death is an excellent Martial Arts Thriller starring Steven Seagal, Basil Wallace, Keith David and Tom Wright.
It is a film which is about retired cop John Hatcher (played by Seagal) who has just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency and returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighbourhood and that Killings and deaths are happening done by a notorious, ruthless and violent Jamaican Gang led by the malicious Jamaican druglord Screwface(played by Basil Wallace).
Marked For Deaths acting by Steven Seagal, Basil Wallace, Keith David and Tom Wright is excellent.
Marked For Death is an excellent and tense Martial Arts Thriller with brutal violence and awesome action and again Seagal also looks very handsome in this film.
i might be a little biased towards this Seagal film as it's actually the first of his that i saw and one of only two i have seen in the theatre.i just finished watching it again a couple hours ago,for only the second time.compared to his two previous movies,there is less action here,but the ferocity of the action more than makes up for it.the broken bone(not to mention deaths)quotient in this one is off the charts.Seagal is starting to become wooden in his acting here,and it shows,but the movie is still a romp.the villain is great here and is played with gusto by Basil Wallace.i'd recommend it to action fans in general and certainly to Seagal fans.for me,Marked for Death is a 7/10.
Seagal plays John Hacher a narcotics cop who goes up against Screwface a sadistic Jamaican drugs baron who wants john dead.marked for death is a brilliant action packed Seagal classic bone crunching fight scenes blazing action and the acting is top notch Seagal is good as john hatcher and basil Wallace is good as the evil Screwface Kieth David is also good as Seagals side kick.
Top action makes marked for death a classic Seagal movie also good directing by dwight h little who also did rapid with brandon lee and murder at 1600 with wesley snipes pure entertainment makes this a good rental 8 out of ten.
Seagal has and (probably) always will be a stoic martial arts action star with limited acting capabilities but stellar skills in snapping limbs and breaking necks and here (dare I spoil it for everyone), his first dual-vasectomy/decapitation combo.Seagal is former DEA agent John Hatcher, who decides to retire from the job after a drug bust gone bad in Mexico that leaves his partner dead.
Little, "Marked for Death" has all the trimmings of a nice kick-'em-up that's characteristic of any Steven Seagal action flick.
His acting was as expected, but he choreographed the fight scenes (amazing one at the jewelry store), and he actually researched the voodoo scenes in the filmA movie about Seagal out to kill a Jamaican druglord and the rest of the posse after he and his family have been marked for death, it's a great plot.
Steven Seagal as John Hatcher a retired DEA Agent, returns to Chicago, only to find out it's being overrun by Jamaican Drug dealers.
Marked For Death is the story of Seagal against a band of mystic Jamaican drug dealers, and these guys have no discretions about pushing their products in broad daylight.Hatcher goes back to visit his old high school coach, Max (a minimal effort by Keith David), and right in the middle of practice there are some of these dread-locked crackheads sitting right there in the bleachers peddling crack to some bookworm-looking high school girls.Maybe I just had a sheltered experience in high school, but I didn't know crack dealers and crackheads hung out AT SCHOOL in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
DEA Agent John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) returns back to his home town of Chicago in order to retire from service, but this proves to be easier said than done when Hatcher inadvertently ends up in the middle of a drug war involving a bunch of Jamaicans.
Hatcher initially has a take-it-or-leave it approach to the Jamaicans and their activities, but when they start making threats towards his family, Hatcher along with his old friend Max (Keith David) go to work and decide to put an end to their reign of terror...Yep it's a Seagal action flick so I hoped that having low expectations would mean that the film would just about work as a mindless time passer, but for me Marked For Death didn't really work even on this very basic level.The storyline involving crooked drug-pushers is as old as time itself and I assume that the voodoo/witchcraft stuff that was thrown into the mix was intended to perhaps spice the film up and give it some originality, but if anything the voodoo/witchcraft aspect of the film seems to only exist to turn the drug-pushers into some kind of savage tribe (to presumably satisfy the director's bloodthirsty approach) - the knock on effect of this is that Marked For Death has lots of brutality, but not a great deal of depth.
As mentioned, director Dwight H Little doesn't hold back here and despite working from a generic script, he does at least try to make the action sequences memorable and due to some of the brutality that is on hand here he does kind of succeed in this respect.As is to be expected, the acting is nothing to right home about; I would have liked it if Seagal and David would have had more of a workable chemistry between the two of them, but unfortunately they both play their respective roles too seriously resulting in little humour being evident within the picture - given director Little's approach perhaps this was the intention, but it makes for a fairly heavy and dull picture on frequent occasions.
Steven Seagal stars as John Hatcher an Ex-DEA agent who single handedly wipes out a Jamaican drug posse, in this ridiculous and inert actioner.
And even though the plot in Marked for Death is the same as every other films that the man has made, it is still a lot of fun.Plot goes like this: Segal plays a cop, who is sick of killing people, taking drugs and sleeping with informants.
Marked For Death is with no doubt Steven Seagal`s best movie!
Marked For Death is a true action-classic, and the best movie of Steven Seagal.
Marked for Death starts as undercover DEA agent John Hatcher (producer Steven Seagal) decides he has had enough of his job after his partner Chico (Richard Delmonte) is murdered in a botched up drugs bust.
Marked for Death was Seagal's third film coming after Above the Law (1988) & Hard to Kill (1990) & before his 'masterpiece' Out for Justice (1991), back then he wasn't as fat as these days & he actually looks impressive as he kicks the crap out of everyone in some well stage & excessively violent fights.
John and Max set out to hunt Screwface down, only to discover that Screwface has gone back to Jamaica.John and Max take Charles with them to Jamaica for an all out war against Screwface and his drug empire.Back in the day when Seagal had his ponytail, he made some great movies and they were a lot of fun and action packed, but than fire down below happened and it all went downhill from there.This has got to be his most fun film to date, it's got one of the best villains ever, who is genuinely menacing and psychotic, and instead of going for the normal Gangsters AKA Italians in this movie, they opt for a Jamaican Posse, who have an eerie mysticism of their own.We know that the villain is bad, because he wears really awful jumpers, gets mad when plays dominoes, wakes up from nightmares in a really dramatic way, and spits Bacardi in Seagals sisters face.But the more evil and over dramatic the villain, the more we Want Seagal to Kick the guys butt, so Kudos to Basil Wallace.As for Seagal, he's how he normally is, Average acting, getting heavier, and starting to wear odd clothes.
John Hatcher (Seagal) is a retired DEA agent and now police "troubleshooter" who doesn't like the fact that a ruthless Jamaican gang is now selling drugs to children at the local schools and getting into violent turf wars.
Perhaps one of the all-time best Seagal action sequences is in Marked For Death - the car chase/mall fight.
Unlike "Out for Justice" and "Above the Law" its violence isn't wince inducing, and unlike those films and "Hard to Kill" it has a memorable villain who gets a fair bit of screen time.The story is something about Seagal moving back to the old neighbourhood and fighting with Jamaican drug dealers. |
tt1220719 | Yip Man | This is the story of Ip Man, a legendary Wing Chun Kung Fu master from Fo Shan, China. The film is set in Japanese occupied Fo Shan following Japan's invasion of China during World War II. It recounts specifically one man's opposition the occupying Japanese forces.Ip Man is set in the 1930s in Foshan, a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where various schools actively recruit disciples and compete against each other. Although the Wing Chun master Ip Man is the most skilled martial artist in Foshan, he is unassuming and keeps a low profile. As an independently wealthy man, he feels no need to accept any disciples and instead spends his days training, meeting with friends, and spending time with his family. However, his wife is often resentful of the time he spends training and discussing martial arts with friends and colleagues. Though not a professional martial artist, Ip is respected in Foshan due to the abilities he displays in friendly, closed-door competitions with local masters. Ip's reputation is further enhanced when he defeats an aggressive, rude, highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master, Jin Shanzhao, thus upholding the regional pride of fellow Southern stylists and others in Foshan.The Japanese invasion in 1937 adversely affects the life of everyone in Foshan. Ip's house is claimed by the Japanese and used as their Foshan headquarters. Ip and his family lose their wealth and are forced to move into a decrepit house. Desperate to support his family, Ip accepts work as a coolie at a coal mine. The Japanese General Miura, who is a Karate master, establishes an arena where Chinese martial artists compete with his military trainees. The Chinese earn a bag of rice for every match they win. Li Zhao, a former police officer and Ip's acquaintance, is now working as a translator for the Japanese and is making the offer to the martial artists working as coolies. Ip at first declines to participate in the matches. However, when his friend Lin goes missing, he agrees to take part in order to investigate. He is enraged when he sees a fellow Foshan master (Master Liu) mercilessly executed for picking up a bag of rice from a prior victory after giving up in a second match against three karateka. He also comes to understand that Lin was killed in an earlier fight. Barely able to contain his rage, Ip demands a match with ten karateka at once. Despite having not practiced Wing Chun since the invasion began (in order to conserve what little food his family had to survive), he proceeds to mercilessly crush each of them with a brutal yet efficient barrage of his martial art mastery, showing barely any of the restraint he exhibited in previous engagements. His skill arouses the interest of Miura, who seeks to learn more about Ip and see him fight again.Ip visits his friend Chow Ching-chuen, who owns and runs a cotton mill in Foshan. Chow tells Ip that a highway robbery gang led by Jin Shanzhao is harassing his workers and extorting money from them. Ip trains the workers in Wing Chun for self defence. Meanwhile, Miura grows impatient when Ip does not return to the arena and sends men to find Ip. These men harass Ip's family, and Ip incapacitates them. Ip and his family then go into hiding at Li Zhao's house. Meanwhile, the robbers return to the cotton mill to demand money. The workers fight back using the techniques that Ip taught them. Just then, Ip appears and defeats Jin Shanzhao, warning him never to harass the workers again.The Japanese soldiers eventually find Ip at the cotton mill. Miura tells Ip that his life will be spared if agrees to instruct the Japanese soldiers in martial arts. Ip refuses and challenges Miura to a match, which Miura accepts, both because of his love for martial arts and because refusing the challenge would be a humiliation to the Japanese. The match between Ip and Miura is held in public in Foshan's square. At first, the two fighters seem equally matched, but Miura becomes overwhelmed and is unable to fend off Ip's attacks as he effortlessly uses him as a Wooden Dummy, inflicting a severe beating on him and clearly winning.As the beaten general lies down after his defeat, Ip looks over to the crowd and hears the Chinese cheering him; within the crowd, he spots his wife and child with Chow. Just then, Miura's deputy Sato shoots Ip. This sparks a scuffle between the Chinese audience and the Japanese soldiers. During the scuffle, Li Zhao kills Sato with Sato's own gun. Ip is taken away amidst the chaos. It is revealed that he survives and escapes to Hong Kong with his family. There, Ip establishes a Wing Chun school, where his students come to include Bruce Lee. | murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, action, inspiring, sadist | train | imdb | Every Wing Chun instructor today tries to make a lineage connection to Yip Man to legitimize their teaching so he is a very important figure in Kung Fu. Donnie Yen portrays the master with intense reserve and is possibly the best acting in his career.
And thank goodness for Donnie Yen still being around to pick up from where the genre left off, and presenting a memorable role which he truly owned, with Ip Man being the first cinematic rendition of the Wing Chun martial arts grandmaster.In this bio-pic, Ip Man, one of the earliest Wing Chun martial arts exponents credited to have propagated its popularity, gets portrayed as the best of the best in 1930s Fo Shan, China, where the bustling city has its own Martial Arts Street where countless of martial arts schools have set up shop to fuel the craze of kung fu training.
Action junkies won't have to wait too long before watching Ip Man in action, and to Sammo Hung and Tony Leung Siu Hung's credit, they have intricately designed some of the most varied martial arts sequences in the movie, such as private fights in his home, a factory mêlée, a Japanese dojo battle as seen in the trailer, (which I know has actually sent some positive vibes amongst moviegoers, mouth agape at that incredible scene of Yen continuously beating down a karateka) being somewhat of a throwback and reminiscent of Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury, and a ringside duel amongst others.
It's so difficult to name any particular one as a personal favorite, though I must add that you definitely won't feel short changed by the time the inevitable final battle comes rolling along and gets delivered with aplomb.I'm no Wing Chun practitioner, but Donnie Yen has this marvelous calm and zen like approach with his Ip Man taking out his opponents quite effectively with the minimal of moves.
With Wong Kar-wai at one point also declaring interest in making a Ip Man movie, I thought that this effort will be hard to beat, just like how Tsui Hark has crafted some of the more definitive movies in modern times about Wong Fei Hung and Jet Li benefiting from a major career boost, I'd say Ip Man just about cements Yen's reputation as a martial arts leading man, which I guess the cinematic world these days severely lacks.
Telling the story of Yip Man, the man believed to have popularized the martial art of Wing Chun, before and mostly during the Sino-Japanese war.Yen caught my attention after seeing him in "SPL".
Directed by Wilson Yip (Killzone, Flashpoint) This movie is a "portrayal" of the famous Wing Chun master Yip Man, credited as being the guy that taught Bruce Lee kung fu.
The Martial of Virtuosity - A Review of Ip Man. Ip Man (1893-1972) is the expert in the Wushu fighting style of Wing Chun, and is the master of the famous Bruce Lee. As there has never been any previous film record of Ip Man, this film produced by Raymond Wong and directed by Wilson Yip will be the very first.The movie opens and dates back to 1935 Foshan, with the city bustling with activities and various schools of martial arts are seen busy with the practice of their craft.
And he would also influence those around him with what he has and even lead those who have been wrong to do right despite the pressure of circumstances, because to the very basis, it is the right thing to do in humanity.History means nothing if its lessons are not learned.The film also stars the stunning Xiong Dai Lin as Cheung Wing-sing, Ip Man's wife, and I must also not forget to mention that the acclaimed Sammo Hung directs the action..
I had a choice of watching The Spirit or Ip Man. It is a tough decision and after a long while, I finally makes the choice of watching Ip Man. The director of Dragon Tiger Gate makes his comeback with his usual star, Donnie Yen. As expected, the martial arts fighting scenes are amazing.
This guy can create, I can say, some of best martial arts movies.The story: It tells about Ip Man's life, the soon-to-be master of the famous Bruce Lee. I can't say much about the plot but the fighting and the music are great.
Actors made their owns stunts ; some of the players got injured and to had to be hospitalized during the shooting , as Hiroyuki Ikeuchi , who played the Japanese general , suffered a mild concussion during filming, after being struck four times during a fight scene.The motion picture was stunningly directed by Wilson Yip .
His most famous student was Bruce Lee. This movie has lots of action, from martial arts training to big fight scenes, interwoven with drama that makes you really feel for IP Man. It has a great storyline supplemented with top notch acting.
It was one of the first martial arts movie i've seen along with a couple of Jackie Chan movies.Donnie Yen was one of the reason I wasn't sure to like this movie, his face seems like he had no emotions at all so I was thinking : how can a guy like this could do good acting.
Now that Jet Li has announced his retirement from film-making, I believe that the time is ripe for Donnie to take Hollywood by storm as the next martial arts icon.His powerful performance in Ip Man has established himself as a credible actor in addition to being a superb martial artist.
Donnie yen spent a large amount of time preparing to fight in the martial art called Wing Chun.
This film was directed by Wilson Yip and is supposed to be based on the biography of Yip Man, the first master to teach the art of Wing Chun (a Chinese martial art).
There are all sorts of martial art styles and masters, but everyone knows that the best martial artist in town is Yip Man (Donnie Yen).
There he discovers that he can defy the Japanese army with his martial art skills.Yip Man is a great biographical story although it probably isn't 100% accurate.
In the end the grateful master acknowledges his defeat to the highly skilled Yip Man. However unknown to them both someone has seen the match and blabs the result to the townsfolk.Ip's reputation is further enhanced when he defeats an aggressive, rude, highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master, Jin Shanzhao, thus upholding the regional pride of fellow Southern stylists and others in Foshan.The Japanese invasion in 1937 adversely affects the life of everyone in Foshan.
Especially since I have long practiced, respected and enjoyed martial arts, and the film claims to be based on the true story.But how does any being of normal intelligence even sit through this movie, let alone sign on to IMDb and rate it a 8, 9 or 10???
This is significant to me, since I study Wing Chun in a lineage that comes directly from Yip Man.This film is sort of in the style of biopic similar to Jet Li's "Fearless", a movie about a Chinese folk hero, Huo Yuanjia.
In the case of "Ip Man", the title character is plunged into the middle of the Japanese-Chinese conflicts of World war II, probably playing a much larger roll than he did in real life, and they show him as a sort of folk hero along the lines of Huo Yuanjie or Wong Fei Hong.Never the less, the film flows well.
There was some mention in the end titles of Lee, but the copy I watched did not have that translated, so I am not sure what was even mentioned.All that said, if you enjoy martial arts movies, this is definitely a good film.
This movie is a biopic about Ip Man, the most influential master of the Wing Chun martial art.
This movie is rather about a martial artist just trying to scrape a living in a time of war and poverty, like how "The Cinderella Man" was about a boxer trying to make a living during the Great Depression.On top of the very good storyline, the fight scenes are also very impressive, so much so that it inspired me to start taking Wing Chun classes again (I went once before but didn't return until last week).
The scenery, the story, the history and the drama are all things that get layered into this movie better than any others I've seen in this same genre, and even better than many mainstream, Hollywood movies.Watching this movie, I felt the same kind of underlying, tension and anxiety building that I saw while sitting through more well known movies like "Unforgiven", "The Patriot", "The Professional" and even to some degree "Master and Commander"; any movie where you follow a hero you know can beat the snot out of someone and are just waiting for them to open up a can of whoop-ass at the right moment after they get pushed to their limit.This is far from the traditional (cheesy), over-the-top, Kung Fu action flicks from the 70's and 80's.
world class acting (Donnie is superb), love, action, great storyline...The fight choreography is impeccable and worthy of constant rewinding or re-watching of specific fight scenes.This movie is so good I watched it the next day without hesitation...
the family was more concern of saving face rather then truly immortalizing this great man.as a practitioner of Wing Chun i am truly disappointed at this world release film but i do have hope, because i know there is another movie of Ip man on the works this one will be directed by the awesome director of "in the mood for love" and starring the only good actor in Hong Kong T.
It's not that important for the movie that you do, the information will be revealed for all at the end of the movie, when you hear/read about the real life Ip Man. Considering his impact on the Martial Arts scene, I guess he couldn't have been portrayed by anyone else then Donnie Yen (at this particular time that is).Still the movie leaves you with a feeling that there could have been more and what do you know?
Grandmaster Ip man is simply a superb and inspirational biographical movie about the father of modern Chinese martial arts.Shot in a modern style but embodying all the virtues of The Good Chinese Hero of Confuciansim this is a really marvelous and very good watch.The film is made by the exceptional performance of Donnie Yen as grandmaster Ip. Yes, the fighting skills are exceptional - though this is in places more explicit that many earlier fantasy kung fu movies and younger viewers should be made aware of this - but more than this Yen gives the role a true and very deep and abiding sense of stillness, dignity, and gravitas.From its beginnings, which are much lighter in tone, to the Japanese occupation, which are not, (And the Japanese here are best thought of as Nazis) the story intrigues and moves along with a wonderful sense of pace - nothing is rushed but a real sense of build-up exists.This is a masterful blend of Western styles of cinema - it is exceptionally well-lit and shot with superb grading on the film - and Eastern love of the hero story.
Grandmaster Yip Man. Usually i try to avoid movies that have Donnie Yen in them mainly because of the bad stories, plots and acting.
However i must digress that his movies contain spectacular fighting scenes well worth watching on it's own.Once again, apart from SPL(Killzone) - Donnie Yen has returned to a martial arts movie with a lot of heart and soul behind it with great characters and a lot of depth.
This film is loosely based on the life of Chinese martial arts master Ip Man during the Japanese occupation.
The costumes and locations are interesting, the cinematography is at times beautiful and although the script is clearly from the point of view of the Chinese, the Japanese are not depicted as outright monsters, like they sometimes are.But if we're all being honest here, it's martial arts side of things, which really elevates this movie above its peers.
Donnie Yen is Yip Man. This movie will appeal to all, not just martial art movie fans.
Many of these Chinese historic epic dramas tend to be over the top and exaggerating on many levels, but "Ip Man" turned out to be rather down to earth and a rather enjoyable movie.Donnie Yen was really well cast for the role of the legendary Ip Man, and he performed quite well, both in his acting performance, but most certainly also so in his martial arts performance.
It was a true pleasure to watch the fight scenes in the movie, and they alone actually make it worth sitting down to watch "Ip Man"."Ip Man" is one of the more important movies in Donnie Yen's career, I think, because he really managed to portray the legendary Wing Chun master in a very graceful manner.The story of the movie is entertaining, and it most definitely is spiced up by the impressive martial arts.
The martial arts does not have the over the top choreography and wire work of many other recent Chinese or Hong Kong films.There are some references to the Bruce Lee action films such as teaching the factory workers to fight in order to defend themselves against the same bully who beat up all the other kung fu masters.The film is certainly restrained and lacks the histrionics of other martial art films, even General Miura is portrayed as more honourable than the other Japanese officers.However it is not a true story.
This is the first Hong Kong movie that I have watched and I really enjoyed it.This is surely one of the best martial art movies ever made.Donnie Yen was brilliant as master Yip.His action scenes were superb and his expressions were perfect.Story is nice and touching.All characters are believable.All actors have done a great job.Martial Arts lovers will surely like it.I hope other 2 parts are equally good.Overall I give it 8/10.
The Japanese are virtually faceless, depicted mainly as bullies, war mongers, and instigators while 1994's Fist of Legend, a very similar film, does the Japanese some credit by showing them with more honor.Still some incredible fight scenes by the venerable Donnie Yen, who at was then 44-45 makes guys like a prime Van Damme or Seagal look pedestrian by comparison, witnessed in a brutal match with Yip Man against 10 karate practitioners.
That film has some of the same characters, and its unavoidable to not have some of the same beats in the story (that Yip Man is already a master martial artist, and also a father and husband, but his life is turned upside down with the invasion of Japanese forces in the late 30's), but the style is far away from this film.Where Wong is someone totally interested in visual effects - how rain will fall on characters, how movement goes from slow motion to quicker motion and how to change things like shutter speeds with the camera - Wilson Yip (any relation to the real guy I wonder) is out to just make an entertaining, mainstream movie that is very much for Chinese audiences.
These events are all about Ip Man's time as a teacher of his own form of martial arts - which he tries to say, in his usual humble way, is not too different from other martial artists, though of course it's the teacher and students who learn from him who are of a higher order - and those Japanese invasion events.The strongest part story-wise is that it took a direction I wasn't so much expecting; in the first half hour, when things are relatively OK for Yip Man (played with confidence and a great way into this naturally heroic person by Donnie Yen), he seems almost *too* perfect in a way.
But perhaps this is a sign that the film's time has come: more people, including Americans, ought to know about this martial arts legend, the man who trained Bruce Lee.Derek Elley of Variety Magazine wrote in his review, "Yen, who's taking on real star charisma in middle age, is aces as Ip, with a simple dignity that exactly mirrors the movie's own and a gracefulness in combat that's very different from his trademark whiplash style." Elley is exactly right.
I have watched it several times and have recommended it to many people who like martial arts movies or even if they don't, they may like it for the history and biographical sense and get to see some great actions scenes in between.
Yip Man is without a doubt one of the most entertaining martial arts films I've ever seen.
And Ip Man is definitely one of those flicks.Ip Man is a semi-biographical account of the legendary Chinese martial artist Yip Man who popularised the Wing Chun fighting style but is best known around the world as the teacher of yet another Kung-fu legend, Bruce Lee. Set before & during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the plot covers the change brought in the peaceful life of the grandmaster & everyone around him in the city of Foshan after the Japanese invasion.Brilliantly directed by Wilson Yip, Ip Man is a highly character-driven story that's filled with some of the most amazing martial arts sequences ever put on the film canvas.
The film concentrates on the years up to and including the Japanese occupation of China in the late 1930's.Ip Man is a master of the art of Wing Chun, a form of Kung Fu that was not generally accepted at the time.
Ip Man is an excellent martial arts film that combines some of the best fight scenes on film with a great story that's involving, occasionally amusing, stirring, powerful, and true. |
tt0077578 | Foul Play | Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) is attending a party in a town across the bay from San Francisco. From a conversation with a friend we learn that she is recently divorced and is shying away from dating men to avoid getting her heart broken again. Her friend urges her to become more social and for a few seconds she considers getting to know a stranger at the party played by Chevy Chase. Deciding he is a klutz and a bore she drives back to the city alone. As the opening credits roll we see her driving down the gorgeous Marlin County coastline in her yellow VW convertible as Barry Manilow sings the song "Ready to Take a Chance Again."When Gloria passes a handsome stranded stranger with broken down car, she decides to take a chance and pulls over to help. The stranger, Bob Scott (Bruce Solomon) asks her to drive him back to the city. On the way Scott notices that they are being followed by a black limo and decides to slip a cigarette pack, containing a spool of film, into Gloria's purse asking her to meet him at a movie theater later that evening. When she drops him off, we see two men jump from the limo and pursue him.When Scott finally reaches the movie theater, he sits down and we see he is hurt and bleeding badly. He dies shortly after whispering to Gloria "Beware of the dwarf!" She runs from the theater and gets the manager, but by the time they get back to her seat, the body is gone.Gloria tells this story to her elderly landlord Mr. Hennessey (Burgess Meredith), a retired anthropologist who keeps a ten foot snake as a pet, then heads upstairs to go to bed. The next day when she goes to work at the public library she also tells this story to her girlfriend, Stella, (Marilyn Sokol) who is convinced the whole thing is a hoax by a sex-crazed man, and insists the Gloria protect herself by carrying a portable alarm and a can of mace in her purse.As she is closing up the library that evening Gloria finds herself alone with an albino stranger (William Frankfather) who tries to kidnap her. She flees the building with the albino and another swarthy character, The Turk (Ion Teodorescu) in pursuit. Running into a bar she picks up Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore) and without telling him whats going on, asks him to take her to his apartment. There, Stanley misreads her intentions and prepares for a wild evening of sex, while she is distracted watching her pursuers out the window. When she finally turns around and sees Stanley in his underwear she is shocked and he is embarrassed. She heads home while Stanley mutters his apologies.Gloria is later assaulted at her apartment by a man with a scar on his face (Don Calfa), who demands she give him whatever was passed to her by Scott. He takes the cigarettes, and then attempts to strangle Gloria, but she stabs him with a pair of knitting needles (The cigarettes fall out of his pocket and lay hidden under a plant). Thinking she has killed him she calls the police, but as she turns around he is up again staggering toward her with murderous intent. The albino suddenly appears at the window and uses a throwing knife to kill the man with the scar and Gloria faints.She awakes to see the face of Chevy Chase's character, who we find is police Lt. Tony Carlson. Gloria tells him her story, but again the body has disappeared. Carlson's partner, Fergie, (Brian Dennehy) thinks she is nuts, but Tony is attracted to her and invites her to the station during her lunch hour.When she leaves the library to meet Tony for lunch she is kidnapped by the albino and the Turk. Waking up locked in a room she uses the portable alarm to get the Turk into the room and then maces him. She then climbs down the fire escape in the pouring rain and jumps to safely. Later she shows up at Tony's office, soaked to the skin and he takes her home.The next day Tony and Fergie check out the room where Gloria was held and find out that it was rented to someone named "Stiltskin." When Tony gets back to police headquarters he is informed that Stiltskin is the name of an assassin whose nickname is the "The Dwarf" and Scott was working undercover trying to find the name of the target. Suddenly Gloria's strange story makes sense and Tony heads out to her apartment to make sure she is okay.In the meanwhile Gloria has a visit from salesman J.J. MacKuen (Billy Barty). As he is a midget, she is terrified and misunderstanding his offer to connect her with eternity pushes him out the window, where he falls into a trash barrel and goes rolling down the hilly San Francisco street. When Tony arrives they open MacKuen's case to find he was an innocent Bible salesman.Gloria, Tony and Fergie head out to the residence of Archbishop Thorncrest, whose limo has been identified as the one used in kidnapping Gloria. The Archbishop (Eugene Roche) and his assistant Delia Darrow (Rachel Roberts), are busy preparing for a visit by the Pope and claim the car has been missing, taken by the chauffer, The Turk. When Gloria and party leave we find out that the Archbishop has been replaced by his identical brother. He and Darrow, Stiltskin, the albino and the Turk are part of an anti-religious conspiracy to kill the Pope.To keep Gloria safe Tony takes her to his house overnight: a fancy houseboat in Sausalito where they become romantically involved. The next day he takes Gloria home where Fergie is supposed to keep an eye on her while Tony heads out to look at where they found scarface's body. Fergie never shows up at Gloria's but she gets a mysterious call from him asking her to meet him at a deserted building next to a "massage" parlor. Stiltskin (Marc Lawrence) and company have kidnapped Fergie and forced him to make the call to trap Gloria. At the last moment Fergie yells a warning and Gloria escapes into the massage parlor hiding in one of the rooms where she again runs into Stanley. Stanley is mortified, but Gloria begs him to call the police and have the house raided. He finally does this, but Gloria is captured anyway while Stanley is hauled off to the police station.When Gloria and Fergie disappear, Tony decides to search the Archbishop's house with the help of Mr. Hennessey. Tony finds Fergie in the basement and a fight erupts between him and Stiltskin were Stiltskin is killed. Tony is captured and taken upstairs where he is tied up with Gloria. The archbishop imposter informs them that even with Stilskin dead, the albino, the backup assassin, will do the job by shooting the Pope from one of the organ bays during that evening's opera. Mr. Hennessey suddenly attacks and the archbishop imposter is knocked cold as a martial arts contest unfolds between the elderly Hennessey and the middle-aged Delia Darrow with the tied up Tony and Gloria watching. Hennessey finally wins and Tony and Gloria are released to make a hair raising race across the city (wrecking several vehicles in the process) to the opera house.They check the first organ bay and it seems empty, so Tony leaves Gloria there while he and the other police leave to check the other side. The albino comes out from where he has been hiding, however, and kidnaps Gloria, dragging her up into the catwalks above the stage while the opera continues below. The albino manages to shoot a pursuing policeman who tumbles over the edge and gets caught in the rigging of a sailing ship "flying" setpiece in the rafters of the theater. The albino is then shot by Tony, falls and is caught in the same way. The set suddenly drops down out of the ceiling at the end of the opera with the two dead men caught in the rigging. The whole theater sits in shock at this until the Pope, apparently thinking this is the way the opera is supposed to end, starts clapping and everybody else joins in. Tony and Gloria find each other and embrace while the crowd cheers. Down the orchestra pit we see the conductor is Stanley, who blanches at seeing Gloria, and slips on a pair of sunglasses hoping to avoid another embarrassing encounter with her. | murder | train | imdb | null |
tt2140203 | Ookami kodomo no Ame to Yuki | Hana is enrolled in a university, while working part-time as a dry cleaner, and living a single life alone in her apartment. She saw a boy in her class writing down notes, but with no textbook, and whom she had never seen before in any classes. Wolf man was his name, and he never intended on meeting anyone, nor a girl at this time. He wasn't enrolled in school, just there to learn and read. Hana noticed one day that he never signed his sheets, so she chased him to get him to sign them, but he refused and tells her why. After that hana becomes more interested in wolf man and wants to know who he is. Wolf man works for a moving company, mostly for apartments, and is set out to buy an apartment of his own, where he can keep his books and call it his own. After some time hana asks him to move in with her. Soon hana finds out that wolf man isn't normal, wolf man is a wolf. She isn't truly frighten, but yet scared a bit. Soon they have a child, but they give birth at home with no one around because they don't know if it will be a puppy, or a baby. It's a beautiful girl named yuki. Through this story, yuki will narrate the liveschool and hana is going to go get her, but ams decides to leave for the forest. Hana leaves for him and forgets about yuki, and goes after ame. And this brings them all together in a way that a family loves each other. That's the story of wolf children. | romantic, fantasy | train | imdb | It is a movie about love of all kinds, and while it is admittedly an idealized version of love, a story of the sort of unselfish, uncomplicated love that only exists consistently in movies, it is truly lovely.It is also often quite funny, well paced, and thoroughly entertaining.Having seen Mamoru Hosada's previous films Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I see him as the successor to Hadeo Miyazaki, who (alas) cannot live forever.
Rather, the greatest moments are the depictions of family life and the picturesque sketches of Tokyo and the Japanese countryside.The story begins with the start of the eponymous wolf children's parents' love, and progresses through births, deaths, moves, the first day of school, and their growth into adults.
I can only hope I see the other two From Poppy on a Hill and Children Who Chase Lost Voices when they come out on DVD.Here's my review of Wolf Children: Mamoru Hosada could be one anime Director who could rival the international reputation of his former employers; Studio Ghibli."Wolf Children" is his third feature after the successes of "The Girl Who Leaped Through Time" and "Summer Wars".The Stoy follows Hana; a young University Student who falls in love with a strange young man.
Things start to take a more drastic turn when He dies leaving Hana alone to raise her two Children they bore.The rest of the film follows the children as they grow up and how Hana manages to raise them and deal with their gift, habits, situations and morals.The central action takes place in their new country home surrounded by wilderness and their interactions with the town folks and wild life.Like Hosada's previous works, this film has fantastic and unique character designs; that aim more to realism and art-house scene than traditional anime designs.The story is very heartwarming and cute as time goes on, there are some dark parts that become very heart wrenching.
But overall its a superb anime film even if your familiar with Hosada's other films or not Wolf Children is great and must be seen, I highly recommended it for a heartwarming journey of endurance, love, coming of age and prosperity..
And don't forget that story remains king.Director Mamoru Hosoda continues on his roll with a brand of animated films that are extremely well received, because not only are they drawn to perfection in anime style, but also his films touches the emotional core on humanity, and this will inevitably move you with his style and delivery of such strong stories, whether written by someone else, as a film adaptation of novels such as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, or like in Summer Wars and Wolf Children, stem from his own imagination.
For the most parts throughout this film, I thought it also resembled Yoji Yamada's Kabei: Our Mother, in the sense that this film takes on story proportions centered around a mother's unconditional love for her children, and the continuous strive to make ends meet and bring up her children to the best of her ability, inculcating a value system into her young ones.
Undeterred, they begin a family, and soon Hana gives birth to the titular daughter Yuki and son Ame, before tragedy strikes and the family becomes a dysfunctional one without a father figure.Fearing that her children may be discovered to be wolf-human hybrids, with a number of scenes showing the challenges she faces such as their tantrums and uncontrollable changes, or the dilemma faced when they fall sick, she decides to uproot and move into the countryside, where life is simpler, neighbours are far away from one another, and there is room to, well, let her young ones roam in the vast grasslands and mountain sides.
A new life beckons, and the film begins its homage to all moms having to struggle to bring up their children in unfamiliar surroundings, with little assistance, and plenty of inexperience.As a storyteller, Mamoru Hosoda excelled in character development, as we journey together with Hana in her upbringing, with the children endearing themselves to you in double quick time.
And both Yuki and Ame, besides their gender, have very contrasting qualities, from young to their teens, a tale told to just about the time where teenage rebellion and the need to forge their own independence take centerstage.There are plenty of episodes in Wolf Children that covers a spectrum of emotions, from comedy to those that will set heaviness in your heart.
And the animation is clearly Hosoda's vision in having details balanced with the occasional need for scarcity, which nailed it especially when the narrative calls for some distance either physically, or emotionally, and it's a stylistic choice that's already seen in a number of his films.Mamoru Hosoda set up his Studio Chizu with this production, and I'm really looking forward to more stories in the coming years.
But still a fantastic film.Ratings:Animation: 9.5/10Storyline: 9.8/10Background scenery: 10/10 (Amazing background scenery, greatly drawn)Character personality: 10/10Overall: 10/10Thanks for reading.Nik. If you didn't believe in Mamoru Hosuda after Summer Wars .
In my opinion, aside from the supernatural aspects of the characters themselves, this is a very real and down to earth story about a mother trying to raise two children who are different and the struggles she has to go through alone.
Growing her own vegetables in the backyard, facing the different seasons and going through all the ups and down in life she almost achieves her ambition.It did not look like an anime movie, it looked almost a real one with many cool and colourful frames.
I was really surprised at how much I loved Wolf Children when I left the theatre, and it instantly became the best Japanese animated film I have seen in 2012.
Thus their mother does the sensible, but also risky, thing and moves to the countryside to farm the land and to raise her children in peace.From that intriguing beginning we get a beautiful film about the problems of growing up while straddling two heritages.
Especially near the end the film has some absolutely beautiful and thoughtful moments when the children, now young teenagers, finally have to start making decision about which of the worlds they want to belong to.I also have to praise the character of the mother, Hana.
While all of his films since The Girl Who Leapt Through Time have explored themes of family and growing up, Wolf Children is surely his masterpiece..
It fills the running time almost perfectly and uses some very mature and relatable themes dealing with them in a way that's sensitive and beyond its years while also making it accessible for a wider audience(a quite difficult thing to do and Wolf Children does this better than most animated films).
When I watched Wolf Children for the first time, I wasn't expecting the amount of feelings that happened, even in the beginning.
A story of a single mother raising two children that also happen to be part wolf is shown super well in this film!
I consider this as a heartbreaking yet lovely adaptation of a single parent daily life with her children.I won't say that she's in a special condition because her children are actually wolf's descendant because every child is unique and troubling in his/her own way, right?When I'm watching it, I feel so warm inside because I'd feel the love in this movie.
And the voices used to make those characters make most of them all the more real, combined with the animation and soundtrack and this feels like a documentary about a mom raising Children who can turn into wolfs rather than an animated feature.
The movie spends a lot of time in showing us all the things that Hana has to do, from the hardest things because of her unique situation, to normal activities like farming and for that reason, some people might see this as a very slow movie, but those "slow" scenes contribute in showing us one of the themes of this film which is to witness just how much is a mother willing to go to raise and protect her children.
'Wolf Children' is such an offbeat take, in fact, that it hardly qualifies as horror movie with the human/wolf metamorphosis more of a metaphor for kids growing and changing and ultimately having to make decisions of what they want in life.
It's another heartwarming animation directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who is famous for "Summer Wars" and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time."I tend to choose a film based on its trailer and rating on IMDb or other film sites, so this film is also no exception: I thought it would be a heartwarming human drama depicting wolf children.
The mother never scolds Yuki and Ame. I was touched by her attitude that she accepts anything from her children, and she tries so hard in order to bring up them.This film was awarded an Academy Award for the best animation.
First let me say that if this movie was developed in the US it would be good enough for quite a lot of praise here in the States, and wouldn't be looked at as an oddity like Japanese animation almost always is around here.
main focus is obviously on mother, who tries to raise her wolfy kids far away from humans societies, and how she suffers,(a perfect anime parent) i cried like 3 times watching this and i watched kimi no na wa with almost no tears at all, so you can tell what am i bringing here ..
This is a very well-made Anime but not quite suitable for children, except the really mature ones.To their defense though, when you have a shot that consists on a woman and a wolf-headed man with bare shoulders, kissing and followed by a discretion shot implying they're in a bed, stoicism isn't exactly boys' strongest suit and some were already starting to heckle the show (that it wasn't dubbed added to their ordeal).I must admit that the whole first act consisting of a narrator telling her mother's romance was awkward.
Beautiful and unexpected: once we get the supernatural element, everything is handled in a realistic way, complaints from tenants about the noises and constant howling the "kids" make, the pressure from Childhood Protection and a very meaningful moment where little Yuke swallows gel and Hana is wondering whether to go to a doctor or a vet.Hana is the Mama Bear figure movies love today, she resorted to natural birth out of fear to deliver wolves in a hospital and realizing an urban life wouldn't fit them, decides to move on to the mountain and live on gardening.
Once there, in a sequence that reminds of "Totoro", the two children react to wilderness according to their personalities, Yuke is excited and express her wolf-life nature to the fullest while little Ame is the momma's boy who want to go home.I'm not sure about the idea of not including fantastic elements but it was strange to have that film with such a fascinating premise stick up obstinately to realism.
( examples as a single mothers hardships of raising two young children all on her own, working hard for only the best for them!)This movie is now one of my all time favorites!.
Not only is it one of my favorite animated films, it's one of my favorite films period.The plot revolves around Hana, who falls in love with a Wolf Man and has children with him.
Suddenly when the Wolf Man passes away, Hana vows to take care of his children by moving to the countryside where we witness the two children grow up and take different paths in a 12 year time span.I could go on forever about this movie, but I'll try to shorten it.
While I know Japanese animation more from Hayao Miyazaki and the Toei Company robot fighting machines, it was indeed so good for me to watch and enjoy "Wolf Children" by Mamoru Hosoda.Hana meets a quiet loner in the university and they fall in love.
They have two children together -- the spirited girl Yuki and the serious boy Ame. But as tragedy struck, Hana had overcome great odds to move to the remote countryside and raise their two kids by herself, just as they were both already showing their human-wolf duality.
A simultaneously neo-Gothic and slice-of-life fairy tale about a single mother struggling to raise her two lycanthropic kids, Wolf Children is, in no unclear way, an unapologetically sentimental and heedlessly optimistic film.
But that's another story.-It's gross- Just look at what they eat in this movie!-Forced romance/heartwarming/heartbreaking moments- These make me cringe.-Not for kids- This "family film," has moments totally not suitable for children.
This is one of my favorite anime films of all time.I appreciate that it has no such sides which contains mystery, thrill, action, adventure (The things mankind prefer much nowadays) but the significance of Mother's Love can't be shown much greater than this film.Especially I have no intention to spoil the story, but i can't help mentioning the best line from the trailer- "You can think this is a fairy tale but, to a mom it hadn't!" My Review - "You may feel that you are a complete misery to the world but don't think so....
Version I saw: UK DVD release (subtitled)Actors: 7/10Plot/script: 7/10Photography/visual style: 7/10Music/score: 7/10Overall: 7/10Wolf Children is the third film from director Mamoru Hosoda, after The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars.
Many anime works, including the likes of Ghibli's pieces, suffered from a few things: i) imbalance flow of plot, where certain stages/ arc of the storyline were memorable but the rest of the story fail to make an impact that they were expected to ; ii) actions taken by the characters that appear irrational or falling into the cliché category.In my opinion, I am glad to see that this film did not become a victim to such traps.
The movie made a good decision to focus rather on the story of how the mother cope on her own, taking care of her two growing-up children under such conditions where she cannot simply request for anyone's help.In my opinion, Ame to Yuki carved its brand in creating such an incredible plot, when there are already tons of other movies or series that famously exhibited vampires/ wolverines, and yet probably a very few pieces out there took the opportunity to explore the possible life situations that could materialize if a human were to commingle with a non-human character, at least not to such a degree Ame and Yuki did.Of course, I am aware that the movie chose to take on a very optimistic approach, which could otherwise complicate things substantially.
It may be an animation on wolf children but its theme extends far beyond that: in the end, what kind of life do we want to lead?
Whether or not this is the goal, as someone who doesn't find animals sexy, it's an uncomfortable moment to watch and feels wholly out of place in this story.The products of their repeated love-making become the titular wolf children, a girl named Yuki and her baby brother Ame. After a tragic hunting accident claims the life of the children's father, Hana is stuck trying to raise these kids, or perhaps tame these wild animals, alone.
It's a lonely kind of desperation, and WOLF CHILDREN knows how to hit those chords in a thoughtful and effective way.Hats off to Hosoda and his co-writer Satoko Okudera for not falling into the trap of having Hana need someone to help her raise the kids.
Mamoru Hosoda has three times dazzled me with his films and has caught me in ways that other brilliant directors like him have beautiful but simple and heartfelt stories with a simple animation style that could easily rival the best CGI film out there and Wolf Children proves to be all of these and more.
While I loved Hosoda's Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time they didn't quite captivate me like Wolf Children did.
Much like Brad Bird did with "Ratatouille," Momaru Hosoda manages to take a very odd concept, and transform it into an involving, moving and ironically real experience."Wolf Children" tells the story of Hana, a nineteen year old college student, who falls quickly in love with a man, who harbours a personal secret.
The story evokes so many life questions like, "What kind of life do we want to live?" and "Am I being a good parent?" I didn't expect to love this film as much as I did going into it, but it was so worth the 2 hours.Not only is the story wonderful, the animation is brilliant as is the voice acting.
Let me start off by saying this review will have some spoilers in it, so you have been warned.Wolf Children is the story of Hana, a college student who meets a werewolf and falls in love, has a whirlwind romance, gets pregnant, and ends up having to raise two werewolf children on her own.
Actually, it did seem like the movie was trying too hard to be a Ghibli film at times, especially once they moved to the country.
Wolf Children is a touching story about Hana, a single mother, raising two young children, Yuki and Ame. The story starts by showing Hana at Tokyo National University, where she meets the love of her life, which has a secret.
I think that Hosoda wants you to feel what the mother is feeling, but all I could think about was why can't the children just be mostly human and spend some time as a wolf just like their father?
That is not easy to imagine or to do it, but till the end Hana successfully raised her children well.The movie show you how hard to become single parent mom, you don't have time for yourself. |
tt1626201 | Red: Werewolf Hunter | Virginia, modern-day descendant of Little Red Riding Hood, brings her fiancé, Nathan, home to meet her family. Virginia's brothers, Marcus (Greg Bryk) and Jake (David Reale), are quick to welcome Virginia back, fondly calling her "Red", a family nickname of the first daughter in every generation. After the arrival of both people, Nathan finds a man staggering up the driveway half dead. The dying man says the name "Gabriel" before Nathan runs for Virginia. When they return, the man is already ashes. The sheriff arrives and contains the situation, much to Nathan's dismay. Virginia takes Nathan inside and explains that they hunt werewolves. Nathan, not believing her, goes for a walk at sunset. He is attacked and bitten by a werewolf who reveals his name to be Gabriel (Stephen McHattie). The next day, while preparing for a hunt, Nathan asks if they had ever turned a werewolf back. Virginia tells him that the only way to break the curse is to kill the werewolf who turned the person, before the newly bitten werewolf kills a human. Shortly after, they go hunting in town where Nathan kills a werewolf. After the wolves are dead, they find a girl locked in their car's trunk. She tells them that the wolves are planning on a "Game" that no human survives. Later that night, while setting up camp, Nathan transforms into a werewolf for the first time. Desperate to protect him, Virginia insists on locking him up for the night. Nathan awakens the next morning in a cell. With the curse over for the night, he is released for the day, to help hunt Gabriel. Back in town, Marcus and Jake are taken captive for the new "Game". When the night comes to an end, it is revealed that the brothers were killed.
The next day, the family prepare for a final battle, and Gabriel seizes the moment to kidnap Virginia. Nathan finds the brothers shortly before finding Virginia. The couple return home and finish preparations for the full moon. As the sun goes down, the battle begins. Nathan is locked in his cage with the grandmother watching him. Red kills several of the werewolves who enter the house, before confronting Gabriel. Meanwhile, the grandmother tries to shoot Nathan as he turns into a werewolf. Upon escaping from the cell, Nathan, in werewolf form, kills the grandmother. Upstairs, Virginia is pursued by Gabriel. Smearing her blood stained hand in silver paint, she smears it on Gabriel, who falls over the rail, two stories. Virginia jumps after him, plunging a silver headed harpoon into his heart. As he dies, Virginia hears the howl of a werewolf. Fearing the worst, she flees to the basement to see Nathan, but finds her grandmother dead. Grabbing a red cloak, Virginia runs to the woods to find Nathan. Werewolf Nathan attacks Virginia, knocking her out. In the morning, Virginia discovers she's been bitten. Several feet from where she fell was a trail of blood leading to an old ruined building. Inside, Nathan is human again. He pledges his love to Virginia, saying he wants a life with her. As he hugs her, Virginia stabs him with a silver knife, swearing she'll always love him. With his death, the curse on Virginia is broken. The film ends with her reading the story of Little Red Riding Hood to her daughter as a wolf howls in the distance. | violence | train | wikipedia | I really do NOT understand why people insist on watching movies that they know are movie of the week, straight to DVD, cable flicks or in this case SyFy movies and then complain about the production value, or the low budget.Red: Werewolf Hunter IS a SyFy movie.
A terrific cast including Felicia Day, Kavan Smith, Greg Bryk, and Stephen McHattie each delivered terrific overall performances.
The premise was a new take on the Red Riding Hood theme and while a little underdeveloped is really a great idea.
Know when you begin that this is a SyFy movie and was probably made for less then James Cameron spent on his toilet paper when filming Avatar.
The concept was intriguing, but considering it was SyFy(who have been responsible for a lot of terrible movies, bottom-of-the-barrel in some cases) I was also dubious.
What a surprise to see that Red: Werewolf Hunter was actually watchable.
The dialogue is weak and the acting apart from Stephen McHattie, who's a lot of fun if occasionally too strident, at times felt stiff including from Felicia Day, who seems very detached.
The story, sort of a take on Little Red Riding Hood, is mostly interesting, dark and imaginative also with an ending that was surprisingly unpredictable in how shocking and bittersweet it was, but there were also some parts that felt underdeveloped.
However, the production values are better than expected, the effects are nothing amazing with some jarring movements but there have been far cheaper ones from SyFy, but I loved the costumes and spot-on sets, the Gothic atmosphere and the photography, which is less haphazard than I thought it would be.
As with Tin Man, this is better than one would expect for a made 4 TV SyFy channel movie.
While the story is anything but original, it gives us a somewhat darker view of the Little Red Riding Hood story, along with a cohesive afterwards.Dialog delivery is a little stiff, but considering the source, I really enjoyed this, and cannot wait for it to come out on DVD/Blu-Ray, to watch it again and again.
Trying to fake it just looks plain awful.Also, if you are going to give field signals (like telling your team to do something with hand signals), again, get some advice.
"Red: Werewolf Hunter" (2010) Stars Felicia Day as a modern descendant of Little Red Riding Hood, who brings her fiancé home to meet her family.
It turns out that they're all very unique hunters and, before too long, Red is trying to protect her fiancé from her family!Although this is a Syfy film, I found it entertaining enough and entertainment is the name of the game.
The characters & locations are good and effects are decent; the story keeps your attention, and Felicia looks really good in tight jeans.The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in the Toronto area.GRADE: B-.
I LOVE Felicia Day, and waited with bated breath for this, along with Kavan Smith, deputy Andy from Eureka, another favorite of mine also gave me high hopes!
Bad dialogue, stilted acting and horrible CGI werewolves, made this tough to sit thru.
Felicia Day and the rest of the cast maintained a dull monotone that was (I guess) supposed to set a somber tone, and the entire movie takes place on three sets, repeating set pieces over and over again from the same angle, never varying once!the rest of the cast seemed to shamble along like zombies with hardly any emotion, keep in mind comedic actors have proved time and again that they have remarkable timing.
A great story and that head werewolf- Gabriel- put on a superb performance.
What I got was a mix of both.The story was ripe with plot holes and confusion from the start, with an incredibly clueless main actor, and a main actress who should have been able to act much better than what she delivered.
None of their weapons look anything short of comical, and none of the hunters know how to handle the weapons.That being said, while watching it I could barely even bring myself to criticize the horrible acting, or moronic dialog, or even the plot, because they all blended together to create one mind-numbing, boring mess.The only (and I mean ONLY) good quality about this movie was the antagonist, who showed a fair amount of acting talent.I personally would have deleted everything except around 5 minutes of footage.
Overall, this movie has a few rare moments of quality, but spends most of its time lulling the audience to sleep, and isn't worth watching..
I didn't think Felicia Day could act this poorly, but she along with the entire cast seem to be phoning this one in for a paycheck.
What little story there is could have been condensed into an episode of The Guild, and one of the shorter episodes at that.Don't waste your time, or ruin your image of Felicia Day. If you haven't seen this yet, avoid it.
Rent Red Riding Hood, it actually has a plot and people making an effort.
After Tin Man and Alice, two excellent SyFy originals, I expected more from this film.Felicia Day and Stephen McHattie are excellent as usual; however, its (not complete) lack of background music to set the mood and its weak story left a gaping hole in my heart.The weak story: The idea that an entire town of werewolf denizens has a truce with a single family of Little Red Riding Hood descendants puts huge strain on my suspension of disbelief.The cast: Felicia Day puts her all into this role and Stephen McHattie is a veteran in terms of horror villains.
Nerd heartthrob Felicia Day stars as Red, a werewolf hunter who finds herself at odds with her werewolf hunting family when her fiancé turns in this ridiculous Syfy film that 'updates' the Little Red Rding Hood story.Cheap, needlessly melodramatic, and pretty much uninteresting all the way around.
Even the normally entertaining Day is pretty bad here.
Traveling out to visit her family, a woman's history of werewolf hunting comes to the forefront when he comes into contact with a werewolf looking to rebuild their society and brings the team together to stop his plans once and for all.This one was quite enjoyable if a somewhat problematic effort.
That all of this occurs here with the enforcement of a lot of action takes on quite a fun time here as there's plenty of chances to let their hunting and weaponry get showcased, from the initial attack in the forest where he meets their leader and chases him through the whole forest or the later attack in the abandoned town where they easily overpower the loner werewolves still around, while the big fun comes from them stumbling upon the werewolf gang's hunting game which is quite thrilling with the showing of the gang being held captive and sent out onto town to be hunted and slaughtered in quite fun scenes.
As well, there's even more fun here in the final half where there's plenty of different raids and encounters with the creatures as the groups' raid on their hideout or the ambush in town lead to some nice times here as well as the scenes of the brothers fighting off the creatures in the woods.
The last big plus here is the action-packed finale, which has so much to like with the home defenses bringing about lots of action, the brawling being rather fun and the battle to save him being a fine enough addition here, even with the few flaws here.
The biggest is the werewolves themselves which are a joke all around, from their CGI incarnations which is full of the usual flaws, but the transformations look even worse done in this manner and they tend to spend the majority of time simply making grandiose speeches about their history and how to learn how to transform.
Along with the fact that he was able to fool professional werewolf hunters with his condition quite easily that's about the only real chink in their armor of convincingness in their job, these issues lower this one overall.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language..
Virginia 'Red' Sullivan (Felicia Day) is bringing home her fiancé Nathan Kessler, but she has a family secret she has to tell him.
However Gabriel (Stephen McHattie) seems to have the ability to change at will and the werewolves are on the hunt.This is a lower budget production.
They would probably be better off using real FX and keeping them more hidden.Stephen McHattie is a great bad guy.
Felicia Day is pretty good as the lead.
Unfortunately the leading actress does not convince, Felicia Day's expression basically remains exactly the same throughout, and her chemistry with her fiancé is almost non-existent.The pluses, the villain is excellent, sinister and menacing enough without being too hammy, and the premise, it's a good one.
That was the most frustrating part of the film, the potential to be good, if strictly B Movie hammy, was utterly wasted in the rather lacklustre direction and a script that kept running out of ideas.
The climactic fight was mostly anti-climactic, and with the conclusion to that fight being pretty much telegraphed before it began, using the great circle method of ending a story (grandma dying whilst killing a werewolf kicks off the opening scenes child Red picks up a silver knife, ending the film with grandma dying is supposed to pack an emotional punch, because now Adult descendant Red has to decide what she is going to do about fiancé who killed grandma) only works if there have been enough emotional punches along the way to set up their final tragic encounter.
The final scene is clearly supposed to be a few years later and we see Red reading to a little girl on the couch.
Presumably this is Red's little girl by dead fiancé, but when we last saw Red she was bitten, so she's a werewolf?
Good B movie horror flick.
But as a grade B movie goes this one is pretty darn good.
Way above the usual made-for- SyFy fare.As someone else said, the dialog is weak and Felicia Day's delivery is just plain flat.
The sets and lighting were pretty good; the filmmakers resisted the temptation to build artificial suspense by shooting everything in perpetual darkness.Overall, a good fun B movie..
There was no bad plot twist, nothing to make it out more than what it was: good guys vs.
The bad guys, led by Stephen McHattie, are a new breed of werewolf able to shift forms at will.
They're sick of a long standing truce with a family of hunters and set out to change things, making the earth theirs to roam free once more.
"Red" (a name of honor given to the first female hunter of each generation) brings home her new FBI fiancée to meet the fam and give him the lowdown on her particular family tree.
And trouble ensues.This is either a decent made-for-TV-movie, or as I thought watching it, a freakin' GREAT video game.
I'll throw in there the last 60 seconds or so of this film were theatre worthy.Like I said, fun for a bit on the weekend..
A equals B equals C equals A, or
whatever." And boy, should I have listened.So I watched SyFy's (sic!) Tin Man and Alice and thought, "well, those were {more than} a bit good, so this might also be alright..."WRONG.
It could've tried passing itself as a {bad} horror movie, it certainly had the body count for it (I can almost see some Whedon fan-boy (devoid, naturally, of anything resembling talent or imagination) writing this while drooling profusely), except it didn't.
Speaking of the rev, he may have looked okay on Haven (but that's down to not having enough screen-time to really make himself look inept and having guys like Eric Balfour to compete with (my grandma could do a better job and she's been in the ground for nearly twenty years now)), but he's absolutely bland.And one final note to the writers: BACK-STORY.
Warning, this may contain spoilers.Much has been said already about the CGI (get over it, it's a budget SYFY movie) and the atrocious acting and monotonous delivery already, so I won't expand on it.Instead, I'll focus on these so-called experienced werewolf hunters, one of whom is supposedly also a top-notch FBI agent who "kicked the ass" of the best in the Academy.Seriously, I've seen better combat skills from 17-year-olds at airsoft games.There's nothing in the manner that any of the characters act that lends any credibility to the idea that they routinely hunt werewolves or (in the case of the two Feds in the story) even normal human fugitives.Being a werewolf movie, Willing Suspension of Disbelief is required to accept the premise that werewolves are real for the sake of the movie.That Willing Suspension of Disbelief should not have to extend to accepting that this pack of useless sods has somehow managed to survive multiple encounters with dangerous shape-shifting monsters, despite their obvious lack of any tactical or combat ability.If you're going to portray hardened/seasoned combat veterans, at least watch a few videos of real soldiers in action if you don't want to spend money on a proper adviser.The scene that finally consigned this to the scrap heap was when "Red" ran upstairs in the midst of the fight: A werewolf starts climbing into the room behind her, making enough noise to alert the most obtuse or inattentive person and yet this "kick-ass" Federal Agent and seasoned werewolf-hunter does not notice it.And for dealing with attacking packs, you'd think - given silver bullets are specifically mentioned as effective and they use them in their pistols - that the heavy armaments on their house would be belt-fed machine-guns (you actually see Red grab an ammo belt at one stage but it's never used in anything) rather than single-shot spear-guns..
Skiffy all the way.So the plot is the descendants of Little Red all gather together at a house the same weekend the Werewolves decide to break the truce and start attacking people again.So poor quality CGI abounds.But I'll give the movie its props for some okay acting, tight story progression and a bad guy who looked like a real bad guy.worth a rental?
I am not a fan of horror movies: the plots are usually captivating but I don't get thrills from watching zombies/murderers/werewolves jump out at me.
However, that was not the issue here, the movie was far from anything scary, the werewolves looked comical if anything.
The major issues were the plot, the characters, and the acting.I'll admit, I only watched this movie because of Felicia Day, but had I known the plot ahead of time I would have never gotten myself into this mess.
The characters were dull, all completely unchanging, talking in monotone (like someone said above).
The short fight scenes with Felicia were somewhat fun to watch but very choppy nonetheless.Plot: 2/10.
Red (Felicia Day) brings Nathan (Kavan Smith) home to meet her family.
While there he gets bitten by a werewolf and puts a strain on their relationship as her family hunts werewolves.
If werewolves are people during the day, they could use guns for killing also...just a thought.
The acting didn't come across as strong.In one scene the werewolves have three people in shackles.
In order to kill a werewolf, its heart must be pierced with silver, although for some werewolves their heart is through their stomach.Worth watching for free on TV, if nothing else is on.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity..
Not that bad a movie.
You have the descendants of the original Red Riding Hood who are continuing the fight against werewolves.
Granny manages to kill the werewolf with a silver knife and this starts the adventure.
Coming home with her fiancée the current Red (the first born daughter in each generation) learns that the current crop of wolfies have broken the truce that has been in place.
Now Red has been bitten I guess but she is shown at the very end of the film reading to her daughter about their heritage.
Henry and Kristl turned Red: Werewolf hunter (2010).
He could do no less."Yes?" Kristl sat up.."And everyone is dead." Henry continued."Quite dead..except for Red herself.""Even her lover gets killed in the end, by herself no less.
Poor Red." Henry said."I wonder where that kid comes from that sits on her lap at the end scene." Kristl said, "I wonder many things.
Like why make another werewolf movie?""That is simple.
I liked it that Red was not a such a tough chick with no feelings and they added this complication in that her lover was also turned into a werewolf against his will.""Yeah, but the low budget made it suffer.
I even had the feeling it was a seventies or eighties movie, but it is made in 2010.""There are a few nice scenes, like when she was a little girl see a werewolf attack her mother while Red is hiding up in the attic.
For instance there is a strong reference to Little Red Riding Hood and the movie starts out like a modern version, but this is never referenced or used in any fashion.
And nothing is done with fact that Red is actually an FBI agent."And except for a few scenes, the whole cinematography technique of this movie is just sloppy.
It is not scary, it is just plain odd.""But it isn't too bad a movie." Henry said."Maybe.
If they had just a tad more budget, cut down on the cgi and had the actors act better it might have been decent, now it is just a less- than-decent movie.""A time waster really." "Good to know you had your fun yesterday.""Yeah, lame movies are good for recovering from hangovers." Henry nodded his head, then regretted it."And to take a nap." Kristl said, "You miss nothing when you do.""Right."Also at http://meritcoba.wordpress.com with pictures. |
tt0116414 | Girl 6 | In Manhattan, New York City, Judy, also known as Girl 6 (Theresa Randle), is at a very awkward audition with Quentin Tarantino. Judy seems to grin and bear it. Tarantino reveals that the film Judy is auditioning for is "the greatest romantic, African-American film ever made. Directed by me, of course." However, Judy grows suspicious of the audition, when "Q.T.", tells her that "Wesley, Denzel, and Fishburne" are signed up to play supporting roles. Judy seems to keep her cool until it is requested that she remove her blouse so "Q.T." and his assistant can see her breasts. She reluctantly complies, but not for long. She walks out on the audition.Her agent (John Turturro) is furious. Having worked hard to get Judy her audition with such a prestigious director, he quickly and angrily drops her from his roster of clients. Her melodramatic acting coach (Susan Batson) is also extremely displeased. When Judy tells her why she did not go through with the audition, the acting coach still does not see any reason why Judy should have walked out. This, topped with the fact that Judy has not paid her rent in a very long while, forces her to drop Judy from her roster of clients as well.Now unable to secure acting work, Judy must find a way to make ends meet. She tries a number of jobs: passing out fliers, waiting tables at a club, etc. At one point she agrees to be an extra on a movie set. However, it is cold and unpleasant, as is the director. Judy is sick with a cold, and still trying to secure work. While reading a newspaper, she sees an ad for a "friendly phone line", as well as one with the headline, "mo money, mo money, mo money". She circles them both.This brings her to a meeting at a phone sex office. She meets the boss (Jenifer Lewis), who seems to be an assertive but friendly woman. The two click and the "audition" goes over just fine. The boss, now known as Lil, says that although she can't promise anything, she'll put in the good word for Judy. Judy also goes to another meeting, but the boss there wants her to do more visually related work, so she declines. Then, she attends another meeting, at a strip club/phone sex line with a relaxed boss (Madonna). She would take the job, but the content allowed for on-line discussion is a bit too heavy for her taste. She decides to stick to her original application with Lil.We now look in on Judy's dissolved relationship with her kleptomaniac ex-husband (Isaiah Washington), as well as her relationship with her baseball-memorabilia obsessed best friend, Jimmy (Spike Lee). Jimmy is reliant on his collection for money, but until it accumulates enough age to be worth money, he gets his rent money from Judy.Throughout the film, the phone sex line, having been secured at Lil's company, begins to take its mental toll on the newly christened Girl 6. She trusts her clients too much at times, and is therefore tricked repeatedly. She even agrees to meet one of her callers at one point, but he thinks she is a white girl, and when he walks toward her, he sees she is African American, so he just walks by her as though he were someone else, leaving her on a bench alone. It is visible to everybody, especially Lil and Jimmy, that Judy is having a breakdown. The movie culminates in a dark sequence in which she enters a snuff fantasy with a caller (Michael Imperioli). It becomes serious when she discovers the caller knows where she lives. Running upstairs for shelter with Jimmy, she decides that it is time to leave the phone sex career behind and get her acting career in motion. Finally reconciling with her ex, she decides to move to Los Angeles.Oddly enough once in California, Judy attends another audition in which she experiences the same problem as the one with "Q.T." She again walks out. However, it is clear that Girl 6 has reclaimed her dignity, and will find work sooner or later. On that hopefull note, the film comes to a close. | pornographic | train | imdb | They (even the positive ones) completely enforce exactly what this movie is actively trying to point out about our society.Several people noted that the narrative was weak or nonexistent, that the film didn't "go" anywhere, and/or that there was too much extra "stuff" that distracted the story from the "real" plot line.
I'm here to tell you that this is the whole point of Spike Lee's brilliant Girl 6.
It does exactly what so many people were disappointed not to see, by subverting our expectations and implicitely pointing out that this is NOT a movie you can just "fall into" and become a passive spectator, that it actively engages the audience and breaks down our concepts of the master narrative by giving us an ending we did not expect.Girl 6 is not a movie about phone sex, as so many of you seem to believe.
She can hardly get a job and eventually resorts to using her talents to the most basic and competently lucrative degree as a phone sex girl.The film held my interest to a great degree, but only because of the visceral experience of watching it.
In "Girl 6", based on a screen play by the talented Suzan-Lori Parks, a playwright herself, the director directs his satire to the porn industry.
In fact, Spike Lee shows us how women, especially young ones, are vulnerable to fall pray to these unscrupulous operators just to get into the movie business.
One thing is evident: Spike Lee is a director who gets magnificent performances out of the stars of his films.
In fact, this young actress turns a great performance under Mr. Lee's direction.
Spike Lee himself is the next door neighbor, but he takes a back seat in order to leave the front to the amazing Theresa Randle..
Let us start with the story - an Afro-American actress refuses to expose her body for screen tests, finds herself unemployed, and the lucrative job she finds is in the phone sex industry.
I have always like Spike Lee's movie due to the intelligence he puts in the plot and in the dialogues.
I liked (very beautiful) Theresa Radle performance and Spike Lee himself is also good.
This movie is by far one of my favourite Spike Lee movies, along with "She's Gotta Have It" It follows the trials and tribulations of an actress trying to make it in New York City.
At 106 minutes, which should be average length for any movie to aspire to have, it's a few minutes too long and although one might lose the visual metaphor of the drop down the elevator, whatever it really means, the whole sub-plot involving the little girl falling down and breaking her head is unnecessary throughout and brings the film to a halt every time the 'newstory' segment pops up.
And every so often, though not frequently, a technical touch or a performance might be a little too over the top, too flamboyant even for the Spike Lee Joint standard.But aside from this, Girl 6 is fun and enjoyable "fluff" for Spike Lee, which means that it's still risqué and poignant and sharp-tongued (more than usual here and in more ways than one, some pun intended), and loaded with hit or miss R&B songs (this time by Prince, not quite as cool as Batman tracks but close).
It's about an aspiring actress (Theresa Randle) who hits roadblocks in her career when she gets told to take her top off for a "TOP Hollywood DIRECTOR" called "Q.T.", and played not too embarrassingly by the man himself.
After some crappy gigs she goes for something that involves sex but only with the vocal chords, and indeed involves a kind of on-the-spot improvisation: phone-sex operator.From here the plot kind of takes off, however episodically and sometimes very loose in structure (there's some connection with one phone sex guy, Bob, whom Girl 6 crushes on and gets practically dumped, and a "Scary Caller" who treats her like dirt), and mostly involves us seeing what the person on the other line might look like in grainy video, and her own fantasies of movie-stardom from her favorites.
While some of the visual flourishes we all like from a Lee Joint are present, and maybe too typical, it's fun to see Lee work through talky material, and all the actors have fun with their roles; especially Randle, who gives it her all in a seemingly breakthrough serio-comic turn and who gets to dress up and go for broke in many moments.Bottom line, it's not as bad as you've heard or seen it rated on this site, but it's also somewhat of a trifle in the Lee cannon, albeit within its own limitations almost (though not quite) the level of romantic-comedy we might expect from the director of She's Gotta Have It. Hey, it's better than She Hate Me, at the least, and somewhat less incoherent..
place your rating here.Theresa Randle deserved far, far better than this movie as directed by Spike Lee. Ms.
Randle plays an aspiring actress mercilessly beaten down in the beginning by neurotic acting coaches, lecherous s.o.b. directors (except for Spike, of course), abusive production assistants telling her she can't go to the bathroom, etc., all laid on in hystrionic overdrive by Mr. Lee.
I *don't* believe this was an intentional point by Spike Lee.) Randle is presented by walking out as a woman of character and integrity.
We learn what the horny male perception would like the phone sex industry to be, which is especially bizarre considering this movie was written by a woman.
Girl 6 takes to phone sex like a fish to water, getting more turned on than her clients as the movie proceeds.
Was the "6" in the title referring to the girl's I.Q., or to Spike's, for expecting us to believe this happens, or that phone workers get turned on while talking to anonymous, masturbating schmucks?
And that Theresa Randle, a first-rate actress, has been exploited by a man who claims to understand the word more than any other director around, but understands women about as deeply as the clients who call Girl 6.
Upon the first viewing of "Girl 6", one would think that this movie is simply about an out-of-work actress who finds another job where she can "act" as a phone sex operator and "get paid lots of cash".However, upon repeated viewings, you might ask yourself questions like: "Why does Judy/Girl 6 (played by the beautiful Theresa Randle) care about the little girl falling down the elevator shaft?" OR "Why does the film go from a high to a low?" For this reason, I look at this script as one of the most spiritually philosophical ones that Spike has put to film.
Thumbs up to Suzan-Lori Parks on the screenplay, to the director of cinematography, to the Prince soundtrack, and to Mr. Lee on the direction for creating the perfect hybrid for this film..
A good performance by Theresa Randle carries the movie.
Prince wrote some of the songs and in particular there is a really nice blues vocal in the scene where Girl 6 waits to meet 'Bob Regular'.Complaint: I wish Spike Lee would stay out of his own movies - he can't act.
Theresa Randle plays a failed African-American actress in New York City who turns to phone sex for a career change.
This Spike Lee effort, which he produced and directed, from a maladroit script by Suzan-Lori Parks, opens with an excruciating scene which typifies the rest: Randle, auditioning for a movie role for a questionable filmmaker (Quentin Tarantino in a cameo), is asked to remove her blouse; she hesitates, but eventually strips under pressure.
If the sequence is supposed to be funny, the punchline is sadly missing--but, as long as we get to see the woman's breasts, I guess Lee figures he's making his point.
Now out of the work, scoring the odd extra audition, Randle finds a new way to tap into her talents, as a phone sex operator.
The stalker who played De Caprio's dying friend in The Basketball Diaries, a year earlier, sent some chills through me when getting to the crux his threats, on poor suffering Randle, where this change of mood to the film was good.
Burning bridges with her agent and acting coach and desperate for work she takes a job as a phone sex operator.
Sloppy, disjointed and in a constant state of funk Girl 6 is filled with lackluster performances and insipid "goofs" by Lee such as a smoldering cameo by Madonna reminding us just how bad an actress and self parody she is along with an obnoxious turn by Tarantino as himself.
I can totally understand why so many people just hated this film - god knows it does itself no favours - however fans of Spike Lee should find much to keep them watching as it is very much the director's film.
The film leaps all over different styles including the Jeffersons, Foxy Brown and many others; in a way I suppose this is meant to be 6 losing touch with herself on the way to finding inner confidence and peace but it doesn't really work (and the `falling down a dark lift shaft' subplot/snippets are too heavy handed on top of this).Lee's direction is the first reason for watching this film, but equally worthwhile is Randle (and not for the reason rather juvenilely suggested by many reviews here).
Randle is a great actress and she shows it here - it is rather sad that she has actually done quite few films and too many of them have her in small supporting roles (Bad Boys I & II, Spawn, Space Jam, Malcolm X and so on).
She is asked to do a lot and, despite lacking audience involvement in 6, her performance shows the range that she has - she should really be given better roles on the basis of this film, it's just a shame there aren't really that mean good roles for actresses approaching their 40's (never mind black actresses approaching their 40's!).
The callers include people like Lee-regular Byrd, Peter Berg, Imperioli and Richard Belzer - they do what is asked of them and it isn't their fault the film doesn't work.
If you are a fan of Spike Lee then you will enjoy the style of the film and the fact that his behind-the-camera skills are there for all to see.
Aside from this the only other reason to really watch it is a great performance by Randle that will almost act like an audition tape for her - no character but plenty of range and ability!
Spike takes on phone sex.
Spike Lee directed this look at one woman's attempt to improve her life by working in the phone-sex trade.
Teresa Randle (Bad Boys, Bad Boys II) plays a struggling actress that takes a phone sex job and finds that she is good at it.
Now, how can someone who got upset taking off her top for Quentin Tarantino want to do phone sex?
I'm having a hard time figuring out what Director Spike Lee is trying to accomplish.
Maybe that is why it didn't last very long in the theaters as no one else can figure out what he was trying to do either.The film featured others like Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Richard Belzer (Law & Order SVU) Madonna, and Naomi Campbell (New York Sanitation Department).Of course, any movie that features Halle Berry, even briefly, is worth a look.
I am a huge Spike Lee fan and like any huge fan I enjoy everything he makes.
We meet an actress (Theresa Randle) in the middle of an audition being conducted by Quentin Tarantino.
Complete with fantasy scenes, Prince music, cameos and Spikes trademark shots Girl 6 was an OK comedy at best.
Once again, I've watched a Spike Lee movie and wasn't very impressed.
So what does principal actress do after refusing to take off her top-she gets a job acting about having virtual sex!
This is evidenced about halfway through film when boss tells all the phone sex women to be white unless asked to be otherwise.
He simply takes over the screen and shows why he is one of the top 5 actors today.3 - spike lee.
We follow Girl 6 from the bubbly slimy fantasy of her phone conversations to the stark neon landscape that is her real life, eventually the boundary between them blurs and our character has to make a stand to sort it out.Although the film ends on a light and disappointingly frothy note, the complexities of sexuality, sex-work, and being a black woman are dealt with in a startling and oftentimes revelatory fashion.
Theresa Randle was the only reason why this film actually got a six from me...after all she was "Girl 6" : ).
(SOME SPOILERS) With it's release in Spring of 96, "Girl 6" was called "the worst Spike Lee film".
"Girl 6" is about Judy (Theresa Randle), a struggling black actress looking for work.
Like most of Spike's films, there are the multiple stories (her ex-husband wanting her back, the sick guy that keeps calling her, the little girl Angela, Judy's friendship with Jimmy, her fantasies and Bob) The film did have it's flaws.
A plus for the film was the soundtrack by Prince and his related bands (Vanity 6's Nasty Girl was so perfect for this movie) This cast was a who's who of celebrities (Maddonna, Naomi Campbell, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Silver and a Halle Berry cameo) Michael Imperioli was sadistic and creepy as the crazed "Scary Caller #30".
I was talking to a friend not long before I saw 'Girl 6' about how interesting it would be to see a documentary about the women who take a job doing phone sex.
Then I heard that Spike Lee was directing a film about that very subject – even better.
Having seen Lee's film, I'm still waiting for that documentary.Spike Lee's 'Girl 6' is an overstuffed movie about a woman who takes such a profession but uses it as a clothesline on which to hang a lot of unnecessary and puzzling subplots.
In need of an income she takes a job working for a phone sex operation.
I was puzzled by this scene because an opening scene showed a director at an audition demanding to see her topless and she seemed humiliated – now she is having phone sex and seemingly enjoying every minute of it.The problem with 'Girl 6' is it's point of view.
There is the good-hearted neighbor played by Lee himself.All of this stuff in unnecessary and should have been trimmed to make for a much simpler movie.
Phone sex has often fallen short of my high expectations in carnal satisfaction because they lack the lustful passion that drives the performance given by the goddess Girl 6 in the Spike Lee joint "GIRL 6".
If there ever was a fantasy woman of lust I believe Spike Lee found her in the gorgeous lust temptress Miss Theresa Randle.This film, ignited by Miss Randle lustful performance, showed the world how much power these true temptresses can have over their clients when they are gifted with the steamy ability of Girl 6.
I went into this movie not knowing to much about it although I did know it was a Spike Lee picture.
And after seeing it I must say I thought it above average though I'm not surprised a lot of people may not like this as it is definitely not a mainstream flick.Girl 6 seems to be a very polarizing film in that people seem to either absolutely love it or despise it.
I feel neither way, I liked it a lot and could see maybe loving it after I see it again a few times but as it stands now I see it as an interesting, unusual film that takes on a little bit of a taboo subject and features some great performances but that still has some flaws.I'm not going to get into reviewing the plot but will say that Theresa Randle should really be a household name as she was excellent.
I will also say I disagree with a lot of critics about the fact that this film almost makes the phone sex industry look to glamorous.
Quite the contrary, this film did with phone sex what "Boogie Nights" did with the porn industry and that is show the inner workings in a detached, dispassion rather monotonous way.
I think the film's to be commended for that.Then there's the question of the movie maybe being unrealistic in Girl Six's gradual addiction to the job.
In terms of that, it would be difficult for me to comment as I have no idea whether phone sex workers ever do in fact become addicted, but I will say that there isn't much in life that someone, somewhere, probably has not had an addiction to and I think Theresa Randle does a wonderful job in painting a poignantly sad picture of the loneliness that envelops Judy/Girl 6 so whether or not this plot line maybe realistic, strong character development helps with that.
We have parallel story lines that go exactly like this : a black girl who works in the sex phone business; making a living during her suspended career as respectful actress wanna-be, her talks with a guy who loves her, a good neighbor, her fantasies about herself as one of the black icons in the history of Hollywood, her dealing with her customers as horny lonely mostly sad callers, one of them is a deranged, and an accident of a black poor child who's trying to survive.
But with that script forget it !The effort done by (Theresa Randle) to make her character believable and effective, the movie's only positive thing, was wholly wasted among the cold dealing with the material. |
tt2321549 | The Babadook | Amelia Vanek is a troubled and exhausted widow who has brought up her six-year-old son Samuel alone after her husband Oskar's death from a car accident that occurred as he drove Amelia to the hospital during her labour. Sam begins displaying erratic behaviour: he becomes an insomniac and is preoccupied with an imaginary monster, against which he has built weapons to fight. Amelia is forced to pick up her son from school after Sam brings one of the weapons there. One night, Sam asks his mother to read a pop-up storybook: Mister Babadook. It describes the titular monster, the Babadook, a tall pale-faced humanoid in a top hat with pointed fingers who torments its victims after they become aware of its existence. Amelia is disturbed by the book and its mysterious appearance, while Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook is real. Sam's persistence about the Babadook leads Amelia to often have sleepless nights as she tries to comfort him.
Soon after, strange events occur: doors open and close mysteriously by themselves, strange sounds are heard and Amelia finds glass shards in her food. She attributes the events to Sam's behaviour, but he blames the Babadook. Amelia rips up the book and disposes of it. At Sam's cousin Ruby's birthday party, Ruby bullies Sam for not having a father, in response to which he pushes her out of her tree house and breaks her nose in two places. Amelia's sister Claire admits she cannot bear Sam to which Amelia takes great offence. On the drive home, Sam has another vision of the Babadook and suffers a febrile seizure, after which Amelia makes a successful plea for sedatives to a paediatrician.
The following morning, Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book reassembled on the front door step. New words taunt her by saying that the Babadook will become stronger if she continues to deny its existence, containing pop-ups of her killing her dog Bugsy, Samuel and then herself. Terrified, Amelia burns the book and runs to the police after a disturbing phone call. However, Amelia has no proof of the stalking, and when she then sees the Babadook's suit hung up behind the front desk, she leaves. Amelia starts to become more isolated and shut-in, being more impatient, shouting at Samuel for 'disobeying' her constantly, and having frequent visions of the Babadook once again.
One night, Amelia sees a vision of Oskar, who agrees to return if she gives him Sam. Fleeing, Amelia is stalked by the Babadook through the house until it takes over her and finally possesses her, breaking Bugsy's neck, and attempting to kill Sam. Eventually luring her into the basement, Sam knocks her out. Amelia awakens, tied up in the basement, with a terrified Sam nearby. When she tries to strangle him, he lovingly caresses her face, causing her to throw up an inky black substance, an action which seemingly expels the Babadook. When Sam reminds Amelia that "you can't get rid of the Babadook", an unseen force drags him into Amelia's bedroom. After saving Sam, Amelia is forced by the Babadook to rewatch a vision of her husband's death, to her utter despair. She then furiously confronts the Babadook, and is then able to make the beast retreat into the basement, where she locks the door behind it.
After the ordeal, Amelia and Samuel have managed to recover. Amelia is attentive and caring toward him, encouraging him with the weapons he makes and being impressed at Sam's magic tricks. They gather earthworms in a bowl and Amelia takes them to the basement, where the Babadook resides. She places the bowl on the floor for the Babadook to eat. However, as the beast tries to attack her, Amelia calms it down, and it retreats to the corner taking the earthworms along with it. Amelia returns to the yard to celebrate Sam's birthday. | dark, psychological, mystery, paranormal, allegory, atmospheric, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0318462 | Diarios de motocicleta | In 1952, a semester before Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across the South American continent in search of fun and adventures. While there is a goal at the end of their journey - they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru - the main purpose is tourism. They want to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 8,000 kilometers (5000 miles) in just a few months, and also bed as many Latin American women as will fall for their pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Alberto's ancient and leaky but functional Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa ("The Mighty One").Their route is ambitious. They head south, aim to cross the Andes, travel along the coast of Chile, across the Atacama Desert and into the Peruvian Amazon and reach Venezuela just in time for Alberto's 30th birthday, April 2. Due to La Poderosa's breakdown, they are forced to travel at a much slower pace, and make it to Caracas in July.During their expedition, Guevara and Granado encounter the poverty of the indigenous peasants, and the movie assumes a greater seriousness once the men gain a better sense of the disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots" of Latin America. In Chile, the pleasure travelers encounter a couple forced onto the road because of their communist beliefs. In a fire-lit scene, Ernesto and Alberto admit to the couple that they are not out looking for work as well. The duo accompany the couple to the Chuquicamata copper mine, and Guevara becomes angry at the treatment of the workers. There is also an instance of recognition when Ernesto, on a river ship, looks down at the poor people on the smaller boat hitched behind. Ernesto's connection to people in need is visceral and tactile throughout the film. It shows in the way he smoothes the forehead of a terminally ill woman who cannot afford a proper doctor.However, it is a visit to the Incan ruins of Macchu Picchu that inspires something in Ernesto. He wonders how the highly advanced culture gave way to the urban sprawl of Lima. His reflection is interrupted by Alberto, who shares with him a dream to peacefully revolutionize modern South America. Ernesto quickly responds: "A revolution without guns? It will never work."In Peru, they volunteer for three weeks at the San Pablo leper colony. There, Guevara sees both physically and metaphorically the division of society between the toiling masses and the ruling class (the staff live on the north side of a river, separated from the lepers living on the south). Guevara also refuses to wear rubber gloves during his visit choosing instead to shake bare hands with startled leper inmates.At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends the arbitrary boundaries of nation and race. These encounters with social injustice transform the way Guevara sees the world, and by implication motivates his later political activities as a revolutionary.Guevara makes his symbolic "final journey" that night when despite his asthma, he chooses to swim across the river that separates the two societies of the leper colony, to spend the night in a leper shack, instead of in the cabins of the doctors. This journey implicitly symbolizes Guevara's rejection of wealth and aristocracy into which he was born, and the path he would take later in his life as a guerrilla, fighting for what he believed was the dignity every human being deserves."Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me any more. At least I'm not the same me I was."
~ Guevara at film's endAs they bid each other farewell, Alberto reveals that his birthday was not in fact April 2, but rather August 8, and that the stated goal was simply a motivator: Ernesto replies that he knew all along. The film is closed with an appearance by the true life 82-year-old Alberto Granado, along with pictures from the actual journey and a mention of Che Guevara's eventual 1967 CIA-assisted execution in the Bolivian jungle.source:Wikipedia | avant garde, murder, stupid, dramatic, inspiring, romantic | train | imdb | Gael Garcia Bernal is completely believable and very human in the role, and there's real chemistry between him and Rodrigo de la Serna (any relation?) who plays his friend Granado, leading to a lot of funny moments-important, as ther are many stretches of the movie where it is just them and the scenery.
This movie is based on the true story that took Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) on a road trip all across and along South America in the 1950's.
The acting of the movie is first class: Gael Garcia Bernal performs at his best; however it is Rodrigo de la Serna's performance the one that is simply outstanding; not only he represents Granado's as a funny, outgoing character, but he also highlights Gael's characterization of Guevara.
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is certainly one of the finest films of the year - a daring, compassionate re-creation of the journey of two young, well-to-do Argentinean lads who leave their privileged positions of biochemist and fourth year Medical student to follow their idea of traveling by motorcycle from their native Buenos Aires down to Patagonia, up through Chile, Peru, Colombia to Venezuela.
Sounds like a light hearted Trip Movie, but instead this journey, factually made by one Ernesto (aka 'Che' and 'Fuser') Guevara de la Serna and his close friend Alberto Granado ('Chubby'), is one of the most touching and sensitive passages into self acceptance and awareness of the world as a place where equality of people is a microscopic speck of illusion that is revealed by a carefully constructed script by Jose Rivera based on the diaries of both of these men made during and after their journey.
Walter Salles ("Behind the Sun", "Central Station") once again proves himself a director who can infuse his vision of a story with uncomplicated directness of approach, having the sensitivity to allow his well-chosen actors to create wholly believable, three-dimensional characters, whether the actors are the leads or simply minor roles that hold the camera's eye for seconds.Taken as simply a movie to enjoy, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is as beautiful as a National Geographic Magazine feature on the Amazon and the deserted and populated lands of South America.
No more need be said.Gael Garcia Bernal gives an incredibly thoughtful, stunning portrayal of Che, saying so much more with his eyes, his body language (especially as he suffers through his own physical demon of asthma attacks), and his perfect embodiment of the spirit of a man who becomes enlightened by the peasants he comes to love.
Few, including this reviewer, really knew much more about the firebrand revolutionist who was a comrade in Cuban arms with Fidel Castro in a crusade that led to his eventual capture and execution by the CIA as a notorious fly-in-the-ointment career criminal.However new insight albeit a few shades of grey and free styling dramatic license intact depicts a twenty something medical student named Ernesto Guevera da la Serna, a South American native (memorably portrayed by the ever soulful Bernal, in a truly outstanding breakthrough performance) who partners with his best friend Alberto Granado (strongly supportive De la Serna) on a trek by motorcycle (a battered 1939 Norton to be exact) an 800 plus mile quest from Argentina up thru the upper regions of Peru with nothing but a few provisions and even less dinero.Relying on their bonhomie, make-shift surroundings and clever improvisation the odd couple manage to get to Ernesto's girlfriend's nouveau riche family where he tells the lovely Chichina Ferreyra (the fetching Maestro) that he wants her to wait for him but knows in his heart this is more than likely never to be.After several humorous encounters along the fray the duo finally have to give up their trusty vehicle after many hardships and torrential weather obstacles to go on foot then finally on ferry to their destination: an internship with a leper colony.
Along the way the duo meet many disenfranchised and impoverished fellow countrymen and their women and families and with each soul-crushing pit-stop you can feel the stirrings of ire catching fire within the young man who will become Che Guevera.Salles, who directed the exceptional CENTRAL STATION, smartly allows his two fine actors plenty of room to get into the skins of their funny, fighting and deep souled characters while enlisting the picturesque surroundings of the lush and jaw-droppingly beautiful playas, mountains and countryside (exquisitely rendered by ace cinematographer Eric Gautier) and underlies the proceedings with a hauntingly stirring score by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Going into this movie all I knew about him was that he is on a lot of t-shirts, and that "che", despite what ignorant people think, is not his name, it is what Argentinians say to each other like in the US saying "dude".I am also a big fan of the purity of movies, not this Spider-man crap that is all over the place, but the true art of films, and I am fairly serious when I go into a movie for the first time.
That said, I believe this movie was excellent because it had superb cinematography of the beauty of South America, had excellent acting, great chemistry between the two main actors (despite Ebert saying they did not), and an overall political theme.This movie did not get great reviews in the US, and I haven't seen reviews from Latin American countries, but I am guessing they are better.
This is a much bigger and important example than the movie, but it is the same bias involved: People in the United States (I don't say America because that refers to every country from Argentina to Canada, not just the US as people in this country like to think) not only don't care about the suffering of people in other countries (unless it's mentioned on Oprah or involves economic rewards) but have the nerve to call them evil when they try to better themselves, which at the time was the communist movement in South America.
This is not the communism of Castro or even of the later Che Guevara, but simply to give more to the starving and suppressed that are today suppressed to make your bananas and Starbucks coffee.Because of the biases people have towards the people of countries they know nothing about, this movie has been extremely underrated in the wake of films that comparatively suck ("Ray", way overrated) yet have been rewarded because of their popularity and appeasement to the ignorant people that attend theaters in the United States..
Newcomer, Rodrigo De La Serna, also gives an excellent performance.Regardless of your politics and personal views of Che, you will walk away from this movie feeling a bit better about humanity.
The scenery throughout Latin America is beautiful and the two leads are very affecting, especially Gael García Bernal as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna when "Che" is still nascent.
Mostly just leaving his sheltered life, particularly being dropped by his wealthy girlfriend, and seeing the continent, especially his first exposure to the indigenous peoples who suffer the most in every South American country even while tourists are visiting the ruins of their ancestors, becomes the nexus of his pan-continental political ideals.He is mostly an observer and inconsistent protester of injustice, not a victim -- it's startling that his culminating noble sojourn at the leper colony, where he can put his skills and indivisible warmth to specific good, is only for three weeks.
These ideas I'm sure would make viewers aspire to be like the central characters to go out and explore the world and that was a reason why I personally loved this drama, because it gives inspiration to the audience and really moves them in a way which will leave you completely spellbound.
Audiences see job issues, money problems and country matters which all juxtapose perfectly to capture the essence of the time and crate a high realism in context of the timeThe acting by everyone involved is absolutely outstanding and it confused me when not one received an Oscar nomination because Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna are remarkable as the two travellers.
The real quality of the film is that through a subtle, engaging, fun tale allows the audience to connect with a period where change, personal and internal, was possible, and where there was hope for a fairer future.For anyone like myself from Argentina, part of a generation that were there and young at the time, the film evokes just that starting point.
The story of the romantic process of consciousness of Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna of the situation of Latin America, ruled by injustice and exploration by the great nations, through a road trip with his best friend Alberto Granado, is spectacular.
Rarely does a film convey such great thematic depth as in "The Motorcycle Diaries", a true-life story about two twenty-something, idealistic guys from Buenos Aires who, in 1952, embark on a 5,000 mile trip through five South American countries, "to explore a continent (they) had only known in books".Alberto (Rodrigo De la Serna), a biochemist, is jovial, rascally, fudges the truth a bit, and talks too much.
From every point of view this movie is very good: actors are great, location are *wonderful* (I want to go to Cile!!!:)) and the shots ("riprese" in italian) are very original and help to completely involve yourself in that spectacular world.
Others are more evident: the river-crossing scene is absolutely unforgivable (and this whether Guevara really swam through the river or not), the political and social aspects of the film are downplayed and, when they are played at all, they are with a naiveté that borders with a populist "good feeling" (what the Italians used to call, some ten years ago, "il buonismo.") Gael Garcia Bernal is a solid actor, and this film confirms it, but we are far away from the performance in "El crime del Padre Amaro." One can even glimpse the early symptoms of Tarantinism (a disease that I named after Quentin Tarantino: a great director who is, however, so busy being Quentin Tarantino that his life seems not to have much space for anything else.)But, as I said, all in all, the story is good, the film keeps moving, the South American landscape is beautiful, the Argentinian accent is deliciously musical.
Whatever your preconceptions about Che Guevara going into it, this movie portrays him as a young man who, in the event of leaving his home town indefinitely for the first time, develops a strong social conscience.
Whether it stayed that way the more power he found himself wielding is highly debatable and ultimately a moot point for the journey of discovery in which the film immerses us.The movie is not so much about the completed ideals that so many who have studied history will be familiar with, but rather studies the process of how travelling away from one's natural environment can shape those thoughts and influence the choices it will cause them to put into action for the future.
The story is not only about a journey through Latin America, but mostly about a spiritual journey, about how Che Guevara found his place in the world, and how he realized how important he could be in many ways to many people.
Before he christened himself as "Che," Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael Garcia Bernal) was a middle-class, asthmatic medical student from Buenos Aires who, in 1952 with his biochemist friend, Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) set off on a journey across South America on a dilapidated motorcycle.
If only they had done the same for Che. While watching Diarios de Motocicleta I couldn't help but think about another Spanish-language coming-of-age film starring Gael Garcia about two friends who embark on a journey that will change their lives; I would recommend to anyone to rent Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien instead of sitting through two hours of "white liberal self-affirmation." I'm certain Che would disapprove of the idea of paying to see a film about him, anyway..
In 1952, 23 year old medical student Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael García Bernal) later known as Che Guevara decides to spend 4 months to ride around South America with 29 year old biochemist friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) on an old beat-up motorcycle.
After seeing Gael Garcia Bernal in "Y Tu Mama Tambien", I was excited about the possibilities here - a road-movie portrait of the early, influential life of Che Guevara with Bernal inhabiting this role.Yikes!
Being a student of Hispanic culture, I have acquired a great deal of knowledge of South America, and this film sums up all the worst (and most interesting) atrocities that come to pass in this seemingly forgotten corner of the globe.Ernesto Guevara's compassion is well portrayed throughout the film, and shows the side of him that is a huge contrast to his stereotypical image; the evil communist that was ruthless in his guerrilla warfare.
He helped inspire terrorists throughout Latin America who killed thousands but effected no improvement in the lives of the people there.By presenting him sympathetically, this movie whitewashes Che's real history.
Diarios de motocicleta is a road movie in which the Young Che Guevara discovers south America "with is own eyes"...
Characters are vividly and naturally portrayed by the two protagonists, Gael García Bernal (Ernesto 'Che' Guevara De La Serna) and Rodrigo De La Serna (Alberto Granado).
it was an amazing experience.Here, the story of Che Gueverra's and his best friend Alberto Granado's trip through beautiful South America.
Gael Garcia Bernal shows that he is one of the best actors of our generation giving a beautiful performance of what could have been the journey that change forever the life of an icon of the size of Ernesto Che Guevara.
Also he is surrounded by the best team, from wonderful actors like Rodrigo de la Serna to the enormous team of crew that made this movie one of the most beautiful and well done movies of this last decade in Latin America, also I have to thank the director and the writers the ones that really made a gorgeous work by showing the world all the beauty, poverty, strenght and traditions of these culture and reminding us the great potential that our countries have and that is really underestimate by all of us, you did a great job 5 / 5.
The emotionally touching parts of the story (i.e. when Che is enlightened little by little and realizes the terrible living conditions of the poor and lower class peoples of latin America) had even more impact on me when I watched the film than they had when I read the book.
As a movie, I think it does a very good job of narrating the story of socialawakenings...1952 is a year of awakening not only for Che and his friendAlberto, but also a moment of awakening for Latin America as a continent.
This film about the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his buddy Alberto Granado may inspire people to commit to do something that matters at some point in their lives.
Walter Salles' (Central Station, co-produced City of God) new film tells the story of the young Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's voyage around South America with his friend Alberto 'Mial' Granado, and the discoveries and personal journey made during the 12000km+ trip.
The movies about Che Guevara on a road trip with his friend and the lousy, but important, motorcycle, who takes them around South America.Not the best movie I've seen.
I actually thought it was kinda boring at times, and even though I like the revolutionary Che Guevara, this still wasn't my movie.But, it contained some lines who were hilarious and some fun scenes, and the film had overall a nice tone, but never the less, it didn't give me as much as I expected it too.
"The Motorcycle Diaries" tells an earlier story, before Cuba's revolution or the changing world of the 1960s in which Che played a role.In January, 1952, Argentinian medical student Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his friend, biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna, Che's real life second cousin), decided to go on a motorcycle trip across South America.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a film that tells the story of a young Che Guevara and his friend, Alberto, when they decided to womanise and bluff their way across South America on an old motorcycle.
Years before the actions that would make him famous and ultimately lead to his death, doctor-in-training Ernesto Guevara de la Serna set off on a motorcycle trip to cover the length of South America taking in all the countries and volunteering in several medical clinics with his close friend Alberto Granado.
The film is well shot, well acted and the story is easy to understand and you really sympathize with Che and Alberto's plight: Trying to unite south america under Marxist rule for the greater good.
RELEASED IN 2004 and directed by Walter Salles, "The Motorcycle Diaries" chronicles events in 1952 South America when 23 year-old medical student Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara (Gael García Bernal) and 29 year-old Alberto "Mial" Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) embark on an 8000 km trek across the continent from Argentina thru Chile, Peru and finishing in Venezuela.
This is much more than the standard road movie you may mistake it for.Despite the money issues, job worries and political unrest of the era, it is a picture-perfect-postcard showcase of Latin America in the 1950s.It is also a fascinating portrait of a middle class, idealistic young-man, at the beginning of his journey from adolescence to revolutionary.In short, this is a film that truly inspires.Divorced Dads Cinema Club Rating 90% – Important, quietly brilliant and essential viewing.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a "road movie" about the journey of a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto though South America.
This film is both funny at times,..and also quite sad and makes you reflect on what Che was thinking about when he travelled the diverse land of South America. |
tt1853728 | Django Unchained | In 1858, Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, is chained to a bunch of other slaves and being marched to his new owner's estate in Texas by the Speck brothers. At nightfall, a German man in a dentist cart pulls up and hails the Speck brothers. He introduces himself as Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).Schultz is clearly more intelligent and enlightened than the Specks. He says he is looking for a slave who can identify a band of wanted fugitives known as the Brittle brothers. Django announces that he knows the Brittle brothers and can identify them. Schultz offers to buy Django, but his polite and educated manner rubs the ill-mannered Specks the wrong way, and Ace Speck threatens to shoot him with his shotgun. In response, Schultz lowers his lantern, whips out a revolver, and shoots Ace, then Dicky's horse, causing Dicky to fall off his horse. The horse carcass then lands on and crushes Dicky's leg, leaving him screaming in pain. Crippled, he agrees to sell Django, and Schultz pays the man (for both Django, and the dead Speck's horse), gets an official title to Django, and prepares to ride off.Before Schultz leaves, however, he frees the remaining slaves (clearly, Schultz finds slavery abhorrent) and says that they may either carry the remaining Speck brother back to town, or shoot him and flee. As Django and Schultz ride off, we hear Speck pleading for his life. We hear a gunshot and can see blood splatter as Dicky's brains are blown out.Django and Schultz arrive in the small town of Daughtrey near El Paso. As they travel through the streets, townspeople stop to stare in disbelief at the sight of a nigger on a horse, much to Schultz's confusion. As Schultz ties his cart down at a hitching post, he checks some papers to make sure he's in the right place. The two then walk into a saloon despite the fact that Django is forbidden from doing so because he is black due to the South's segregation laws. When Schultz insists on being served, the barkeep runs out of the saloon, Schultz calling after him to specifically bring the sheriff, not the town marshal.While they wait, Schultz pours beers for himself and Django and leaves money on the bar. He explains that he is no longer a dentist, but a bounty hunter in search of the Brittle brothers who are wanted dead or alive. He admits that although he knows the general location of the brothers, near Gatlinburg, they have adopted aliases, and he needs somebody who can identify them. Schultz tells Django that if he helps him bring in the Brittle brothers, Schultz will give him his freedom, pay him a $75 share of the reward, and let him keep his horse. Django immediately agrees, when, as if on cue, Schultz sees the sheriff coming down the sidewalk.The sheriff enters the saloon, shotgun in hand, and tells Schultz and Django to leave. The two comply, and exit out the swinging doors. We see that a number of townspeople are watching the spectacle unfolding as the sheriff asks them why they are coming into his town and showing themselves with the sole purpose of causing trouble. Schultz is silent, then steps forward. A spring-mounted Derringer pops up in his right hand, and he shoots the sheriff in the stomach. The townspeople are stunned as the sheriff stumbles to the ground, moaning in pain from the bullet wound. Schultz walks around the wounded sheriff, aims his Derringer, and shoots him in the head, killing him. The townspeople immediately run for their lives. Schultz looks up and tells the bartender that now is the time to fetch the marshal. The bartender runs off while Schultz and Django go back into the saloon to wait.The town marshal and most of the town arrive and train rifles on the front door of the saloon. Schultz hears that he has 100 rifles aimed at his head, and gets the marshal to agree to not have him shot dead like a dog in the street when he comes out. Schultz then exits, hands raised over his head, and a paper in his hand. He announces to the marshal and to the assembled townsfolk what has really happened: that the dead man the people of Daughtrey saw fit to elect as their sheriff, who went by the name of 'Bill Sharpe', is a wanted cattle rustler named Willard Peck, with a $200 bounty on his head. Schultz suggests that the marshal pay him the $200 fee.Later, while camping, Django admits to Schultz that what he wants to do once he is liberated is buy freedom for his wife, a slave girl named Broomhilda von Shaft (Kerry Washington) who had been a servant of a German mistress before being sold into slavery in the U.S. Their owner Carrucan (Bruce Dern) was cruel and disapproved of their marriage, so the pair attempted escape. They were caught by the Brittle brothers, who tortured and branded them both with the mark of a runaway, a small "R" on their right cheeks. Carrucan then directed the Brittle brothers to sell the pair to separate owners, and to take the lowest price for Django.Django and Schultz eventually develop a plan to infiltrate an estate near Gatlinburg where they suspect that the Brittle brothers reside and for Django to identify them. Django is to play-act as a freed slave who has been hired as Schultz's valet. They arrive at the plantation owned by Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett (Don Johnson). Schultz states he is looking to buy one of Bennett's slave girls for an exorbitant price. As he and Bennett talk business, Django is given free range to look around the estate.Django asks Betina, his escort, if she knows of the Brittles. Betina admits that she doesn't know them, leading Django to suspect that the Brittles are using an alias name. At this, Betina reveals that three overseer brothers known as the Schaeffers did arrive in the past year. She points out the first one in the field. Django looks through his telescope and sees that it is Ellis. Seeing Ellis causes Django to have a lengthy flashback over running away with Broomhilda and pleading with Big John to spare Broomhilda from the whip, unsuccessfully. The flashback ends with Big John saying, "I like the way you beg, boy."Snapping out of his flashback, Django learns that Big John and Little Raj are on a different part of the plantation, about to whip a young slave girl for breaking eggs. The two have tied her to a tree by the arms and Big John is about to use the whip on her when Django appears and shouts Big John's name. Big John turns, stunned to see Django, who suddenly produces a Derringer similar to Schultz's and shoots him through a Bible page glued to his shirt. He looks down at his bullet wound, stunned, as Django tells him, "I like the way you die, boy," and Big John pitches forward, dead. Little Raj attempts to grab his revolver, but Django grabs Big John's whip and uses it to beat him unconscious. He then takes the gun and unloads it into Little Raj, just as Schultz comes racing in. Django tells Schultz that Ellis is already galloping away across the cotton field. Schultz tracks Ellis through his sniper rifle, and once Django says he is sure he is right, Schultz fires. Blood sprays the cotton flowers as Ellis falls off his horse, a bullet in his chest. Though Bennett is incensed when he arrives, he is forced to let them go once Schultz explains they are legally authorized to kill and collect these men.That night, out for revenge, Bennett calls out all the fellow white men of the plantation to kill Django and Schultz, spotting their dentist's cart camped outside of town. The men make their charge over the hill in KKK style masks, and surround the small campsite. The scene then changes to earlier, when Bennett is giving instructions to the other Klansmen to not shoot Django or Schultz unless they are shot at. He puts his bag hood on, and a funny scene ensues as Bennett finds he is unable to see through the eye holes in his mask. Everyone else starts to bicker about how badly made their masks are, which ends with Willard, whose wife Jenny spent all afternoon making masks for them, giving up and riding away, furious. Eventually, the Klansmen get their act together.As they surround the cart, one of the men spots what he thinks is Django and Schultz hiding under the cart. He peeks under, only to find that the 'bodies' are actually bedrolls. Bennett wonders where the two bounty hunters actually are. In response, the scene cuts to Django and Schultz hiding in a tree a short distance away, Schultz carrying a rifle. Schultz says, "auf wiedersehen," and fires at the cart, setting off a bundle of dynamite hidden in the tooth on the roof of his cart. It blows up and kills most of the Klansmen. Bennett manages to survive the detonation and begins riding away. Schultz sees this and hands the rifle over to Django, letting him do the honors. Django tracks, and then fires, hitting Bennett and shooting him off his horse. Schultz realizes that Django is a formidable natural sharpshooter.King asks what Django will do now that he is officially free, and Django says he will locate his wife (believed to be in Mississippi) and try to purchase her freedom. King, who has bonded with Django and is impressed by both his intelligence and marksmanship, proposes to help Django rescue his wife if Django will work with him over the winter in collecting bounties. King is also impressed with Broomhilda's name (and her ability to speak German), telling Django the German legend of Siegfried and Brunhilde. In the legend, the beautiful Brunhilde is captured and imprisoned in a tower on a mountainside that is guarded by a dragon and surrounded by hellfire. Her lover, Siegfried, rescues her, facing the mountain and dragon simply because he is brave, but also overcoming the hellfire out of his love for Brunhilde. Django is quite taken with the tale.Django agrees to King's proposal, finding him to be a deeply honorable man in spite of his line of work. King trains Django to not only be an expert with a gun, but also how to read and present himself in public. On one mission, Django and King perch themselves on a hill overlooking a small farm where Django hesitates to kill a man who is now peacefully working on the farm and has a son. King explains that before the man owned this farm and started a family, he murdered several people while robbing stagecoaches, and that he has a $7,000 bounty on his head. King explains that it is this own man's actions in a dirty world that has brought the bounty hunters to his door. Hearing this, Django shoots and kills the man in front of his son. King tells him to keep the wanted poster, as a bounty hunter's first successful poster is good luck. Throughout the winter, Django imagines he and Broomhilda free and happy.Jumping forward to March 1859, once winter passes, the two head back to the South in search of Broomhilda. King discovers that she was sold to a man named Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the owner of a plantation known as 'Candie Land'. Candie is famous for breeding "mandingos"--slaves who are bred to fight each other to the death (bare-knuckle) for their owner's amusement (and for betting purposes). King says that he will pose as a wealthy European who seeks to purchase one of Candie's mandingos to take to fight in Europe, and that Django is his business partner and talent evaluator.That evening, Django and King arrive at a Candie's Cleopatra Club and they meet Candie's lawyer, Leonide Moguy (Dennis Christopher), who explains that Candie is obsessed with French culture (although Candie, unlike the actually cultured King, does not speak French). The two are brought upstairs where they watch a mandingo fight, which is very brutal and fatal for the loser, who gets his eyes gouged out by the winner. As Candie congratulates his winning mandingo, the owner of the dead mandingo, an Italian businessman named Amerigo Vessepi (Franco Nero, the star of the original 'Django' in a suprise cameo) frets over the loss of his fighter and retires to the nearby bar for a drink. Django introduces himself to Vessepi before he walks out (a clear homage and wink-to-the-audience of the two Django actors in the same scene in the only time in this movie). It turns out that Candie is boorish and clearly arrogant and ignorant despite his wealth and high upbringing. Django is incredibly offensive to Candie and his guests, talking back to all the white men. Candie finds Django's rude and defensive behavior amusing and King to be charming. King and Django state that they are willing to pay an exorbitant amount ($12,000) for one of Candie's better mandingos and they arrange to return with him to his estate.The next morning, the group travels in a convoy to the Candieland ranch. Django continues to act defiantly, insulting both slave and white man alike, and displays his intelligence. When King asks Django why he is so belligerent, Django says he is playing his role in this dirty world. Candie states that he believes one in 10,000 black men are exceptional, and believes Django to be one of those rare few.At one point on the travel into Candyland, they see one of Candie's slaves chased up a tree by some of Candie's white trash work-men and their vicious hounds. It turns out the slave, D'Artagnan (named by Candie after the hero from The Three Musketeers, a book written by Frenchman Alexandre Dumas, whom Candie admires), is a mandingo who was caught running away. Candie convinces D'Artagnan to come down from the tree where D'Artagnan pleads he can't handle any other fights despite having won three in a row. Candie states that his slaves can't retire from fighting until they have won at least five matches in order for him to recoup his $500 investment in them, and that D'Artagnan must be killed. Schultz suddenly offers to pay Candie $500 to spare D'Artagnan's life, but Django, realizing such odd behavior would blow their cover, loudly declares that D'Artagnan isn't worth a single penny. Schultz, coming to his senses, agrees not to pay for D'Artagnan, and Candie has the slave ripped to pieces by the hounds as they all look on. Django glares at Candie, but imagines himself reunited with Broomhilda to keep his anger suppressed.A little later, they all arrive at Candie Land and meet Candie's widowed older sister Lara Lee (Laura Cayouette) and his loyal house-slave and foreman trustee Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson). It is clear that Stephen is appalled that Django is free and riding on a horse into the estate along with his master and other white men. Django also takes an instant dislike to Stephen.Stephen informs Candie that, while he was gone, Broomhilda also attempted to escape and is now locked in the Hot Box, a metal pit in Candie's field. Schultz says he wants to meet Broomhilda, saying he heard legend of her German-speaking abilities. Candie, wanting to please his guest, orders Broomhilda to be cleaned up and sent to Schultz's room. Once there, Schultz explains to Broomhilda (in German) that he and his "friend" are here to rescue her. He then signals Django to come into his room, and Broomhilda faints with happiness upon seeing her husband. Schultz, impressed with Broomhilda's intelligence, begins the next phase of his plan.That evening at dinner, Broomhilda serves Candie and his many guests - including Schultz and Django. Lara notes that Broomhilda seems to be attracted to Django. This piques Stephen's curiosity (we see that Stephen is clearly invested in Candie's success, and forces the other slaves to call him "Sir," or "Mister Stephen" as though he were their master) and he begins to interrogate Broomhilda in a back room. Broomhilda denies knowing Django, but Stephen knows that she is lying because she bears the same small 'r' brand (for "runaway") on the right side of her face as Django does.Meanwhile, Schultz, despite Django's "objections," offers to buy Candie's third-best mandingo for $12,000. They agree that Schultz will return to the estate in five days with a lawyer to complete the transaction. Candie, clearly thrilled at this windfall, is then asked by King whether he can also purchase Broomhilda and take immediate possession of her (King claims he is interested in her ability to speak German, though Candie is convinced Schultz is simply sexually attracted to her).Before Candie can accept the deal, Stephen interrupts and asks to speak to his master in another room. Once there, Stephen (who is drinking brandy) tells Candie that he is convinced that Django and Broomhilda know each other and that Schultz and Django intend to buy her, leave the property, and never return for the mandingo. Candie is incensed and returns to the dining room with a small bag containing the skull of an old slave of his plantation, Ben. He then explains that he collects the skulls of his dead slaves and, invoking the pseudoscience of phrenology, has determined that the reason they don't rise up and kill their masters, despite easily outnumbering the whites, is that their brains are predisposed to subservience whereas white brains are built for dominance and ingenuity. Candie then reveals he knows that they want Broomhilda, and unless they immediately pay him $12,000 for her, he will kill her and examine her skull in front of them. King immediately agrees to these terms, and Candie tells Django that he is not exceptional after all.Schultz pays the $12,000 and Candie has his lawyer, Leonide Moguy, begin drawing up the papers transferring ownership of Broomhilda to King. Candie gloats about his victory and intelligence, and Schultz begins to think of D'Artagnan's brutal death. The papers are signed, but before they leave, King insults Candie's intelligence, noting how especially stupid Candie is, since he names his slaves after characters in novels written by Dumas even though Dumas was a black man.Candie, seeking to humiliate Schultz and recognizing that Schultz finds him to be a disgusting human being, says he will not allow the travelers to leave with Broomhilda unless King shakes his hand, a Mississippi & Southern tradition. This is more than Schultz can take. As he stretches out his hand to shake Candie's hand, the spring-loaded pistol he used on the sheriff of Daughtrey pops into his right hand and fires through the flower on Candie's lapel. Candie looks down at the bullet wound, clutches his chest, staggers backwards and falls over, dead. Stephen screams, "No!" and rushes to Candie's side. Butch Pooch, Candie's bodyguard, turns around. Schultz apologizes to Django for being unable to resist temptation, and then Pooch fires his shotgun. The bullet hits Schultz with enough force to throw him back into a bookcase, dead.Just as Schultz's body hits the ground, all hell breaks loose as Django grabs the distracted Pooch's revolver and shoots him. Moguy tries to run, screaming for help, but is shot multiple times as he tries to enter the foyer. Django then is thrown back into the foyer, and a shootout ensues as he trades fire with numerous white ranchers. Blood flies everywhere and bodies fall left, right and center. Despite taking several losses, several reinforcements of white ranchers arrive, armed with repeating rifles, where they use ladders to scale the second floor of the house to gain access and take position atop the second floor balcony where they open massive return fire against the lone Django who is forced to take cover under some furniture. The shootout ends when Django runs out of ammo, while Stephen and Billy Crash capture Broomhilda and threaten to kill her unless Django surrenders. Feeling that he has no other choice, Django does surrender and he is brutally beaten by Candie's crew.When Django awakens several hours later, he is naked and tied upside down in a shack. Billy Crash is preparing to castrate him with a red hot knife. Stephen enters and tells the man that the plans have changed, and Django is no longer slated for castration. After the man leaves, Stephen explains that Django would have died too quickly if he had been castrated. Stephen, wanting Django to suffer, has arranged to sell him to the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company as a slave, where Django will spend the rest of his days.En route to the mining company, Django is able to get the attention of one of the transporters (a group of Australians, including a cameo by director Quentin Tarantino). He tells them that he is a bounty hunter, not a slave, and that he was tracking a man worth $7,000 before he was captured. He promises that if they free and arm him, he will give them the lion's share of the reward. They find the bounty notice (from Django's first kill) on his person and also question the other slaves, who admit that Django is a bounty hunter and rode in to Candie Land with a white man on a horse. The transporters unwisely free Django, give him a pistol and he immediately kills them all and frees the other slaves bound for the mine. He takes a horse, guns, and dynamite and heads back to Candie Land.Django first stops and massacres the men (trackers) who had hunted down the escaped D'Artagnan with their hounds, killing them all in D'Artagnan's name (the masked female tracker is played by Zoe Bell, and another tracker is played by Tom Savini). He then finds King's dead body in a stable with the freedom papers for Broomhilda still on him. After he takes the papers, Django swears that his next act of vengeance will be in honor of King.Django sneaks back onto the estate and finds and frees Broomhilda. He has her wait outside Candie Land while he engages in further preparations. That evening, Candie's family and friends return from Candie's funeral, Django is there waiting and shoots them all, even Lara; despite that she is unarmed, one can conclude that because she suggested (with the help of Stephen) that Django be sent to the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company, so Django eliminated her. He then shoots Stephen in the kneecaps, stating that, in the 9,999 slaves Stephen has likely betrayed while working for Candie, he has never met one like Django. Stephen defiantly cries out that Django will be hunted down and killed by bounty hunters for his crimes, and that the South will never die. Django lights a fuse, and walks out on Stephen. The explosion utterly destroys Candie's mansion.Django meets his wife, who waits for him with two horses outside the estate. The two are finally reunited, and ride off into the night to face whatever destiny awaits them. Django is destined to become a legend, just as Siegfried before him did.After the end credits, we cut to the slaves Django freed from the mining company transporters. They remain seated where Django left them, still in awe of what they witnessed. Then, one asks what the name of that black man was (suggesting Django may not yet become a legend). | suspenseful, murder, western, dramatic, sadist, violence, storytelling, flashback, historical fiction, humor, action, romantic, revenge, entertaining, blaxploitation | train | imdb | null |
tt0082910 | Piranha Part Two: The Spawning | Off the coast of a Caribbean island, a young couple flee the hotel in the middle of the night to have sex in the sea. But they swim into a sunken wreck which is also a piranha lair and they are both killed and eaten by the unseen piranha.The next day, a group of tourists, including Tyler Sherman (Steve Marachuk), are taking the diving courses provided by Anne Kimbrough (Tricia O'Neil), an employee of the Hotel Elysium. One of her divers swims into the wreck, which she has strictly forbidden to her divers. Leaving Tyler to take over and lead the others to the surface, she discovers almost immediately that her 'missing' student has swam into the wreck and been killed there when his badly chewed up body is found.Anne's estranged husband, Steve (Lance Henriksen), a police officer, refuses to listen to Anne about her wanting to have a look at the body, because she needs to know what happened. The death does not seem to match the attack pattern by any of the marine life in this area, which she knows better than anyone. For her not to know what killed a diver is a dangerous sign. Steve intercepts Aaron (Aston S. Young), a dynamite fisherman, and his son, and threatens to confiscate their boat, but as Aaron explains, Steve, Anne, and he, are old friends.Meanwhile, as the guests begin to flirt with each other (a middle-aged widow, named Bevelry, flirts with a younger man, named Leo, who is a dentist), a pair of women, named Jai and Loretta, arrive on a large sailboat. By their own admission, they are sea bandits. One sneaks into the kitchen to steal food, but is intercepted by Mal (Arnie Ross), a cook. She flirts with him, and he offers instead to make her a wonderful dinner. But as he goes to their boat with the meal, they take the meal and then undock, letting the boat drift. They try to convince him to jump, and he tries, and fails, so they mock him and sail off. That night, Jai and Loretta sail too far out, and are attacked by the piranha, who have developed the power to fly. Jai is attacked and her throat ripped out while Loretta falls into the water and gets eaten alive by the fish in the water.Worried about what's going on, Anne finds that she is being frequently bothered by Tyler Sherman, and so she takes him with her to the morgue to get a look at the body. It is revealed there that she became a marine biologist before she married Steve, and so she begins taking pictures. There, she finds that the body of the tourist has been eaten in many parts. A nurse comes in, kicks them out, and ends up quickly dead, for a piranha was hiding in the body and escaped in it. Armed with the power to fly, it kills the nurse by bitting her throat out and escapes out a window into the night.In her hurry, Anne left her credit card behind at the scene. Anne and Tyler have a one night stand back in her room. But the next morning, while he sleeps, she begins to study the pictures, and is horrified by what she discovers. Steve arrives, throwing the card at her, angry first that she went to the morgue in defiance of him, and secondly that she has man in her bed. She tries to warn him of what she's discovered, but he ignores her and thinks she's a murderess.Anne tries to tell Raoul (Ted Richert) the pompous hotel manager, that she's cancelling the dives because it isn't safe. Raoul at first pretends to be concerned, but swiftly fires her, thinking she is crazy. Attempting to capture one for further study, or at the very least take some pictures so she can prove what she's trying to tell Steve and the manager, she is intercepted by Tyler, who swiftly informs her that he is a biochemist and member of a team which has developed the ultimate weapon: a specimen of genetically modified piranha, with some other fish's genes intermixed, capable of flying. Earlier, and unfortunately, the team mistakenly deposited (or lost) a cylinder full of these fish when a cargo ship was sunk the water where the dead couple were found.Aaron provides the proof Anne needs to Steve, calling him and showing him, not merely some flying piranha he's recently caught, and never seen before, but also that they're a serious danger, because they're turning on each other. This is a sign that they're running out of food and will soon attack whatever they come near, including humans.At a meeting, Anne tries her best to reason with Raoul, to no avail. Steve surprises her, standing up for her and proving her case for her by throwing the body of a dead piranha onto the table. Steve tells her that she can't trust Tyler, because the army says he's crazy. She argued that Tyler's just been using her to get the message of the piranha out for him, to protect both himself and the residents of the hotel.Later that evening, a piranha attacks Gabby's son and kills him in his shack, leaving a bereft Gabby to vow revenge by killing the fish in the wreck they hide in. Anne tries to dissuade him, but it's too late. Having ignored Anne's advice, Raoul hosts a nighttime fish party to capture grunion, who come up to the beach to spawn at this time, making them easy prey for humans to capture and kill. Unfortunately for the residents, the piranha are also partially grunion and share the same instinct. During the fishing party promoted by the resort, the piranhas fly out of the water and attack the guests on the beach and at the hotel's courtyard pool. Anne leads those who survive into hotel, where they shut the doors and windows. Aaron tries to attack them, but they overwhelm and kill him as well.In the morning, the piranha withdraw, for Anne had discovered that they are not fond of daylight. Tyler and Anne decide to undertake Aaron's plan, and blow up the ship to destroy the predators. Meanwhile, the situation gets even tenser, for not merely can the piranha fly, but Anne and Steve's teenage son Chris (Ricky G. Paull) has been hired, against their wishes, by a local ship 'Captain', and his lovely daughter Allison (Leslie Graves). Chris and Allison sail away, and strand themselves on an island, leaving them vulnerable to piranha attacks that never actually happen. Getting lost at sea, they try to set sail again, heading straight toward the wreck.When Chris and Allison are stranded in a raft above the shipwreck, Annie and Tyler arrive in a motorboat and don scuba gear to dive down to the wreck to plant the timer charges that Aaron left behind. With only 10 mintues to get out of the wreck before the bomb explodes, Anne and Tyler are trapped in one of the sunken ships rooms by the murderous piranha who all return to the wreck. On the surface, Steve, piloting a police helicopter, ditches the chopper and swims to Anne and Tyler's motorboat where Chris and Allison are. With minutes left to spare before the bomb explodes, Steve powers up the boat and takes off. Down in the wreck, Tyler sacrafices himself to allow Anne to escape out of a porthole and to tie a survival rope around her waste allowing herselt to be pulled away by the motorboat on the surface. At the last second, Anne gets clear and the bomb detonates, destroying the sunken ship and the piranha with it. With all the murderous fish dead, Anne swims to the surface and is picked up by Steve and the two kids in their boat. | horror, violence, mystery | train | imdb | After the opening scene which is similar to the one in Jaws 2, (except here the two divers are lovers trying for some underwater coupling), the film introduces a variety of characters, most of which are surprisingly endearing in a 'B' movie kind of way; particularly two topless good-time girls who get provisions from a stuttering chef with the promise of a threesome.Lance Henriksen, who continued a lucrative association with Cameron, plays the police chief, who is a hybrid of Brody from 'Jaws' and Colonel Kilgore from 'Apocalypse Now'.
The flying piranha attack like vampire bats, going for the throats of their luckless victims; whilst they also have Alien-like trends, one bursting out of a dead body to attack a nurse.As can be gathered, I found this film great fun - most production values are of a reasonable standard, particularly the underwater photography.
Cameron defends his first film opus as being, "without a doubt, the finest flying piranha movie ever made." I must agree with The King of the World on that one.This movie just goes to show that none of us should take early knocks in our careers too hard.
Yes, James Cameron made a film about killer flying fish.
Sitting down to watch this movie in 2011, I was quite surprised to see James Cameron was involved in this movie, and I was also surprised to find Lance Henriksen on the cast list.I have seen the first part of these movies and it wasn't too bad.
Not so with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, a sequel so undeniably bad even its director, one James Cameron, prefers not to mention it, despite the fact that it's the first film he ever directed.
Their lair is a sunken ship off the coast of a Caribbean island, and when a couple decide to go swimming nearby, the killing spree begins, with only a scuba diving instructor (Tricia O'Neil) a biochemist (Steve Marchuk) and the local sheriff (Lance Henriksen) willing to stop them.Retaining only the effective piranha sound effect from the first film, The Spawning goes off into its own direction and derails almost immediately.
One can attribute this to first-time director Cameron being kicked out of the cutting room and losing all kind of control over the project (which is why he generally considers The Terminator his directorial debut), but the truth is the project was flawed from the very beginning: taking the Corman-derived cheapness to the extreme, the movie is sunk by lackluster writing (at least the original had some kind of subtext beyond the mayhem), poor performances (even Henriksen looks completely lost) and, most disappointingly, scaled-down special effects, namely winged fish that look so fake they lose all their credibility after a few minutes.All in all, there are several inferior sequels, but few are as shockingly embarrassing as Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, which also "stands out" as a tragic footnote in the otherwise admirable filmography of a great director.3,5/10.
This sequel to 1978's Piranah was the initial stepping stone that put James Cameron on the map.Its hard to believe that the man who is known for Terminator 2, Aliens & Titanic started his career making a movie about flying man eating fish.Following the same format as the original with a stubborn businessman shrugging off the notion of killer piranah in his waters this time the film is an utter contemptible mess.Poorly made even Cameron and the always excellent Lance Henriksen couldn't save this embarrassment.The flying piranah simply cannot be taken seriously, from the ridiculous noises they make to the blatant plastic sfx.Piranah fans should skip to the 1995 remake or even Piranah 3D.The Good: Lance Henriksen The Bad: Awful sfx Horribly made Things I Learnt From This Movie: Underwater sex scenes look seven shades of awkward Every time Lance Henriksen smiles an angel gets its wings During a feeding frenzy flying piranah sound like pigeons.
The original film was released the same year as "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes!".This movie features piranhas that are actually genetic experiments that are able to fly.
I'm sure James Cameron did not have the freedom or control that he has had on films that followed and that this is not a reflection of his talents as a director.The premise of the film about flying Piranha at a Caribbean resort is just too ridiculous but it seems to take itself seriously rather than poking fun at itself.Cameron's "The Terminator" would only come a few years later putting him on the map and making this early film debut, a little noticed footnote in the Academy Award winning director' career..
I mean, to any person that participated in this film making, it's a negative point for their careers (and could actually flunk it if it's to be discovered that they had anything to do with it).The only use of Piranha the Spawning is to be used as a blackmail device for getting some money from the disgraced actors that appeared in this movie (pretty sure they had been the last 20 years trying to forget this miserable mistake in their lives)..
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.This is just classic Italian-American horror sequel-making at its finest.
No better or worse than the 1978 original, this barely related sequel was James Cameron's first movie (although he later stated that he was fired after two weeks, with Ovidio G.
He stated in an interview that in fact he was fired after a week, the producer shot and edited the rest of the film and Cameron couldn't get his name taken off the credits.The movie feels like an early sun-drenched porno flick with all the sex cut out.This certainly isn't the worst film I've ever seen and doesn't deserve it's reputation.
this movie marks James Cameron's feature length film debut,(he also wrote the screenplay)and i gotta say,it's not good.unlike the first movie,which did not take itself seriously,this one is played straight,and that is its major failing.it's just too ridiculous too be taken seriously.plus,i found it to be one ginormous snooze fest.i really had to force myself to stay awake,in the hope that the movie would improve.sadly,it was all in vain.there's almost zero tension in the film.maybe if they had at least tried to inject some comedic elements in to it,it would have been more bearable.i can't in good conscience recommend this one.however,i have seen worse than this.for me,Piranha Part Two: The Spawning is a 3/10.
If not good as the original but I do think better then remake sequel piranha DO When j first saw this sequel , I did like it at all compared to the first movie However over years this movie and grown on me a litte There are that I really enjoy and liked the bloody parts of the movie and didn't mind the flying fish.It dose take long for the movie getting going but the killing starts and I loved the part on beach Let's eat raw fish , that was great scene , silly but really fun to watch I know it was intended to be funny but it was still great fun to watch The acting was decent and fish effects ts were okay for the time5 out of 10.
Well, everybody's got to start somewhere, and in retrospect it's good to see that a piece of crap like Piranha Part Two couldn't ruin Cameron's career before it even began.The plot deals with a holiday resort that is being plagued by a school of genetically altered piranhas that can fly like birds and make a weird whirring sound while moving (even when underwater).
Investigating the wave of dead tourists are a local cop Steve (Lance Henriksen), his diving instructor ex-wife Anne (Tricia O'Neil) and her acquaintance Tyler (Steve Marachuk) – will they be able to defeat the killer fish before everyone in town gets eaten?What we get are all the clichés of low-budget horror cinema: exploitative nudity, crappy special effects and forgettable characters whose motivations and emotions have not been of interest to the writer.
piranha 2:the spawning is a sequel to piranha in name only,Italian made and directed by James Cameron who worked with roger corman on galaxy of terror(1981)this one has mutated flying fish/piranhas attacking beach goers, fishermen and just about anyone else.i saw the unrated version on cable TV years ago but it was under the title piranha 2:flying terrors.its pretty decent the cast is good.lance Hendrickson went on to do the terminater with Cameron.the scenes of the fish slashing into people are very bloody,i enjoyed piranha 2 almost as much as piranha.
its not James Cameron's best work but its a good start.if you like killer fish movies then reel this one in its a killer.7 out of 10..
The only really good things about these movies are: Lots of nudity, blood and guts, James Cameron, and a cool opening scene.
The scenes of flying piranha attacking a Caribbean resort freaked me out when I first saw the movie as a twelve or thirteen year old, but after several viewings I got hip and started looking for (and finding) the wires holding them up.
Unbelievably enough, A young James Cameron (yes, he of THE TERMINATOR, TITANIC, TRUE LIES, etc.) is credited with directing this film but as the story goes, he had very little to do with the editing or final cut of the movie.
here is a short story on impulse buying...by twmpyn_koala, aged 21 and a peanut...i had walked into a cult second-hand computer store in my home city...i was looking at the dvd section...before me stood a row of b-movies...i deliberated a thought; 'hmm, b-movies...always worth a quick look, usually full of black comedy undertones'...and so off my eyes went on their merry way to find me the most distinctive title from the row...they came across and stopped at this little beauty of a title; piranha 2: flying killers...it looked somewhat funny, i admit...so, i picked it up, went and brandished my money at the cashier and took it home...needless to say, i was a little undernourished at it as a whole...a bad story line, a cast far from their best, and one of the worst sex scenes ever...was it my worst purchase ever, i pondered?...well, i guess the chinese take away i was gonna buy in its place would have been more fulfilling, yes...however, it did provide me with a huge laughing fit at the thought of if i ever see titanic again, the images of piranha dicaprio and piranha winslet...at least its an honest comment to say that james cameron has completed a full circle in his career as a director of water-based film charades...peace, love and cookies (TradeMark).
The silly concept, camp performances, and iffy effects are precisely what makes this film such a blast, and the fact that it was directed by the man who eventually gave us Avatar is just the icing on the cake.I'm just glad that I'm one of those able to enjoy Piranha II for what it is—an unashamedly silly, tongue in cheek B-movie featuring some effective gore (courtesy of Gianetto De Rossi), quality T&A (in the form of MILF diving teacher Anne, a pair of sexy topless babes on a yacht, and busty jail-bait Allison) a cool soundtrack (love those opening credits), lots of flying fish suspended on wires or stuck on the end of poles, and quality underwater action from a director whose confidence working 'in the drink' would serve him well in years to come..
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsYes,this is where the now world famous director James Cameron started off.And to be honest,it's quite good.It's not up to a par with T2 but it's certainly way better than the over-hyped,overrated Titanic.Probably the worst thing about the film is the risible character development.Never will you care so less about the characters than you do here,with pretty bad acting all round,even from the usually reliable Lance Henriksen.However,it hardly drags at 92 minutes and the killer piranhas and the silly noises they make are as entertaining as they were in Joe Dante's original.***.
But this film is entertaining in some ways: there is a tongue firmly planted in cheek throughout the film, some decent acting from the likes of Steve Marachuk, Lance Henrikson, Ted Richert as a hotel manager, and Tricia O'Neil(also quite a good looking lady), some pretty girls dressed in nice bathing attire(or none at all), and some nice location shots.
As a fan of the original Roger Corman classic, Piranha i just had to check this one out.the names of Lance Henriksen and director James Cameron (terminator, Aliens, the abyss) attracted me to the title.
the film appears to have many flaws with acting, plot, direction and obviously budget, but if you enjoy a mind numbing, silly good time with cheesy effects, and a healthy amount of nudity you won't be disappointed with Piranha 2: the spawning..
The interviewer (justifiably) crapped on and on about all the great stuff Cameron has made over his career, focusing on T2 and Titanic before commencing to fawn about Avatar for the next 12 minutes, with Cameron contributing about 5 smug "you know it" comments without actually talking himself up for fear of any "King of the World" backlash.Then the interviewer did the but you know he wasn't always this successful bit, you know when the guy drags out a clip of the interviewee when he/she was a kid in a commercial or something.In Cameron's case it was a little different, him being a director and all, so the clip was a 20 second burst of Piranha 2: The Spawning, his first film from the 80′s, a low budget drive-in special.Cameron's response?
The finest flying piranha movie ever made.P2 – Judgement Day is set in Saint Anna in the Caribbean and focuses mostly on one family really, which is lucky so Cameron doesn't have to spend too much time introducing new characters.
The amusing sign of the times is that there is a noticeable lack of enhancement surgery if you know what I mean, which in this case wasn't a bad thing as the 44DD era has been going for so long that sometimes a change is as good as a holiday.About half way through though it seems that the movie studio got the dailies through and demanded some flying killer fish.
But although James Cameron did direct Piranha II and was given the credit most of the filming was done by the producer Ovidio G.
The whole concept of Flying Fish does sound silly but that's what I like about the film, instead of making it like the first film and just have the same Piranha's eating people they did something different and make the Piranha's fly, the acting is good especially from Lance Henriksen (Who would appear in later James Cameron movies like The Terminator and Aliens) Piranha II: The Spawning is a great sequel to Piranha and should be seen.
It is a crying shame that this movie is at the opposite end of James Cameron's directing career from Leonardo DieCrappo, I would pay good money to watch him run screaming from a flock of fish suspended on wires.
Wow, a pretty good start, we've already seen underwater sex, nudity, killer flying piranha that make a silly noise, and a couple of deaths and we're less than ten minutes into the film.
Any movie that starts with a couple taking off their scuba equipment to make love underwater inside sunken ship and then being devoured by a school of mutant flying piranha before a James Bond style graphics sequence is immediately going to rocket to the top of any to watch list there is.
And Tyler even has the good sense to get chewed up by the monster fish, allowing Steve to not look like a moron that wrecked his own helicopter for no reason and instead the hero that saved his soon to be not ex-wife.Here's yet another untrue fact: this film is the first movie directed by James Cameron.
I thought the first movie was pretty bad, but at least it ripped off Jaws, shamelessly and in a fun way and it had action and a general fast pace.But the sequel, being a James Cameron movie, I expected it to be better than the original.
She reminds me a little of Ripley in Aliens in looks and acting.Steve Marachuk is doing a decent job.But the feel of the movie is like watching some nasty 70'ies porn movie.And for James Cameron being the master of creature movies during the 80'ies: The Terminator and Aliens, the flying piranhas are embarrassingly badly done.Lots of gore.
In the third act when all of the hotel guests are attacked by the flying piranhas, it would have been a great chance for some action, but even here the movie disappoints.
This is namely, the future character of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver of Cameron's Aliens fame) in which the star of this feature, Anne Kimbrough, looked eerily like.While the movie's original's government-approved, fresh-water and mutated killer piranhas are mentioned in this film, this sequel is pretty much stand alone.
But as it turns out, Piranha II: the spawning didn't really live up to my expectations.It tries to act like a sequel, but there are no returning characters, except for the mean little fishies.In this movie, the piranha's are an even more dangerous menace because they can fly!
Okay, there are a few scary scenes, but again; they could have done a lot better.Oddly enough, this is a movie directed by James Cameron.
With the help of her estranged husband, Steve, they must figure a way to stop these evil flying piranha.Now one of the great things about this film I have to say is the first scene.
Award winning James Cameron makes his directorial debut with Piranha II - The Flying Killers. |
tt0366627 | The Jacket | The film opens with Adrien Brody as an active soldier in the Gulf War in 1991. His voiceover tells us he was 27 the first time he died. While on duty, a young boy ambushes him and he is shot in the head.We move forward a year and he is clearly a loner. We see him hitch-hiking along a snowy road. He encounters a broken-down pick up truck with a young mother (Kelly Lynch), clearly under of the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, and a young girl, about eight or ten years old.The mother is too strung out to know what's going on, stumbling around in the snow near the truck intermittently vomiting.The girl meanwhile, is happy to talk to Brody, who offers to try to fix the truck. The girl sees his army dog tags attached to his bag and asks what they are. He says they're dog tags with his name on them, so he won't get lost. The girl asks can she have them and he gives them to her.After tinkering around with the engine, he asks the girl to try the ignition and the truck starts. At this point, the mother comes to, and, in her stoned reverie, becomes enraged, deciding that Brody is some kind of pervert, despite the girls protestations that he fixed the truck. She bundles the girl into the car and they drive off.Brody continues to walk, and is later picked up by a man in a car some miles from the Canadian border.After a few minutes of driving, the car is pulled over by a policeman. We don't see what happens at this point in the narrative, but next thing we know, Brody is on trial for the murder of the cop, and cannot remember anything from the day in question apart from the mother and the young girl, who the authorities have been unable to trace.Brody is found guilty but insane and sent to an asylum run by Kris Kristofferson.Jennifer Jason Leigh also works in the asylum. We later see that she is attempting to offer occupational therapy for the disabled son of a friend, but her success is minimal. This takes place in her home, and is not information Brody is privy to.One night, Brody is pumped full of drugs by the staff, placed in a straight jacket and put in a mortuary drawer. Here, he experiences several, rapid-cut flash backs to his past, including the war and the incident with the policeman, but not enough to assist piecing together what happened.The next time they try to put him in the drawer, he feigns acquiescence to lull the staff into a false sense of his co-operation, but then assaults Kristofferson, striking him in the face and injuring his cheek.In his next session, he finds himself transported to outside a diner late on Christmas Eve. Keira Knightley leaves work in the diner, pulls up and offers him a lift, explaining that he won't get a cab on Christmas Eve standing there.She takes him home and it is apparent that she drinks heavily and lives an isolated life. While she takes a bath, Brody rummages around in the fridge and ends up making them some toasted sandwiches.Knightley tells Brody that her mother died some years before, having passed out with a cigarette in her hand and subsequently burned to death.Looking around her place, Brody discovers his dog tags and asks her how she got them. Knightley becomes concerned when Brody tries to explain that they are his. Up to this point, we have no idea what year we are in, but a cursory glance at some bank statements reveals that Brody is now in 2007.Unable to explain to himself how this has happened, but completely convinced that he has somehow shot forward in time and met the grown-up girl, Brody tries to explain to Knightley who he is.Attempting to convince her by giving details about the day he met her and her mother with the pick-up truck (information which, as he says, there's no way he could know by just looking at the dog tags), an incredulous Knightley is adamant that he can't be who he claims to be, as he died on January 1st, 1993 as a result of a head wound, although she has no further information on this.Already emotionally unstable, Knightley becomes hysterical and demands he leave.Brody does so, and wakes up, back in the drawer in 1992.Brody now needs to get into the drawer on a nightly basis, in order to piece together what's going to happen to him on January 1st, six days away.Returning to 2007, Knightley now believes him, and agrees to help him. Brody needs to find out what happened to him, so (in order to explain the uncanny similarity to his own self from fifteen years earlier) he poses as his own nephew, and visits Jennifer Jason Leigh with Knightley.During this visit, he learns of her use of electro-shock therapy on the boy she looked after, but they learn nothing of the circumstances in which he died.While at the hospital, Brody encounters a patient who had been an orderly there when he was undergoing the jacket/mortuary drawer treatment, and who is now suffering from dementia.Knightley and Brody have sex, but Knightley wakes up alone the next morning, Brody having been sucked back to 1992 by his removal from the drawer.During one of his episodes in the drawer, we see what happened the day the policeman was killed. Pulled over by the cop, the driver of the car shoots him. Brody gets out of the car, incredulous. As the cop slumps back in the snow, he fires a shot which strikes Brody by accident. The driver continues to fire at the cop, killing him. He then wipes his gun clean and throws it into the snow near the now unconscious Brody, before driving away. Brody is incriminated and sent to the asylum.On his next visit to the future, Brody confronts Kristofferson, now an old man, convinced that he knows what became of him on January 1st, 1993, but Kristofferson cannot help.Brody asks Knightley what her address was in 1992, i.e. when he met her as a child on the roadside, and she tells him. Driving away, Brody disappears from the back seat of Knightley's car and returns to 1992.Back in 1992, Brody manages to convince Jennifer Jason Leigh that he has seen the future by telling her that she told him she used electro-therapy on the young boy. She doesn't believe him, as she says that such practices would not be used on so young a patient, but he says that she will eventually come to realise that this is the only way to help the boy. Brody explains that the boy is effectively in a constant fit, and that Leigh just hasn't realised this yet.Due to her lack of success with the boy up to this point, she takes a chance on Brody's assertion as to the electro-therapy. She applies a very low-frequency, short burst to the boy, which has instant success.Now that she believes Brody, she agrees to his request to deliver a letter to Kelly Lynch. Leigh smuggles him out of the asylum to drive him out to Keira Knightley's childhood home (i.e. where she lived in 1992/1993).Arriving at the house, the girl recognises him from the day he fixed the truck. He asks to speak to her mother.Having already learned that Kelly Lynch will pass out one day with a cigarette in her hand, and burn to death from the resulting fire, Brody gives her a letter warning her of this.Returning to the asylum with Jennifer Jason Leigh that evening, Brody slips on ice and hits his head, causing his fatal head wound. Asylum staff place him into the drawer before he dies, allowing him to return to 2007.As he is standing outside the diner, Knightley pulls up in a VW Beetle and offers him a lift (we assume that she recognises him, although in the altered future he would not have explained to her how he is to be there, completely unaged 14 years from the last time they met (all the previous experiences never happened for Knightley after Brody handed her mother the letter)). As they are driving away, Knightley's mother calls her on the phone. In this altered future, having (we assume) been convinced by Brody to believe the contents of the letter, Lynch (presumably) has cleaned up her act, so that in the improved 2007, she is still alive and it is apparent that she has a strong relationship with her (no longer dysfunctional) daughter.Knightley asks Brody "how long do we have?", and they drive off together to the strains of "We Have All The Time In The World". | romantic, alternate history, murder | train | imdb | "The Jacket" has gotten some bad press because the plot has a lot of holes in it, but if you suspend belief and just enjoy the movie, it is a lot of fun.Any film that involves time travel requires that you suspend belief, and "The Jacket" is no different.
It's not quite such a headbanging puzzle as Mulholland Drive, and it doesn't have the cutesiness of Donnie Darko, but it is in the realm of dark, weird and ultimately rather moving experimental film.Brody is Mr quite nice guy Jack Starks, apparently shot dead at point blank range in the Gulf War - but hang on a minute, his eyelids blink before they pronounce him dead and he recovers - with amnesia but otherwise OK - then he gets committed to an asylum for the criminally insane fro a murder he didn't do, and we're talking 1990s when some pretty strange experimental psychotherapy went on behind closed doors.
The film features outstanding performances from just about everyone on screen, particularly Brody as the hapless and tortured Jack Starks, and Kristofferson as the morally ambiguous and equally tortured Dr. Becker.
Awesome movie with interesting plot and outstanding actors.Reading the plot description one could make the mistake and expect some rather low quality B "action" flick.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Out comes an outstanding movie which will capture you from the beginning to the end, guaranteed.Its not your typical action-flick or cheaply made horror movie by any means.Adrien Brody again proves he is probably one of the best actors we have currently, in my opinion he is just phenomenal.
Kira's performance was "ok", not much too say here (sexy as always of course) and Daniel Craig and Kris Kristofferson did a great job also.I watched the movie and it immediately became one of my favorites.Highly recommended!
She overacted her part to the point of absurdity, and spent half the movie trying to awkwardly seduce the cameraman with her ugly overbite, doing things like staring hatefully at the camera with her hair in her face and sucking on the lip of a glass trying to be "drunk" but succeeding only in seeming mildly retarded with her mouth hanging open and her eyes looking dull and glazed throughout the film.
Her acting was so dismal and annoying (though, to her credit, she did do a good job with the American accent) it completely destroys her ability in my opinion.I wont go into the plot here, as it is confusing and not interesting and not the least furthered by the acting "talent" in the film, which actually has a pretty promising cast.
Brody plays Jack Starks, a name said so often during the film that I didn't have to look it up again days later when preparing this review.
The Jacket jumps around in time so frequently that it takes you about half way through the film to understand what exactly is going on; and even then, I wasn't exactly sure how it all pieced together.
Whether you like The Jacket or not will depend on whether you are someone who can sit back and enjoy a film or whether you think you are smart enough and try to jump ahead to try and figure things out before the characters do.
For those of you who just can't see though the major holes in the story will not enjoy this movie, but leave frustrated.The film does have some things that make it worth watching if you're in the right mood.
The best acting is with the supporting characters, like Daniel Craig and Jennifer Jason Leigh.Generally, the movie seems to try and please everyone.
In 2007 Jackie, now in her twenties, tells Starks that he died on 1st January 1993, only a few days after he entered the mental hospital in December 1992, so cannot be who he says he is.The film is reminiscent of two great time-travel romances from the seventies and eighties, "Quest for Love" and "Somewhere in Time".
Like "Quest for Love" it also plays with the idea of alternate realities and of altering time; Starks makes a number of trips into the future, into differing versions of 2007.
Starks has to resolve the paradox of how he can be alive in a future in which he is already "dead" and to use his knowledge of the future to try to prevent not only his own death in 1993 but also that of Jackie's mother Jean who we learn died in a fire some time during the period between 1993 and 2007.The best thing about the film is the performance of Adrien Brody as Starks.
Brody does not have classic "film-star looks", but in both "The Pianist" and "The Jacket" he is able to turn his looks to his advantage, using his long, gaunt face to suggest a haunted man suffering both physically and mentally.
Kris Kristofferson is also good as the psychiatrist Dr Becker, a man who in his quest for scientific knowledge has lost sight of his humanity, although I was rather disappointed by Keira Knightley as Jackie; this is not one of her better films.I would not rate "The Jacket" as highly as either "Quest for Love" or "Somewhere in Time"; the theme is not handled as clearly and the plot tends to become excessively complex and ambiguous in the second half of the theme.
About an hour into the film, I just thought "so what - throw him in the jacket, shut the drawer, leave him there and run the credits so I can go home."The film also makes the huge mistake of relying on what we've seen before - the mental patient who won't cooperate with the asylum, the alcoholic loser played by Keira Knightley who turns her life around because of "love" and suddenly can find a computer and the internet to help "save her man", the misunderstood doctor who's means justifies the end, the side-kick mental patient who is whacky but has a good heart even though he tried to kill his wife, blah, blah, blah.Also, the film takes too many liberties with driving the story forward by forcing characters to act against their own frame of reasoning.
In the Q and A after the movie Marbury answers were bloated with his own self importance and his arrogance was palpable.Brody on the other hand gave intelligent,well thought out and truly thoughtful articulate answers to his Q and questions and he demonstarted why he is truly is a world class actor and human.I sensed that he knew that Marbury was way over the top and needed to step infor the Q and A and cool the hostility that Marbury was projecting.I also sensed a strong dislike for the director from all of the cast members including Keira Knightley and maybe this is why the movie did not connect in a convincing and personal way.Too bad the direction of this movie compromised Brody's world class ability to emote to the full extension of his psychological abilities.
The elements on which relies the scenario have all been used over and over again — and often better — in other productions: for example, some developments are a bit far-fetched, like the not so credible love story.It's a shame because the direction is good, as the rhythm, the intriguing atmosphere is coherent with the genre, but it's Adrien Brody's excellent performance, by the way an incredibly underrated actor, who illuminates the movie, as opposed to his partner Keira Knightley, always very linear..
His doctor uses unconventional means to cure his madness, injecting him with experimental drugs and placing him in the morgue's body drawer, which causes him to have visions of his own death, giving him four days to find out what is real if he wants to save his own life.The plot sounds intriguing but the execution wasn't very good.
That doesn't mean that The Jacket is a bad film, it's just an average one and its also a missed opportunity.Adrien Brody, unsurprisingly, gives a pretty good performance.
The movie does a nice job of capturing the hell that would be the combination of a straight jacket and morgue drawer; however, never quite makes the connection between the Brody's current situation and his future world.
But all ends up being a big waste of time when you realize that the movie doesn't make any sense and that the film makers didn't have a clue about how to make the plot "complete the circle".
The Jacket is a far greater movie than I anticipated, the storyline is fresh and works beautifully.Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley light up the screen, their acting as good as expected of them, they always deliver.The film is about a man who suffers head trauma due to a wound during the Gulf War. He is later accused of murder and sentenced to a mental hospital following an incident with a driver and a police officer.
Adrien Brody worked great and he actually did look terrified in some of the jacket scenes.
Adrien's acting was Oscar-worthy and I thought Keira's accent was perfect and her performance spot-on.This film has accessible characters knit with deep themes that are particularly resonant in this time of war.
Memento keeps attention to details at premium and jarring quick cuts at minimum to result in an intriguing treatise on memory's imperfection and our bondage to time.The Jacket needs its own straight jacket to keep it focused for the attention span of an audience that has to wait far too long to get directions to where Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) is going, into the past or the future or both and why.
It goes back and forth between Adrien Brody, one of the least inspiring actors of all time, sobbing and whispering sweet nothings to himself and blaring loud cut scenes to what he experiences while in "The Jacket." Think Requiem for a Dream drug use montage...
In spite of the plagiarized story, I liked this movie, mostly because of the excellent actor Adrien Brody and the gorgeous Keira Knightley, who has also a great performance and chemistry with the lead actor.
"This movie is very open to interpretation, and that's why I think people will love it." - Director's comment from DVD extras Right.For me, "The Jacket" is a very unsuccessful rendition of "Jacob's Ladder", with a big difference that the latter movie is brilliant and the former kinda sucky.If you haven't watched "Ladder" please stop reading this comment and go see it.
But to distance itself from "Ladder", "Jacket" doesn't make a lot of sense and is actually proud of that.While Jacob from "Ladder" saw demons and had disturbing hallucinations, Jack (Brody) time travels.
It certainly did to me, and it suggested that the plot could be complex, involved and very consuming...yet it kind of failed to deliver for me.Adrien Brody was quite good in the film, and his performance was at times very strong emotionally.
As the character tried to find the answers he was sidetracked by meaningless scenes, or his questioning just stopped when he could have and would have pressed harder to find out what someone know about his death rather than saying thank you and leaving.Some of these sidetracked story lines were good and made some sense, and one even goes on to be the ultimate message of the movie, yet he never really does seem concerned with saving himself when someone really in that situation would be.
First he played Jack the slippery con artist in LOVE THE HARD WAY, now he plays amnesiac Gulf War veteran/accused murderer/asylum inmate/time traveler Jack Starks in THE JACKET, and Brody just wrapped Peter Jackson's (another Jack, sorta :-) KING KONG remake, due for Christmas season release, in which he plays playwright-turned-unlikely-hero Jack Driscoll.
It's a shame, because while THE JACKET is flawed, even derivative -- it could have been titled TWELVE MONKEYS CLIMB JACOB'S LADDER SOMEWHERE IN TIME AND EXPERIENCE THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT -- it's nevertheless a compelling, emotionally-charged viewing experience, showcasing Brody in his best intelligent, angst-ridden, Young Pacino/DeNiro mode.
While there, he is put in a jacket and given a drug that seemingly sends him fifteen years into the future.Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley (at her hottest), Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Daniel Craig (who looks more like Tommy Lee Jones than James Bond)...
Should that be the case, our whole notion of existence and reality (as well as cause and effect in this case) must change - that is one of the basic ideas in the film.So, if you just watch the movie very carefully, you will see a very interesting, mind-challenging, well-produced story.
The Jacket is a film that on the surface is a great mystery thriller, but once you start looking into it more deeply you can see that it's a lot more complex and intelligent than it makes itself out to be.
It is a truly brilliant, mindbending film with so much layers in it's main character and it's overall narrative.Adrien Brody delivers a shatteringly real performance as Jack Starks that disturbed me to my core.
Who knows?"The Jacket" from 2005 is a very good film, however, which also stars Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, and Jennifer Jason-Leigh.
During the treatments, he remembers things from his past...and also is able to go into the future, where he learns something disturbing.Really good film, part thriller/part drama, based on a 1913 book by Jack London which actually had to do with the prison system.
This dark, gritty film from 2005, captures the essence of despair of a world Brody's character had already left.We first meet our star, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) in a military hospital during the Gulf War. The soldier was shot and believed to have died, when the stunned doctors realize he is alive and needs further medical attention right away.
The Jacket had me hopeful, but in the end left me just wanting a better story out of it.Fans of Adrien Brody's will surely enjoy the film and its message which I thought to be escape.
however if you don't analyse it too much it is an enjoyable movie, Adrian Broady is good if a little over the top, however it is in the supporting cast that the casting shines, the likes of Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kris Kristofferson are as always fantastic to watch and utterly believable, the most surprising thing of all though is Keira Knightly who although not fantastic gives a solid performance as the love interest/alcoholic mess up, she is captivating in her first intensely dramatic role and shows bright promise for the future.
Adrien Brody is absolutely fantastic for this role as Jack Starks; who, throughout the movie, discovers the truth about his past, and possibly others' future.
I had this on DVD fro some time and only watched it when i had nothing Else to watch but now i wished i watched it a lot sooner it is one of The best films i have ever saw and it ain't no remake or repeat like The same old boring films being made today this is a brilliant movie And everyone will enjoy it is and will always be a classic.the quickest way I can tell you about this film is that a guy gets put in a mental hospital and through his treatment he is able to visit the future and change certain things to a girl he meets before he was committed to witch he falls in love with the film is a thriller come sad come romance come everything you need for a really good film.
The Jacket has more than one little plot whole to sew up and a few loose buttons here and there but, at the same time, it is a fascinating, thrilling and spectacular story about the human mind and what it can sustain.Adrien Brody plays Jack Starks, a wounded solider who has amnesia.
The last time I did that was for "The Crow" with Brandon Lee.And I'm watching 3 movies a week the last 5 years.Adrien Brody is performing very good (outstanding) The movie is even very interesting in the beginning.
Than don't watch this movie.But if you want a good story about time and changing the future.
His existence in the mental institution is really bleak, but he finds that when he gets put in a straight-jacket and stuffed into a morgue-like drawer, he gets transported into the future where he's able to spend time with a beautiful young woman named Jackie (Keira Knightley).
The plot is simple and even random in some regards, but it all works and the movie plays like a work of art.The enjoyment that I got from the Jacket is definitely different from the way that I enjoy most films.
Regarding the performances, Adrien Brody does a fine job, in my opinion, he doesn't disappoint at all, however, Keira Knightley, I don't know why, I just don't like her acting style, this is the first time I see her doing an American accent and she does well here, but I sadly never can relate with her performance.
The question is, is The Jacket worth the interest of the film fan after a bit of time travelling weirdness?Well it has some problems, main one being that in spite of it gnawing away at the grey matter, the plot is simple and telegraphs the finale some way before it arrives: sadly tying things up too neatly after blurring our perceptions of Jack Stark's current state of mind.
The jacket is a very interesting and original film that kept me fun all the time,but it is not great thing.In the beginning it is a bit hard to understand the story,but at the ending you understand everything.The movie seemed very good at the beginning but after that,the movie is good but not so much as I thought.Adrien Brody makes a very good performance and the great Jennifer Jason Leigh has a very good performance.The only performance that did not convinced me at all was Keira Knightley's.The jacket is original,fun and interesting,but,like I said before,it is not great thing.Rating:7. |
tt0079082 | The Driller Killer | New York City. Reno Miller, a scruffy young artist, enters a small Catholic church in Spanish Harlem where he walks to the front where an elderly bearded man is kneeling and chanting "pity the sinners" over and over. Reno seems to recognize the man as his long-lost father, whom is now apparently a derelict. The old man unclasps a hand and grabs Reno's hand. Reno runs, grabs his girlfriend Carol, who accompanied him to the church, and leaves. They ride in a taxi towards downtown, and Reno calls the man a "degenerate" and a "bum". Evidently, the derelict had a piece of paper with Reno's name and phone number and requested a meeting at the church to talk to him. Reno, despite knowing that the derelict was his father, denies knowing him to Carol. Reno and Carol go to pick up Pamela, their other roommate, who is in a local bar watching a punk rock band perform.The next morning, Reno hears Pamela trying to drill a hole in the door, and he does it for her since Pamela is constantly spaced out being an ex-junkie. Reno, Carol, and Pamela all live together in a seedy apartment in the Union Square area of Manhattan and are struggling to get by. Reno complains about the bills for the utilities they get from the water, to the electricity, and to the telephone bill and of the long distance, hour-long, phone calls that Pamela and Carol made in the past month. In frustration, Reno throws the phone out a window.Later, Reno has a dream about the mysterious bearded man and about the power drill that he used earlier. Reno hates his neighborhood where homeless derelicts reside on the streets around his apartment building. Reno goes to see Dalton, a flamboyantly gay art gallery owner and tells him that he is currently working on a masterpiece painting (which is a giant painting of a buffalo against a multi-colored landscape). Reno says that he needs another week and asks for a loan of $500 to pay for his rent. But Dalton refuses, saying that he had lent enough money to Reno this past year from a variety of reasons from medical bills to urtilty bills, to Reno's artwork which includes paint and numerous canvases. But Dalton tells Reno that if he finishes the painting in one week and if he likes it, he will buy it and give Reno whatever money he needs to financially help him out.Strapped for money, since neither Reno or Pamela have bank accounts, Carol writes a check for $500 for the rent and gives it to the grumpy landlord Al, which she claims that it is her alimony check that her ex-husband gives her. The landlord takes the check, but tells Carol that they are still a month behind on the rent, and in a few days, on the 1st of the month, they will be two months behind and he wants the rest of the money soon.The following day, Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters, a punk rock band that Pamela hangs around, move into an apartment nearby Reno's and soon begin practicing their music. The loud music from the band drives Reno more unnerved and frustrated. That night, Reno, Carol, and Pamela watch TV since they have no money and cannot go out since Reno has to spend what little money he has on utilities, and Pamela apparently squanders what money she makes on drugs. During the commercials, they watch a TV advertisement for a Porto-Pack, a battery pack with allows a person to walk around with electrical appliances.At 2:00 AM in the morning, while trying to work on his painting, Reno becomes more agitated from the loud music that Tony and his band continue to play. He sees an image of himself saturated in blood, and goes outside into the dark streets for a walk. At the foot of a garbage-strewn alley, Reno sees an elderly derelict sleeping, and stands him up. It seems that Reno is going to accost the man, but he ducks into the alley with him when they see a group of teenage gang members chasing another bum in the street and run right past them. Reno drops the bum to the ground and walks off, vowing that he will not end up like him or his derelict father.The next day, Carol gets a letter from her ex-husband Stephen, who sends her a photo of them together as well as a $100 note, saying that he misses her and wants her to return to him. Meanwhile, Reno becomes more angry and agitated when Tony and his band continues to play their music day and night and complains to the landlord about the loud music. But the landlord refuses to do anything because Tony and his band doesn't bother him, (which implies that the band pays their rent and probably bribe money, whereas Reno doesn't). However, the landlord gives Reno a gift of a skinned rabbit for dinner to show that there are no hard feelings. Reno takes the carcass of the rabbit home to his apartment, and while preparing it for dinner, repeatedly stabs it with a knife (shades of 'Repulsion').The next day, Reno eyes the Porto-Pack sitting in the window at a small hardware store on sale for $19.95. After checking to see if he has enough money on him, which apparently he does, Reno goes inside the hardware store and purchases the Porto-Pack. Later that afternoon, a troubled Reno tries to sleep when the band finally stops playing loud music for a short while, but he hears voices calling out his name, and he sees an image of Carol with her eyes cut out. That night, Reno takes the Porto-Pack and goes out, with the drill attached to it. Reno sees another homeless bum sleeping inside an abandoned building, and he drills the bum in the chest, killing him.The following evening, Reno, Carol, and Pamela have tickets to see Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters at a local nightclub. At the club, Pamela hangs out with the band, while Reno and Carol talk about where they stand with their relationship and Carol tells him that her ex-husband has been writing to her asking her to come back to him. A little later, while Reno plays a pinball machine, Pamela asks Reno about the painting that he's working on and suggests that in attempt to get more money for the rent and bills, Reno have sexual relations with Dalton. Reno shrugs it off with slight disgust. The band finally gets to play, where Reno quickly becomes more agitated from the loud music and the crowd around him. Reno leaves the club unnoticed while Carol and Pamela dance and make out with each other.Driven to the edge, Reno returns to his apartment, grabs the drill with the battery pack, and goes out on a "drilling spree". All night long, Reno runs through the streets killing one homeless bum after another, first starting with a bum sleeping on the sidewalk, then another bum in a subway station, then a drinking derelict on the street. Reno passes a small bus stop where he sees a weird and spaced out bum hanging around and harassing two men waiting for a late-night bus. When the men board the passing bus, leaving the bum alone, Reno attacks the bum, drilling him in the back. Reno further attacks two more bums, drilling one and chasing the second down the street, and drilling him in the back. He ends his killing spree by approaching a derelict asleep in a pile of garbage bags, and drills the man in the forehead. Reno returns home for the night to sleep.Sometime later, Tony visits Reno at this apartment where the spaced out rock star comments on his paintings and asks Reno to paint a portrait of him. After Tony reluctantly agrees to pose for Reno's demand of $500 (rent money), he says that they need to start right away.The next morning, Carol reads the newspaper which has one article of a man killed with a power drill. Reno sees an image of his initial drill killing and his own bloody image, and he snatches the paper away from Carol and accuses of her trying to drive him crazy. Later, Pamela brings home a take-out pizza for dinner. As Carol and Pamela eat their plain cheese slices, they watch with slight disgust as Reno gobbles down slice after slice of pizza with green peppers on it like some famished animal. While scarfing down his fourth pizza slice, Reno tells Pamela to ask Carol if she wants some pizza with green peppers on it (even though Carol is sitting right beside him). Carol angrily throws a slice of pizza in Reno's face and leaves. Carol goes out to a nearby payphone and calls Stephen and tells him about wanting to leave Reno. Carol returns to the apartment to find a silly picture proclaiming "I'm sorry".Reno paints Tony has he poses, and at various times, plays his guitar and even makes out with Pamela who shows up. Nearby, a bum in a nearby alley, restless and indigent due to all the noise Tony made, is attacked by Reno who drills his hands to a wall in a crude crucifix pose and then kills him. Afterwards, Reno goes to work on his painting and after nearly all night of working, he approaches the sleeping Carol and Pamela in bed together and tells them that his painting is finally finished.The next day, Reno and Carol show the completed buffalo painting to Dalton. But Dalton declares the work of art "unacceptable", and leaves. Carol then yells at Reno for she is angry that he just sat in his chair with a blank expression on his face while Dalton yelled at him. The next morning, Reno awakes to an empty bed, and he chases Carol as she walks down the street with her suitcase, saying that she is finally leaving him and going back to her ex-husband. Reno tries to talk to her, and even grabs the suitcase away, but she keeps on walking. Pamela is devastated that her best friend and part-time lover has left, but Reno is beside himself with rage. He tries calling Carol and talks to her on the phone, but he is only talking to a dial tone.That evening, Reno, now completely demented, calls Dalton and invites him to come on over for he has something else to show to him, and Dalton (mistaking thinking that Reno is coming onto him) agrees to be there later with some wine. Dalton arrives at the apartment that evening, while Tony and his band are continuing to play their loud music, and Reno, dressed in all black clothing with his face pasty white and wearing blood-red lipstick, drills Dalton to death. A little later, Pamela returns to the apartment after hanging around Tony's band when she sees a bloody drill bit in the door and a dead Dalton hanging from it on the inside. Pamela backs away screaming, but Reno grabs her.Across town, Carol is back with Stephen at his apartment and while she goes to the bathroom to take a shower, Stephen prepares some tea. Reno sneaks into the apartment and drills Stephen in the back, and hides his body behind the counter. Carol, done showering, walks to the bedroom where Reno is lying under the bed covers. She turns out the lights, gets into bed, and tells "Stephen" to "come here..." | cruelty, grindhouse film, murder, cult, horror, violence | train | imdb | This is probably best looked at in the context of Ferrara's other work, rather than in the context of the rest of the British video nasties list, because it is actually a surprisingly good film.
Along with Uli Lommel's little seen 'Blank Generation' there are very few other films that successfully document the mid 70s NYC punk scene of The Ramones, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, The Cramps et al, and 'The Driller Killer' is worth viewing for this reason alone.Ferrara himself plays the lead character, tortured scumbag artist Reno.
When a punk band moves to his building playing day and night, Reno cannot sleep and drives insane, going to the streets with a driller, killing homeless derelicts.
When the art dealer calls his painting a mockery, and Carol returns to her husband, leaving him alone, Reno goes totally mad."The Driller Killer" is polemic, forbidden in England in the 80's, but it is a good low budget slash movie.
True, when the disgruntled artist Reno(played by first-time director Abel Ferrara) first goes on a rampage armed with a drill and 'porto-pak', the film does manage to touch a raw nerve, but soon it descends to laboriously-paced repetition and struggles to hold attention.Will be remembered as the debut feature of director Ferrara, who has since never been afraid to court controversy with films like Ms. 45 and Bad Lieutenant; and probably as one of the films that sparked off the 'Video Nasty' hysteria in the UK in the 1980's; but for little else.4/10.
Reno is an artist,who living with a bisexual girlfriend and his girlfriend's girlfriend in a squalid little New York apartment.When a punk rock band moves in nearby and begins annoying him until all hours he becomes mad.He buys a cordless drill and goes berserk with it starting on a killing spree that begins with the derelicts on the streets below him."The Driller Killer" is an ugly film often connected to "The Taxi Driver" with its depiction of urban alienation and corruption of the mind.The tone of the film is murky and constantly solemn and the story takes a lot of time to unfold.There is very little tension and even less bloody violence.Still if you are Abel Ferrara's fan give it a try..
The Driller Killer hasn't gained itself as much fame or notoriety as those two, but don't let that fool you; it is still a very good movie.The story follows an artist, who, through the pressures of his work and various things going on around him, is slowly driven insane.
Because of this, we can see that there is a reason for the brutality that is later shown in the film, and therefore this movie can take credit for having a story behind it's violence, and not just having brutality for the sake of it.The Driller Killer was originally banned as a "video nasty" because of the notoriety it gained for it's cover art, as opposed to it's content.
Of course, as the title suggests; this film features a drill being inserted into various places on the human anatomy; but unlike a lot of other movies of this ilk, the horror doesn't come as a result of the huge amounts of gore spurting from the wounds, but rather from the noise that the drill makes while being used, and the insanity of the main character.
This movie is about this guy in New York slowly going crazy and viewing all these things around him (his painting gets rejected, a punk band just moved in next door, etc...) and being disgusted by the filth.
Some of it is goofy (he drills a guy, and the guy then assumes the "I'm-being-crucified!" position, kind of making reference to a scene early in the movie when he looks at a cross), some of it doesn't even make sense (he drills through glass to kill a guy who is standing about 5 feet away from the glass to begin with), and I think the director was confused a lot and on drugs.
Abel Ferrera who directed this film also plays the main character Reno Miller who is a struggling artist with two female roommates (Carolyn Marz & Baybi Day).
New York Punk Art School Giallo - Dark and Beautiful Tale of Woe. Abel Ferrara is incredible, both as director and star of this no budget thrill kill masterpiece.
A deliciously grimy and dirty debut from Abel Ferrara ('Bad Lieutenant'), 'Driller Killer' follows an artist (played by Ferrara himself) whose frustrated attempts to make ends meet and find creative satisfaction against a backdrop of urban decay and the interminable punk-rock cacophony of a band in the apartment above him eventually get the better of him and lead him to emotional breakdown and maniacal, grisly homicide.The story of a city-dweller (New York, no less) who can't take it any more and snaps clearly owes much to 'Taxi Driver' but, in contrast, 'Driller Killer' is distinguished by an almost total lack of the psychological and technical finesse so characteristic of Scorsese's film and makes its point through a relentless inarticulate bludgeoning of the viewer which could be said to be an (ahem) acquired taste.
Having said this, the film isn't as gory as its cult status on the list of "video nasties" compiled by the Director of Public Prosecutions in England in the early eighties would lead you to believe and in lacking both the searing transgression of films like 'Cannibal Holocaust' or the all-out gore of films like 'The Beyond' or 'Evil Dead' some may well be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about.However, all things considered the film is an enjoyable psychotic romp (in a masochistic sort-of-way) and I have always found its limitations to be an indispensible part of its appeal as the low budget and technical bludgeoning are central to evoking a genuine sense of the stifling degeneration of New York at its nadir.
Nope, he buys a certain power tool to "relieve stress", if you catch my drift."The Driller Killer" is an interesting case in the fact that it gained notoriety in England in the 1980's due to it landing on the infamous "video nasties" list, or horror movies that certain people (Mary Whitehouse and Margret Thatcher) felt were destroying the youth.
In fact, apart from the obligatory power drill murders, there isn't a whole lot to appeal to horror fans, and art-house aficionados will be left scratching their heads.As a whole, "The Driller Killer" is an interesting but in the end not completely satisfying attempt at mixing art-house ambitions with slasher movie gore.
It's a movie that's easier to appreciate than enjoy.Abel Ferrara would go on to direct the rape-revenge classic "Ms. 45" and several straight to video movies, as well as episodes such of "Miami Vice." Then in the 90's, he finally found credibility from critics and the like with movies such as "The King of New York" (starring Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne and Wesley Snipes), "The Bad Lieutenant" (staring Harvey Keitel in one of his finest performances) and "The Funeral" (starring Walken, Chris Penn Vincent Gallo,Isabella Rossellini, Gretchen Mol and Benicio Del Toro.).
This isn't a horror film in the sense of the big build up to anticipation (although in a few instances, such as with the annoying guy at the bus-stop, Ferrara gets to have a little brilliant set-piece as he sneaks up behind him and drills into his back through the glass), and its gore/blood factor, which is high, is what really gets it into the genre category.
Ironically it's never the human killings, but rather the image of a dead and skinned rabbit- and Reno's predilection to hammer away at the poor bunny's skull- that sticks with the audience after it ends.The 'artifact' nature of the film, of the punk rock scene that no longer exists, is also fascinating, if at times a little tiresome to watch (it depends on what music is playing really, some of it is good in that dirt-cheap way of The Germs).
Yet Ferrara wants us to see that, even though these kids are quite happy with themselves and are seemingly living the high life, he sees their lives as being as pathetically hollow as the homeless guys.You might expect from the plot outline a story that starts out with the character having a rough time, until two-thirds through the movie when he snaps and goes on a vindictive murderous rampage a la Taxi Driver.
Intriguing premise that is dragged down with uneven script and directing.'The Driller Killer' is not gory enough to attract regular slasher fans, or deep enough to gain much appreciation from art-house crowd, but it definitely pleases hardcore Ferrara fans.Plus, it features cool backdrop into 1970' New York punk scene..
"The Driller Killer" follows Reno (Abel Ferrara), a struggling artist in late 1970s New York City.
While it's not a grand slam masterpiece, I'd question anyone who called it the "worst film they'd ever seen." It is in an extremely similar vein as Joe Spinnell's 1980 New York psycho character study "Maniac," though slightly less gory; that said, it does depict some startlingly realistic murder scenes that are even enough to provoke a wince to this day.The film captures the late-seventies sleazy side of Manhattan, a world long gone but nonetheless notorious.
Although there are some well shot scenes, like when Reno (Ferrara) slowly loses his sanity and starts drilling people for almost ten minutes straight, which I might add the gore scenes are extreme and should please horror fans.
But on further viewings, I gave this movie a few chances, I still don't really see what the fuss is all about.The plot = An artist who lives in a run down New York apartment with his girlfriend and her friend, where things start to go wrong at every turn for him, he can't pay his bills, his relationship is failing and he begins to crumble and lose his mind and sets out on a murderous rampage.Okay firstly the good points of this movie is that it does show creativity by showing the main character's worsening mental state which I found totally believable, and the murders are quite graphic but it does take too long for that to happen, and showing so much of the main character's spiral into madness does become uneasy and unsettling to watch, it just borders on loudness.
The only thing worthwhile in the entire film was Carol (Carolyn Marz) and Pamela (Baybi Day) having fun in the shower.Too bad I have two more Abel Ferrara movies in my queue..
The only thing worthwhile in the entire film was Carol (Carolyn Marz) and Pamela (Baybi Day) having fun in the shower.Too bad I have two more Abel Ferrara movies in my queue..
THE DRILLER KILLER stars Ferrara himself (under the pseudonym 'Jimmy Laine') as Reno Miller, an artist being driven mad by the pressures of New York life who takes to the streets and begins murdering derelicts with a power drill.
Isn't it about time people give Driller Killer another chance most people expected this to be your regulation slasher movie, not to be.It's a hell of a lot more intelligent than most non-horror films.Check it out if you like interesting low budget films..
Director Abel Ferrara would move on from this rubbish and produce some genuinely great movies, after this, my third viewing, I just can't see where this so called conscientious statement on urban life is?The plot, as it is, concerns struggling artist Reno (Ferrara working under an alias of Jimmy Laine), fearful of being washed up and constantly blighted by the Punk Rock band rehearsing downstairs, he finally cracks and takes to the streets with his trusty power drill to murder the bums of the streets, then, shock horror!
An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.This is the first great film of director Abel Ferrara, and with him he brings long-time collaborators writer Nicholas St. John and cinematographer Ken Kelsch.
Director Abel Ferrera actually got some filming done inside CBGBs in the classic days and while the music isn't that great it still provides a good homage to Hilly and his little cultural Mecca at Bowery and 2nd Ave.Much noise is made about the punk scenes and the killing scenes, which are fun to be sure, but to me the two best scenes in the movie are two quieter moments that talk about the dystopian horror of life as an artist in NYC.
The mix of exploitation and art-house on a low budget is certainly interesting but ultimately a bit aimless.If you are a fan of exploitation cinema then certainly check this movie out but please be aware of what this film is not - it isn't a mindless slasher or serial killer gore-fest.
A film that I would really compare it to would be Taxi Driver, because Abel Ferrara's Reno character slowly goes insane and takes his aggression out on the ones that are making his life difficult.
He's sometimes haunted by hallucinations as he may think he's loosing his mind and not even his girlfriend understands it and she's starting a band, however he goes nuts and uses a power drill to kill off people during the night.Very interesting and brutal low budget horror crime drama that is quite an unpleasant and unsettling movie that has became a cult classic and one of the most infamous "video nasties" of all time.
There's scenes of graphic gore and some tension to make the viewer feel a little disturbed, what i think for debut director Abel Ferrera isn't really a slasher flick but more of a gruesome character study and about descending into madness that isn't for the faint of heart.Also recommended: "High Tension", " Pieces", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", " Pefect Blue", "Black Christmas", " The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series and 2003 remake", " The Hills Have Eyes ( 1977 and 2006)", " Se7en", "Taxi Driver", " Slumber Party Massacre", "Day of the Dead", "Hostel", "Bloodsucking Freaks", "Caligula", "Blue Velvet", "Last House on The Left", " Maniac ( 1980)", " Don't Look in the Basement", " The Toolbox Murders ( 1978 and 2004)", "Blood Diner", "Dawn of the Dead ( 1978)", "Scarface", "From Dusk Till Dawn", " Silent Night Deadly Night", " Phenomena (a.k.a. Creepers)", " Scanners", "Angel Heart"," Halloween", " Nightmare on Elm Street", " House of 1000 Corpses", "Cabin Fever", " The New York Ripper", "Ichi The Killer", " The Devil's Rejects", " Men Behind The Sun", " Blood Feast 1 & 2", "The Exterminator", "Saw 1 & 2", " Two Thousand Maniacs ( 1964 and 2005)", "Leon: The Professional", " Sin City", "From Hell", "Reservoir Dogs", "Pulp Fiction", " Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky", "Battle Royale", " The Godfather", "House on The Edge of the Park", "The Toxic Avenger", " Basket Case", " Terror Firmer", " Tenebre", " The Gore-Gore Girls", " Cannibal Ferox", "Cannibal Holocaust", " American Psycho", " The Shining", "My Bloody Valentine", " Intruder", " House By The Cemetery", "City of the Living Dead ( a.k.a. Gates of Hell)", "The Beyond", " Tromeo and Juliet", "Street Trash", " Psycho ( 1960)", "The Prowler", "Wild at Heart", "Opera", " Deep Red", "Suspiria", " The Bird with the Crystal Plumage"," The Burning", " "House of Wax ( 2005)", "Demons", "Silence of the Lambs", " Natural Born Killers", "Fight Club", " Wolf Creek", " Freddy Vs. Jason", " Hellraiser", "Hellbound Hellraiser II", "Cemetery Man", "Demons", " Shogun Assassin", "Inferno", " Possession", "Dead & Buried", " " Wrong Turn", " Tourist Trap", "Just Before Dawn", and "Stage Fright"..
Knowing it was an Abel Ferrara film, I was expecting this to be much more gorier, (his gore always shocks) watching some nut go around killing people with a drill.
You know a film is in trouble when repetitive music scenes primarily there as a diversion is more interesting than the central story of a man drilling into people's skulls with a power tool.The Driller Killer was single-handedly responsible for the video nasties list, so I guess we can 'thank' it for that.
With his girlfriend Carol (Carolyn Marz) on his case, and a punk band in the apartment next door interrupting his concentration with their late night jam sessions, Reno cracks under the pressure: buying himself a portable battery pack, he takes to the streets with his trusty power drill to do a little therapeutic handiwork on some unsuspecting hobos.Abel Ferrara's directorial debut, one of the best known titles on the UK Video Nasties list, features a fair amount of mean-spirited violence, with most of Reno's attacks being on members of the city's vagrant community who, let's face it, are already having a pretty crappy time without some nutter sticking a whirring drill-bit through their cranium.Unfortunately, even though the film does deliver the expected nihilistic nastiness, it takes far too bloody long to do so, spending a large chunk of its running time focusing on the artist agonising over his art, exploring the dull relationship between Reno and Carol, and presenting us with repetitive scenes of punk band The Roosters rehearsing their uninspired numbers.
Oh, and one overlong and incomprehensible scene that sees Reno and Carol's bubble-headed flatmate Pamela (Baybi Day) unable to decide where she would like to have a hole drilled in a door (WTF was that all about?).For those interested in an authentic look at the New York punk scene at the end of the 70s, I guess The Driller Killer is mildly interesting, but as a piece of gritty and disturbing horror it is pretty disappointing, with the murders—when they finally arrive—being way too rushed and rather amateurish in execution.
And, strangely enough, he bears a slight resemblance to Reno (Jimmy Laine, aka writer-director Abel Ferrara), the starving artist driven to madness in "The Driller Killer." This film, one of the more notorious titles on Great Britain's 'Video Nasties' list, is nihilistic, grisly, and darkly funny...but also shallow and ultimately unsatisfying. |
tt0096256 | They Live | George Nada (Roddy Piper) is a homeless laborer who arrives in Los Angeles looking for work. He listens for some seconds to some rambling street preacher (Raymond St. Jacques), but he dismisses his message and leaves when he notices that the police are coming. He eventually finds work on an L.A. construction site. One of the workers, Frank Armitage (Keith David), takes him to a local shantytown where most of the workers live. After eating at the soup kitchen and spending the night, he notices odd behavior at the small church across the street. Investigating, Nada discovers that the church's soup kitchen is a front: inside, the loud "choir practice" is a recording, scientific machinery fills a back room, and cardboard boxes are stacked everywhere, including some in a secret compartment that he stumbles across. The leader of the group (Peter Jason) is aware that Nada is onto them. The Street Preacher is also there. Now Nada notices that he's blind. In fact, although the Street Preacher discovers Nada gossiping around, when he notices that Nada has got rough hands because of rough handiwork, he lets Nada go free.That night, the police arrive and surround the church, forcing the inhabitants to flee. The police then turn on the shantytown, destroying it with bulldozers and beating the blind minister of the church to death. Nada, Frank, and most of the inhabitants flee. Nada returns to the site the next day and investigates the church again, which has been emptied. He takes one of the boxes from the secret compartment and opens it in an alleyway. Expecting to find something valuable, he is a little dissapointed to find it full of cheap-looking sunglasses. He keeps one pair and hides the rest in a garbage can.When Nada later dons the glasses for the first time as he walks down a sidewalk on Rodeo Drive, he discovers that the world appears in shades of grey, with significant differences. He notices that a billboard now simply displays the word "Obey"; without them it advertises that Control Data Corporation which is "creating a transparent computing environment." Another billboard (normally displaying "Come to the Caribbean" written above a lovely woman lying on a beach) now displays the text "Marry and Reproduce." He also sees that paper money bears the words "This is your God." All printed matter around him contains subliminal advertising from "Obey", "Consume", "Sleep", "No Independent Thought", and "Do Not Question Authority". While he stares disbelievingly at a magazine containing the subliminal messages, a man walks up. When Frank looks at him he sees a strange humanoid with bulging eyes and mottled skin. When Nada removes the glasses, the man looks like a white, male human.Nada soon discovers that many people are actually aliens. Most of the aliens are wearing expensive clothing resembling wealthy-looking businessmen and women. When Nada enters a local grocery store and insults one of the aliens, the elderly lady speaks through her wristwatch, muttering about his location and the face that he "can see." Nada runs out of the store and into an alley where two alien policemen suddenly arrive. The two alien policemen ask where Nada got the sunglasses and he refuses to answer them. Aware that they intend to kill him, Nada escapes, killing both alien policemen. He steals a police shotgun. While evading the police, he accidentally stumbles into a local bank filled with aliens. Realizing that the jig is up, he proclaims, "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum." A shooting spree ensues as Nada opens fire, killing all the aliens that he sees. After killing many of them, one of the aliens sees him and disappears after twisting a dial on his wristwatch. Fleeing the bank and into a nearby parking garage, he forces a woman (Meg Foster) at gunpoint to take him to her house in the Hollywood Hills.At the woman's house, Nada takes off the glasses to rest. He remarks: "wearin' these glasses makes you high, but, oh, you come down hard." Nada tries to convince the woman, whose name is Holly Thompson, about what is happening, but she remains skeptic. When Nada lets his guard down after Holly tells him that she's an executive at a local TV station, she tricks him into turning on the TV set where she pushes him through her window, nearly killing him. He leaves behind his pair of sunglasses, however, for her. Without putting them on, Holly calls the police.The next morning, Nada returns to the construction site to talk over with Frank what he discovered. Seeing Nada as a wanted man for the shooting spree, Frank is initially uninterested in his story. Now a fugitive with no one to turn to, Nada returns to the alley where he disposed of the rest of the sunglasses. Nada recovers the box by breaking into a garbage truck that carries it away. Just then, Frank shows up with money to give to Nada to make him leave town. Seeing that Frank is human, Nada tries to persuade him to put on a pair of the sunglasses, but Frank refuses. Then, the two of them engage in a long and violent hand-to-hand fight as Nada attempts to convince and then force Frank to put on the sunglasses. When Frank finally puts on the glasses, he sees the aliens around him as well. Nada states: "Partner, life's a bitch... and this one's in heat!"Frank joins Nada as they check into a local fleabag hotel and get in contact with the group from the church. They learn that a meeting is being held at a local community center later that evening. The community group listens to a seminar in the background introducing radical ideas. For example, the aliens are blamed for increased carbon dioxide and methane emissions "They are turning our atmosphere into their atmosphere" and quickly using up the planet's resources. Holly returns, claiming to now believe Nada, and delivers some information to the rebels about a possible location to where the aliens are broadcasting the subliminal messages.At the meeting, they learn that the aliens' primary method of control is a signal being sent out on television, which is why the general public cannot see the aliens for what they are. An unknown but brilliant inventor has created a lens called the Hofmann lens. The lens shows the world as it really is. The sunglasses, which are also available as contact lenses, interfere with the aliens' hypnotic signal.Nada then has a talk with Holly who tells him that after their encounter when he left behind his sunglasses, she put them on and hid them which is how she now believes him. Suddenly, Nada and Holly's conversation and the meeting place is raided by the police, who shoot to kill. Some of the resistance members flee outside while the police (a combination of both human and aliens) are gunning people down indiscriminately.Nada and Frank escape into an alley behind the building and get away with the help of one of the wristwatch devices that teleports them to a mysterious underground facility. They find themselves in a network of underground passages under the city that link hidden parts of the alien society including a port for space travel. Through the passages they find the aliens are throwing a party for their human collaborators. Nada and Frank meet one of the homeless drifters (George 'Buck' Flower) whom they previously met in the workers shantytown, whom is one of the many human collaborators with the aliens. Thinking that they have been recruited as he has, the Drifter shows them around the underground facility which leads them to the studio offices of a local TV station.The Drifter leads Nada and Frank to the basement of a local TV station, Cable 54, and the source of the aliens' signal. Nada and Frank pull out their weapons and kill all the alien guards, intending to shut down the hidden signal the aliens are using. But the Drifter gets away by teleporting himself and sounds the alarm. Arming themselves with assault rifles off the dead guards, Nada and Frank decide to get to the roof of the building to shut down the signal to make the world aware of the aliens among them. But aware that they will not survive, even if they succeed in shutting down the signal, Nada and Frank know that this is a suicide mission.Nada and Frank engage in a gun battle with the guards in the studio hallways and offices they are at. Holly, who works at the station, is found by Frank and Nada and she leads them up to the roof of the building where the dish is broadcasting. Making it to a stairway, Nada runs up to the roof expecting that Holly and Frank are behind him. Suddenly, Holly pulls out a gun, presses it against Frank's temple, and kills Frank. Through the special contact lenses that he is wearing, Nada notices the broadcasting antenna. Holly gets to the roof, then takes aim at Nada. Nada finally realizes that Holly is yet another human collaborator with the aliens (and possibly the one who led the police to the rebels hiding spot). Then, a police helicopter appears where the aliens aboard order Nada to step away from the broadcasting antenna.Aware that he is a dead man no matter what, Nada uses a hidden sleeve pistol and kills Holly. Nada then turns his attention back to the broadcasting antenna. Nada is shot and fatally wounded by alien police marksmen in the hovering helicopter, but manages to get one final shot from his small pistol and destroys the broadcasting antenna in the process. As a last dying defiant act, Nada gives the aliens in the hovering helicopter "the finger" as he lies dying on the roof of the building next to Holly's dead body, and the ruins of the broadcasting dish.With the signal now destroyed, people around L.A. and the rest of the country are surprised to discover aliens in their midst... seeing them on TV, chatting with them at the bar, meeting with them at the office... and even having sex with them. | murder, allegory, cult, violence, clever, good versus evil, psychedelic, humor, satire, action, brainwashing, suspenseful, sci-fi | train | imdb | But it is far more pervasive than just that._They_Live_ uses the invisible alien elite as a proxy for our suspicions about how we are all being exploited by the elite of our real-life society, and how these elite are subtly programming us to accept this exploitation.So, the major theme of the movie is not, as another poster correctly pointed out, about being manipulated to be good little consumers in a crassly commercial world.
Instead, it is more about how the working class Americans in _They Live_ are being exploited by the elite upper crust, who, in the movie, happen to be aliens, but who, in the real world, are a subsociety that use their collective power to exploit the rest of us.Unfortunately, this movie sometimes has an unintentionally comic air to it.
(Carpenter loves to end his movies with zingers, in case you had not noticed!) I would highly recommend fans of this movie read Nelson's story to get a different, darker, tale than the one Carpenter made, and with good reason: In the story, you are never really sure if its protagonist is really a nut or if he has been programmed to act the way he does, because it seems his grip on reality is tenuous at best, and so everything you are reading could be a complete derangement -- or it could all be true.
Directed by John Carpenter (Assault on Precient 13, Ghosts of Mars, The Thing-1982) made a extremely well made film mixed with action/sci-fi elements and a refreshing scene of humor.
The plot is quite simple, Nada(Roddy Piper) a homeless drifter stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses through which you can see the world for what it really is, a communist type environment controlled by aliens, and then joins up with his buddy Frank(Keith David) to stop them.
John Carpenter is mostly known for the box office smash hit Halloween (1978) and as great as that film is (it's my favorite film), They Live is proof that the horror master had more to offer, along with a lot of other gems like Escape From New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble In Little China (1986), In The Mouth Of Madness (1995), Escape From L.A.
He then realized that it simply only cares about making money and he spent the rest of his career as a true independent, not following any rules and making movies the way that he wanted to.Carpenter was riding on the success of Halloween, which was in its day the highest grossing independent film ever made.
We all believe that fame and fortune is what makes us somebody but Carpenter wasn't about to become a sell out and instead he dealt with his anger by making this film and when you look at it now you can't help but think what an honest direction that was to go in.But this movie isn't just for deep thinkers, it is also a kick ass sci-fi action movie and it's a lot of fun too.
This is one of my top 5 sci-fi movies of all time, i just love it, the sad thing is not many people i know have even heard of the movie.The movie seems really slow for the first 20-30 minutes but for me the moment the movie starts is when Roddy Piper puts the sunglasses on, that's the time i sat up and got into it.The fight scene in the alley was the best movie fight scene i had saw up to that point and it stayed the best fight scene in my opinion for some years after.If you are a sci-fi fan and not seen this movie yet then i ask you WTF?
The poverty, homelessness, the Reaganvilles, police brutality, the cowardice and selfishness of humanity that prevents us from simply doing the right thing, the crushing weight of a nationwide system designed to keep us in line, keep us ignorant, divided and weak...I'm a big fan of John Carpenter's movies, and this one is one of the best..
The film has gained a cult following over the years and it is well-deserved.They Live is the story of an out of work drifter named John Nada(Roddy Piper)who has just arrived in L.A looking for work.
When Justiceville is raided by the police, Nada looks through the damage and finds a box of sunglasses and when Nada puts on a pair the sunglasses reveal that the rich humans are actually aliens controlling and influencing everyday life and Nada tries to warn and tell people but it's not going to be easy.One of the reasons They Live is a great film and works so well is because it's just as relevant as it was back in 1988.
What I also love about the film is the Humor and satire in this film where television and advertisements have subliminal messages underneath and also mocking the rich and the consumer culture when during the 1980s most people were about getting rich,making a lot of money and living good lives,but They Live turns that idea on it's head and offers a funny and biting satire of the era.
They Live is a Western in disguise and John Nada like other Carpenter Antiheros is a modern day Western cowboy instead trying to survive in the Wild West is trying to survive against Aliens in a big city The Action sequences in the film are well done with great shootouts and intensity and has one of the finest,longest,greatest fight scenes in film history.
The ending of the film is classic and funny and is a wonderful cap off to the film and is one of the things that makes They Live a great movie.Roddy Piper is great as John Nada bringing a cool and calm feel to the role and when Piper gets into the action,Piper says great one liners and kicks ass.
It's probably my favorite Carpenter score.John carpenter's They Live is to put it simply a great and one of Carpenter's best.If you love Sci/Fi,Action and Cult films I suggest you see this film.
Interesting and relevant entertainment from John Carpenter stars wrestling icon "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as beefy drifter "Nada", who arrives in an L.A. of a near future where the gulf separating social classes has become stronger than ever.
The makeup on the aliens, admittedly, is pretty damn silly.Of course, no summary of "They Live" is complete without mentioning one of the most epic of protracted fight scenes (between Roddy and Keith); every time you think it's over, it starts up again!All in all, a solid entry in Carpenters' filmography that both amuses the viewer and provides some food for thought.Seven out of 10..
But as far as being a sort of B-movie goes- and They Live, despite having a bigger budget and more special effects than most, has that spirit in its bones like an old comic book from the 50s- this is probably one of the best I've seen from the past twenty years.
(His name is never given, but hey for this story who needs it anyway?) He's a drifter who gets construction work, but by the slums he lives in he sees a church doing strange things, and after an out-of-the-blue incredibly violent police raid, Nada soon finds a pair of sunglasses left behind.
And at the core of this being a satire on the controls of society and breaking off from it (or just not being on it to start with) is not skimping on what some would expect- loaded with guns, violence, action that isn't compounded by excess weight.Featuring a fight sequence that ranks as one of the most intense and amusing in recent memory, perfectly chum-like dialog, one of Carpenter's very best musical scores, and an ending that packs it all in, They Live is a great escapist movie with a message that actually hits.
A drifter (John Carpenter wanted a truly rugged individual to play Nada , he cast wrestler Roddy Piper in the lead role after seeing him in WrestleMania III , 1987) discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth .
The drifter named Nada join forces with a construction worker called Frank (second and final of two collaborations of actor Keith David and director John Carpenter who had previously both worked together on The Thing (1982) around six years earlier) and both of them take on an extraterrestrial threat .
John Carpenter had said that They Live had been the best film he had ever made, considering he also made Halloween, Escape From New York, and The Thing remake (arguably one of the scariest films and one of my favorite horror movies).
It's bad in the best possible way.The film stars WWF Wrestling legend Roddy Rowdy Piper as the lead hero who discovers a pair of sunglasses that reveal to him that the world has in fact been taken over by an imperialist alien race who has turned earth into a capitalist, decadent hell.
Nada forces Frank to wear the sunglasses and together they seek other humans aware of the situation to organize a resistance against the powerful aliens from Andromeda and their associates."They Live" is a B-movie by John Carpenter and one of his best films.
"They Live" is a Sci-fi - Comedy - Horror cult movie from 1988, directed by the great John Carpenter.
Drifter John Nada (Roddy Piper) finds a special pair of sunglasses that allow him to see the truth -- that aliens have taken over Earth and are using subliminal advertising to keep humans subdued and unaware they have been conquered.
You'll saying something about asses and bubble gum - if you haven't seen it, you'll soon know what I mean.Also there is a fight scene in this movie that goes on for approximately fifteen minutes that you can't even comprehend - not to say that it is good but only that it is so hilariously long (and the actors take it SO seriously!) that you can't help but think Carpenter is having a little send-up of 80s action flicks.Great story, entertaining acting, and pure B-movie greatness.
One of the few original movies of the 20th Century that is highly coveted as a bible of hidden truths in a world of elitism, conspiracy and the fate of man's freedom where capitalism and corporate rule are destroying the world, I don't think it was ever meant to be so clever, so deep or foreboding, but what would otherwise be an average '80s action movie is instead a shout against the alienation and segregation of the middle and lower classes, thanks to the ignorance of the super wealthy.Starring WWE superstar Rowdy Roddy Piper in a fascinating and often intense lead role as drifter John Nada, our relenting and reluctant hero stumbles upon a Los Angeles where the unemployed and homeless are being driven out as alien beings in disguise sit at the top of the economic hierarchy, acclimatising the globe to their own preference.Upon witnessing the carnage first hand, and then discovering a way he can separate the aliens from humans, Nada goes on the rampage, catching the attention of the underground resistance who've been planning a way to expose the alien threat for some time.
John Carpenter's They Live is one of my all time favorite movies and in my opinion also one of his best.
John Carpenter's cult sci-fi / action is fresh, tip-top entertainment packing ballsy action, shade wearing, Roddy Piper, elastic dialogues that are just so memorable ("I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass"), Keith David, aliens in human disguise and cryptic messages.
From John Carpenter,here comes one of the greatest sci-fi/action movies ever made that you'll never forget.They Live is a cult classic and without no doubt,one of the best movies of Carpenter.The movie's about a drifter named Nada accidentally makes a horrible discovery while looking for a job;the earth is ruled by aliens and the only way to see their origins hidden behind fake human faces is to wear a special pair of sunglasses.Seems that they deliver hidden messages like 'obey','no independent thought' and 'watch t.v.'to control human's minds and to keep them away from a possible mutiny against them.Soon,Nada finds out there is a small group aware of the danger on humanity and make those special sunglasses.He joins that small group with his new sidekick Frank and they begin trying to find a way for a worldwide wake up call for humans.However,they don't fight only against the aliens,they also fight against humans who are aware of the alien invasion but seduced by money,status,a much better life standard and now cooperate with the aliens.While using his unique way of storytelling to keep the tension high,Carpenter also reminds us human beings are far from perfection.He says we;humans are selfish creatures and we could do anything for our unlimited desires;whatever it takes!Besides the message it's carrying,They Live is a typical Carpenter movie.It's a low budget masterpiece with humor,great one liners,a classic Carpenter score with Roddy Piper in the lead.He's just outstanding as the lone drifter Nada.The cast includes Keith David,very underrated Meg Foster with some Carpenter regulars like Peter Jason and George 'Buck' Flower and they all give solid performances.Also there is an unforgettable fight sequence between Piper and David that lasts nearly ten minutes which is almost as famous as the movie itself.A unique movie from a master..
There is a plot hole or two, some bad alien makeup, and a few cheesy scenes, but its hard not to like this film as an action/sci-fi adventure, and its hard not to appreciate the layers of commentary Carpenter manages to cleverly conceal here.
A excessively paranoid action film, 'They Live' sees struggling labourer Rowdy Roddy Piper stumble across a secret organisation that is trying to rebel against a race of aliens that live amongst humans like normal people.
These aliens can only be seen with special sunglasses, and when he stumbles across a pair, Piper starts kicking ass because he's out of bubblegum.Some people say this is Carpenter's last great film; I say wait ten years until the likes of 'Escape from L.A' and 'Vampires' develop the cult followings that are already beginning to swell.
"They Live", produced in 1988, is somewhat of a midpoint between these two films: on one end there's a very enjoyable sci-fi film which uses its "nothing is real" theme for social commentary, with a surprisingly good performance from wrestler-turned-actor Roddy Piper, and on the other end, the film's alien effects (which, given that they're the antagonists, is a pretty major part of the film) have decayed over the years and left the film with a tinted cheese/b-movie feel.Although wrestlers have to "act" for promotional vignettes and in the ring, anyone who's seen a Hulk Hogan movie or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in "The Scorpion King" can attest that that acting doesn't translate on the screen at all.
Of course being a John Carpenter movie I had to see it right after I put it together.Roddy Piper is a drifter coming to California looking for work.
Here, John Carpenter's fiendish imagination fleshes out a tale of who really rules in a world where the President is basically an actor.Nada, played with a surprising restraint by Roddy Piper, starts the story as exactly what his name implies.
I'm a sucker for a spot of good old-fashioned sci-fi paranoia, and They Live, from director John Carpenter, is one of the finest examples the genre has to offer, a pitch-perfect blend of cutting social commentary, unashamed B-movie silliness, and hard-hitting action.Pre-dating the similarly themed The Matrix by over a decade, and made on a fraction of that film's budget, They Live stars Rowdy Roddy Piper as blue collar construction worker John Nada, who, with the help of a special pair of sunglasses, discovers to his amazement that the world is in fact ruled by ugly aliens who keep the human population under their control through the use of subliminal messages and mind-altering broadcasts.
It's an offbeat take on a conventional movie formula, and for the most part, it works fairly successfully."They Live" is a story about Nada (Roddy Piper), a downtrodden, unemployed construction worker just looking for a job and a little happiness.
Over time, Nada notice some strange things,and eventually becomes aware of a sinister conspiracy, and takes matters into his own hands to put a stop to it.The film's plot is already pretty interesting, and John Carpenter is at the top of his game here, both directing, and scripting, and I was especially excited to see this after seeing Big Trouble in Little China, which I thoroughly loved.
The alley fight scene is honestly amazing; 5+ minutes of two guys beating crap out of each other.Everybody's performances were good, especially Roddy Piper, who is just fun to watch, as he, like most wrestlers, is larger-than-life, and Keith David surprised me, and I didn't learn exactly how many movies he was in until after I saw this film, but I look for him now.Overall, an awesome movie, with plenty of action, one-liners, and thrills.
But They Live is an enjoyable adult comic book of machine guns and one liners and so much more...It also has a great performance by Roddy Piper as Nada and his line 'I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass....and Im all out of bubblegum!' is one of the best Hollywood lines in movie history.They Live also has the greatest fight scene up a city alley EVER, and it goes on for a staggering seven minutes!
John Carpenter wrote and directed this intriguing, prescient(and still timely) thriller about a drifter(Roddy Piper) named Nada, who enters a new city looking for work, but finds none, until he befriends a man(played by Keith David) who gets him work on a construction site.
If you like Carpenter's slightly twisted take on reality, then this is a great film to see, with a surprisingly good performance from Roddy Piper.. |
tt1905042 | Standing Up | Two kids, Howie (Chandler Canterbury) and Grace (Annalise Basso), are stripped naked and left stranded together on an island as victims of a vicious summer camp prank. But rather than returning to camp to face the humiliation, they decide to take off on the run together. Grace does not know how to swim, so she holds onto a broken tree branch as Howie swims across the lake.
They are soon washed onto a shore near a cottage. Howie goes to the lake and spots three men headed toward the shore in a boat. He decides to take a camera and a notepad to keep track of everything they steal in order to return it to its rightful owner along with an explanation of why it was taken. They continue of their journey and encounter a group of teenagers partying and drinking near a beach. Howie grabs some money out of one of the trucks, much to Grace's disapproval. They take a break on a family beach where they purchase a hot dog and a bag of chips. They also devise a plan to steal some new clothes. As they are walking through town later that day, they spot one of their camp counselors handing out pictures of them to the locals as well as the police. They get on a bus that is rounding up a group of children for a different camp.
Their cover is almost blown when two girls Tiwana (Alexus Lapri Geier) and Lydia (Deidra Shores) confront them about taking their seats; however, Calvin (Adrian Kali Turner) convinces the girls to take other seats. Once they arrive at the camp, Howie and Grace attempt to run away, but Calvin and Tiwana catch them and convince them to spend the night at camp. Tiwana and Calvin befriend and defend Howie and Grace during their time at camp, and Tiwana makes Grace promise to call her mother (Radha Mitchell).
The next night, Howie and Grace manipulate their way into a hotel room. They decide to hitchhike their way back to camp. Unfortunately, they encounter shady sheriff's deputy Perry Hofstadder (Val Kilmer) who lies to them and locks them in his truck. When he gets out to make a phone call, the children try to drive away. They go in the wrong direction and are forced to jump off a cliff into a lake. Grace again calls her mother who reveals the truth about Howie, saying that he's in foster care. After the phone call, Howie and Grace get into an argument. Lockwood (Frank Hoyt Taylor) informs the police about which direction the kids went. Grace spots her mother, and they run to greet each other as Howie watches in the distance. Some time later, when Grace is back home, She receives a package from Howie containing a letter and pictures of their time together. She says that Howie was adopted by a family in Connecticut, yet they still keep in touch, having seen each other the next summer to see cut-out people at a museum and going to NASA. | prank | train | wikipedia | It's a difficult task to make a film about bullying , especially in today's world , with news on the TV of children who takes their own life after having being bullied.Bullying is , unfortunately , still very much relevant , perhaps more now then ever before.Twitter,Facebooks and the likes are new weapons used by bullies everyday.
In the 80's (Although the film could have taken place any time , the director wisely decided not to overly use the 80's setting to avoid distracting audiences from the story itself) two kids at a camp , a boy and a girl who do not know each other , are victim of a vicious pranks by their fellow campers.They are stripped away of all their clothes and are left in the middle of an Island.The two kids eventually bond and decide to not stay for when the other campers come back to make fun of them or even worse take pictures of them as a "Trophy" , instead they run away and that is where the film and their adventures really begins.
This film really feels like a journey , you see the kids slowly building confidence after each stop they take before getting back home , although at that point they are note sure what "home" will be.
The two leads , Analise Basso and Chandler Canterbury (Who was also in the very good "A bag of hammers") are pitch perfect as Grace and Howie.They deliver a very true performance , they are absolutely believable , you absolutely believe this is happening to them.The dialogs also help a great deal , the kids speaks like normal kids , they don't have cheesy lines.
I will spare you too much details because I do not want to risk spoiling the film for you but I must say , I rarely get teary eyed watching films but the last scene of "standing up" was an exception thanks to Analise Basso , this girl has a bright future ahead of her.
All I can say is that on it's own merit , this is a very heartfelt , sensitive , well executed , hopeful film and I urge parents to watch it with their kids or teachers to show it to their pupils because it might gives bullies a taste of what it is like on the other side of the spectrum.
I am very sensitive to the subject of bullying and I feel this film , beside being really well made , is important.For theses reasons I give it a 9 out of 10 stars..
This is a story about two outcasts named Howie (played by Chandler Canterbury) and Grace (played by Annalise Basso) who find each other late one night stranded on Goats Island.
These two harmless and timid 12 year olds have been chosen by the camp bullies to be taken by canoes a mile from their campsite and dropped off in the dark of night but not before they are both stripped naked, their clothes absconded with and mocked at as the bullies take off in their canoes laughing at being successful in finding this year's new "goats".
Grace is beside herself in total fear wondering how she ever allowed herself to get caught up in this embarrassing situation with a boy (Howie) she has never met before.
Well, Howie who may also be very meek and sees that the canoes are returning to subject the two naked "goats" to more taunting tells Grace that he for one is not going to take any more of their crap and if she wants to avoid any further bullying they need to vacate Goats Island immediately.
The tragedy of these circumstances are that although the events may differ from child to child the trauma young preadolescents endure could be mitigated earlier if only parents would listen and focus on their child first and not on their careers.I commend director D J Caruso for compiling a very moving and endearing film that allows each of us to relate to these two preadolescent children and the fear that their bullies (especially in groups) can overwhelm them with.
This is a beautiful coming of age adventure film which takes place over a four day span and how these two children learn how to grow up quickly if they want to survive in the woods surrounded by water.
The kids run into other bullies along their journey but are now more resilient and willing to stand up for one another.
I give the film a perfect 10 and if I could give Standing Up a point for every tear I dropped over a number of heartbreaking scenes by these two fine young actors (Chandler Canterbury and Annalise Basso) I would.
I am a father of two daughters and found this movie highly inspirational about how not only children, but adults, can gain self-confidence and self-reliance relying on their inner strength.
To take that away from this movie is shocking and discouraging, that someone would "see" everything that happens in life as "sexual" and "unholy."In stark contrast to the other viewer's comments, this movie had the strength and inspiration of older movies like "My Girl." One of the most poignant parts of the movie is one of the runaways asking a stranger in another camp why the camper was being nice and the response was "why wouldn't I be." Those are words to emulate and live by.
These are 12-year-old kids who are asking questions that we as adults and parents can't effectively answer for our own children.
It was wonderful, very emotional, and made me think about all the times I hear people complain that there are no good movies being made anymore - it's not true, you just have to find films like this one.
As other reviewers have said, this is a coming of age drama about two young kids who are the victims of summer camp bullies.
Rather than return to the camp and face humiliation, they take off on an 2-3 day adventure, as the kids try to come to terms with the traumatic events and the hand that life has dealt them both.
I cried many times.One warning: while this is a family film, I think it may not be appropriate for kids under 8-9 years old.
Based on Brock Cole's "The Goats", Standing up is the story of two geeky kids, a girl and a boy, who are the victims of a mean holiday camp prank.
Stripped naked and left marooned on an island, the boy and girl are left to their own devices and decide to leave the camp and embark on an adventure on their own.I like that the main characters are geeks and outsiders, and they are ably played by Chandler Canderbury and Annalise Basso.
I certainly could identify with the awkward feeling of being a lonely young outsider searching for yourself and for companionship.I like the general theme of the film, that you can learn from all your experiences, good and bad, and discover yourself as a result.
However, the world view is a bit too optimistic, the kids never really are in real danger despite their dangerous decision to live on their own for a few days, and the lack of any real antagonist means the film lacks an exciting edge.Nevertheless, it is a good-natured film without nudity or swearing, and works well as family entertainment.
This movie must reach everyone especially the family audience and the kids.
A best children's movie I have seen after a long time, maybe after 'Bridge to Terabithia' and 'A Little Princess'.
I mean I liked many others between these movies but this one gave me kinda rare experience to feel the depth of the problem that faced by the tween kids.
Yeah the movie talks mainly about the physically weak kids who are easy targets to bully.
From their perspective 'Standing Up' tells the victims self discovery.If there is an award for children's movies in Oscar similar to animation movies and foreign movies, I would give to this one without thinking twice.
But if you get a chance to see don't miss it and recommend to others as well.'Standing Up' was based on the young adult novel called 'Goat Island'.
It centers around two characters Howie and Grace who are the victims in their summer camp prank.
There was a scene I liked the most in the movie where Grace phones her mother and her mother says something about Howie.
'Standing Up' is rare and must see movie, hope y'all won't miss after reading my review.
I thought this was a family movie but was horrified to watch it with my children.
The sexual tension between these 12 year old kids throughout the movie was just plain creepy.
This film told a story of two "goats", as they referred the chosen pairs who were left on the island, who together take an escape from the terrible trap.
The kids are clever and daring--the boy, Howie, I reckon he is supposed to be raised by a couple of scientists or at least a parent who will think neatly, like making a list of things they should replace--but I like how they made them still kids, innocent and easy to be afraid and anxious.
They have begun to think and behave like adults, they take actions to survive like grown-ups, but in the end they are still kids.
The film also shows that there are place where kids are safe from bullies.I prefer the film watched by grown-ups, not children.
This film, like a lot of films had suggested time after time, I think, tries to say to parents: listen to your kids, talk to them, make them comfortable to share the truth with you, that way you can protect them..
A sweet family film that will make you see the good in people..
This is a dear sweet coming of age film about love and the invisible umbrella of protection that a story can be.
These two children are so frail, and fragile, but are as adept as any seasoned actor at becoming more like a dog getting it's mane up, these kids learn to Stand up, and learn that trusting in each other can get you through the toughest times.
They are the only two people at camp who know what they have been through (humiliation, hunger, etc.) and before this experience they were each alone.Its really an amazing story because you see how the two grow to rely on each other and by the end of the film they have broken down the wall of just plain politeness/cold truce because they really care for each other and are very invested in each others lives.
The ending wraps up the story nicely (something changed from the novel "The Goats" on which this was based) and you just know that these two kids will be all right.Overall, I was impressed with the adaptation and I would watch it again and again and again.
I have published three books on the roles of teenagers in movies, and I can say with confidence that few of them depict early adolescence as delicately as this film.
Some viewers may find it too delicate in that regard-- there's little violence and no sex, no drugs or drinking, no insanity-- yet it shows the calculated anxiety that teens deal with when they are bullied and ostracized.Young viewers should be happy that the protagonists do not play into their victim roles, and learn to gain confidence in a slowly realistic way.
Sure, it's a boy and girl on the edge of their sexual awakening, but sex has yet to become an issue in their lives; self-esteem and survival are much higher priorities.Parents will be happy that the taboos of so many teen movies are not broached here, and that the only parent shown in the film is not bumbling or mean but actually accomplished and concerned.The novel the film is based on is probably better, because you can just feel the character development that it must have conveyed in many words which is here reduced to a few lines of dialogue and the actors' behavior.
Mostly because it is so rare they are made, since really who wants to watch two unknown kids deal with bullying and running away, but at the same time a lot of good actors start off as kids.
And to me, both Chandler Canterbury and Annalise Basso give the type of performance where you can see that, with the right agent, they both could have fruitful careers in the entertainment business.Characters & StoryThe story of Standing Up deals with two outcasts.
One being Howie (played by Chandler Canterbury) and the other Grace (played by Annalise Basso).
Howie, being resourceful, and a bit of a kleptomaniac, guides them on a 2-3 day journey in which as their bond grows stronger, so do they.PraiseDespite the whole bullying thing being what is talked about when it comes to this movie, thankfully it isn't really the main focus.
However, though the topic of bullying is a part of the film, the real focus is the journey Grace and Howie have in which both Basso and Canterbury really display a good emotional complexity which is often absent in adolescent characters.The reason I say this is because though children are often apart of stories in which dramatic, or rather traumatic, things happen, they are usually place in a supporting role so while their feelings are present, they often are secondary.
With Standing Up though, you can see these two young people portray the trauma of being ostracized, the awkwardness of receiving kindness from a stranger, and even watching them become interdependent is strange, but at the same time entertaining.
Basso, for instance, grows as a character from this sniveling little mouse into a girl who seems to have learn what confidence is, and though Howie surely helped, at the same time you can't say what she learns is fully based on her mimicking him.
And I say that because he shows the same type of emotional depth Hutcherson did in the movies mentioned above in which a boy is allowed to show his emotions, cry about his situation, and find this weird sort of way to show that despite how often we undermine kids, that they can easily feel like they have as much on their plate as people older than them.CriticismWhen it comes to critiquing this film, I must admit I did find it weird how the kids survived for the days they ran away.
Two kids foil the bullies at summer camp..
There is a history at this camp, bullies will take a target kid to a small island in the lake, called "Goat Island", them strip them and abandon them.
In this story we have two campers who get stranded at the same time, a boy Chandler Canterbury, probably about 12 during filming, as Howie, and a girl Annalise Basso, about the same age, as Grace.
Both of them wear glasses and get picked on by the older kids.Grace is almost hiding, shivering, wondering what to do, but Howie is different, he encounters her and right away devises a plan to get off the island and take a hike through the woods.
Grace can't swim so he gets a large dry tree branch to act as a float for her and off they go.More than anything this is a coming of age story for the two kids, forced to use their wits to get down the road, to find something to wear, something to eat, places to sleep.
These two kids would have had to be amazingly stupid to make the decisions they made and anyone watching this without realizing this the whole time is living in fantasy land.
She merely whines like a kid who doesn't want to be at camp so that we can move the movie along rather than ending it there with the cops rescuing them and arresting the criminals at the camp.Her mom gets a call from the camp that her daughter is missing, she goes to the camp and finds out part of the story (they leave out the naked part) and tells the camp a crime has been committed.
She is a lawyer and she knows the camp has been privy to this type of criminal activity for years, (which makes the camp criminally negligent) yet she doesn't do anything about it.This kid runs around the whole movie scared her mom's gonna beat her because she was the victim of a crime.
And who doesn't get angry when watching the kid do it?These two kids never once think to call the cops to get rescued, instead they start committing a series of unnecessary crimes to further the idiotic plot of this movie.Who in their right mind can sit through 90 minutes of incongruity without yelling at these two idiots to tell someone what happened to them?.
One of the dumbest drama movies to ever be put on film.
D.J. Caruso's Standing Up was a movie I thought was going to be horrible from the very beginning.
It takes place at night one mile off of a campsite where a girl named Grace (played by Annalise Basso) and a boy named Howie (played by chandler Canterbury) get forced to be naked by a few camp mates who actually took their clothes off ( perfect for a bad beginning) and go inside to a sort of abandoned building in order to seek shelter and are on a worthless survival adventure when Grace's mom (played by Radha Mitchell) is on a wild goose chase just trying to find her daughter and her fellow companion.
The empathy and thought this story invokes are necessary and welcome in this day and age where bullying and the simple social class tension is very prevalent. |
tt0246464 | Big Trouble | In a high-school game of Killer (in which a student must shoot another with a squirt gun) Matt Arnold has to "shoot" classmate Jenny Herk, and decides to sneak up on her at home. By coincidence hitmen are also there to kill Arthur Herk, who has secretly embezzled money from his company. When the fake assassination attempt crosses paths with the real one, police officers Monica and Walter are called out to the resulting disturbance. Eliot Arnold, Matt's father, who was contacted by Matt's friend, Andrew, immediately feels a mutual attraction to Anne Herk (Jenny's mother), as Matt and Jenny begin to feel attracted to each other as well. The Herks' Mexican housemaid Nina, meanwhile, falls in love with a young man named Puggy, who lives in a tree on their property, after she runs from the shootings and he saves her from the hitmen.Realizing that he is the intended victim, Arthur visits arms dealers, for a weapon, but ends up with suitcase nuclear bomb. Escaped convicts Snake and Eddie, who were previously kicked out of a bar called the Jolly Jackal for disorderly conduct, hold up the bar and kidnap Arthur and Puggy (who is an employee there) for the suitcase, not knowing its contents.Meanwhile, Matt tries to "kill" Jenny in a mall parking lot, but a security guard thinks that Matt's gun is real. After the guard opens fire on them, Matt and Jenny run to the Herk house, followed by Monica and Walter, who stumble across the confusion. Eliot is called over as well.The convicts force Arthur to return to his home, where they capture everyone and tie them up. Taking Puggy and kidnapping Jenny, they leave (with the suitcase) for the Airport. Nina, who was hiding in her room, frees everyone except for Monica and Arthur (who were handcuffed to a heavy brass etagere). Shortly after, the house is visited by two FBI agents who are tracking the bomb. They free Monica and have her lead them to the airport (leaving Arthur, as he was poisoned by a hallucinogenic toad, causing him to think that his dog is possessed by Martha Stewart).The criminals reach the plane still holding Jenny hostage. Puggy manages to escape, but the bomb is enabled when going through security; as a condition of them being let through. They made security believe it was a garbage disposal. The FBI agents tell everyone that unless the bomb is retrieved soon, the plane must be shot down. They find Puggy who leads the group to the criminals' plane, which Eliot sneaks onto.Meanwhile, the two hitmen get out of the traffic jam (caused by Snake and Eddie) and reach the airport. They bump into Officer Romero, and Special Agents Greer and Seitz, knocking the hitmen's Remington Sniper Rifle out of their golf bag in the process. The FBI agents, having more serious problems, leave this to Romero since it's her "jurisdiction." Romero grabs the rifle, and removes its bolt, rendering it useless. She then tosses the rifle down, saying: "gentlemen" and leaves. Henry Desalvo remarks to Leonard that Miami sucks...but the cops are kinda nice.Eliot, having sneaked onto the plane, attacks the criminals by knocking Eddie out with a fire extinguisher and blasting the extinguisher at Snake. After being told the suitcase must be gotten off the plane, Eliot hurls it out of the now open plane door, only for Snake to leap after it. In a memorable feat of dumb luck, Snake manages to cling onto some steps still coupled to the plane. Despite Eliot's persistence in trying to convince Snake to release the suitcase, Snake shoots at him, and is then told by the pilot that the suitcase is a bomb, prompting Eliot to pull an emergency lever, decoupling said stairs. Snake (in a nod to the stubborn as a mule tale) plunges into the ocean with a defiant smile, still clinging to the bomb, which explodes safely in the water. Eliot is congratulated by the FBI, promised he will receive presidential cowboy boots and a hat, and told the events that took place will never be acknowledged.The last scene reveals what happens to the main characters: After chasing down a plane, subduing two criminals, and saving Miami from a nuclear disaster, Eliot finally won Matt's respect. Anne and Eliot get married, a week after Anne gets divorced from Arthur. Walter, after a forced strip search by idiotic ariport guards, becomes a male stripper. The two hitmen manage to get on a plane out of Miami after a series of very weird events. They claim their Miami job was the lowest point in their careers. However, they're surrounded by the fans of Florida Gators on their plane home; which was a constant joke in the film and unfortunately are delayed on the tarmac due to an obstruction on the runway which happened to be the goats that got released during the traffic jam caused previously by Snake and Eddie. Eddie goes back to jail in a prison outside of Jacksonville, but becomes friends with another dimwitted inmate who shares the same affinity for...crude jokes as Eddie does. Arthur is last seen still handcuffed and tormented by his dog. | cult, comedy, violence, flashback | train | imdb | I guess it didn't help that BIG TROUBLE's originally-scheduled December 2001 release was delayed due to worries that a plot involving smuggling an A-bomb through laissez-faire airport security would seem more disturbing than funny after the horrific events of 9/11/2001.
Maybe most audiences are still too spooked right now to appreciate the satiric possibilities in Sonnenfeld & Co.'s cynically funny, Billy Wilder-esque treatment of these elements -- but I hope that down the line, folks will give BIG TROUBLE a chance, because really, it's like what might have resulted if Billy Wilder had ever had an opportunity to direct The Marx Brothers.
The ensemble cast is superb, from Patrick Warburton and Janeane Garofalo as members of Miami's Finest, to Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville as dunderheaded crooks, to Tim Allen and Rene Russo's chemistry as single (well, unhappily married in Russo's case) parents who get drawn into the shenanigans when their respective teenage kids Ben Foster and Zooey Deschanel (both delightful -- I wouldn't be surprised if these two became big stars someday!) accidentally foil a hit on Stanley Tucci (hilariously obnoxious as Russo's dreadful second husband) by Jack Kehler and Dennis Farina (spoofing his earlier role in Sonnenfeld's GET SHORTY adaptation).
Dave Barry, author of the book, does a really good job of portraying humor about his home town (Miami), teenagers, parents, divorce, marriage, autos, airports, difficulties of working in a strange town.
(Can't say what those are; gives too much away.) So if you are in need of a comedy to enjoy, but which may leave a residue of some of the problems of today's world, watch "Big Trouble"..
Although I had never heard of humorist Dave Barry before I saw this movie, I had a great time watching 'Big Trouble'.Director Barry Sonnenfeld ('Men in Black', 'Get Shorty') does a great job of juggling the huge ensemble cast, and everyone (including Tim Allen) are all wonderfully funny and, it must be said, a little bit nuts.
I particularly liked Dennis Farina as a hit-man who despises Miami (where the story takes place) and Zooey Deschanel as a deadpan teenager.'Big Trouble' is outrageous fun for all, and this is a great comic ride..
The cast is great, and every character, and there are a lot of them, is memorably wonderful, including two of the most sympathetic hit men in cinematic history, one of whom is played by the ever terrific Dennis Farina.
Or better - I'd like to know, what films they regard as being funny, if not "Big Trouble".And my last remark - it's been a very long time since I've heard such a brilliant movie score as James Newton Howard had written for "Big Trouble".
It is for this reason most of all that they succeed.The strengths of this film are actors like Tim Allen, Jason Lee, Dennis Farina, and Tom Sizemore.
Whether you agree with this marketing philosophy or not, it does allow for success of a different kind, namely that it succeeds because it is so unreal that the viewer can laugh without getting disgusted by some of the characters.The things that detract from this comedy are some weak supporting actors.
While this movie is sidesplittingly funny, I found most of the humor as a big "inside joke".
The plot of a Russian arms trader working out of a small Miami bar gives the opportunity for a group of characters including a drifter, a maid, few high school kids, a couple of hit men, the fbi, the local police, a corrupt business exec, a couple of small time crooks and an ad man to all become entangled in the same search for a stolen weapon.
Like a very good host at a very good party, he doesn't need to be around a lot for the film to be a success.Kudos to Zooey Deschanel, Jason Lee, Janeane Garafalo and Tom Sizemore for strong supporting roles.
Even if you don't like Tim Allen, even if there's something tiny in it you think might bug you, don't fear; you'll love this movie.
Lots of film buffs I know turned their noses up at this film saying it was too pedestrian but I loved it.Tim Allen's opening sequence ridiculing the advertising business in Florida set the pace.It never let up.Although some of the characters seemed stock their funny moments and scenes more than made up for that deficit.Worth mentioning are the scenes with Stanley Tucci playing a greedy demented businessman suffering a frog fixation.While this ensemble cast works successfully together my Oscar vote goes to Dennis Farina.Along with the warhead he literally stole this film.Several memorable lines of dialogue including a radio call in show commentary were side splitters.Other scenes to remember include those with a Russian arms dealer/bar owner, a homeless man who resembles Jesus and a couple of mentally deranged ex-cons.
The actors are great (especially Tim Allen and Zooey Deschanel) and it just makes you laugh (with running gags as well as with jokes and 'standard' comedy)!
This film is a quirky adaptation of a Dave Barry novel with surprisingly well-written characters and blisteringly funny dialogue.
BIG TROUBLE ***+ Comedy / Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld / Written by Dave Barry / Tim Allen, Omar Epps, Dennis Farina, Janeane GarofaloTake a pair of professional assassins, a couple of stupid criminals, two policemen, an ad agent and his son, Russian bar owners, a family, Jesus, a nuclear bomb, a cane toad, and a truckload of goats, shake well, and turn them loose in Miami.
I've never read the original novel by Dave Barry, but the movie makes the book look appealing..
Barry Sonnenfeld proves that he has a tremendous talent for timing and his cast, especially Zooey Deschanel, Johnny Knoxville, Andy Richter, and Jason Lee, prove to be more than able puppets in this smart and slick comedy show.
One of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time, full of Dave Barry's off-beat sense of humor and downright silliness.
Big Trouble is no different, as dark and funny as a movie can be.
Other films that have done this with great success have been "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and the most recent "Gosford Park" I most enjoyed the hitmen characters played by Dennis Farina and his side kick and the Big Burly Cop. Mr.Uxo's Take: 4/4 stars, As good as any dark comedy can be..
The cast is hilarious, the ironic situations that keep popping it up expertly written, and the one liners and running gags keep you laughing throughout the whole movie, even the few that weren't in the novel.
Tim Allen, Patrick Warburton, Tom Seizmore, and Stanley Tucci were all hilarious in this movie.
The cast is huge and includes some of the funniest people around; Andy Richter, Johnny Knowville from MTV's Jackass Tv show, Stanley Tucci (who is absolutely brilliant), Dennis Farina (who is deadpan funny), Patrick Warburton, Rene Russo and Tim Allen (who plays the straight man to all the other character's comedy.) The story is about how all of these people's lives come together over one night in Miami.
The film makes you laugh at least once a minute and I literally laughed so hard in one scene (when Tim Allen and Rene Russo) "Declare their love" for each other.
reminds me of some of Westlake's funnier, quirkier stuff, like "Why Me".I laughed out loud, which I don't often do at movies, and I *loved* the supporting cast.I'm disappointed that some reviewers have let September 11th make them hypersensitive about anything involving explosives or an airport.
There aren't any actual terrorists in the film, no Arabs or other Middle-Eastern types with evil on their mind, just silly characters.This was good, comic fun, and when it comes out on DVD, it will be a welcome addition to my collection..
If you're looking for a movie that pokes good clean fun at some of the issues of today, while making you laugh, you're in the right place.Grab a box of Goobers, a large popcorn with extra butter, a non-diet drink and set your slightly big butt in a comfortable seat.
This is one of them.When I saw he played a former humor columnist for a Miami newspaper I immediately thought Dave Barry, one of the funniest guys alive, but I had no idea the movie was based on a novel of his (thought he might have written the screenplay, though).Everyone in the cast plays his or her role to perfection and it's just nonstop laughs and fun.
Then the normal father Elliot (Tim Allen) who has a son who thinks he's a loser.Also the banker who's stolen money who the 2 hit men are after, his wife who's interested in Tim and the plot continues with a large suitcase which contains what isn't a garbage disposal.Highly entertaining movie, non stop in less than 90 mins, so many ridiculous moments, the actors lines are hilarious, backed with great acting.
it's good clean fun with no strings attached.I began to chortle and chuckle from the very start and although I was never moved to belly laughs, it did lift me and kept me smiling throughout...what more can you ask of a simple comedy?I actually watched twice and saw a lot of references that I'd missed first time.
The story is told at a fast pace so keeps your interest with lots of simple gags.I particularly enjoyed the moment when the character Puggy is mistaken for Jesus!!It's a great shame that this filmed bombed due to its post 9/11 timing.
Tim Allen has wonderful understated timing as a comic with his non-commital style.Don't expect to be moved in a Schindlers List fashion, but get this film if you want a good giggle..
Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Ben Foster, Dennis Farina, Stanley Tucci, Janeane Garrafolo, and Tom Sizemore all star in this laugh out loud comedy about how a (seemingly) easy hit-job goes terribly awry.
Tucci is one of the best character actors, you always believe he is who he's playing, and Allen is just always good at delivering those quick-witted lines.
This movie has a great cast, a very stupid story line and everything else that makes a crazy comedy.
I was in the mood for a laugh and having seen Tim Allen is a few films, I decided to try Big Trouble.Being from Oz, we hadn't heard anything about this flick and I knew I was taking a gamble.But it was a gamble that paid off big time.
From the start, Jason Lee is delightful as the innocent bystander drawn into an insane story by random acts of fate.Allen was great with his quiet yet hilarious character who was offset by Foster as his overly sarcastic, yet still lovable son.The highlight of the piece however for me was Dennis Farina.
I enjoyed seeing him in Snatch and Out Of Sight and he played the grumpy, easily annoyed hitman to perfection.A great ensemble cast, including Stanley Tucci, Janeane Garafolo, Rene Russo and Tom Sizemore, added truckloads to this outrageously funny comedy.With great lines and characters, Big Trouble is certainly worth a look.Easily Worth 4.5 out of 5.
Frankly, I have not laughed this much throughout the entirety of a film since 'The Ref'.If you enjoy subtle comedy, this flick likely isn't for you.
My Mother and I could not stop laughing.As soon as you got through one fit of giggles something else hilarious would come along!I noticed that there are a lot of big names in this movie.Stanley Tucci and Rene Russo to name two.
Jason Lee (Puggy) looks sort of like a Jesus character (was that intended?).This movie is absolutely hilarious.
It wasn't Shakespeare or Wilde, but it was most definitely amusing 80% of the time (which is more than one can say for most comedies).A great cast, a decent adaptation, not something I paid to see in the theatre but most definitely a fun rental, enjoyed by all I saw it with..
Part of what made the book so funny was Dave Barry's descriptions of the scenes and characters, plus what was going through the minds of the dog and the toad.
I couldn't imagine how this would be done in a movie.The movie was very funny, but I think that if you haven't read the book, you may have trouble keeping up with who's who...lots of very colorful characters, each with his/her own agenda.
I think that if I hadn't read the book first, I would have been lost - the pace of the movie is very fast.Characters are fantastic, and captured Barry's descriptions very well.
The movie was funny, but the book was HILARIOUS.
Once you get past that you will find a film that will make you laugh, force you to guess what is going to happen and think about how, at least, four separate sub-plots will join together at the end.Lots of minor star power with Tim Allen, Rene Russo, and a cast of second level stars that play their parts very well.
Florida football fans may not like all the jokes but I laughed until I teared up.Great movie fun..
The ensemble cast is really perfect, with multiple great performances from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Dennis Farina, Tim Allen, Renee Russo, and others.
Barry Sonnenfeld did better job than I would have thought possible in taking the highly convoluted plot from the book and making it eminently followable onscreen.While this is not destined to be a class like Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, or even There's Something About Mary, it is nevertheless a VERY funny film that the whole family will enjoy...if your family is the kind that likes slapstick humor and the Florida farce of Barry, Leonard and the rest of the Miami funnymen.
A big ensemble cast and fast pacing give this movie plenty of interlocking scenes - therefore, if you don't like one character, there's another character with a different story coming right along, so be patient.
Miami Herald comedy writer Dave Barry wrote the novel that the movie is based of off.
Rena Russo and Tim Allen nailed their characters, and unbelievably funny performances from Stanley Tucci, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Dennis Farina and Heavy D (among many others) make this one of the best ensemble comedies I've ever seen.
The funny thing about "Big Trouble" is that plot isn't the movie's winning feature (and I say that being a Dave Barry fan) so much as the direction.
Between the characters and comedic situations, this movie graduated from the school of throwing everything at the audience, and Barry Sonnenfeld does an impressive job making it work.
This film delivered in a big way; I got a lot of laughs and felt better afterwards.
This movie is just plain crazy and some of the stuff in it will really make you laugh, definitely watch this if its on comedy central again or rent it..
big trouble in Miami - a very funny movie!.
the cast was great, everyone of them; the script is good, the directing also; my favorite character was Dennis Farina's; as a matter of fact, i love Barry Sonnenfeld movies, in general, i really think that he is a great director and big trouble is one of the funniest comedy ever!
i think that Zooey Deschanel was spot on and Tim Allen was very funny too; and the movie was also a very good start on their careers for Sofia Vergara and Ben Foster; LOVED IT!.
The movie tries to replace comedy writing with a lot of quirky characters doing weird things in an interconnected crazy plot.
"Big Trouble" is a movie which will most definitely entertain you.
It's just hilarious and your laugh meter will be exceeded, or at least mine was.One thing that makes this movie so funny is the whole cast.
All the characters are simply hilarious and yet they don't have any more depth in them, that is not the case when it comes to a movie like this.
Talking about the actors, the whole cast includes Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Tom Sizemore, Johny Knoxville, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Omar Epps..
This also has to be the only good movie Tim Allen ever starred in.
Based on(and pretty much word for word with) Dave Barry's first non-fiction book, "Big Trouble", people who are not familiar with his writing style would not have enjoyed this movie.
This was a funny movie - the acting seemed right on - from seriously over-the-top for Stanley Tucchi to deadpan for tim allen - everybody seemed right on.Obviously it's not one of the "classic comedies", if it was you'd have heard of it, but it certainly deserved more than the fate it got!Rent it, you'll laugh!The only problem I have is with the McGuffin - but hey, whatever!
This movie is based on a novel by the humor columnist Dave Barry.
It had its funny moments, which really surprised me because I don't like Tim Allen.
Big Trouble is an interesting movie because of three things: 1) Its release date was delayed because of an airplane and airport scene involving a nuclear bomb, 2) it´s directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and 3) it has a really impressing cast.
I watched the movie on DVD a few weeks ago and I must say that I was quite disappointed.Big Trouble has a cast that consists of numerous familiar faces.
There weren´t any scenes in this film that really made me laugh, most of the jokes are just worth a smile.Big Trouble proves that even a talented director with an ensemble cast like this can´t save a mediocre script.
Big Trouble is one of the few movies where every scene is funny and it's difficult to stop laughing.
Read the book, you'll laugh out loud, and then watch the movie where the great cast will keep you laughing throughout the short film (85 minutes)..
While it is certainly not Barry Sonnenfeld's best work and not as good as the novel, Big Trouble has been unfairly bashed at every turn. |
tt0974536 | Chemical Wedding | Jack Parsons was a brilliant chemist and inventor of the rocket fuel used for the US space flight to the moon. He was also a fanatical believer in the Magic of Aleister Crowley the aging occultist who considered himself 'The Beast' incarnate.In 1947 Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard were performing Crowley's mystic rituals in a house in Pasadena, California. Parsons wrote excitedly to his occult leader, Crowley.'I have had the most devastating experience of my life. I have been in direct touch with One who is most Holy and Beautiful as mentioned in your 'Book of the Law'. First instructions were received through Lafayette Ron Hubbard the seer. I have followed them to the letter. There was a desire for incarnation. I am to act as an instructor, guardian, guide for nine months; then it will be loosed on the world...'Crowley wrote despairingly to a disciple about Parsons:It appears that he has given away both his girl and his money to this writer of science fiction and is now invoking the ritual to produce a MOONCHILD. I am fairly frantic...'Nine months later while being visited by two students from Cambridge, Crowley died of cardiac degeneration. Missing from his personal possessions was his pocket-watch. His funeral took place in the Chapel of the Brighton Crematorium. The final rites were performed by the novelist Louis Marlowe reading extracts from Crowley's 'Book of the Law'. The Brighton Echo denounced the whole ceremony as a Black Mass. In 1952 Jack Parsons was blown up in his laboratory in Pasadena. L. Ron Hubbard died on his yacht as leader of the controversial Church of Scientology.But did the issue end with these three deaths? Would Crowley, as he claimed, ever return from death to rule the world? Why did US astronauts name a crater on the moon after Jack Parsons? Is L. Ron Hubbard really dead? What had been generated by the ceremony in California that seemed to signal Crowley's demise? And what happened to the missing pocket-watch?Unanswered questions till, late in the twentieth century, when Dr. Joshua Mathers brought a 'state of the art' interactive suit from Cal Tech California to Cambridge in England to be hitched up to the Z93, the biggest super-cooled, super-conductive computer in the world. | cult | train | imdb | If you have read anything by Crowley, the Satanic Bible, or Marquis de Sade, this movie will fall along those kind of lines and not upset you too much.
Most of the movie is about spouting Crowley's rhetoric, with a few deaths thrown in for good measure.
AKA: Chemical WeddingRating: 3 out of 5Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, OccultDirector: Julian DoyleStars: Robert Ashby, Jared Ashe, Terence Bayler, Antonia Beamish, Esmé Bianco, Geoff Breton, Simon Callow, Jud Charlton, Lucy Cudden, Lily Dumont, Richard FranklinSynopsis: At an English academy the most powerful computer in the world is used to perform time sensitive experiments.
When an experiment goes awry and the spirit of Aleister Crowley inhabits a professor participating in the experiment.Thoughts: I could explain the plot but I can't really do it justice.
The detailed script written by the director and Bruce Dickinson (from the metal legends Iron Maiden) is pretty good with you enough twisted Crowley debauchery to keep you engaged.
As you can guess a horror film that borrows from the depraved life of the "Wickedest Man in the World" gives you such perverted pleasures as orgies and canning.
I was torn when I watched this film - on the one hand, it's a very average film, mostly confusing and random, sometimes poorly acted (and sometimes not) and of a subject matter that I am very critical; on the other hand, if you view it as a (relatively) low-budget, British B-movie it's actually quite good.
But the production and direction of the film is commendable.The basic plot of the film is that Aleister Crowley, "the wickedest man in Britain" (in the early part of the last century - I doubt he'd rank above "dirty old perv" these days) manages to get reincarnated into the body of a Cambridge professor (played by Simon Callow - by far the best part of the film) and starts a 4-day (?
I'd still watch it though, just the once.I realise that this constitutes a critique rather than a review, but it's difficult to sum up what happens in the film other than what I've just said - it's a bit random, and if you're into thelemic mysticism you'll probably enjoy it, but unfortunately I view the whole subject as occultism for people who are too scared to throw off the shackles of catholic Judaism, and compensate for their reticence to abandon Christianity for something more pure with an unhealthy interest in the Christian devil.
I would not pay too much attention to our American friend's review.One surely cannot have an opinion when he knows nothing of the film makers main character, who's nature and role, played an influential part in the world of the occult!
I could make a few assumptions that would lean on inadequate notions but lets get back to the film.I found it quirky and at times a little to jazzed up.If you're into magik you will adore any scene that features the beast.If you are not into the man or magik, than it's not really for you.You will just end up writing something silly like the gentleman from America and start waffling on about politics!.
The premise was interesting though a bit convoluted.The acting and directing were acceptable.The one thing that ruined this film for me was the sound editing.
As one might expect from Crowley (and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson), chaos ensues.My background on this film was mixed.
I found the idea very clever and original, Simon Callow's portrayal of Crowley to be flawless (especially playing two diverse characters), and the film's pushing of the limits to be a welcome surprise.
The film takes place in 2000, so the Internet should be available, and even without it, any occult book should have one of the more common photos (such as with Crowley wearing the pyramid on his head).
This was so bad it makes Dee Snider's Strangeland look entertaining.The actor who plays the reborn Aleister Crowley seems to be the only person having any fun.
I don't know much about Crowley but this guy seems more like the reincarnation of the Marquis De Sade.Quickly, his actions become tiresome and repetitive.
The character's motivation for what he's doing becomes lost in the endless sea of Mumbo Jumbo and fake science.In the end there is a smug attempt to try to get the words "social commentary" into people's descriptions of this movie and gain a little favor with left-leaning critics and probably radical British clerics as well.
After all, this is a movie!Do not feel bad if this over your head, but not everything can be as silly and foolish as Avatar and the likes....If you have ever been interested in the occult, then is for you.
Both pioneers in their way, both fully aware of the other, sharing an initiate in the shape of controversial 1940s American rocket scientist Jack Parsons.A film featuring Crowley and L Ron arguing the theological toss would be a fascinating prospect, but although the association is alluded to, and quietly dropped, that's not what we get here.Instead Chemical Wedding is a campy horror farce with sci-fi trappings (think Prince Of Darkness meets The Lawnmower Man) from the Iron Maiden man.
Some might call that gilding the lily.The plot: dashing American scientist Dr Joshua Mathers (Weber) brings his astounding virtual reality suit to Crowley's real-life alma mater, Trinity College, Cambridge, to be linked up to supercomputer Z93.
And emerges with a newly-shorn head, and a predilection for wild orgies (complete with naked violinists), the whole world domination jag - and sacrificial scarlet women, with whom to facilitate the ultimate occult ceremony, the eponymous 'Wedding'.This being a Dickinson script, Aleister is soon roaming the city hypnotizing young women into taking all their clothes off: inquisitive red-headed 'Varsity' reporter Lia (Cuddon) had better watch her back and front.
The self-proclaimed Beast 666 was practically a one-man PR machine in any case and Kenneth Anger's experimental shorts aside, it is genuinely surprising that there has been such a dearth of biopics or related features about him.As evidenced by the studious press notes, Dickinson and director Julian Doyle are obviously in thrall to their subject - few self-respecting metallers aren't - and have done some homework, with character names, for example, taken from real-life Crowley associates.
Anyone that has any real knowledge about the life and work of Aleister Crowley will recognise in this movie nothing whatsoever of any merit.
Given what a filthy, perverted, deviant 'beast' Aleister Crowley was, it's not surprising to find that this film, in which the influential 1920s occultist is a central figure, is packed full of all kinds of depravity.
without an in-depth knowledge of sexual magick and the philosophy of Thelema (Crowley's religion), the majority of this film will probably make no sense whatsoever (although I also suspect that even devout Crowley acolytes will be non-plussed by most of what they see).My limited knowledge of the subject matter certainly meant that I didn't have a clue what was going on for much of the time, and I found the stuff about the super computer and the virtual reality cyber-suit even more inexplicable; this inaccessibility led to utter confusion which ultimately led to utter boredom, despite such lurid weirdness as Simon Callow sending a very unusual message via fax, a whore nailed to a door (hey, that rhymes!), Callow peeing over his students during an unconventional lecture about Shakespeare's Hamlet, and a pan-sexual satanic orgy featuring people doing all manner of unspeakably naughty things..
The story is that Aleister Crowley is reincarnated in the year 2000 and gets up to stuff, which involves urinating on students, crucifying cats and stealing other people's clothes.
Crowley's goal in the movie is to perform a ritual called Chemical Wedding, but it is never made clear what exactly the ritual involves, or why Crowley needs it.
The movie uses a lot of big words it obviously doesn't understand, probably in an attempt to impress viewers that are even more ignorant, but succeeds only at being an incomprehensible jumble of occult and scientific concepts.
Well, as much as I like Bruce Dickinson as a musician, I can't say the same about his movie producing skills.
The story had some interesting parts, the script made me think about many Iron Maiden/Bruce Dickinson songs, but other than that, I think any of us here might have done a better work.
Nothing new to offer as plots go, really.Finally, I didn't think the soundtrack matched the scenes at any given time and I would much rather listen to Dickinson's music outside the context of this movie!BUT...
On the whole I like this movie because its about the only film I know that deals with Alaistor Crowley - an incredible man who is long overdue for a major film of his life.
Unfortunately the makers of this film go for the easy option and make Crowley into a right evil sod..........killing people whenever it takes his fancy.........all in pursuit of the "chemical wedding".Now in reality Crowley sounds like he was a man to be feared and avoided but he didn't go around killing people - despite all the newspaper garbage of the time about him being the most wicked man in the world, etc, etc.
However despite those reservations its still quite an unusual film and well worth seeing - even if its just for Simon Callows marvellous OTT turn as Crowley.
I thought at times the movie was more gratuitous than it needed to be for no good reason...
I also got confused at the end, but to be fair it's probably because the copy I watched was scratched during about three minutes- right at the climax of the movie.I thought it was interesting though.
If Bruce Dickinson writes another movie, I'll watch it...
Well it's finally here.a lot has been written about Bruce's first effort in cinema.I think it's not a bad film-confusing in places and i'm still undecided on the ending and if i've worked it out correctly!There is a LOT of quotations and science and physics mentioned in the story and some of the cinema goers in my sitting looked baffled by a lot of it.Basically the story involves the reincarnation of the spirit of Aleister Crowley(the so called Beast) in the body of stuttering professor Haddo at a Cambridge university.How this is done involves some sort of Dr who type space suit and some computer binary programme of Crowley's mind.Haddo is played by thespian Simon Callow and he is without question the best thing in this film.He really revels in playing the part and he has to do some pretty wild things like urinate over his students,shave a prostitute and masturbate whilst being caned to invoke a spell.The film has a 70's feel like Hammer Horror and is going to be classed as a cult film for sure.There are some very funny moments mixed in amongst the debauchery and for the Maiden fans some metal mixed in with George Formby!
You can tell it was made on a limited budget as the camera-work could be better and the editing seems a bit mish mash in places(possibly because of cuts made)Director is Julian Doyle more known for his work with Monty Python and he co wrote the script with Bruce.Bruce himself makes a few cameos in the film.Lucy Cudden who plays Leah I think will go far.A great newcomer who has the right mix of vulnerability and sexual magnetism.John Shrapnel as Crowley at the start does what is required.The rest of the cast are largely forgettable although Porridge fans will recognise the adult Symons!
The film is about the reincarnation of the legendary Magus, Aleister Crowley, (dubbed the Wickedest man in the World) who has influenced such varied people as the Beatles, Charles Manson and Winston Churchill.
The film opens in 1947 as the ageing Aleister Crowley, played earthily by John Shrapnel, is visited by a young initiate, to plan an important life saving ritual.
(I checked this on the internet - all true) Crowley's rage at Hubbard fires off a heart attack and he dies.We then fast forward to the end of the 20th Century, Cambridge University, where scientist Dr Joshua Mathers is about to integrate a super-cooled computer, with the human brain.
But assistant programmer, Dr Neuman, is an obsessive follower of Aleister Crowley, and has reduced his occult rites to a series of quantum equations.
Crowley always claimed he would rise from the dead and from this point on Haddo, begins playing out all Crowley's most bizarre rituals, from his orgies involving Sexual Magic to showing his distaste by crapping on the Dean's desk.
(supposedly the original Crowley's calling card for his enemies) The central part of the film is almost impossible to describe since it moves from theories of quantum physics, to occultism, to conspiracies all with a wonderfully outrageous central performance by Simon Callow.
Finally, concealed in a Masonic Temple, Haddo plans to perform Crowley's most powerful rite, the Chemical Wedding, to fix himself in time.
There then follows a wonderful battle between ancient magic and modern science, which results in a twist ending that would be bad to reveal here.Aleister Crowley was weird, knowledgeable, funny, gross, intelligent and extremely entertaining.
This is a film about the reincarnation of the influential Occultist, Aleister Crowley, as such it must be almost incomprehensible without an understanding of the man who was called the 'Wickedest man in the World'.Crowley was born in 1875.
It is here that the film begins with a visit to the dying Crowley by Symonds a young initiate.
Crowley went one better and announced he was the reincarnation of Eliphas Levi, Count Caliastro and nine others going back to the Chinese sage Ko Hsuen.The film divides into four days each one headed by the title 'Day 1', 'Day 2' etc..
It is believed that Crowley made several attempts to beget a 'Magical child', none of which worked and instead he fictionalised his attempts in a book called "Moonchild".
The name Haddo comes from the Somerset Maughan novel 'The Magician' based on Aleister Crowley - who sometimes used it as a pseudonym,Every event in the film mirrors a Crowley story.
In the film Mathers spits out the drink, which is why he doesn't get involved.Central to the film is the extraordinary performance of Simon Callow as this complex character, who gloried in his notoriety, calling himself the Beast 666, performed obscene rituals of Sexual Magic and trips to the Astral plane to meet his spiritual leaders; yet wrote sensitive poetry, was a master chess player, a champion mountaineer and astonishingly studied Quantum Physics.It is this clash between science and magic, which gives the wonderful twist ending to the film.
The uncertainty principal suggested that only when the experimenter opens the box does he know if the cat is dead or alive.The film does take Crowley's nasty side to an extreme, obviously for dramatic purposes, but I am sure the old scoundrel would have loved it..
Decent Low-Budget Film, but helps to know the subject matter.
The filming was actually better than I had expected it to be given the low budget, and the acting, while nothing particularly mind-blowing, was more than passable.The actual premise of the movie could have used a little work, especially with the science aspects.
But, apart from the virtual reality suit and the often obscure, misapplied physics concepts, the creators did moderatly well with the necessary subject matter, though perhaps a bit more research could have been done.Some things the average viewer may like to know after viewing the film, to show that it was, perhaps, better thought out than they might have previously thought are as follows: Crowley did indeed have an assistant/student named Victor when he was alive.
This film pays homage to Samuel Mathers, Crowley's enemy and head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, by having him be, in a sense, reincarnated to finish the magical battle against Crowley.
The chemical wedding was quite exaggerated in this story, but one can easily find information on that as well.Another important note: this film heavily exaggerated Crowley's "evil side." It is said that the worst thing Crowley ever did during his life was crucify a frog, and it would have been quite absurd for him to kill a human as flippantly as in this movie, as that would have directly violated his own moral code.
Crowley was indeed a white magician, which made it quite absurd to see an inverted pentagram of satanic nature (the letters at the points) during the ending ritual of the chemical wedding, or inscribed in blood upon the wall.A question I had at the end of the movie: the creation of the moonchild was said to have occurred in the late 1940s, so how is Mathers so young?
Probably better as a book, fails as a film.
In a nutshell, a virtual reality suit is programmed with the rituals of Aleister Crowley and the spirit of said Crowley goes on to inhabit Professor Haddo who goes through a major transformation.
The film starts to feel like a series of mini lectures about the background of all things scientific and occult and, whilst interesting, it really does start to get in the way of plot and pacing.
What follows are a bunch of lame sex scenes (God, the Brits can even make SEX boring!) The movie has a nice little bit of social satire- That they hit the reset button at the end and announce Crowley might have gotten out in an alternate universe, which is now more evil...
From the lead singer of Iron Maiden comes the story of a science experiment that goes wrong and puts Alister Crowley into the body of a mild mannered college professor.
I don't know what it is but this film just doesn't work.
First the science lab stuff feels like a bad TV movie.
The other problem is Simon Callow as the professor who becomes Crowley. |
tt0395972 | North Country | Josey's life leaves much to be desired when we see her waiting by the Christmas tree with her pre-adolescent son and younger daughter, alone in the house. Her husband drives up. And we next see her lying on the floor bloody after hes beaten her. At that point, she wastes no time packing up her stuff into her pick up truck and moving herself and the kids out of there never to return. They move to her parents home in northern Minnesota. This living arrangement is not much better. At the very least, she and the kids are safe from her husband. But the minute her father observes her face, he has to ask her if the husband caught her with another man. He clearly has no respect, whatsoever for his daughter. Her mother, more nurturing (played by Sissy Spacek), encourages her daughter to reconcile with her husband and take him back, without regard for the fact that he is abusive. Neither parent has a clue or any respect for her.Josey works temporarily washing hair in a local salon when she runs into an old acquaintance, Glory (Frances McDormand), who informs her that there are some good paying jobs available to women at the iron mines. Knowing that her father works there, Josey realizes that applying and working there will not go over well with him. But Glory informs her that she would be making as much as he makes. Realizing she doesnt have too many options, that the iron mine job pays 6 times what she makes washing hair, she has kids to feed and she cannot live with her parents forever, her choices are pretty clear. So she goes and applies.Of course, before they can hire her, they have to do a pelvic exam in order to prove that she is not pregnant. She and the kids move in with Glory and her husband after she's applied for the job. Next, we see her and the other women at their orientation. Her supervisor makes it very clear that he does not approve of women doing the type of work that they are hired to do. And he answers the very obvious question of why, in that case, does he hire them in the first place? He clarifies to them that the Supreme Court mandates that the company hires women whether he likes it or not. And given that the guys are forced to let the women work with them, we can clearly see that they are determined to make their working environment unbearable all the while they are there. The first thing that is revealed is the reason why the company requires the pelvic exam for all women before they start. The supervisor all but spells out that it is completely unrelated to any medical protocol.When the women start working, they get introduced to their shift leader who is clearly relishing the opportunity to abuse and sexually harass them. And Josey looks at his face and remembers he is Bobby Sharp, her old high school boyfriend. She also remembers an old teacher she had many years ago who observed the two of them together.When the women start working, they see pictures and profanity with their names written on the walls. The guys talk filthy and intimidate them. And they discover obscene surprises in their lunch boxes and lockers.Josey goes and talks to the supervisor about the unacceptable working conditions. But he clearly states to her that nobody wants her there and nothing is going to change. So what can anybody do?It looks like not many people intend to quit. What other jobs pay enough to live on in a town like that in the 80s? Josey finds herself making enough to get a home loan, buy a house and provide all the stuff that her kids want and need.There is an uphill battle for the company to provide porta-johns for the women. Glory explains to management that it takes women longer to use the bathroom than it does men since they must pull down their overalls and cannot simply whip it out within seconds. And as soon as there is a porta-john for women, a worker named Sherry goes to use it. They guys stand around and inform her that they have taken a big dump in it before she enters. When she goes in, they surround it and tip it back and forth. And they knock it over with her in it. The filth spills all over and she is hurt and very traumatized. But what can she do about it?At that point, Josey is determined to do whatever it takes, including taking a day off work to drive into the city for a formal meeting with the owner, Mr. Pearson. He tells her he will "help" her by arranging for her immediate resignation. But she protests that she does not intend to quit. Hearing that, Pearson concludes in that case, she needs to spend less time stirring up her female co-workers, less time in the beds of her married male co-workers, and more time developing her job performance. These are the accusations that not only the company charges her with. But all over town, rumors go around that shame and disgrace her in front of her kids, parents, friends and co-workers. Her son tells her she is a whore and disrespects her. He is only responding to what he hears about his mother.One day, things get way out of hand at work. The women are all called to clean up a big filthy mess which looks like defecation on the wall. And Bobby calls Josey to do a job for him. She goes with him to a private place and he attacks her. At that point, she announces that she quits. She goes and finds a lawyer she's met through her friends (Woody Harrelson). She tells him she wants to file sexual harassment charges against the company. He tells her that he does not want to get involved in it. Although he is not disputing anything she says, he warns her that she will be ripped apart in the courtroom and they are not likely to win. But he later reconsiders and asks if she can get the other women to corroborate her story so they can file a class action suit. At first nobody wants to help her. Glory, who at that point, is in the hospital, dying from Lou Gehrig's disease and not able to work anywhere anymore, is not about to help her and she demands Josey leave her alone. Josey, then asks Sherry who asks Josey what if they lose? She will have to go back there and face those sons-of-bitches. She knows they can get away with doing whatever they want. The others conclude the same thing, realizing its easy for Josey to make noise since she no longer has to work there. But one night, Josey enters a town meeting with her lawyer. All the guys are sounding off about the false charge shes made against Bobby. The women are also at the meeting and none are arguing. But Josey demands they let her talk. And lo and behold, her father comes to her defense after hearing the way these people are trashing his daughter. And he gets up and announces although he's worked with them for his entire life, he is disgraced by them and very proud of his daughter.Josey and her lawyer start the court hearing even though they are presently alone. Her former co-workers are all present in the courtroom after having been asked to sign affidavits that she is lying. Pearson has hired a woman lawyer who does not hesitate to rip Josey apart, asking her about her sexual history and the fact that nobody else believes what she is alleging happens at the mine. Yet the lawyer has privately warned Pearson that he may not win his case. All it takes is 3 plaintiffs to bring charges against him and new sexual harassment laws will be in effect all over the nation. Throughout most of the trial, nobody speaks up except Josey. The lawyer has even subpoenaed her old teacher with whom she has been accused of having a sexual relationship when she was 16. She realizes the only witness of her involvement with the teacher is Bobby Sharp, since he was her previous classmate, present right before the teacher raped her. Bobby obviously knew what happened yet did nothing. And to this day, he affirms that she was not raped. She chose to have sex with the teacher. But others know better. Josey's father suddenly stands up and goes to physically attack the teacher for raping his daughter. And he gets removed from the courtroom for his outburst. Josey's lawyer finally coerces Bobby into admitting that he had witnessed Josey's rape and had run away as he was too afraid to stand up for her. Josey's lawyer then makes a speech that a courageous person stands up for what is right, even if they are alone, like Josey. At that point, Glory suddenly motions, from her wheelchair, in the back row of the court-room, that she backs Josey. Josey's lawyer reminds the judge that they only need three plaintiffs to file the class action. And they now have two. At that point, Sherry stands up. Then the woman beside her stands. Then we see many people all over the courtroom standing including both men and women at the mines and Josey's parents. Next, we see her life back on track. Her teenage son plays hockey with her lawyer and he wants his rich mom to buy him a car. She reminds him that he is still too young to drive. But when she is driving him home, she decides she will teach him to drive. It looks like she is finally living a life of quality and being respected. | romantic, flashback | train | imdb | The sound effect and country-feel soundtrack are quite good too.Charlize Theron deserves all the recognition she got for giving a strong, confidant and heartfelt performance as the brave hard-working and headstrong Josey Aimes.
Though 'North Country' isn't without its share of flaws (it is a little preachy and sometimes too dramatic), it brings forth some important themes well enough and with the support of good direction and strong performances, it's worth watching..
There is a whole confluence of constantly orchestrated pressure applied against all female miners intended to get them to resign.Charlize Theron (Who won the Oscar for best actress in MONSTER in the role of the only female serial-killer in U.S. history, Florida's Aileen Wuornos) as expected, is absolutely magnificent as Josey Aimes, a woman whose only motivation is wanting to provide a better life for her two children.
Gradually, her unshakable character, her unparalleled courage and the enormity of the injustice committed against her finally begin working in her favor.North Country at times does exhibit some rather lethargic moments, but the cast and the quality of the story are so outstanding that is easy to overlook this minor flaw.
I hate to give North Country a relatively low vote because this is such an important issue, and I appreciate the good intentions of director Niki Caro, and the A-list actors who no doubt took a big pay cut when agreeing to take a role.On the other hand, I feel disappointed, a little angry, as well as insulted as a woman that this hugely important story was made into a melodrama that flattens out what really happened, and somehow manages to diminish the political nature of sexual harassment, even while seeming to highlight it.At least 90 percent of the problem had to do with Michael Seitzman's script.
The manifest absurdity of the last 15 minutes of the movie undermined (for me) what was otherwise another excellent performance by Charlize Theron and the usual outstanding work of Frances McDormand.
Her career, her life and her family are all sure to be affected as things reach breaking point.North Country is inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson, which details the landmark case of Jenson V Eveleth Taconite Company that changed the sexual harassment law.There is always a danger in film land that serious, based on facts topics get too much of a Hollywood sheen.
When divorced,single mom Josey Aimes(Charlize Theron,who's definitely NOT afraid to get dirty or uglified for a role)begins work in the rural Minnesota Taconite mines--where her father(Richard Jenkins)has worked a long,secure job--even she isn't prepared for the kind of mental,verbal and physical abuse she and her fellow women receive from the fellow miners who(surprise!)don't cotton well to ladies working in the pits with them.
She soldiers on for a number of years before she finally has had enough and decides--after being already ignored by management when she complains--to quit and bring a class action suit against the company,fully aware that she is almost alone in this pursuit,save the somewhat reluctant help of a local lawyer and former hometown sports hero(Woody Harrelson).I wavered on what rating to give this show for these reasons: the acting and visual direction of this film IS,I must confess,quite good.
Credit practically the entire cast for the former,and director Niki Caro and cinematography of Chris Menges for the latter,but the overall tone of this movie is 1)very familiar stuff tot the point of reeking of "TV Movie" material, 2)manipulative by a mile, 3)hits on each emotional note--from the sort of "Girl POwer" quiet assertions of the film's script to the overt nastiness displayed by nearly all of the males working the mines--almost in a perfect cue; 4)the fictionalizing the stories,then mixing the time-lines from the actual case the movie and the book it was based on (namely,Jenson v.
Eleveth Mines,filed in 1984,settled in 1998;whereas the film is set in 1989 and almost instantly flips to Septemeber 1991,circa the Anita Hill/Clarence THomas hearings,with the events-to-case trial time relationship murky at best);and 5)the sort of "feel good" third act denouement where the town,once boorishly stubborn against the idea of women working in the mines to being stirred by Ms.Aimes' case.
An extra storyline of Aimes being raped in school and thus affecting,at least partly,her condition as being a troubled single mom who has a murky knowledge(or lack thereof)of the paternity of her equally troubled son is probably the most emotionally authentic storyline in this movie,but it feels mixed in for purely embellishment sake in this story,thus calling into question just how much this movie truly represented the true events being retold.A famous saying says what good intentions pave the way to,but I think in this case good intentions pave the construction of a film that is underwhelming and somewhat disappointing.
The three main actresses did a phenomenal job in the movie, and I do not think the film would have been as successful if Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, and Frances McDormand had decided to not be involved in this project.
The feel-good feminism of Niki Caro's *Whale Rider* from a couple years back becomes a passionate tirade in her new film, *North Country*, based on the landmark sexual harassment case involving miners in the northern Minnesota iron mines.
Despite the fictionalization, the movie serves as a timely crash course on how recent the legality of women's safety in the workplace actually is: the characters in the film watch clips from the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings.
A big, bold actress, dangerously beautiful, she attacks the Powerful Moments with great confidence, leaving all that subtlety stuff to the rest of the top-notch cast, which includes the likes of Spacek as her mother, Richard Jenkins as her father, Frances McDormand as her union rep pal (with a toned-down *Fargo* accent), Sean Bean as McDormand's injured husband, an atypically credible Woody Harrelson as the lawyer who takes on Theron's case, and Linda Emond as the mine's attack-dog defense lawyer.
The obvious case here is Jenkins as Theron's dad: for most of the film he's forced to be an unfeeling, heartless character, who stews in shame about his daughter and doesn't support her when she's suffering at the mine; conveniently, he does an about-face at the union meeting hall, bringing down the house with a great speech that castigates the greasy-haired apes in attendance ("I don't have a friend in this room!").
Charlize Theron is Josey Aimes, a single mother of two children who moves back home to Minnesota after her boyfriend gets abusive, and has to start working at the mine to earn a living.
When she's put through all sorts of indignities from the mine's male workers, she gets a lawyer (Woody Harrelson) to help her file a class action suit against the mining company for sexual harassment.After watching the trailer for North Country, I thought the film was going to be a very bad feminist movie but it's a lot more than that.
This movie, based on the true story of female miners who sued their company to get equal rights in the workplace, suffers from a malady that affects most true-story movies, and that is that its characters are either REALLY GOOD or REALLY BAD for 80% of the movie, then some of the bad ones magically see the light in the final scenes, this redeeming themselves and helping the hero(ine) to win the day.Charlize Theron dresses down again, somewhat, as Josie Aimes, a single mom of two kids (by different fathers) who leaves her abusive husband to live with her parents.
Much of the movie deals with the (sometimes literal) crap that Josie and the other women had to go through, although she's the only one with any kind of gumption to do do anything about it.Theron's pretty good, although this isn't a "gettin' ugly" kind of role like that of Aileen Wuornos.
The real-life drama concerns Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron), a married mother-of-two who leaves her abusive husband for the snow-swept hinterlands of Northern Minnesota, there to take up residence with her taciturn iron-miner father (Richard Jenkins) and soft-spoken mother (Sissy Spacek).
But Josey is not the kind to just turn-tail and run; she goes to management, which demonstrates no desire to shake-up the profitable status-quo by addressing the gripes of a single ill-treated woman, and when this doesn't work she turns to a down-on-his-luck lawyer, Bill (Woody Harrelson), who agrees to bring her case to court as a class-action suit, provided she can convince more of her harassed female co-workers to take up the cause.Movies like North Country are inherently patronizing - not just because they depict lower-class people in a hollowly ennobling, often stereotypical way, but because they're made under the assumption that the gist will not get across to average people unless the factual story is dressed-up with melodramatic plot-movements, emotionally explicit acting and direct preaching.
Living with her parents and wanting to make things better for herself and her children, she takes a job at a thriving Minnesota iron mine where only a handful of women work under constant oppression and harassment from their lascivious male co-workers.
From the repetitiveness of scenes, from the hideous obviousness of the story's heading, the cheesy drama and the superabundance of clichés which signifies the new Hollywood benchmark of how many can fit in a feature film without actually snapping its cinematic waistband.Apart from the acting, which was uniformly outstanding, this movie is a joke from A to Z.
Niki Caro's follow up to her wonderful "Whale Rider" is full of good intentions, but it's a poundingly monotonous film.Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, poor mother of two who goes to work in a northern Minnesota mine where women are decidedly not wanted.
She and her female co-workers suffer all manner of mistreatment from the men, before Josey takes a stand and brings a class-action lawsuit against the mine, the first sexual harassment class-action suit in legal history.This film obviously follows in the footsteps of "Norma Rae" and "Erin Brockovich," though you can tell it makes an effort to stick to the gritty realism of the former rather than the slick phoniness of the latter.
And poor Frances McDormand is saddled with a thankless role, that of the token dying character who the script hurries into a wheelchair only so that she can make a maudlin surprise appearance at the end of the film.If you watch the documentary that's included on the DVD of "North Country," in which the real-life women who lived this story discuss their experiences, you will realize just how inauthentic a film this is.
If you know the story and the outcome, both of which are well known to most people; or even if you just watched the trailers and can imagine the outcome, then you have just about it all - the movie doesn't offer much more.Yes, as could be expected, the acting was good by the main characters, but there were no spectacular performances.
While the story is indeed one of grand intrigue, the direction and screenplay are extremely manipulative (there are so many Oscar-bait scenes in the courtroom and at union meetings), and so the viewer gets the most rewards out of watching the actors and actresses give it their all.Charlize Theron is absolutely fantastic in the lead role.
And so, this explains why "North Country" is an astonishing film, beautifully acted and I'm willing to bet will be nominated for perhaps 10 Oscars this winter.What can one say but that Charlize Theron is one amazing actor.
Charlize Theron plays coal mine worker Josey Aimes, who works in a mine in Montana where it becomes a place of hostility and sexual harassment.
North Country is the true story of women working in a mine in northern Minnesota who were harassed by their male co-workers and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Here's yet another film that began promisingly only to fall into a typical Hollywood formula and end up as just another run-of-the-mill courtroom drama.And given the talent involved director Niki Caro, actors Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins and Michelle Monaghan you'd think any of these people would have realized the story was giving up any sense of realism for the sake of unbelievable "movie" moments.This is Theron's second unglamorous role after her Oscar-winning "Monster" (2003) and she's awfully good.
At least, when the story actually matters, when it brings out the plight of Josie and her co-workers.I've not read Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy's book, "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." But as the end credits indicate, Michael Seitzman's script seems to be only loosely based on the book, or to use Hollywood lingo, "inspired" by the book.I have no doubt some of the more despicable acts by the male miners and they're disgusting actually happened.
North Trash is More Like It. North Country (2005) * 1/2 (out of 4) A woman (Charlize Theron) goes to work at a mill where she becomes the target of physical abuse and sexual harassment so she files a lawsuit (the first) against the company.
But being good for cast reasons doesn't make a film good; "North Country" is a regular piece.Some decades ago, women started working in the mine industry, a common territory for men to support their families and a well paid job.
One of them, called Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron), was violently attacked, and she couldn't stay quiet; a fact that provoked a trial, the rejection of some and the admiration of others.Josey had escaped from her husband, who abused her, some time before; with her children Karen and Sammy (an impressive portrayal by the young Thomas Curtis), to go and first live with her parents Hank (Richard Jenkins) and Alice (the always great Sissy Spacek) and then with her friends Glory (a terrific and centered performance by Frances McDormand) and Kyle (another solid job by Sean Bean).
North Country is a good film about a working class woman trying to support her family in the face of sexual harassment from the miners at her job.
That's what makes it a great film.I consider North Country to be among the best movies I watched in 2005.
"North Country" mines "The Accused" and "Norma Rae" tradition of crusading women with tarnished reputations in small towns, in this case to remind us just how recently sexual harassment has become a legally recognized taboo.Director Niki Caro spends a lot of visual time establishing the beautiful and isolated snowy setting of the Iron Range of northern Minnesota (and yes we do hear Bob Dylan's "Girl of the North Country" among many other tracks from the area native, as well as a Cat Power cover as the sole female voice).
This immersion in a tough environment of real people in a complex web who know each other from multiple connections at school, work, local bars and hockey games keeps the film from strident didactism.Yes, Charlize Theron is beautiful, as well as a convincing actress, and the film does effectively, and sometimes quite movingly, show what it's like to be at the receiving end of male attention when you're the Barbie-playing, prettiest girl in town from high school on, and how that can hurt a woman's self-esteem and expectations.
While time and visuals are spent on touches like offensive graffiti, calendars, jokes, potty parity, groping and condescending managers (and it's disappointing that these facts of life and a past abuse flashback give the film an R rating rather than a PG-13 so that younger teens can't see the movie easily), the film scarily demonstrates how lack of solidarity in a tough job leads to physical danger as well, when PC-ness can otherwise be mocked.Frances McDormand, revisiting her "Fargo" accent, subsumes herself superbly into the best friend who deals in her own way with the job and personal issues.
In present times, that fact just is, with a recent study showing four in ten households with children under age eighteen make more money than their husbands across America.Try going back in time and telling that future fact to the arrogant, prideful male mineworkers in Niki Caro's North Country, who react with animal-like dominance upon meeting Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron).
After repeated slandering, vicious torment, and instances of sexual harassment, Josey finds Bill White (Woody Harrelson), a local attorney who can hopefully help in filing a class action lawsuit against the minefield and hopefully establish something resembling a women's rights division in the workplace.This kind of material lends itself to film.
It can be only partially forgiven for the way it toys with its focus onto something of lesser importance in the long run.NOTE: This review was read before my Business Law class my senior year of high school in 2014.Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Michelle Monaghan, Jeremy Renner, Woody Harrelson, and Sissy Spacek.
This is the story told in the award winning film, North Country, which graphically shows the horrors these women had to face at work on a daily basis.
Based on the book "Class action: The story of Lois Jensen and the landmark case that changed sexual harassment Law" by Clara Bingham e Laura Leedy Gansler , North Country (2005) tell us the story of the character Josey Aimes greatly performed by Charlize Theron.
The movie is inspired by the true story of some women working in a mine, having to suffer any kind of humiliation and sexual harassment by men, and having to struggle every day to defend their dignity, and above all their salary.
It is better than the first two but not to the level of the latter.Charlize Theron nails another Oscar worthy role as Josey, a working class mother struggling to just do her job at a coal mine dominated by men.
The story is dedicated to all women who fought against the sexual discrimination and harassment at work.Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) is a strong-willed single mother who get job at the mines. |
tt1060249 | Drona | Drona is the compelling modern tale of one man's spectacular voyage through the labyrinths of mystic myths and legendary legacies. As good and evil clash in this contemporary fantasy fable, a breathtaking journey beckons you into a world of mythic heroes and malicious magicians, of cunning curses and absolute innocence.A world, where spells can turn live-flesh to cold stone. A world, whose whispers lay closely guarded in a land of mirages. A world thriving with thrills, a world of mystical magic, a world where adrenalin bursts out into a riot of colours. A world of audacious adventures, a world of fantastical folklores.Drona is a slick, twenty first century tale that travels across continents but is profoundly and proudly Indian.Plot OutlineFrom the times, when time itself was a newborn baby, the universe has kept one secret carefully camouflaged within its folds. A secret, which if unraveled, could unlock the destruction of mankind and the entire cosmos.Today, only one man can protect the universe's precious secret and thus, save the human race from absolute annihilation.DRONARooted in the vibrant tapestry of Indian mythology, Drona is the compelling modern tale of one man's spectacular voyage through the labyrinths of mystic myths and legendary legacies. Of a journey that will force him to face his fears and make him the hero he was born to become.As good and evil clash in this contemporary fantasy fable, a breathtaking journey beckons you into a world of mythic heroes and malicious magicians, of cunning curses and absolute innocence. A world, where spells can turn live-flesh to cold stone. A world, whose whispers lay closely guarded in a land of mirages. A world thriving with thrills, a world of mystical magic, a world where adrenalin bursts out into a riot of colours. A world of audacious adventures, a world of fantastical folklores.The world of Drona! | good versus evil | train | imdb | Even the music is pain to the ears, the location crap, the computer graphics too fake, the costumes a shame to the Indian film industry and finally an acting worst than first time auditions..
Had I not been watching it with family and friends, I would have walked out.As I am talking to a director I am going to give you feedback on each aspect your film fails on and and suggestions.STORY: I read in your interview on how this story was so special to you.
You know I seriously got the impression that what you did was watch a few dozen Hollywood fantasy films, pick and mix whatever you liked and made a collage, not a film.All you did was lift the common Hollywood quest story for immortal elixir, plastered Indian names on it, and called it Indian.
Every time the hero appears, cue slow motion and take several shots from every angle of the hero posing with his sword raised making angry faces(which is what the hero ever did) Tacky costumes and sets rejected from a Hollywood film.
Perhaps you should have consulted the SFX technicians on the other Bollywood turkey Love Story 2050, they at least got the electricity effects to decent standards.The car-chase scene with some cut-in shots of a CGI car looked like they were from an older racing computer game.The particle effects looked like they were the test version of The Mummy.
SONGS: I am not going to say too much, they are like everything in your film, awful and misfits.ACTING: Well, you might have actually destroyed Abhishek Bachchan and Kay and Kay's acting careerIn short Golide, don't be surprised if you are nominated and win for nearly every category at the Bollywood Razzies this year.
Though Bachchans are having legendary status as far as acting is concern,but they don't have eye for good script,often miscalculate the effect of script, Drona -very good example of misjudgment by Bachchans.It is said that each and every movie signed by Abhishek first approved by his parents(Amitabh&Jaya).On paper story looks interesting,thrilling,action-packed but on screen its just opposite.Only positive point in movie is Priyanka Chopra,she leaves her mark by strong performance.In acting Abhishek is very poor as alwayes.
Yet he has to learn the facial expression in front of camera.Its better to watch "Krissh" forth or fifth time than wasting money,mood & weekend on Drona.
ZERO IN ACTING...ZERO IN COSTUMES...ZERO IN ANIMATION..ZERO IN ORIGINALITY..and the sets look so artificial that even a 2 year old can tell the difference.There should be an option of rating 0/10 on IMDb,b'cause this movie deserves a BIG 0..
May be he relied too much on his childhood friend Goldie Behl, the director of the movie, who could not deliver the goods for himself and his friend.Drona simply fails to generate any kind of interest right from the start.
Both the writer and director seem to be confused in what to make, a fantasy movie, a super hero movie or a super girl movie.The annoying fact is that Priyanka Chopra looks more convincing and gorgeous in her super girl get-up than Abhishek as Drona.
And I can bet that Amitabh, Jaya and Aishwarya, all being intelligent & experienced film personalities, knew at the back of their minds that this is not gonna work.Last Words : The only worth watching thing in Drona is, the fight sequences by gorgeous Priyanka Chopra in a well suited get up..
firstly I would like to recommend IMDb- the site to have separate rating scheme, where films such as this can be rated in negatives.my plot - On an unfortunate evening, I decided to watch DRONA.
The story, dialogue, acting, characters were all so terrible, poorly drawn out, stereotypical that I just couldn't bear to watch this one fully I walked out just as Kay Kay, who plays the villain, was introduced and hearing his hammy dialogue proved to be the straw that broke this camel's back.
Even the two points are only for the special effects that I didn't see (copied from a slew of Hollywood adventure films) and for Priyanka Chopra (who's entrance also I sadly missed).Apparently Goldie has already decided that he's going to do a sequel.
Lot of things in the movie has no direct or indirect link to the main story.Priyanka Chopra, I pity her.
This is seriously Chota Bachchan's tribute to his dad's disastrous TOOFAN(1989) The film is a mix of Cinderella and HARRY POTTER and makes no sense Suddenly it's shifted from a city to a desert Suddenly comes Priyanka to save Abhishek the truth of the Drona is a sleepy bore Even the mother- son scenes the romance everything is so dull, lifeless It makes KRISSH look a classic Seems like Bachchan wanted to compete with Hrithik hence this was like a way to satisfy his ego The film also looks like RUDRAKSH another terrible movieGoldie shows no progress since BISKH Abhishek keeps a bored look throughout, his look too is bad Priyanka is monotonous Kaykay overacts and resembles Amrish Puri from old films Jaya is bored.
An ordinary boy, who is adopted and lives in a distant town, who is constantly hated by his adopted mother and brother, finds out that he is not an ordinary person and has a female body guard, who takes him back to where he originates from where he meets is his mother.Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon and Jaya Bachchan, this is directed and co written by Goldie Behl.Firstly the songs come into my mind and the only song that is worth really mentioning is the very first one "Humko Mil Gayi," which is of jazz swing genre and is quite memorable.
The others not really worth mentioning.Abhishek still does look a bit on the unfit side and really needed to build his body for this role as a warrior but perhaps Hrithik Roshan may have been ideal for his physique as this does require a lot of action.
Unfortunately there was not much for Jaya Bachchan and Kay Kay Menon, who is a good actor, should have had his role as the evil Riz Raizada, sketched out in a more powerful manner on the script.
Unfortunately for Priyanka Chopra, who has performed her role well and does look good in action sequences, this is not a hit movie and I sincerely hope that her next movie, "Dostana" does better then this one and "Love 2050."Conclusion: This is a fairytale that has miserably gone wrong ..
Frankly speaking the day Drona was announced I was desperate to watch d movie....then about a year later its first trailer came...and yes it was awesome and I loved the VFX in the teaser....waited till the day it released...then next day extreme reviews abt the movie were published, some calling it bad cinema with VFX over substance and some as a breakthrough in Indian Cinema...bt doesn't matter reviews are not for ppl like me...
the VFX were so immature..m in no way comparing it to Hollywood...but it deserves to be compared with any other Asian or Indian movies....the animation quality in this movie was below expectations...the first big animated scene of the movie where Riz Raizada clones himself was pathetic...bad animation ...it looked like a ammature have been hired to perform this task...so were the blood droplets effects ....only the Sand Particles effect was good ...but rest were average....what the hell David Bush was doing...I believe he had worked on the movie in an unprofessional manner...
in the era where Bollywood is try to get near to Hollywood in terms of technology....such things let you down...Love Story 2050 had much better quality of VFX courtesy Sun Microsystems....So is the case with action sequences ..not exciting at all...except the first one with Priyanka.Now the story..the content was no different from any other average fantasy movie..bt what mattered was direction....which was Okay just like any good episode of Hatim(TV series on Star Plus) Director didn't succeed in creating an exciting environment which is required for such a theme...Though Goldie Behl must be appreciated for the thing that he didn't allow Priyanka-Abhishek love story to take over the real film......
And performances now...Kay kay Menon and Priyanka Chopra all the way....many ppl called Kay Kay as clown more than a villain...I strongly disagree.he was The JOKER...he was as funny and as good as The Joker from Batman series...Priyanka Chopra, first thing a well designed warrior look for her, she was awesome in all her action sequences and other scenes .
After Bachchan senior had starred in Bollywood's biggest flop till date which undoubtedly is Ram Gopal verma's Aag, it's now Abhishek's turn to better him with Drona, a localized blend of Harry Potter, The Matrix and some silly special effects stolen from Hollywood!
Surely, the fantasy trip of Drona is an absolute apology of a film.The story begins with a narrative of the origin of the vase of elixir that the gods left on earth under the safekeeping of a family of Royals who became ‘Drona’s.
A morose Abhishek living, probably in Prague has a chance encounter with sorcerer Riz Raizada, a wasted Kay Kay Menon, leading to a chain of events that bring him to India and Queen Jayati (Jaya Bachchan) with Priyanka Chopra playing his bodyguard Sonia.While you ponder over the weird name of Riz Raizada for a villain or an overused name of Sonia for Chopra, the story drags through from Europe to Rajasthan.
Chase sequences picked from Hollywood are not bad, but the poor background score makes it seem silly.To sum it up in Matrix Lingo, A bored Adi/Anderson is made to realize his nature by Sonia/Trinity just as he needs to battle with Raizada, an Asura and his men who are like agents.
How come Priyanka Chopra was looking so modern when actually she had a serious responsibility as bodyguard of Drona, since this is a mythology based movie.
Let me end by saying that if you have your expectations set right and if you like films in the line of LOR, this is definitely for you.
The fact that Im writing this review after 5 years of watching the movie in 2010 is enough to tell you people how much I hated it....Terrible story, awful casting , terribly bad acting, copying plots, attire the list is very long...what added to these was very poor sound quality of the theater where I was watching these movie with my family...I choosed to sleep rather than going though the torture....please never ever make such a low quality movie....I feel sorry that legendary Jaya Prada was casted in such a poor quality movie....I guess this is one of the worst movies bollywood ever produced..
Bollywood was able to create its first F-grade movie with a trash story, weird songs, unoriginal costumes (including a cameo with Naseeruddin Shah wearing a store-bought LOTR Gandalf costume), and unnecessary special effects.
If the movies are to be put in this ideology then we have to say that Drona, having a very good concept failed completely in its implementation.
Now Drona has to find out the way to Amrit and rescue his mother, and at the same time protect Amrit from Riz. The rest of the story is around how he finds the Amrit, the missing magical sword, and his struggle against Riz. The script writer and director has fallen in a typical Bollywood movie trap.
Still I feel he had done his best to sketch Riz. I specially amazed by his expressions in the last scene, where after killing Drona, he sees the light.
Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra in a sword and sorcery movie from Bollywood?
Alas for a fantasy film, there's nothing groundbreaking in its special effects, action sequences or story, and if some kind of benchmark was to be set, then this would likely be at the level of Krull, and even then, Krull had a more coherent and intriguing premises than Drona.In Goldie Behl's creation, Drona refers to the long lineage of kings entrusted to protect the Nectar of Immortality, which demigods of the universe had decided to hide on Earth, under the constant eye of their chosen protector.
And in order to push this Drona into action, it had taken the villainous wizard Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon) a diabolical scheme to freeze Drona's mom (Jaya Bachchan) into suspended animation, and thereafter some really convenient plot development that allows the audience to follow Drona around in a rescue mission of sorts.Drona's abilities actually don't come off as well-defined, and you would've wondered at the amazing ability of his to fight off his opponents through various wire-fu moves.
For a villain he had some of the best moments in being always one step ahead of the hero, until of course the decisive moment in the finale which was a real disappointment.No doubt Drona tried hard to be a one of a kind film in a genre seldom seen from Bollywood, but it contains more misses than hits, and lacked that fundamental quality that it's always about the story first, then special effects and action second.
I don't watch a lot of bollywood flicks , 'cause at most of the times, they really not just let you down, but kills you to very extent.But to be honest (though i was bored at moments) all in all I liked the movie.
only the very first song was annoying .Script was OK , a few dialog's were great , visual effects were crappy but priyanka and abhishek were good.
This movie is should be officially declared undisputed worst movie of all time this movie beats love story 2050 hands down i wish i could get my money back i hate my self for wasting 3 hrs of my life for this movie If could have my way i would ask for compensation for pain i have gone after watching this movie honestly this movie is that bad i tried real hard to like something about this movie but i failed to do so .My final comment if u really hate somebody make him watch this movie Rating -1/10.
Before the release I was hoping that it does not turn out to be like the rubbish Love Story 2050 because it is a high budget special effects movie with Priyanka Chopra in it but thankfully Drona turned out to be better than I expected.
Basically he is the only man who can protect the universe's precious secret and thus, save the human race from absolute annihilation.Drona may be like a Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones movie, but with an original story.Drona is loaded with top notch special effects and spectacular stunts.
The whole film was filled with pulse pounding excitement, visually impressive scenes, excellent background score and was filmed in exotic locations in Prague, Bikaner, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Namibia.Abhishek Bachcan and Priyanka Chopra who plays his bodyguard have learned the ancient Sikh martial arts form called Gatka for the movie and have done a really good job at it as well as their acting.
The movie starts with a boys living with family and was given trouble by aunt.he is unknown of his powers which he got from generation to generation.villain needs nectar.and only drona can find that,who saves that from many generations.
If bollywood still thinks that Indian audience is just a bunch of dumb asses, Please think again and again ...So I was saying, What do we get in the movie, Abhishek, who looks completely disinterested, his eyes looks like he had just woken up and hadn't had a bath since his childhood avatar.
We can say that only good thing was Priyanka Chopra, as she looks good and more confident and played her character well.Movie sets, may it be Raajpur or Villain's layer , they looks sooo cheap, that even TV serials are doing better these days.
You just know that OK now action is happening but actually nothing great is happening on screen, even the train sequence, that looks good in trailers, was a big big let down.
My mom and I decided to watch the movie and were quite looking forward to it, too, what with all the hype over the film in the media.
I'm giving this movie one star only because of Priyanka who actually looked pretty good, although even she failed to deliver in certain areas.
It doesn't have a real love story and it doesn't get into the depth of the characters.Priyanka looked throughout the film like a gypsy.
She does look Indian at the end of the film where she tells her son Drona's tale.
I could watch the film just because he looks so good.
Earlier this year the science fiction genre got a first with love Story 2050, but where Love Story faltered in ever way, being only watchable due to the fact that it was a science fiction Bollywood film, Drona actually has some substance going for it.
Regardless of whether you enjoy the film or not, there is definitely hinted at for potential sequels.The acting side of Drona is not as good as hoped.
Jaya Bachchan is underused, and Priyanka Chopra is not entirely up to scratch, though her performance is thankfully better then that from love Story 2050.
His character is similar to the likes of Kefka from the popular video game Final Fantasy 6 - he is a villain who seems somewhat maniacal, and Menon plays the part well.Drona's weakest aspects is definitely its special effects and music.
There are however a few gorgeous special effects spotted every once and a while, but for a big budget fantasy film like this, everyone once and a while just does not cut it.
Does not waste your time too much on the past events, just enough to fill you in on the story.I hated the music scenes that keep interrupting the movie. |
tt0272790 | Princess of Thieves | The film picks up years after the "known" events of the Robin Hood legend, centering on Robin's daughter, Gwyn, played by Knightley. As Maid Marian has died and Robin Hood (Stuart Wilson) is perpetually away battling in the Crusades, Gwyn has lived much of her life alone. She has grown up to be a strong-willed young woman with a talent for archery, much like her father. Her only friend is the sweet but plain Froderick (Del Synnott), who clearly is in love with her. Upon the death of King Richard the Lionheart, Robin returns to see that the proper man takes Richard's place as King of England. However, Robin is quickly foiled and imprisoned by his enemies, the Sheriff of Nottingham (Malcolm McDowell) and Prince John (Jonathan Hyde).It is then up to Gwyn to save the day. She must complete Robin's mission to find and protect the young Prince Philip (Stephen Moyer), who has just returned from exile in France to claim the throne not an easy task since he has decided to forsake his true identity and is travelling anonymously under his valet's name (who died en route protecting his prince). Though she does fortuitously cross paths with the prince, she is not aware of his identity for much of the film. With a romantic spark budding between them, they must find the Merry Men and join forces to free her father from the tortures of the Tower of London before the evil Prince John ascends to the throne and brings England to ruin. After freeing her father, Gwyn along with her father and Prince Philip stop the coronation of Prince John.In the end when Philip is about to be crowned as king, Gwyn with a heavy heart tells him that she can only serve and work for him and they cannot be together. Robin later explains that he stayed out of Gwyn's life to protect her from the life he leads, but it didn't make any difference because she grew up to be just like him anyway. He then proposes a partnership between the two of them to serve Philip, with the only condition being that she take her orders from him (Robin) alone. She agrees, and at the end they are seen together leading Robin's Men, side by side. | good versus evil, cult, action, murder | train | imdb | It's also great that they depict Gwyn and even the aging Robin as people who have a lot of spunk.
I thought the actors were all good, but I especially liked Stuart Wilson, who played Robin Hood.
He reminds me of Errol Flynn, who I thought played that part best in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, made by MGM in 1938.
The actors who played Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham were quite good, and I thought Kiera Knightley and the guy who played Prince Philip were excellent.
I'm glad the movie was made, because I always wondered what happened to Robin and Marian after King Richard's return.
I know that some of the actor's skills are a bit suspect, but some of them, like Keira Knightly, had began to show some of their true talent in this film.
Of all the made for TV Disney movies that came out recently, this is one of the best.
Keira Knightley is fine as the daughter of Robin Hood, and Malcolm McDowell is fine as the sheriff of Nottingham.
Like all the made for TV movies though, the film is somewhat too flat to make it a real movie, but Keira and crew do it justice.Check it out..
It is a weakly conceived, cheaply made film, and has none of the inherent pleasure of the original Robin Hood legends.
And many of the scenes are simply painful in memory (like the bad-guy speech right when he is prepared to kill an aging Robin, which gives the secondary hero an opportunity to regain his sword.
A real family action film - that is good, too!.
Kudos to ABC and Disney for making an MOW look like a real film.
I could watch Robin Hood's daughter and the middle-aged merry men every week.
The acting of Kiera Knightley was excellent, as was Stuart Wilson(Robin Hood) and Crispin Letts (Will Scarlett).
The script needed a bit of a touch up in places, but I don't think there is even one line of Robin's that I didn't like.
"You have egg in your beard..." he says to Prince John.The one thing that really bothered me in this movie was the sword fights.
They have no speed, no feeling, and I imagine that Bob Anderson would have had a fit with these.Apart from the sword fighting (and that annoying Pope near the end...), nothing really bothered me about this movie.
If you're looking for something to watch while holding the hand of your date, avoid this movie at all cost.
Laughable historically inaccuracies, poor script, laughable acting and hilarious story make this movie barely worth 2/10.
It's really good for a TV movie.
Laughable storyline, unconvincing plot, very poor production and the actors are not invested in the movie..
I only wanted to commend the reviewer kelley-8 who, in a review posted on 1 September 2001 - at the very least a full year before Keira Knightly made her breakthrough in Bend it Like Beckham, said "The actress who played Gwyn is beautiful and should have a long career." I was so impressed reading this.
A solid family friendly Disney Movie.
We rented this movie because my 5 year old daughter liked the DVD cover featuring a "girl with the arrow".
She had trouble following the storyline on her own - but I watched the movie with her and answered her questions.
With the combination of a female heroin and lots of action, she really enjoyed the movie.
Her 10 year old brother (who loves more advanced movies such as "Lord of the Rings") also enjoyed the movie.It's exactly what I expect from a Disney movie - interesting characters, lots of action and a simple plot line.
While not exactly a brilliant masterpiece, this movie is solid, steady entertainment.
Even though it's a "new" plot, they've kept a lot of familiar Robin Hood -themes in the film, including an archery contest and the same old villains - what would a Robin Hood -story be without Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham, after all?
Gwyn, on the other hand, won't have any of that nonsense, and is more than willing to prove that she's "just as good as a son".
The movie doesn't really explore medieval gender roles all that deeply, though - Gwyn dressing as a man is made slightly fun of, but there's no shock nor any disapproval of what might have even be considered sinful back then.
The clothes may be medieval, but the attitudes are rather modern, and in that sense this is a rather typical adventure film, that doesn't let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story.
Keira Knightley does a delightfully energetic performance as the tomboyish and almost recklessly fearless Gwyn, and adds a lot to the freshness of the film.
If you intend to watch this film because you're a fan of Keira Knightley, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
I didn't expect much from an unpublicised Disney "sequwl" type movie, but I'm glad i took a chance.
Having enjoyed Knightley's acting in several other films, and curious as to her performance in the lead, I settled down with the kids to watch it.What we found was charming, fast paced film full of the usual Disney comedy, twists and heroics.
Keira's boyish enthusiasm from Bend It Like Beckham is evident here too as she runs about with the Merry Men. The other most impressive roles were the villains, whose over the top yet convincing performances add to that Disney feel.i'd recommend any kids to watch it, or even an adult in need of a bit of fun..
Good family movie.
Good family movie.
The Princess of Thieves is a family movie and as such we enjoyed it for its lack of blood, less than fearsome fight sequences, and general lightness.
As the director says on the DVD, 'this is melodrama.' Since Robin Hood is a legendary character, it seems appropriate that any film about him not take itself too seriously.Anyone over the age of twelve will deem this film banal and simplistic, but for young movie viewers, this film is perfect fit to their sensibilities.
Watch this film with three unjaded, young girls and see how charming this film can be.
Granted, 'The Princess of Thieves' is not as memorable as 'The Princess Bride', but the intended audiences are different.We could use more good, light family movies like The Princess of Thieves..
I enjoyed watching this movie.
It is well made with an interesting script and good acting performances.
Basic themes are: teenage coming of age, taking responsibility and the danger of the misuse of power.The thing that really grated was the scriptwriters wilful lack of knowledge of the powers of English kings.Watch it, it's amusing entertainment but of little enduring value..
Peter Hewitt (I) must never have seen a wood door or he must think that in good old England, the wood doors must be something like todays done-in-a-day houses in US.Now, don't get me wrong, I like the story and all.
Gwyn (Keira Knightley) grows up under the tyrannical rule of Prince John for his absent brother King Richard.
Robin and Will are captured while Gwyn runs into Philip pretending to be a servant.This should a lot simpler.
The production is pretty good considering this is a TV movie.
Keira Knightley is great at such a young age.
It's a cute little movie with Keira Knightley as the daughter of Robin Hood, who is kind of a deadbeat dad.
The basic plot is that Robin is captured by the Sheriff of Nottingham (anything-for-a-paycheck Malcolm McDowell), so his daughter must complete his mission of protecting Prince Philip (Stephen Moyer), the heir apparent to the throne of England.
It's a cheesy little movie but pleasant enough.
I wasn't expecting much, being Disney and all that, but I really loved this movie.
we watched this movie in school and it was actually good.
i didnt realize that Gwyn was played by Kierra Knightley who is in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.
that made me go out and rent it again to refresh my memory about what a good movie it was.
Aside from the gross factual inaccuracies of this movie (ie king Richard having a son and that son replacing John on the throne) this movie was a sweet love tale full of adventure.
I'm sure that this movie will appeal to the younger generation of girls and boys..
A nice family movie featuring a 15-year-old Keira Knightley..
(No spoilers in the first two paragraphs.) Princess of Thieves (2001) takes the Robin Hood story one step forward.
As the movie starts we see a very young Gwyn, Robin's daughter, waking in the morning and, as she goes about her routine, she turns into progressively older girls until we see the Gwen of this movie, Keira Knightly at 15.
It was a good way to show the transition in just a minute or so of screen time.
We find out that she has not seen Robin, her dad, in some time and eagerly awaited his arrival.What I liked about the development of the story is that young Gwen did not kick butt right away, after she decided to follow in her dad's footsteps.
Even though she was only 15, a point dwelled on in the DVD's making of special, she was quite an accomplished actress, and held her own against the likes of Malcolm McDowell who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Stuart Wilson who was Robin Hood.SPOILERS in the remaining comments.
The story is one of the most predictable I've seen in a long time and the swordfights (if you can call them that) are beyond laughable, but nevertheless, both me and my SO spent an otherwise bored saturday night watching this made-for-tv drivel.
This movie is simply not as clever as "The Princess Bride" nor does it aspire to be, which works in some ways for its own made-for-tv charm.
My SO and I did get quite a few chuckles at several points in the movie, including the part where Froderick jumped in front of the Prince and saved his life (of course, the Sheriff happened to have only one arrow) and of course, the priceless "You got egg in your beard" line by Robin.
I think the accepted HappyEnding would be something along the lines of Gwyn and Prince William getting married and living happily ever after.
So instead of the accepted HappyEnding being what I wanted to see, instead I badly wished that SINCE Gwyn and Prince Charming couldn't marry, then over time, she "settled" for Froderick, who in my opinion was much more steady, sensible, handsome (except for the hairdo), and would make a much better husband.As it was, Disney settled for neither ending, leaving me rather frustrated - that is, only as frustrated as I get from watching a movie that didn't do a whole lot character-building-wise, or plot-wise for that matter.Overall, it's a movie that I can show to my kids and not be ashamed, for which I'm thankful - goodness knows there's few enough of those movies out there...
buuuut, as far as entertainment value and real, true, honest-to-goodness quality goes- yeah, look elsewhere..
I thought it was well acted and the plot was pretty good.
I won't watch it again, for myself it was just a one time thing.
If you invest your time in a movie then you should get the happy ending.
It was not one of her best works, but she still somehow made it seem very believable just like any other movie I have seen with her in it, but everybody else just made it look like a bunch of animal crap that people just step into by accident and get disgusted with it after you stepped into it :P.There was not enough dialogue between Gwyn and Prince Phillip for there to be any kind of relationship whatsoever, there was no spark between them!
I do not understand why Disney has to make the main girl character go with someone who is rich and handsome all because he is a prince.
It's like they just HAVE to put the girl with a prince when there is was not enough dialouge and not enough spark between them!
If anything, Gwyn should have been with Froderick because I could feel the spark between them more than with Gwyn and Prince Phillip because Froderick seemed to be more of the better man and more of Gwyn's type: brave, intelligent, and protective while, on the other hand, this was Prince Phillip's character: naive, cowardly, spoiled, and idiotic.Kierra Knightly's character had a slight development where in that one scene where her father and Will get captured, and Gwyn realizes how stupid it was to have followed her father, but she remained strong to get her father and Will back just so she could save the kingdom.
And both Prince John and Sheriff of Nottingham are not bad guys, in my opinion, they seem more like spoiled little princes just trying to get what they want when their mommies won't let them have what they want.Here's one question, though, before I am to close this review: Exactly how in the hell is Prince Phillip, a prince of France, the son of King Richard, a king of England?
Why don't you look back in the history book, so that you can actually make these things more historically accurate!If you want a good, historical accurate movie, don't watch this!
If you also want a very good and entertaining movie, don't watch this, not even for your kids!
** out of ****I'm still not sold on the talent or starpower of Keira Knightley, the teenage British actress who took audiences by storm in 2003 by appearing in three critically acclaimed films, Bend it Like Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Love, Actually (of the three, I only found Beckham truly enjoyable).
Princess of Thieves, apparently her first lead role (which she received probably because of her resemblance to Natalie Portman), is a decent outing as far as Disney television movies go (which are usually total crap), but it could have been one corker of a swashbuckler.The film tells the "what if" tale of Gwyn (Keira Knightley), the headstrong daughter of the Prince of Thieves himself, Robin Hood (Stuart Wilson).
But Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Malcolm McDowell) conjure a plan to murder Philip, thus leaving the kingdom to John's hands.Robin Hood is assigned to escort Philip to safety in England, a task Gwyn is eager to take upon herself, but is promptly refused by her father.
Princess of Thieves is a TV movie, meaning I should probably go a little easier on it when it comes to aspects involving production values and special effects.
Faraway shots of castles are obviously painted backgrounds and Prince John's army appears to consist of approximately two dozen individuals, not exactly a number that would set fear into the hearts of enemy soldiers.But when it comes to matters of acting and pure entertainment, the film is mostly on decent to solid foot, with the lead performers mostly impressive and the film moving at a fast and perfectly watchable pace.
It's a movie you could gladly show your kids, who will probably adore it, and you yourself could also watch along without too much fidgeting.
It's no surprise the best performances are delivered by seasoned thespians Malcolm McDowell and Stuart Wilson, but Keira Knightley is also competent as Gwyn, even if she remains an actress of very limited range.
Knightley looks well over twenty in this picture, even though her actual age was probably closer to fifteen (wonder if she'll always look six years older than her real age) and I can't even begin to fathom how she could possibly pass for a boy when her looks are so feminine.It's unfortunate Knightley has no discernible romantic chemistry with lead Stephen Moyer, who's kinda bland at first, but is also occasionally charming as the handsome Prince Philip.
Would you be surprised if I told you the movie includes a pointless subplot that's mired in teen movie cliché, with Gwyn's goofy-looking best friend sporting a crush on her even though her affections are for the prince.
To put it simply, they should have just excised this "love triangle" portion of the story entirely.As a swashbuckling adventure, Princess of Thieves is mostly a failure, with terribly choreographed battle scenes that are miniscule in scale.
And because the movie is aimed at kids, the running time is well under ninety minutes, resulting in a rushed feeling throughout the film, particularly in the second half, with the Sheriff inexplicably in the rebels' hands in the blink of an eye (all this happening off screen) or the sudden appearance of the rebel army outside the enemy castle gates.
I especially liked the archery tournament, even if its outcome was blatantly predictable.But it's hard to ignore what a movie this could have been.
Princess of Thieves is adequately disposable entertainment, but for a truly fun, funny, and romantic tale of a dashing prince falling for a beautiful commoner, see the far superior Ever After instead..
If you are planning for a Saturday morning movie to watch in bed while eating breakfast, then this is your movie.The plot was simple and interesting, Keira Knightley was cute and convincing and the location were they shot was beautiful.
There were some really old and amazing ruins from some medieval cities and then the forest and the Black Sea.The sword fighting in the movie was a mess, not convincing, not real at all, those men had no idea how to hold a sword, neither did Keira.
SPOILER I really injoyed and loved this movie I cant wait to get it in dvd.
I really like that they gave Robin a daughter but I dont know why that they had to make his wife die. |
tt0113347 | How to Make an American Quilt | In the present day 26 year old history graduate student Finn contemplates marriage. She decides to return to Grasse, California for the summer where eight members of a quilting group, some of whom she is related to, are sewing a free-form crazy quilt for her wedding.
=== The Flower Girls ===
Sisters Glady Joe and Hy (short for Gladiola Josephine and Hyacinth) are sisters who live together now that they are both widowed. Glady Joe was married to Arthur Cleary, but as the years wore on they discovered that they had more of a platonic friendship and the two stopped having sex.
In their 50s, James Dodd, Hy's husband, became ill with ALS. He soon needs to be confined permanently to a hospital. Hy finds herself thinking that she hopes he will die soon and becomes frustrated with herself, abruptly leaving the hospital. She calls Glady Joe's husband Arthur and orders him to drive her as far out of town as possible. Watching her take a nap Arthur is struck by her similarity with his wife and kisses her. Hy awakens and the two have sex. They then return to Glady Joe's home where she immediately realizes what has happened and becomes infuriated with her husband, smashing things and throwing them at her husband. She then begins to tile the walls with the objects she has smashed. Finally feeling she cannot forgive her sister Glady Joe goes to the hospital intending to tell James about the affair but seeing him and her sister together she has a change of heart and decides to forgive Hy and Arthur.
=== Sophie Darling ===
When she is 17 and diving at a public pool Sophia Darling is spotted by Preston Richards, a young college student. He asks her out on a date and she takes him to a quarry where he watches her dive and then the two have sex. Preston believes that he has fallen in love with her and tells Sophia he wants to be a geologist while she dreams of travelling with him and swimming all around the world. However Sophia is impregnated after her first sexual encounter and the two settle down in Grasse and both have unhappy lives, never able to travel the way they wanted to. The couple have three children; Duff, who wants to go to school and have a career, Preston junior who is very close to his mother, and Edie, who, when she is 16 also conceives a child. Sophia tries to force Edie to marry the father of her child but when she refuses she sends her away to have the child and then give it up for adoption. In her 9th month Edie runs away to live with Duff who now works in Chicago.
=== String of Pearls ===
Constance Saunders is solitary woman who married her husband Howell in her early 30s. Accustomed to being alone she was happy when they had no children and moved around because of Howell's job as a travelling salesman. When the couple moved to Grasse Howell eventually retired and stayed at home and while Constance was initially annoyed she later came to enjoy this period of their life. However Howell died shortly after leaving Constance alone. Dean, Em's husband, began to stop by her house after Howell's death, initially on the pretext of helping her with things around the house but later just to reminisce as they were both born and raised on the East Coast and missed the changing of the seasons. Though the entire quilting circle believes they are having an affair they do not, however one night as Dean is going home he turns on his car radio and hears the song String of Pearls and dances with Constance in the street, whereas she realizes she misses physical affection and backs away from Dean for a brief period.
=== Umbrellas Will Not Help at All ===
Em Reed is eaten up by jealousy believing that Constance is having an affair with her husband Dean though her friends in the quilting circle try to reassure her. Unbeknownst to them Dean, who is a painter, repeatedly had affairs throughout their marriage, at first with one of the students at the community college where he taught and then with some other women. The second time he had an affair Em left him only to discover she was pregnant. Dean pursued her throughout her pregnancy and they reunited when she was seven months pregnant. Unable to bear the thought of him having another affair with Constance, Em decides to finally leave but before she goes she enters Dean's studio which she has never entered before. She comes across portraits of herself throughout the years and realizes she cannot leave a man who understands her so thoroughly.
=== Outdoors ===
Corrina Amurri and Hy Dodd have their firstborn children, two boys, within weeks of each other. The boys, Laury Amurri and Will Dodd, grow up like brothers. Corrina, who married her husband Jack just before the Second World War is proud of her son, but upset, when he goes to fight in the Vietnam War. Will, inspired by Dean Reed, defers to go to college as an art student. Away at school Will begins to call Corrina. Jack meanwhile begins sleeping outdoors as his son being at war is giving him residual PTSD. Laury goes MIA and Jack tells Corrina he hopes that he is not taken prisoner as that would be the worse thing. Corrina goes to dinner with Hy where Will is home on vacation. Though his parents disapprove of him and think he is on drugs Corrina thinks they are lucky to have him at home and alive. When Corrina becomes overwhelmed she goes out to the garden where Will tells her that he feels as if he is missing his better half now that Laury is at war and he calls Corrina because he misses him so terribly. Corrina decides to leave the party and walk home. She and Jack later learn that their son was killed in action.
=== Tears Like Diamond Stars ===
Anna Neale is a mixed raced child of black and white parentage who is raised by her aunt Pauline who works as a domestic for a wealthy couple during the 1930s. Pauline has a family quilt which shows the history of the family which is called The Life Before. The Mrs of the house covets the quilt but Pauline refuses to sell it to her. She eventually caves when Anna is a teenager as she wants to buy her a telescope to foster her interest in astrology. Anna is horrified and Pauline comes to regret her choice, especially as the Mrs has the quilt mounted and Pauline must look at it every day as she cleans. When Anna is 16 she takes the quilt and runs away.
Anna goes to work for wealthy ranchers. When their young son who is Anna's age comes to visit he is enamoured of her and the two sleep together resulting in Anna becoming pregnant. Knowing that, because he is white, the rancher's son will never marry her she leaves again. She goes to Grasse where the Reubens take in "wayward girls" until they can have their children and give them up for adoption.
The Reubens have two children, Glady Joe and Hy. Glady Joe tries to befriend Anna and eventually succeeds, reading her Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, which Anna enjoys, and other works by white authors like Henry Miller and Leo Tolstoy which Anna does not. Pauline begins sending Anna stories by Zora Neale Hurston and other black writers and Anna reads them to Glady Joe.
Anna has her baby, Marianna, and does not give her up. She gets a job working as an accountant but is bored. When Glady Joe marries and has children she asks Anna to come to work for her and the two eventually form the quilting circle with Anna as the head quilter. Years later as they are looking at old family pictures together Anna regrets not allowing herself to be photographed more as she realizes that, despite her reluctance, she has come to be heavily involved with Glady Joe and her family. | romantic, flashback | train | wikipedia | When Berkeley graduate student Finn decides to spend some time away from her live-in boyfriend, and moves in with her grandmother and great aunt for the summer, while finishing her master's thesis, she gets an important and heart-warming lesson about love and commitment.
Finn's grandmother and great aunt are members of a quilting bee, and their group (whose members have known each other for a long time) decide that their latest project should have the theme of "where love resides." As the quilt is made, each woman remembers significant events in their lives which relate to love and the joy and pain that it brings.
Some of the women have been cheated on, some have done the cheating, while others just let love die.Along the way, Finn faces temptation in the form of Leon, a smoldering hunk who pursues her in spite of knowing that she is taken.
At the same time, Finn must come to terms with her parents' failed marriage, as she decides whether to accept her boyfriend's marriage proposal.Inspite of the pains that the women have suffered in the name of love, the movie does not in any way bash love or marriage (which has recently become popular).
The thing with American Quilt, which you will especially notice if you have already read the book, is that it has a lot of contents to deal with in the ranges of a feature film.
But Jocelyn Moorehouse obviously wanted to pack all the magic of the small stories of the women into this film, she wanted an entire quilt, full of bits and parts.
The serious young eccentric, a worried, messed-up hippie girl, confronts her future, her past and her present (dealing with gorgeous Johnathon Schaech chasing her with smiles and strawberries), when she dives into the life- and love stories told to her by the women in her grandmother´s quilting circle.
See the torture of love, the journeys of women and the revelations of grief and new beginnings, see what they hold dear, what will always stay with them, and learn what Fynn eventually comes to terms with: That life is not about perfection, it´s about balance, about putting the small things together, just like a quilt.
As she takes the summer away from him to write a thesis and stay with her Grandmother and Great Aunt, she finds them in the middle of making a quilt for her wedding.
For me it was never more than a series of plot devices stitched together (ha ha) to form an unsatisfying story.Winona Ryder is always a pleasure to watch.
The Alfre Woodard story is the only variation, and as a result, the only interesting one among them.And of course Winona Ryder's Finn has a similar problem.
There are only two reasons to watch this film: Winona Ryder's wonderful (as usual) performance, and Janusz Kaminski's spectacular cinematography.Ryder breathes life into Finn Dodd, portraying her as a charming, intelligent, and highly sensitive young woman struggling to define what love and commitment mean to her.
Like The Joy Luck Club and Waiting to Exhale, this film portrays men as little more than duplicitous, moronic, emotionally immature children who are incapable of either expressing true love or loyalty.
It is a completely shallow look at adult human relationships and has nothing new or profound to say about anything.As a male supporter of feminism and feminist artistic expression, it saddens me that films like this are, first of all, even made, and then marketed as movies that modern women should see and even cherish.
This adaptation by screenwriter Jane Anderson (novel by Whitney Otto) presents us with a character named Finn Dodd (Ryder), a 26-year old college student who has just gotten engaged to her long-time sweetheart Sam (Mulroney).
During her tenure, she continues working on her master's thesis (a project of which she continuously changes her topic), all the while listening to the quilting bee's romantic horror stories as they craft Finn's wedding quilt.
Little does she know that these two young women will remain in her life for years afterward, their interest and skill in the art of quilting mounting over the years by Anna's guidance.There is also the story of Hy and Glady Jo themselves and their unspoken bitterness towards each other - we learn that Hy is the reason for Glady Jo's `self-expression' all over the walls of the laundry room.
Where as once I could not relate, I find myself agreeing with many of Finn's thoughts and opinions on marriage upon becoming engaged - this includes a question in the very beginning that Ryder's voiceover poses to the audience: `How do you merge into this thing called 'a couple', and still keep a little room for yourself?
Winona Ryder is so-so (as she is in most of her movies) as Finn but she does manage to touch a few nerves with her dark and luminous eyes - those pretty peepers are half of her dramatic capacity.
Dermot Mulroney always seems to play a nice guy that gets taken for granted (The Thing Called Love, My Best Friend's Wedding, Point Of No Return, etc.) and he does it again here - actis repeatus, you might say.
Maya Angelou does fine as Anna and some of Gen X's more popular faces make brief appearances in supporting roles (Claire Danes, Samantha Mathis, Jared Leto and Jonathan Schaech).This film is a fairly even script-to-screen production and will please many that seek a decent character study.
Based off the Whitney Otto novel, How to Make an American Quilt shows the audience a confused woman and the journey she takes to find herself as she talks to the women in her knitting group.
If you like those kinds of "girl power" movies like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or Fried Green Tomatoes, you'll definitely want to watch this one.I don't happen to like those kinds of movies, so despite the large cast—Winona Ryder, Afre Woodard, Jean Simmons, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Maya Angelou, and Kate Nelligan—I didn't like this movie.
Winona Ryder spends a summer with her aunts while writing her thesis and deciding whether to marry her fiancée Dermot Mulroney.
The real pleasure is seeing a bunch of pros (Ellen Burnstyn, Anne Bancroft, Winona Ryder, etc) act with a talented then-unknown cast (Jonathan Schaech, Claire Danes, Mulroney, etc etc)...
I like romantic and affecting movies, and can even support feminism if it's presented in the right way, but it was obvious right from the start that this film was aimed at the fairer sex; especially women who are 'survivors'.I felt totally excluded.
An effort to try and make it appealing, regardless of what group you identify with, would have gone a long way.The only reason I tuned in initially was for a glimpse of the lovely Miss Ryder, most likely the source of that minimal male enjoyment I was talking about earlier.
From the needle of a great, star-laden ensemble, the patterns have been carefully but imaginatively sown into the wool - from a powerful exploration of human relationships to the torture of love, the journeys of women and the revelations of grief and new beginnings - there are many materials and colours used to form this quilt, and there is something that will appeal to everyone.
Just like an American quilt, you too seem to become apart of the amazing, cathartic story lines, which weave together to make this cinematic masterpiece.
How to Make an American Quilt is a nice comfortable movie, and unlike so many other films belonging to the 'coming of age' genre, it doesn't leave the viewer feeling emotionally drained.
This evokes something different for each of the women, all of whom - in artificially contrived tete-a-tetes - explain to Finn the story behind their contributions to the quilt.
None of the characters were boring, but they were predictable.This is the story of a young woman named Finn, who is working on her third attempt at a Master's thesis and has just been proposed to by her boyfriend.
Her grandmother, aunt and their quilting circle get together to make Finn's wedding quilt, and share stories of their past (and current) loves.Some of the acting is quite good; I especially liked Gena Rowlands and Anne Bancroft.
I'm sure the movie didn't do the original story justice.On the positive side, there is the nice use of flashbacks into different times and places; and I think this movie was just as much about how men relate to women as it was about women trying to deal with their men.This film also features Winona (once again) narrating herself; a technique that is beginning to wear on my nerves.
Though it seems apparent that this film could have gone in one of many directions, the director chose an enjoyable and fairly plausible one.Every one "cheats" in their marriage is pretty much the theme, but forgiveness completes the circle broken by infidelity.The story telling devices are simple---easy to follow and on some level "wonderous" to behold.
Filled with veterans, (Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Jean Simmons) recognizable character actors, (Rip Torn, Holland Taylor, Esther Rolle, Alfre Woodard), hot young adult stars (Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, Samantha Mathis), some up-and-comers (Jared Leto, Claire Danes, Johnathon Schaech), and a poet (Maya Angelou), How to Make an American Quilt is an inspiring movie about a young college student staying during the summer at her aunt's house with many of that aunt's friends sewing a quilt while sharing memories of their young lives that provide material for the young woman's college paper.
Bride-to-be Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) hears tales of romance and sorrow from her elders as they construct a quilt.Is this a chick flick or something more?
Then as the main plot line draws to a conclusion, the thread that binds these stories together resolves each individual facet, to complete the whole.Quilting as I understand it, is bringing many contributions together to create a final product.
(i.e. the "where love reside" them of the quilt.At the end of the day, I expect a movie such as this to tell a good story.
So putting all the artistic crap aside, this movie had a nice little story, and it was a decent way to spend a few hours..
They talk about Finn's quest for discovery, or lessons she learned but fail to tell you what the lesson is.Most of the women in the movie have been cheated on.
Finn suspects her fiancee is cheating (but the movie never bothers to find out for sure) Finn's aunt slept with Finn's grandfather (both aunt and grandmother are in the quilting circle) One woman's husband is a serial cheater, and one of the other women in the circle is one of his conquests.
Who would you choose?"The movie takes many flashbacks as it tells the stories of the various women's heart breaking pasts.
Quilts are patch works, but I would like a story to have better flow.Finn is a mess of neuroses.
I spend most of the movie wishing Finn would move the story along quicker instead of talking about essentially the same thing over and over again.
You find yourself both loving and hating the choices that Finn, and the many other women in the film have made.
The film portrays in narrative and relatively long flashback sequences, the life stories (from the 1940-1990 time period) of the various characters weaving a quilt for the main character, a young soon-to-be-married girl.Several story lines were a little sad, but there was a reality to the portrayals.
Winona Ryder, Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Alfre Woodard, Rip Torn, Kate Nelligan, Samantha Mathis...
Winona Ryder plays a 26-year-old Masters student who decided to take a break from her fiance by finishing her sociology thesis on American culture and writing it on her grandmother's (Ellen Burstyn) quilting bee.
She plays Finn Dodd, a Berkeley grad student writing her thesis on the lives of the quilt makers while debating a marriage proposal.
From a woman's point of view-and this film is clearly from a woman's POV-I suspect she is correct.The quilt symbolizes the human institutions and the social and political bonding that enable women to collar their animal nature and live in harmony with others.Memorable are the oaks and the orange groves and the rolling hills of the California countryside; a black crow that hops; a wind devil that tumbles a white plastic chair and blows the pages of Finn's thesis out the door; and an old Ann Bancroft stoned on marijuana and cognac.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!).
How To Make an American Quilt is a 1995 movie whose plot is based on a novel.
The idea of Finn is to take a time to think and escape her grandmother's house over the summer with a plausible excuse, for working on her master's thesis.
The movie is not only focus on Finn but also on the stories of several women.
During Finn stay the house, she is told and shares their story.One bad thing of this movie is that it is not for males because it is mostly about woman.
The quilt is a gift for Finn's wedding, and is a labor of love among a group of women whose lives are intertwined in the northern California wine country, each of them sewing a panel that expresses the theme, "Where love resides." But love resides in many different places among these women from sisters Glady Jo and Hy, entertainingly played by Bancroft and Burstyn, who are exactly the kinds of aunts anyone would like to have in their family, to the prickly Em (Simmons), and the unconventional Constance (Nelligan).
This movie centers around a young woman, named Finn, who has cold feet about getting married and so cheats on her fiancé.
You see the grandmother and her sister belong to a group of women who are making a quilt for Finn.
Near the beginning of the movie, Finn (played by Winona Ryder) offers this rather drab and depressing observation: "love sometimes dies." Well, sure - and I suppose most of us have been present at its death at some point in our lives, but I don't know that I want to have to be in on the autopsy afterward.
Finn is a young college student writing a master's thesis who gets engaged and then promptly heads off to stay with her grandma and aunt and their friends for an entire summer while they make her wedding quilt.
They've all failed at love in one way or another (or, more usually, the men they loved failed them) and they end up getting poor Finn to the point of wanting to back out on her own wedding.From my perspective none of the performances here were particularly memorable (including Ryder's) and the characters not all that interesting or memorable.
Finn learns how making life choices is much like making a quilt..
It really is an exceptional story and the movie treats it very well.The main character is played by Winona Ryder who unfortunately is often known mainly for her shoplifting conviction, but she is a good actress.
The ladies are making the quilt for Finn but at the same time she is uncertain about her choices.
That distraction was of course the stories of the magnificent women of her grand-mom's quilt making beehive.One thing I didn't like though in the film was how self absorbed and immature the leading character is.
At movie's end, Finn presumably decides it's time to fergit all about that there professorin', settle down and have some babies.The problem with this film is obvious.
When writer Winona Ryder goes to visit her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) who is living with her sister (Anne Bancroft), she becomes involved with the women who are part of an annual quilting bee.
This sweet and touching drama is the story of these group of women who help Ryder through a rough batch as she decides whether or not to return to her fiancé (Dermot Mulroney).
Ryder learns each of these women's stories, usually involving the men in their life, and each of those tales surrounding their influence in their parts of the quilting will be an influence for her as she discovers her own destiny.The Oscar Winning Burstyn and Bancroft are gems together as sisters, facing their own past as Bancroft married the love of Burstyn's life and watched the two of them fall back together.
The dignified Maya Angelou tells of her aunt's own quilt, which surrounded the crow that lead her to the love of her life.
Women's own film about love and relationships, commitment and infidelity.
Unless you point to her and say, "that's Ryder", I wouldn't know her at all.Of course, this movie answers the question "can men and women be friends"?
I realized that this movie has a kinda of "Steel Magnolias" & "Ya-Ya Sisterhood" feeling about it: phenomenal ensemble cast (who more than outweighed the lackluster performance of the "lead"), diverse story lines, and I also like the fact that not every 'story' had a "happy ending" in the traditional way, but that every woman did come to a place where she felt comfortable experiencing her own version (good or bad) of 'where love lives' - be it in a daughter's heart, a lover's arms, a sister's forgiveness, a mother's admission of her faults, a stranger's kiss, or even in your fiancé's van..
Finn Dodd is spending the summer with her grandmother, great aunt and their quilting bee supposedly to finish her master's thesis, but in reality to think things over after her boyfriend proposes.Once she arrives she finds the quilting bee is making her a quilt based on their own experiences with love.
It is never clear why Finn makes the choice she does, and this is the ultimate weakness of the movie, along with the fairly predictable flashbacks showing the various ways these women have been wronged by men. |
tt1103153 | Killers | After a break-up with a spontaneous boyfriend, an overly cautious Jennifer "Jen" Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl) travels to Nice with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara). While going into an elevator to go to her hotel room, she meets Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher). Spencer asks her to dinner and she accepts. The scene then changes to Spencer sneaking onto a boat, putting a cellphone-triggered bomb on the bottom of a helicopter, then taking out a guard. He then swims back and goes on the date with Jen.After a night of drinking, Jen reveals that she's not the spontaneous person she's been pretending to be and in return Spencer bluntly tells her that he's an assassin, albeit unhappy about being one. Unfortunately she's already passed out and hasn't heard. In spite of this, Spencer decides that Jen's the woman he's been looking for and decides to marry her. When Spencer tells his boss, Holbrook (Martin Mull), his plan, the response is that quitting is not an option. Spencer is defiant and goes ahead with his plan.Three years later, they are settled into their new normal life. After Spencer surprises Jen with a remodeled office, she gives him a birthday surprise: tickets to Nice to celebrate his birthday and their three years. Because of his dubious connections to Nice, Spencer is less than enthusiastic. When her friends ask about his reaction, they take it as signs of that he might be getting bored and fill her head with doubts.Meanwhile, Spencer gets a postcard from his old boss and the ultimatum to take another assignment. While trying to refuse him long distance, Jen's father shows up to take Spencer to dinner, so Spencer hangs up the phone, prompting suspicion in Mr. Kornfeldt. This is fueled further when Jen's dad sees the postcard and quizzes him about the XOXX (hugs and kisses), being odd coming from a former boss. Stopping home to change, Spencer finds that the dinner invitation is just a detour to bring him to a surprise party. While Spencer navigates drunken friends, Jen's friends continue to fill her head with doubts over Spencer's lack of enthusiasm for the Nice trip. This is further irritated, when the following morning, despite her attempts to be physical with him, Spencer rushes Jen off on her business trip.A little while later, Jen comes back (without having gone on her trip) to find Spencer being tossed around their house by Henry (Rob Riggle), Spencer's friend and co-worker. Spencer screams for her to get his gun (of which she was unaware) and she shoots the attacker in the arm. While interrogating the attacker, he reveals that there is a $20 million bounty on Spencer's head. An unidentified sniper takes shots at them, and Spencer and Jen flee. After escaping, they go to a hotel room where Spencer's old boss is staying, but find that someone has already killed him. Jen demands that they go to her dad for help, but Spencer disagrees. In the middle of their argument Jen vomits, and declares that she might be pregnant.Heading back to his office for Jen to take a pregnancy test, Spencer is attacked by his secretary (Katheryn Winnick) and realizes that there are others who know about the contract. Jen then reveals that she is pregnant and is leaving Spencer. Left alone, Spencer is attacked by a UDE driver, who is killed by Olivia (Lisa Ann Walter), Henry's wife and another killer vying for the contract. She then attacks Spencer and is killed by an explosion, after Jen rams her car. The two discuss their possible future and return to their neighborhood, which is holding its annual block party. When they first arrive they are attacked by two assailants. They escape and head to the block party. As they walk through the block party they receive many suspicious looks from neighbors. They enter their house to retrieve guns and their passports. Spencer is grabbing the guns when he is attacked by two assassins who he eventually kills.Meanwhile, one assassin, Kristen (Casey Wilson), one of Jen's best friends, holds Jen's mother as a hostage in a Mexican standoff with Jen. Jen's father arrives and kills Kristen. He then explains that he was the one who put out the bounty on Spencer. He knew of Spencer's previous work, and hired the neighbors and co-workers three years before in case Spencer started working for his old boss again, who Jen's father says had "gone dirty." After seeing the postcard from Holbrook in Spencer's office, he came to the conclusion that Spencer had re-accepted his old job and activated the assassins. He reveals that he had been an operative as well, and that he was actually the target Spencer was supposed to kill in Nice three years earlier.Wanting to prove that he really did get out of the business and had no desire to kill her father, Spencer drops his gun. Jen, now convinced, turns on her father and reveals her pregnancy. Realizing that he will be a grandfather, Jen's father also puts down his gun and the family makes peace. The movie ends showing Spencer and Jen's father working on some wires near Spencer and Jen's baby's crib. Spencer and Jen then leave to let Jen's mom and dad babysit. They all leave the room and when they close the doors lasers turn on to protect the baby. | boring, murder, flashback | train | imdb | Little did Jen know though, that three years later, the ghosts of Spencer's old job will come and wreak havoc on their seemingly perfect suburban life.This is the first movie of Katherine Heigl that I have seen.
Let's start of with saying that Robert Luketic knows how to direct, the pace in the movie is good, he never takes this film to serious and he know how to film a couple of good scenes.Katherine Heigl has shown to us that she can be funny in comedies, check the ugly truth if you need proof.
"Killers" is a romantic comedy action film, but starts out by failing on all accounts.Katherine Heigl plays the romantic comedy lead, she got the sexy part and at least tried on the funny part, but she was a very disjointed character that at times was really hard to care for or relate to.
Ashton Kutcher played the action lead, and he got the sexy part but was very awkward when he tried to play the romantic comedy lead.The film then spent around an hour showing us their boring suburban life.
But Ashton Kutcher proves a likable leading man and a pretty cool action hero, which raises this to the status of decent popcorn movie.
Newly single Jen, played with no charm or skill by Katherine Heigl, is on vacation with her parents when she meets her ideal man Spencer, just about acted by perennial action figure Ashton Kutcher.
I was feeling bad for all the actors involved, but least for Kutcher and Heigl who seemed committed to forcing a laugh out of intensely dull witted dialogue in situations which have been worked into much better films (i.e., Mr. and Mrs. Smith, True Lies, Grosse Pointe Blank).
'KILLERS': Two Stars (Out of Five) Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher star in this action comedy directed by Robert Luketic (director of 'WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTION', '21', 'THE UGLY TRUTH' and 'LEGALLY BLONDE').
Kutcher is about as wrong for the lead in this film as any casting job I've seen in quite some time (and the voice he chooses to attempt to do in the film is awful) and Heigl is just plain bad.In the film Kutcher plays a secret super agent by the name of Spencer Aimes on assignment in Nice, France who has grown tired of the violence and just wants a normal life.
The "film" Killers combines the worst elements from romantic comedies with the most hateful vices from modern action cinema, and the result is a genuinely execrable and repulsive experience I recommend you to avoid like a plague.Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl found pretty much success in TV, but in cinema, they have mostly been involved in no quality projects.I think that Killers is the worst film Kutcher has ever been involved in...something which is a huge insult when we contemplate the fact that his filmography includes atrocities such as A Lot Like Love and Just Married.As for Heigl, she had also participated in bad movies, such as 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth...however, Killers is much, much worse than those ones.The worst problem from Killers is its absolute ineptitude to provoke any emotion.It is not funny, it does not generate any suspense, and I was only waiting for the holy end credits to come, which are the authentic heroes from this film.The screenplay is a pathetic combination of fragments from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, various sitcoms and the weakest "funny" James Bond movies (in which Roger Moore made a fool of himself).Director Robert Luketic made a horrible work, specially during the action scenes, because he felt so insecure with the fights and shootouts that he had to appeal to the trick of the camera with confusing movements and abysmal edition in order to create the illusion of action.So, in conclusion, Killers is a vomiting and atrocious film, and one of the worst ones I have seen this year.As I said on the first paragraph, I suggest you to avoid it at any cost..
"Killers" is a story about Jen (Katherine Heigl), recently dumped, who goes on vacation with her parents to France where she meets Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) the man of her dreams.
As they become 3 years married, violent secrets about lovely Spencer begin to unveil and then the adventures begin."Killers" is one foolish, unrealistic, anything-can-happen, whatever- the-director-wants kind of movie.
"Killers", just like other movies this year, is a based on one fabulous idea, that could have been well executed to create a different kind of film.
Finally, Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara who portray Heigl's parents add their 2 pennies of comedy during their short appearances which are nothing less than amusing.In a nutshell, "Killers" is a comical, no story, chain of events that take place in no brains land.
Jen's mother seems to serve as the primary comic relief element, this is just speculation because her role as an alcoholic isn't vital to any aspect of the movie.Killers was better the first time I saw it
when it was called True Lies.
Ashton Kutcher is a comic actor with a good screen presence and Kathryn Heigl, cleavage and all, is a rather charming and quite attractive actress, but in this movie both are just going through the motions, saying their lines, getting through their scenes, and doing so in a way that brings new meaning to the word tedious.
The movie deserves a rating of 1, but because of Ms. Heigl's impressive cleavage, albeit gratuitously displayed, it gets a 3, not so much to entice people with voyeuristic tendencies to watch the movie but frankly because Ms. Heigl's chest is the only thing this movie has going for it.PS: Ashton Kutcher has a nice body too, which is also prominently displayed in this movie, but one must beware of movies that try to showcase actors as pretty boys.
Katherine Heigl also played the leading role in Luketic's previous movie The Ugly Truth, so they were no strangers to each other.It's the first time Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher had to play lovers, but you could hardly notice.
He and Heigl make a cute couple together.The movie is a combination of an action-comedy story, with a few romantic twists.
I wasn't expecting Killers to be the best movie in the world and I'm not really much of a fan of Ashton Kutcher so I had no expectations for this and I was right to have none.
The acting was pretty average, Katherine Heigl did a great job playing as her character Jen but Ashton Kutcher was very bland at times with his and wasn't really funny.
For a movie that is supposed to be a comedy, it didn't do a very good job in the laughs department, it was lucky that I laughed a couple of times.Killers is very boring, there's nothing else I can say about it.
Moving on to the acting, I thought that Katherine Heigl did great playing her character but not even she could save this boring movie.
The current queen of romantic comedies Katherine Heigl meets with the current king of romantic comedies Ashton Kutcher and the result is "Killers", a romantic/action/comedy film with some laughs and an almost abusive amount of clichés per second.
Here's the scenario: Jen (Heigl) meets Spencer (Ashton), the perfect romantic match for her while vacationing with her parents (played by Catherine O'Hara and Tom Selleck).
The action scenes are quite good but when he's quoting codes, getting touch with his superiors, these moments are quite laughable and unbelievable (the problem is that we don't know if he says those things with the purpose of making us laugh or he's not so convincing as a killer).
Lately, we're seeing this exactly procedure: take Katherine Heigl and one handsome actor in a comedy, then you have a movie ("27 Dresses" along with James Marsden, "Life as We Know it" teaming with Josh Duhamel, Gerard Butler in "The Ugly Truth" and now Kutcher in "Killers".
Here, they were okay together, have some chemistry but the sparks doesn't fly that high (In comparison, Catherine O'Hara playing the drunken mother of Katherine, was funnier than the main couple together).Perfect for those enjoy routine comedies with some action and romance but not much substance in it.
Her character in 'The Ugly Truth' was equally wonderful and hilarious.(Kudos to Katherine as she has discovered the secret of comedy) The movie however didn't retain a good story line and it had nothing new to offer.
This comedic spy flick starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher and Tom select and Catherine O'Hara was surprisingly very entertaining despite very negative reviews.
The action sequences were very violent and intense just how I like them, and Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl's chemistry between each other as a married couple was perfect, I found myself laughing throughout the film!
I went to see this movie with my girlfriend, as part of my "Romantic Comedy of the Month", and I picked Killers since I'm a huge Grey's Anatomy fan and wanted to watch K.H. who's no longer in the show.
KillersA surefire way for a wife to tell if her husband is an assassin is if he fastens a silencer to his penis before sex.Unfortunately, for the suspicious wife in this action-comedy, her contract killing consort doesn't have a suppressor strapped to his barrel.While on vacation with her parents, the recently dumped Jen (Katherine Heigl) meets a hit man, Spencer (Ashton Kutcher), whom she takes an instant shine to.Three years later, Spencer has retired; the two are now married and living in the suburbs.
But when Spencer refuses to take a new contract, a bounty is placed on his head.Targeting the romantic, action and comedy genres, Killers misses its mark on all counts: the couple has no chemistry, the action is cartoonish, and the comedy is clunky.Besides, marrying an assassin isn't all that bad – they're usually orphans, so you'll never have to meet their parents.
Not even likable actors such as Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl can save this film.
I don't know if Killers was supposed to be a comedy, a romantic film, or an action movie, but it is certainly didn't work as any.
The screenplay was written by Bob DeRosa (The Air I Breathe) and Ted Griffin (Matchstick Men and Ocean's Eleven), and I'm pretty sure neither of them will want this movie to show up on their resume considering they have done some decent work in the past.Ashton Kutcher is Spencer Aimes, a government hired assassin who travels around the world searching for his next target.
He is on a mission in France, when he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), an attractive and innocent woman who is vacationing with her overprotective parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara) in the same Hotel room where Spencer is staying.
Jen discovers Spencer's secret past and becomes involved in the whole mess.The plot is ridiculous, which is not necessary a bad thing since there is fun and entertaining ridiculous and then there is just plain and boring ridiculous, but the problem is that this movie ranks among the latter category.
Hit-man Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) meets and falls in love with Jenny (Katherine Heigl) whilst he is on a mission and she is on holiday in Nice.
It's not hard to see what attracted Ashton Kutcher to killers Teaming up with 'Greys Anatomy' star Katheine Heigel seemed like a good idea, as she was doing well in the Romantic Comedy genre with 'Knocked Up' and 'The Ugly Truth' both grossing over $200 million while '27 Dresses' made over $100 million at the Box OfficeWhilst 'What Happened In Vegas' with Cameron Diaz made over $200 million, 'The Guardian' with Kevin Costner under performed and 2009's 'The Spread' only made $12,000,000 Kutcher is likable and is the only real reason to see this, Heigl is really annoying as she does a really bad impression of Goldie Hawn in 'Bird On A Wire' for the entire movie.Tom Selleck appears as Heigl's dad, and seems to think he is in a different movie.
I highly recommend this movie for people who love the romantic drama, action and comedy and also a fan of actor Aston Kutcher.
OK, Killers starts off as a cute romantic comedy, but once the killing starts, the movie just lost me and the end is just off.Ashton Kutcher as Spencer Aimes is hot, hot, hot and sweet and manly and all that stuff.
Katherine Heigl has some good moments as the innocent naïve girl who Kutcher ends up leaving his assassin career for and marrying, however, too much time is spent on their budding romance and subsequent marital tension before the sleeper agent angle takes off.
This movie is junk-food for the mind but the good kind - you know the kind you crave for once a month when there's nothing else to eat.For a romantic-comedy I personally think that "Killers" is quite funny.
There are some funny scenes and the chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher is okay but not great.
Long ago I learned to ignore the critics in the media; fortunately, I followed instinct and had a delightful evening watching "Killers." This movie is a refreshingly dead pan spoof of the ultra violent action movies popular today.Katherine Heigl plays the strait laced and slightly neurotic heroine who gets in over her head when she charms and marries a handsome young assassin.
this action/romance/thriller/comedy/starts off really badly in my opinion.in fact,i was ready to quit watching it out of boredom.i found no chemistry between the two leads,Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigel.their scenes together seemed awkward and forced.and the movie was boring.but then,just over forty five minutes minutes in,the movie got exciting and suddenly it was like watching a another film altogether.the two leads seemed to have some chemistry.the banter between them worked.the comedic elements also worked better.Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara had supporting roles and were very good here.the rest of the supporting cast was good as well.it's just unfortunate the movie took so long to actually become worth watching.for me,Killers is a 5/10.
"Killers" is a romantic/action/comedy that looks good while your watching it, but then you get home and let it process and it wasn't as good as you thought it was.This movie is obviously targeted to teenagers.
Jen (Katherine Heigl) is on vacation in Nice with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara), for goodness sake!
You take the bulging breasts of Katherine Heigl's usual annoying and uncomfortable "nice" character and you combine it with Ashton Kutcher's muscles and you get a classic romantic comedy that people will pay for.
For one thing, I thought it was hilarious, especially the parts where Spencer and Jen were just getting to know each other.Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigle portray likable characters and seem to fit their roles well.I like the romantic comedy parts of this movie the most.
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl star as Spencer and Jen who meet in France and three years later are living the suburban dream of a large house and baby on the way.
Kutcher and Heigl have a nice romantic chemistry, which make them likable with good acting, also there were plenty of laughs.
From the director Robert Luketic, the man behind the ever- popular 'Legally Blone' comes an action comedy combined with a love story starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in what is more than likely the worst roles of their careers.
This is a movie that only fans of Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl will find even the slightest enjoyment while the rest of more than likely to rested in post-modern tedium.
It tells the story of sweet Jen (Heigl) who while vacationing with her parents (Selleck and O'Hara) in France, meets the ripped Spencer (Kutcher), and instantly falls in love.
Kutcher makes a decent fist of Spencer, Tom Selleck plays Jen's father nicely against type, and Catherine O'Hara is funny as mother, although her disastrous drinking is a) played for laughs and b) never commented on.But if you like your movies to be credible, stay away from this one..
*Sigh* I hate when the filmmakers basically just say "you pretty much know what happens here so we'll just skip it." Jeez at least try to hide the fact that the movie is just a way to make a quick buck for the studio.Anyways 3 years after getting married Heigel finds out Kutcher is a spy and all these people from his daily life start coming out of the woodwork to try and kill him.
To top it off, Kutcher and Heigel have about as much chemistry as a pair of Tom Sellecks."Killers" is maybe the worst-told film of the year.
We meet Jen (played by Katherine Heigl) who is traveling to Nice, France along with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara) after a break-up with her boyfriend.Meanwhile, Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) who is also in Nice, France on an assignment to assassinate someone, cross paths with Jen, falls in love, and decides he would rather settle down, and exit his profession.
There are some scenes where you laugh, but they're few and very far between.This is from the same director that worked with Katherine Heigl on her last film, the Ugly Truth, which is equally bad, though oddly enough, is slightly better than Killers..
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, these two have zero chemistry and the jokes are so forced that they don't even seem like they are enjoying making this film.
They seemed to have a relationship more like sibling rivalry than marriage.2) The movie couldn't decide if it wanted to be a comedy or an action film.
Three years after Jen (Katherine Heigl) marries Spencer (Ashton Kutcher), Jen finds her life turned topsy-turvy when several killers emerge from nowhere to try and terminate her loving husband.
so again I will just tell you to WATCH THE MOVIE if you love comedies, Ashton and Katherine. |
tt0119517 | Your Friends & Neighbors | Set in an unnamed American city, two urban, middle-class couples deal with their unhappy relationships by shamelessly lying and cheating in their quest for happiness. Jerry (Stiller), is a theater instructor who is married to Terri (Keener), a writer who is alienated and unfulfilled with his love-making skills. Jerry and Terri have dinner with Mary (Brenneman), a writer friend of Terri's, and Mary's husband Barry (Eckhart) a business executive who is oblivious to his wife's unhappiness. During dinner, Mary talks about writing for a local newspaper column about bickering couples and their troubles, while Barry does not think that other couple problems are anyone else's concern. After dinner, Jerry discreetly asks Mary out on a date. Mary, out of frustration, accepts.
The next day, Terri, visiting a local art gallery, meets and begins a secret romance with Cheri (Kinski), a lesbian art gallery worker. Terri feels satisfied with their lovemaking and enjoys the quiet of it compared with Jerry's performance.
Meanwhile, Cary (Patric), a doctor friend of Barry's, is a devious and narcissistic sexual predator who picks up and seduces naïve and emotionally vulnerable young women, and quickly dumps them for his cruel pleasure of watching them cry. Aware of the distance between Barry and Mary, Cary tries to persuade Barry to leave his wife for the swinging, non-monogamous lifestyle that Cary has built for himself. Barry thinks that his marriage can be saved.
During Jerry and Mary's rendezvous at a local hotel, Jerry fails to get aroused during foreplay. As a result, he takes out his frustrations on Mary, believing that she has made him impotent. Angry and offended by Jerry's misogynist outburst, Mary abruptly ends their "affair." She feels more miserable a few days later when Barry unwittingly takes her to the very same hotel room to rekindle their romance. Mary realizes that Jerry had told Barry about being in the room. Barry fails to understand Mary's unhappy attitude and thinks he might somehow be responsible for it.
Jerry, Barry, and Cary get together to work out at the local gym and, in the steam room, Barry tries to get them to reveal their best sexual experiences. Barry tells them that he only feels satisfied with himself. Cary then tells a disturbing story about his best sexual experience: partaking in a gang rape where he and a group of friends forcibly sodomized a male high school classmate on the floor in the locker room at his boarding school when he was a teenager. Both Barry and Jerry are stunned but fascinated by Cary's sordid and evil story. When Barry tries to persuade Jerry to reveal his best sexual experience, Jerry refuses. After being goaded in the locker room, Jerry angrily responds that his best sexual experience was with Barry's wife. He then leaves, with Barry too stunned to respond. Cary, also caught off-guard, says: "that beats my story."
After returning home from the gym, Barry confronts Mary over dinner about her affair with Jerry just as Terri accidentally finds out about Jerry's indiscretion and eventually confronts him too while they are shopping at a local bookstore. Mary and Jerry are both unapologetic for their unfaithfulness and express dissatisfaction to both of their spouses. Terri accidentally reveals her own lesbian romance with Cheri, but does not display any guilt for her infidelity. Jerry soon confronts Cheri at the art gallery over his wife's affair with her. Cheri also shows no remorse or regret for her relationship with Terri, or with interfering with Jerry and Terri's troubled marriage. Cheri tells Jerry that Terri can do much better than being with him.
As the film comes to an end, both of the married couples split up. Terri moves in with Cheri, although she quickly finds her emotional neediness irritating. Jerry continues his philandering lifestyle with his female theater students. Barry becomes miserable all by himself because he is no longer able to give himself an erection during masturbation. Mary is revealed to have moved in with Cary, who treats her as coldly as all the other women in his life even though she is pregnant with his child. The film closes on Mary and Cary in bed, as Mary realizes that she is even more unhappy in her new relationship with the catty and heartless Cary than she had been with her clueless husband Barry. | comedy, cruelty, satire | train | wikipedia | "Your Friends and Neighbors" (1998) is the second film by director/writer Neil LaBute and it tells the story of three couples and their complicated friendships and relationships.
I've seen it more than once during the last couple of days - and I found it incredibly clever written, well acted (especially by Jason Patric and Catherine Keener - their only scene together was the second best in the movie - so dynamic and tight) and skillfully directed.
Actually, I loved all scenes with Catherine Keener and if I have to choose one character that I liked, it would be Terry.
"Your Friends & Neighbors" is not really a film about sex, although every single scene, in some form or another, depicts its characters' obsessions with sexuality.
The sexual content and strong language will turn many audiences off, but this movie does have a solid understanding of itself, and I honor its art.Neil Lebute is clearly more interested in the characters' sex lives than in a clear, concise story.
It's a movie about behavior.The characters talk about sex constantly-whether it's in the supermarket, the basketball court, in bed, an art gallery, public restaurants, gym showers, their homes, business places, steam rooms, and more.
With a better cast and an even more disturbing group of characters, Neil LaBute failed to disappoint in his sophomore effort.
Laced with dark dialogue and realistic reactions conducive to the actions of the characters, this film actually surpasses In The Company of Men in regards to the evil that is known as the human condition.
With some great performances by the likes of Jason Patric, Catherine Keener, Ben Stiller, Amy Brenneman and Aaron Eckhart, this film really sucks you into this unsatisfied world of betrayal and sex.
These are the kind of people you would not want to live next door to, but these are the people who usually seem to win in our society, sad as that is to ponder.Jason Patric plays the single most evil person in movie history.
Meanwhile Cheri works at an art gallery and picks up people there and Jerry and Barry's friend Cary lives his sex life devoid of any care or consideration for anyone else.I have previously seen In the Company Of Men so I was prepared for the sort of view point the director seems to take regarding the nature of men and women but even then, this is still a pretty depressing look at relationships.
Eckhart shows how good an actor he is by playing a character so the opposite of his character in LaBute's previous film and playing it well.
He is the funny one and is like Eckhart's character in `In the Company Of Men' in that he is selfish and cruel to women.
However his character seems to be LaBute's ideal in this piece as he is the only one who seems to get what he wants is this the moral of the film?
Good movies do not have to be about pleasant subjects, many excellent films are about depressing subjects or have sad endings.
"Your Friends and Neighbors" is a movie about relationships, sex and the effects of both.
One of the best aspects of this movie is the dialogue; the characters' feelings always come through through their conversations.
All the characters have very real flaws that abrogate any growth, for those of you who crave action and a happy ending; this movie will most likely bore you..
Your Friends & Neighbors is a film about six middle class people plagued by dysfunction and unhappiness.
In fact, the normalcy of the characters make it something like an easy to watch soap opera featuring distillations of all those things in real life you'd prefer to forget.Your Friends & Neighbors is also wonderfully cast.
Patric's pathological character is a stand out (bearing strong similarity to Eckhart's character in "In the Company of Men"), but with the exception of Kinski, all of the actors manage to captivate us in varying ways--from Brenneman's introverted reactions to Keener's profoundly cold mannerisms.This is an excellent film that might not always be well received but can and should be watched by anyone open to a cynical view of humanity..
We were very much looking forward to this film.No surprise, then, that Your Friends and Neighbors (sic) has horrible people, sexual violence, nihilism and a fine, well-chosen cast.
In that regard, it reminds me of Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago / About Last Night - except I really didn't like that film whereas Your Friends and Neighbors kept our attention throughout and got us talking at length afterwards.We thought it was well worth seeing..
Eckhart has proven himself to be a marvelous chameleon-like actor, easily filling out the pathetic and needy sap LaBute has written for him here.Jason Patric gets the toxic role this time, playing a misogynistic obstetrician (he's prone to playing football with a model of a fetus).
Hers is not the showiest role in the film, but it ranks right up there with the most memorable.Nastassja Kinski is used the least of the six main actors (author's note: Come to think of it, there are only six speaking parts in the whole movie, making the theatrical nature of the piece even more profound).
The script was terrible, the characters were terrible, the dialog was terrible, the plot only served to hilight the complete lack of substance to the movie, and I just wanted it to end.
His long speech in which he describes his best sexual experience is worth sitting through the rest of the film for - it is both brilliantly acted and written, and I'm sure will become a regular "party piece" for auditioning actors.
From the cute little trick of never using the character's names (the terms "he" "she" "him" "her" "the wife" are used instead) to the trite and unimaginative repeating art gallery scene, this film bends over backwards to appear "intelligent".
In the first minutes of this film one of the main characters played by Ben Stiller explain to his audience, a class of students: " Its all about f-( censored )".
Catherine Keener, Jason Patric, Amy Brenneman, and many others I have seen in other movies.
Even A Great Cast Can't Save This One. Take a story about two couples, one married, one living together, an obnoxious, egotistical misogynist, and a nondescript lesbian, then get six actors with varying degrees of charismatic screen presence to play them, and you have `Your Friends & Neighbors,' written and directed by Neil LaBute.
The scenes are actually a series of conversations between various combinations of the six people involved here: Barry (Aaron Eckhart) is married to Mary (Amy Brenneman); their marriage is neither happy nor unhappy, apparently, but sexually unsatisfying to both.
Cary (Jason Patrick) is a friend of Barry and Jerry, holds women, in general, in low esteem, is probably a latent homosexual (he confides that the `best he's ever had' was a locker room incident with a guy named Tim), and has an abusive nature (he tells of appropriating some hospital stationary and sending a letter to a woman who had dumped him, informing her that her name appears on the list of former partners of a patient who has tested HIV positive).
And what he's done with his actors is inexcusable; he's managed to strip them of their personalities and the qualities that make them distinct, which is to say that he's taken away from them the tools with which they ply their craft.Despite what LaBute has done, there are still some decent performances here (hence the two-star rating), Jason Patrick's being the most notable; that he can come across so thoroughly repugnant is a credit to his ability as an artist.
The problem with `Your Friends & Neighbors' is that, in the end, it all seems so meaningless; it's like spending time with dull, witless, uninteresting people (and how cute, their names all rhyme).
The point of the film becomes each character's search for contentment in their sex life.
With his second film Neil LaBute more than makes good on the potential he displayed in his amazing debut film "In The Company of Men." Like "Men" "Your Friends and Neighbors" his an unforgiving, unrepentant, and unflinching looks at relationships.
On the surface, Jason Patric character seems the coldest and most hateful person ever, but if you look closer you may see an uncomplicated man who simply lives by a code and only reacts when it is violated.Think about it.
Those who find this film offensive or who claim to "hate" its cast are likely to be even more self-absorbed then the former, living in a vacuum of denial and refusing to accept the reality of contemporary America's ruthless sexual politics.From the opening chords of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" in a string orchestra rendition, to the concluding "Wherever I May Roam" (the only music in the film), YFAN is as compelling and provocative as today's movies can get..
Adroitly written & directed by Neil LaBute, this film offers up a collage of quasi~satirical snippets regarding seven people's intermingling sexual relationships, focusing on each's cloying little habits, occasionally depraved traits, deceptions and, most importantly, the truths they share with one another [although a few of these occur behind others' backs].As well as, of course, the implications of said truths.
No "Jerry Maguire" happy endings here.Revising a page from Altman's "Images," LaBute's lead characters' names all rhyme: Mary, Barry, Terri, Cheri, Cary and Jerry [in order, Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, the amazing Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski ~ who, incredibly, becomes more beautiful as each year passes, Jason Patric and Ben Stiller in perhaps his best role].Trivia Question: Whose character's name is ever spoken onscreen?Answer, to the best of my knowledge: None, which is how LaBute gets away with the ploy.This begins as a bitingly satirical comedy, but turns deadly serious by the third reel.Perfect performances by all, but the star here is the [somewhat talky but] brutally frank and uncompromising script.I liked this a lot..
What we need are new young writers and directors and actors who are not going to do things the good old (Hollywood) way, who are going to explore new areas, expand boundaries, and continue to expand the art of the cinema, not just make the same old movies over and over again.
Your Friends & Neighbors Why can there not be more films like this?
It tells the story of terrible relationships, affairs gone bad, realistic sex, and good friends.
Neil LaBute, director of YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, certainly likes voyeurism, and puts the viewer through an almost agonizing voyeuristic trip into sex, lies, and infidelity.
IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, his first film in 1997, starred Aaron Eckhart, who hates women so much, he plots to destroy the life of a deaf woman with the help of a "friend".
I wanted to like Your Friends & Neighbors more than I actually did, since I had rather enjoyed writer/director Neil LaBute's last film, 1997's In the Company of Men.
Your Friends & Neighbors, however, is much less plot-driven than In the Company of Men, and this emerges as a distinct liability under LaBute's style.
The film, like In the Company of Men before it, tracks the empty, morally void (some might say evil -- particularly in the case Jason Patric's character) lives of a group of yuppie friends.
"Your Friends and Neighbors" is one of those movies which sports a good cast, is well produced, and has few flaws with one HUGE exception.
As such, the characters and storyline line (or lack thereof) just grate on you until the celebratory event of the credits rolling.Bottom line: if you want to see an interesting or thought-provoking or enjoyable or exciting or clever movie, AVOID this one like the plague..
Writer/Director Neil Labute's first film, In the Company of Men, was a qualified success.
In Your Friends and Neighbors there is not a single place to search for redemption.A theatre professor who exaggerates his role while having sex with a woman who just wants to have sex without the dialogue; a man who prefers himself over women whose married to a woman who doesn't know what she prefers; and a man who hates woman with such feral animosity that I cringed during his scenes.
In Labute's tape the same feeling is drawn from the characters disdain for themselves and their friends and neighbors.
I think this is, perhaps, the worst film I've ever seen and that's saying a lot considering that I am a big Roddy McDowall fan which means that I have sat through a lot of schlock in my time waiting him to show up in the many, many bad movies he made during his later career.
"Your Friends and Neighbors" presents a haunting character study of six people who, though highly caricatured, remind you of someone you know ...
In his first film, In the Company of Men, Neil LaBute took an extreme look at the way men treat each other.
The picture he does paint is as sour and bleak as the picture of men.LaBute is making a name for himself by making movies with characters that are very stripped down.
At one point one of the characters asks Jerry (Ben Stiller) if he ever shuts up -- I was wondering the same thing.The steamroom scene left me feeling sick to my stomach.
These are people with out morals or humanity.Obvious comparisons will be made to "In the Company of Men" but you feel nothing for these characters except contempt..
This film, with all of its perverse subject matter, is a haunting follow-up to Neil LaBute's "In the Company of Men" - what you might expect from this independent writer/director.
On the whole, though, the interesting and funny parts made up for a lot of the things that I never properly understood about the characters, making the movie worth seeing.Overall Rating: 7 (out of 10), or 3 stars (out of 4).
Basically a character study of the six leads, this is a film with a well written script and superb acting.Although all six of the main characters deliver excellent performances the true stand out is Jason Patric.
One particular monologue, is one of the most memorable scenes I have seen in years.Neil LaBute seems to have a fascination with dark, immoral characters.
Your Friends and Neighbors was written and directed by Neil LaBute who also directed In the Company of Men.
The performances by Mr. Stiller, the Lothario, Mr. Eckhart, TRULY self indulgent-you'll see why-, Ms.Keener, who likes QUIET, Ms. Brenneman, the unfaithful wife, Ms. Kinski, the lesbian lover, and Mr. Patric, the offbeat friend are very good, but Mr. Patric stole the show.
This was the best movie of that year, and Jason Patric was robbed of an Oscar nomination.Fantastic cast, Patrick, Eckhart and Stiller are fantastic and Catherine Keener is one of the best actresses working..
This movie is bereft of humor entirely, and if not for a good performance by Jason Patric (everyone else mentioned the monologue, but I have to say that it really was great), I would have burned the video, rental place be damned..
Catherine Keener, whose character was also not all that nice, was at least very pretty, and the best part of the film.
There are just so many films just like this, that I can't really say much for Your Friends & Neighbors, mainly because it offers very little to make in memorable or distinguishable in any way.
A group of people in their 30's spend the film talking about their unsatisfying relationships and sex lives and cheating on each other with each other; it has all the markings of a 90's theater play, and everything it takes to be an indie darling, including a cast of some of the more popular indie-film stars of the time (this at a time when Ben Stiller was still known more for Reality Bites than for comedies like Zoolander).
The acting is indeed good - Jason Patric and Catherine Keener especially, and the film does have a few good scenes, wittily written and well delivered.
Watching this movie, you may be tempted to ask if this is the way the world turns or if it is merely the way writer-director Neil LaBute likes to pretend it turns.
This film is an actor's movie - the story is entertaining and fetching; drawing you into the characters lives -- all because of the quality of the actor's work.
This is one of those movies that tries to say something about society--or part of society--as a whole, but ends up being nothing more than a boring, contrived film about shallowly constructed characters, whom we don't like.The flaws emphasized in each character were, indeed, the sort of things that many sexually frustrated yuppies suffer from in real life, but the way they were presented here was so over-the-top, it seemed like they were only there for comedic or shock value.
Strange not because of its story or acting, but because it has moments when it's absolutely great and moments when you have no idea what do the director wants.There are many things i liked about this movie.
None of the characters in this film is innocent, and they are to be quite honest not that interesting except for Jason Patric, who is playing the character who likes to put all things about the sexes in misogynistic perspective.
For example, using the "artist's assistant" scene over and over to tell us a little about each person's character, is a trite and "cute" trick, employed many times before in films- and better.
The manipulative nature of this movie has its great bites of dialogue and scenes especially with Jason Patric's character, Cary.
I was very impressed by LaBute's debut In the Company of Men, and I was expecting great things from this film, especially after the critical praise bestowed on it.
I was hoping with names like Ben Stiller and Jason Patric, the movie would be good. |
tt0118589 | Glitter | In the nightclub scene of the 1970s New York City, a multiracial young girl, Billie, born to a Caucasian father and an African-American mother, is taken away from her alcoholic, lounge singer mother after she is deemed irresponsible to raise her and Billie's estranged father wants nothing to do with either one of them. Billie spends the rest of her teenage years in an orphanage.Years later (in 1983), the 19-year-old Billie (Marah Carrey) works as a nightclub dancer along with her foster-care friends Louise and Roxanne. They meet Timothy Walker (Terrence Howard), a record promoter who offers the three of them a contract as backup singers/dancers to the singer Sylk. Initially, Billie refuses, hoping to achieve stardom on her own terms. After pestering from her friends, Billie relents and the three are contracted. They record the hit single, "All My Life" but Sylk's vocal is sub-standard. To maximize sales based on the sex appeal of Sylk, Timothy asks Billie to sing while Sylk lip-syncs.Later at a nightclub, Billie sings Sylk's song which gets her noticed by the club DJ, Julian "Dice" Black, during the public debut of "All My Life". Dice, knowing that Sylk is an indifferent singer, is shocked by the arrangement, but goes backstage to congratulate Billie for singing the song. Sylk insults her backup singers in front of a photographer and Billie, not wanting to take the verbal abuse, exposes Sylk by singing "All My Life" a cappella in front of Dice. Impressed, he wishes to produce her, but Billie turns him down, thinking that he wants to exploit her talent. When Billie relents after Dice pesters her, she raises concerns about her contract with Timothy. Dice threatens to not play any more artists from Timothy in his nightclub unless Timothy surrenders Billie and her friends' contacts. Timothy eventually agrees on the provision that Dice pays him $100,000.Billie and Dice start working on songs: the first being the hit underground single, "Didn't Mean to Turn You On". Dice advises Billie to play off record companies to secure a bigger deal. Ultimately they sign with Guy Richardson of a major record label. With success in their hands, Dice asks Billie to dinner. Later, he asks her up to his apartment and they sleep together.Billie's first major single, "Loverboy" is a success. The music video originally features Billie, Louise, and Roxanne. However, the director, dissatisfied with the results, orders Billie to wear more revealing clothing and replaces Louise and Roxanne with professional semi-nude male dancers. When the male dancers are then ordered to dance closely to Billie, this frightens her. Dice intervenes on her behalf, and they leave the set before the music video can be finished.Dice is denied permission to produce songs on Billie's debut, including "Reflections", which Billie wrote about her mother. Billie is called to perform at the USA Music Awards, where she meets singer/songwriter Rafael. Later at the party, they meet again, and Rafael suggests they write a song. Dice orders Billie and her friends to leave, accusing Rafael of sexual advances towards Billie. Louise and Roxanne give Billie an ultimatum: them or Dice, but leave before she can choose. Billie cries, but is comforted by Dice as she laments "If you didn't believe in me, none of this would have ever happened."The reconciliation is short-lived as Billie gets a threat from Timothy concerning the 100K debt that Dice failed to pay. Billie tells Dice that Timothy was at their apartment about his debt and her contract. She is confused because she thought he had handled her contract properly. She admits to Dice that Timothy threatened her and Dice, in a rage, puts Timothy in the hospital. In the middle of the beating, Dice is arrested, causing Billie to leave her appearance on Late Night Live to bail him out. Billie, upset about how Dice lied about her contract and his arrest, argues with and leaves him. With nowhere to go, she goes back to live with Roxanne and Louise.Billie tries to deal with the pain by creating the single "Want You", with Rafael, which is a hit, but her emotional pain leads her to solo songwriting. Dice also misses Billie, and also begins writing a song. Billie goes to Dice's apartment in an attempt to reconcile. He's not home, but the music he has written is and Billie realizes they wrote the same song: "Never Too Far". She kisses the sheet music, leaving a lipstick imprint, which Dice later discovers. Dice plans a reconciliation, but is shot dead by Timothy. Billie's management and support crew see a report of the murder on television. They wonder if Billie was with him, they see that she is there and has seen the report. Billie onstage commands the band to stop playing "Loverboy," tells the crowd never to take someone for granted, and that if you love them, you should tell them, because you might never have the chance to tell them how you really feel. She then starts to sing "Never Too Far".Afterwords, Billie reads a note Dice had left her, where he tells of his love for her, his plan to see her perform and that he has found Billie's mother. Billie's limo takes her to the secluded rural property where she is united with her mother once again. | cult, murder, sentimental | train | imdb | It's yet another rewrite of "A Star Is Born", here turned into a vehicle for pop star Mariah Carey and apparently patterned after her own rise to the top (audiences weren't fooled, however, by the updated, late-night-movie clichés).
Carey's funky/erotic music is driving (and her performance as blazing new talent Billie Frank is adequate), but the script for "Glitter" seems left over from the 1950s.
Actresses of a lot higher caliber than Mariah Carey have fallen into this trap--they just don't want to see themselves on the screen acting bitchy and tough, so they end up playing the simp.
I don't know how many of you have ACTUALLY seen this movie but I recently rented it out of morbid curiousty and a sadistic love of BAD cinema (and of course making fun of it)...
only the most inept movie fan or an insanely die hard Mariah Carey fan could ignore the gaping holes in plot, directions, style, and acting that Glitter presents.
What makes Glitter a bad movie is that it's a bland, soulless procession of clichés, exactly like Mariah Carey's songs.
The only element of this movie that satisfies my so-bad-it's-good criteria is the character of Mariah's boyfriend.
I hope my death will be quick and painless when the Mariah-thing comes to reap my soul.By the way, I really didn't like this movie at all..
Simple rule, if you are going to make a movie vehicle for a non-actor, surround them with some good actors, so if they turn out to have all the acting ability of a tin of tuna, you still have some hope of making the movie just bad, rather than bowel clenchingly awful.
Even though I am a huge Mariah Carey fan, this movie was a very nice tale that had many links back to Carey's own biography, which interested me more.The music (soundtrack) was superb and I've watched/listened to the movie countless times.
All the characters acting was high quality (except for a couple of cheesy instances) and their lives were interesting.It made me laugh and cry, but mainly, it made me smile.A lot of people are quick to judge a movie simply because it has the "Mariah Carey" name on it (whether good or bad).
I honestly feel had Jennifer Lopez been in the starring role as opposed to Mariah Carey, no one would have had a problem with the film.
Now I'm not saying that this review is completely un-biased, after all, I'd been brought up on a healthy diet of Mariah Carey, but I did rent this movie a few weeks ago (it being not released to cinema) due to pure curiosity.The multi-octave song-bird's film vehicle (originally titled 'All That Glitters...
Cut to the next few shots where Billie's mother tries to get money from Billie's father, before giving her up to an adoption agency.Fast-foward to the bright and bouncy 1980's where all-grown-up Billie (the aforementioned Carey) is dancing in a club with her two best friends Louise and Roxy (Da Brat and Tia Texada), who are soon offered as back-up singing gig for no-talent, good-looking up-and-comer Sylk.
Billie's voice completely spellbinding - and chooses to use her voice instead of the God-awful voice that the main singer is belting out.A recording of a song entitled "All My Life" is handed to a Club DJ - DJ Dice to be exact (British actor Max Beesley who puts on a 'wigga' accent - sometimes really good, other times really bad) who plays it and instantly falls in love with the vocals.
So the Dice & Billie end up becoming good friends and record a song, "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On", and it is played for music executives, and before you can change the butt groove in your seat, Billie is signed to a major record label.Of course, the road to musical superstardom is not an easy one and Billie has several troubles - the video director for her first single "Loverboy" wants her to parade around in nothing but a piece of string (Billie minds, Mariah wouldn't) and there's also the little problem of her undeniable attraction to Dice.
From the pumping 80's tracks (Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, Didn't Mean To Turn You On, All My Life) to the gorgeous Mariah-like ballads (Lead The Way, Reflections and especially Never Too Far) plus the Eric duet 'Want You' and the Ja Rule infected 'If We' - it's just as good as her previous efforts.Overall, 'Glitter' IS a film that the troubled songbird should be proud of.
Yes i've read the critics,and i think all who wrote bad things about the movie really didn't understand it.It is a movie that i want to see again and again.Yes, i am a huge Mariah fan but i will analyse this movie in cold blood.Indeed the acting is sometimes bad,and what do you expect, she is a singer after all.Still this doesn't make an obstacle in seeing the movie,that flows like juice in a glass.The movie is relaxing ,the songs are good, and if you love Mariah, you will love to see a part of her life at TV.I understand that she was upset after the movie, it was not the critics that upset her.It was the fact that she put a part of her life in this movie and most of the world didn't appreciate it..
I think people are just dissing this movie because it has Mariah Carey in it.
And regardless of what the so-called critics (Hey, I wonder how anyone even becomes a critic???) said about it, I believe Mariah Carey did very good in Glitter.
Her acting came across very believable, I mean when you think about it here we have a singer acting in a movie about not just a singer, but one in the time line in which she lived....duhhh???,at least she stuck to what she knew unlike some actors I know.
Now maybe parts of the script weren't that great, but then many movies with good actors are not going to be billed that good, and the first ones people want to blame is the actors, because they are the ones who have to carry the vehicle.
Seeing 'Glitter' with an open mind, despite its notoriously awful reputation, it is not quite as horrendous to be down there with the worst films of all time, but the problems 'Glitter' has are plentiful and are significant enough to consider it a very bad film still.The good news is that Mariah Carey does sound absolutely incredible, always have loved her voice with its beautiful tone, emotional connection and uniquely wide range.
Also Terrence Howard is quite good and steals scenes.However, Carey's enviable skills as a singer does not translate in her skills as an actress, it was really strange that an artist with such a huge vocal range (five octaves!) is the complete antithesis in her very one-note and often expressionless acting here, which is devoid of any joy, surprise, sincerity or emotion.
The rest of the acting is also poor, with Max Beesley being equally lousy and not sounding sure what accent to pull off, while with the characters Carey's is shallow, one-dimensional and very difficult to relate to (which is a huge dividend considering the type of story it is) and the rest are annoying caricatures, a couple even irrelevant to the story.Even for a film set in the 80s, 'Glitter' does much less than glitter and looks firmly stuck in the 80s.
Glitter (2001)* (out of 4)Mariah Carey pretty much plays herself in the story of a poor girl who grew up without her parents only to work really hard and eventually make it to the top.
Mariah played the character Billy Frank who not only wanted to make it big in the music industry, but who also was looking for someone to lean on.
I'm not a big Mariah fan but lets face it the movie wasn't bad.
Sure it isn't necessarily Oscar material, but it isn't trash either..I believe that this film is actually quite entertaining and is as Ms. Carey once stated that it was a period piece..thus the 80's styled music for which she was also savagely ripped..But sometimes timing can also make all of the difference as this movie opened on or around the time of "911" which also lead to its demise..But it is harmless entertainment which has now found its audience in video and DVD and can still be enjoyed...Besides I have seen far worse acting - does the name Whitney Houston ring a bell...
Mariah Carey is the worst "actress" ever to appear in a movie since time began and should be banned from the film industry for all-time.
Having set through the entire thing, I am only left to wonder what the people responsible for this film hoped to accomplish, and if they succeeded, how low the movie industry has come.
i think a lot of people just don't like it because Mariah Carey is in it, and singers who try to act get a bad rep.
Good movie, great music, Mariah not a terrible actress.
If you like the kind of music Mariah Carey is known for, "Glitter" delivers.
But Mariah is one of the few singers of her style I can stand to listen to, and given that this style of music would be dominant in this movie, I actually found myself enjoying it.
All the musicians were talented--except, of course, Sylk--who was secretly replaced by the phenomenal Billie as lead singer and didn't seem to know it as her mike was turned down and Billie's was turned up.I didn't think this movie was so bad overall.
Some bad movies, such as Showgirls or Mommie Dearest, become camp classics over time as people come to forgive their shortcomings, and just groove on their excesses.
Sometimes, with a film project, it's just the wrong mix of talent for that particular project.I don;t know why this one didn't, but I must say that I did enjoy watching Mariah Carey and watching her sing.
Maybe another movie at another time.The movie stars Mariah Carey, Max Beesley, Da Brat, Tia Texada and Ann Magnuson.
Pretty much how you want to treat this movie.Don't get me wrong, Mariah Carey, back when this was made, was truly one of the most beautiful people that I had ever laid eyes on.
So many people carry that thought with them, and were automatically disgusted (before they even watched the film) with the so-called 'woah is me' concept they THOUGHT Mariah was trying to present.Ms. Carey definitely has potential to become a greater actress - in the no time she would be much better than most of the actresses in TV series.
ok ok, i am aware that some of you have it in for Mariah, and that before this tape even hits the VCR you're screaming "IT SUCKS!" , but i believe that you actually have to WATCH the movie before you can hate on it.
But back to Glitter, it you aren't a slightly wistful person with even a grain of imagination don't waste your time, but if you truly believe that along with the bad comes the good and that miracles really do happen, watch it, and forget what everyone else said, make up your own mind..
I love Mariah and I feel that she was blinded by the opportunity to star in her own movie, but nobody else really cared about making a good movie.
this one was in a bus, and I have to say that it's, tied with an Olsen twins movie, the worst flick I have seen in a vehicle, of course that I can't remember a worst movie in any situation, maybe Jim Carrey's "Liar, Liar", but is hard to say.Mariah Carrey and company acting suck, well I think that is obvious that the so called "singers" can't act, ask Jessica Simpson, or Britney Spears, but well Hollywood won't change.Don't watch it, if you're in a vehicle, you can't sleep, and is passing this, protest, brake something, I don't know do something 'cause this is awful..
But the acting could have been better and the pairing of Mariah and that other guy as her love interest was not very good(he stunk).Her best friends were at the only other good thing about the movie; they were hilarious.
Mariah Carey fans, if you don't want to be desesperated by your favorite singer, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!.
I am a huge fan of Mariah and I really love her music that are featured in this movie..
Other than that it is just awful.Billie Frank(Mariah Carey) plays a mixed raced women who was doing her own thing with her friends when she was approached by a DJ about having to produce her, her career begins to fly, but the worse thing about this movie is Mariah's performance.
If you want to see this movie, do it at your own risk, but your wasting your time.I can't wait to see Mariah Carey, try her acting chops again in her new movie "Tennesse" 4/10.
if the people or the artist seems fake in the movie , it probably has been done like that for a reason, people were fake in that time in that kind of club scene , and they actually still are.
so it is all a matter of tasteglitter is a great movie in my opinion, i would recommend it to anyone because it shows the real life of how musicians live and their dreams to become recognized and how they reach the top with ups and downs.i think the movie was not accepted so well , because Mariah played herself , and people were expecting world wonders .
Nor will I hide the fact that I think most people are unfair to her these days, and it is because of this bias from the public (instigated heavily by the media) that I fear she has not been given a fair chance with this film.As a movie fan, not as a Mariah fan, I loved this movie.
This movie got many bad reviews by critics, but they shouldn't blame Mariah Carey for it.
I always get a good laugh off negative reviews of this movie because I know it's just bandwagon thinking: If the star hadn't been going through personal drama at the time it was released, or if it had featured ANYone else, it wouldn't get anywhere near the hate it does.
No Way is This Movie That Bad. I cannot believe the ton of negative reviews about this film.
Sure, it's not the best film ever made--far from it--but the story isn't that bad, the acting isn't terrible, and the production quality is just fine.
i love this movie, glitter, i really do not understand all the bad press over it...i mean most of the people that have negativity towards it most likely havent even seen it......its not no oscar award winning movie but it is a good fun movie which..it even had some sad parts in it that made me cry.....so like i said this is a great movie i have watched it so many times and it is definetly my favoritve :).
Mariah was wonderful in this movie..the acting was great, the plot, and the conclusion.
Mariah Carey: The Movie.
Michael Jackson in 'Miss Cast Away' or Elvis Prestley in all of his (how many?) films.Britney Spears did okay in 'Crossroads' and Mariah Carey does a decent job as the hard working girl trying to reach the stars.I've seen worse movies than 'Glitter', maybe because of all the bad reviews I've read.
This is just a movie for little girls that are huge fans of Mariah Carey.
So if you want to finish up the movie and leave your television stand with ANY respect for Mariah Carey at all, my advice is to pop in a good hour of Crossroads before going forth the ever-so-arduous task of sitting through Glitter.
I am not a Mariah Carey fan but I actually liked this movie.
I have read the reviews of this movie and they come in two kinds: (1) It is an absolute piece of crap (this accounts for 99% of the reviews) and (2) I am a Mariah Carey fan and no matter what you guys say, I love it.
Although I'm not the greatest fan of Mariah, i decided to check this movie out to see if it was as bad as people made it out to be...and was it???
Each scene with them is sparkling and Mariah actually looks more comfortable with them than with any of the other actors.What other things sparkle in this movie?
I thought that it was a good acting debut for Mariah and I watch Glitter whenever it's on HBO.
This isn't an instant movie classic, but then it surely ain't as bad as the majority of critics want you to believe either.One thing that probably should be mentioned is that Glitter is not a film to watch if you want something so bad you can laugh at it.
Mariah actually did a good job in this movie, too bad the press didn't give it a chance.
Glitter lacks anything resembling a sparkle, and, as a movie star, Mariah Carey is the equivalent of a black hole..
In addition, "Glitter" itself isn't all that much fun to watch: Sure, it's a bad movie, but it's mostly just mediocre, bland and overlong, so it's not as much fun as one would think.
While it does play like a TV movie, I hardly think this is AS bad as it's reputation will lead you to believe.
I can't help but feel that Mariah's breakdown, the untimely release of Glitter near 9/11 and the bad luck of singers turned actresses all played a part in making Glitter one of the most derided movie of all time.
Carey isn't that bad in this movie as considered by many critics for her acting to be amateur; I think opposite of what critics say. |
tt0318081 | A Sound of Thunder | In Chicago, 2055, the Time Safari company offers the ability for people to hunt dinosaurs in the past via time travel technology. As a precaution against the potential change of the past, the company preys only on the dinosaurs who would otherwise die of natural causes and keeps the clients from stepping off the designated path. Because of the dangers of interfering with the time line, the company's activities are vocally attacked by Sonia Rand, the developer of the time machine software TAMI, who feels scorned for not receiving credit and fears they may alter the past through their activities.
A trip with clients Eckels and Middleton goes afoul when the gun carried by team leader Travis Ryer fails to go off. The dinosaur, an Allosaurus, rushes the group, scattering the clients. Ryer kills the dinosaur, regroups the clients and returns to 2055, unaware that Middleton had stepped on a butterfly. The next day, they hear reports of global increases in temperature and humidity, and Ryer observes a sudden increase in plant life. On their next trip, they find that the Allosaurus they intend to hunt is already dead when they arrive and the volcano erupting much sooner. They quickly return and report the changes, and the government shuts down Time Safari to investigate. Ryer learns from Rand they are being struck by "time waves" that cause drastic alterations to the city as they pass due to something that happened on a previous expedition. Ryer and Rand narrowly escape a building after a time wave causes the appearance of thousands of beetles and a tree bursting through its structure. Rand warns that more time waves can be expected, and each will affect more advanced life forms, people being the last.
They return to Time Safari to try to fix what has gone wrong along with the government. They are struck by another time wave that leaves the city without power and now covered by dense vegetation. Evaluating the machine's logs, they find that the Eckels/Middleton expedition had come back a few grams heavier and that the bio-filter was turned off. They recognize that they can use the time machine to go back to intercept their past selves so as to prevent whatever happened, but will only have a few seconds to act, and so must work to figure out who they need to stop. The Time Safari finds their equipment and gear free of anything, so Ryer and Rand lead a group through the city - now filled with evolved and deadly Baboonlizards and other new hazards that kill some of their party members - to find Eckels and Middleton. Eckels is safe but asserts he remained on the path, while Middleton, poisoned by the new wildlife, takes his life before they can stop him. However, they are able to find a dead butterfly on the sole of the suit he used for the safari. The party makes it back to Time Safari after more time waves hit, now finding the time machine partially underwater and unusable. Rand obtains the hard drive containing the TAMI software with plans to use it with the nearby university's particle accelerator as a substitute time machine.
Ryer and Rand are the only two survivors once they finally make it to the university, Rand noted that the appearance of simian-like Babboonlizards from the latest time wave means the next one will wipe away humanity. Rand prepares the accelerator and stays behind while Ryer goes through the time portal, just as the last time wave hits turning Rand into a humanoid catfish-like creature. Ryer catches up to the previous expedition, catches Middleton to prevent him stepping on the butterfly, tells Jenny the bio-filter is off at the same time asking her to give his earlier self a recording of the events he has witnessed. The expedition returns without incident to the future they had left. Ryer shares the footage with Rand. | alternate reality, stupid, boring, flashback | train | wikipedia | I disagree with the previous commenter -- I don't think the actors were walking on a treadmill in front of the green screen, I think they were just standing in place and shifting their weight from one foot to the other.Sir Ben Kingsley is clearly aware of the "quality" of this film and embraces the ridiculousness, having a great time reading his absurd lines.The plot, the dialogue, the special effects, the creatures, the actor's accents -- each piece of this movie is worse than the last.
I mean the movie has a lot of problems but it seemed like some small things were cut or at least cut differently.I'm hoping that the DVD will have a commentary track so we can hear the behind-the-scenes story of what really happened.
In the hands of these screenwriters, the mistake simply becomes a vehicle to generate a variety of creepy-crawly monsters that stalk the people of the story as they try to literally race against time and fix the mistake.The script drags all the clichés out and leaves the actors to cover them.
Even taking the troubled production history of "A Sound of Thunder" into account, Hyams butchers the possibilities here.The audience is denied the simple delight of watching special effects during a sci-fi adventure because of the shoddy craftsmanship and a lack of money.
USAToday.com called it: "A story that is a pale imitation of a Michael Crichton novel." The Los Angeles Times said: "The picture looks as murky as its story line
and most everything on the screen looks patently fake." CNN.com remarked: "'Sound of Thunder,' smell of garbage." But Variety.com summed it up nicely: "Every bit as bad as advance buzz has indicated..." And then some.I first heard about this movie prior to its release on TVGuide.com's "Coming Soon" section.
So I read the short story by Ray Bradbury, upon which the movie was supposedly based and, even though I had a hard time visualizing such a story expanded to 2 hours of running and screaming on the big screen, hoped for the best.
In the year 2055, time travel has been patented by a greedy businessman played by none other than Sir Ben Kingsley (as he's credited), sporting a white wig that one movie critic likened to a lump of cotton candy, and yet another likened to a massive White Persian cat perched atop his head.
At one point, the camera tracks the two main stars, Edward Burns and Catherine McCormack, as they cross a busy futuristic street in one of the worst on-screen examples of green-screen effects I have ever witnessed in a big budget movie.
The sets are also awful and cheap looking, like they can fall over and break down every moment.The movie never gets tense, exciting or adventurous since the story is brought in the least interesting and engaging way possible.
After seeing you in so many wonderful movies, even as a great villain in Sexy Beast, this performance just looked like you were making a bad used-car salesman impression..
The actors don't live up to my expectations there performance is unbelievable they could have just phoned it in an saved all of us a loss of time and money..i really didn't like this movie, after the acting started to bore me to death of i thought the special effects would pay the ticket but forget it they suck most of all, a wast of a very good piece of literature..Bradbury would also say this movie really really doesn't live up to expectations for his fansIf there is any other option at the multiplex take it!!!!.
I was shocked I had missed this film - based as it is on the seminal Bradbury short story that explored (and coined) the butterfly effect of alterations in the past having repercussions in the future.
A little research turned up the production problems that resulted in the horrible digital effects (basically just pre-viz or old video game quality) so I won't trash them further (although in ANY world the actors painfully "fake-walking" in place while the green screen image scrolls behind them would be laughable) but the blatantly stupid way the whole butterfly effect is dealt with ("Time Waves will look cool!" someone must have said) and having first rate actors spew third rate dialogue does nothing but condemn the film to the heap of Time-Travel failures.
The film is based on a Ray Bradbury novel , a short story titled ¨A Sound of Thunder¨ but are modified some deeds , in the book the fatal accident is produced during the presidential election and the winner results to be a fascist candidate , while the movie is narrated in actioner as well as spectacular style .
Director Peter Hyams is a nice filmmaker and usual cameraman of his films , realizing good Sci-fi titles (¨Capricorn one¨ , ¨Outland¨) and even a similar movie about time travels , but better directed , such as ¨Timecop¨(1994) with Jean Claude Van Damme .
The adapted Ray Bradbury science fiction story about time travel suffered the great floods of 2002 in Prague and lack of money that delayed its release for 2 years.
The characters who hire Ed Burns to take them back in time to hunt dinosaurs are frequently overacting; the set pieces distinctly function as scene breakers or time wasters, ending up giving nothing to dramatic flow and sequential logic.I can't find anything good to say other than the butterfly effect is a sound premise that won't be heard in this vehicle.
The idea that changing even a minute part of history would affect all subsequent history is worth exploring.A Sound of Thunder is a whimper and should be sent back in time to the '50's, where poor production values were valued in B movies.
This tacky film version of his short story from the 1950s about time travel and the effect it might have on de-evolution is not well known from the theatrical run (did it have one?) and exists now as a DVD on the shelves released during a slow week.What looks to be a fancy sci-fi thriller form the opening scenes quickly fools us as the computer generated graphics are re-run unaltered throughout a film that is supposed to be about different 'trips' back in time where a major company sells macho guys in 2055 the chance to hunt dinosaurs by paying exorbitant fees to travel back in time to prehistoric jungles.
Of course there is a pretty damsel who knows how to reverse the process and a hunky man to risk his life to act on her orders and everything is eventually OK.Yes, that is the story...and the most surprising fact about this poorly scripted, abysmally acted mess of a film is that it attracted some fine talent to portray the comic book flat characters.
I think the writers, producers, director and actors have done a pretty-good job of it.From memory, Bradbury's story ends when it is discovered that evolution has changed because of a tiny alteration in a time-travel incident.
Not among a mass audience and not among reviewers.It got to the point that I and many with me, didn't really have much expectation left, but stubborn as we are, we went and saw it anyway
and we loved it, totally amazed by both the film itself, and the stupidity of reviewers and moviegoers in general.Peter Hyams, the maker of Capricorn One and 2010 is finally back.In 2055 time travel has been invented, and it's all in the hands of a greedy industrial entrepreneur, a project guarded by a corrupt government official, all presented very believable and true to life.
People shouldn't make movies about dinosaurs if they can't afford to make the prehistoric creatures look as good or better than those in Jurassic Park.
The story is a complete nonsense, the effects are below the level of a TV production; even the editing is a mess.The only thing that kept me in the theater was that I wanted to know the end of the story, although I was pretty sure it was going to be silly (and it was).There are better ways to spend your time and money..
As a child in the 60s I read a Sci-Fi comic book (based on Ray Bradbury's short story of the same name) that had the characters traveling back in time and hunting dinosaurs from an elevated path.
I found out about the story only after the video store tell me the story, so quickly I went to the movie theater to watch what it is as the last day of filming, The Sound of Thunder.While the time wave don't have the same effect of changing all the events, the premise or actually the excuse of traveling back in time where the dinosaur will die anyway.While some parts of the movie Ben Kingsley appears to be funny.
If all you people who voted 1 to 5 for it think it is that bad i'd suggest you watch documentaries from now on as by voting this low for A SOUND OF THUNDER you insult the essence of the word 'MOVIE' and their-in imagination itself.Granted his movie has its flaws but it deserves at least a 6 rating, no matter what anyone says..
Good story line, changing the past and having it come to bite everyone in the ass because they messed with time travel, bad effects.
Well, there are so many other comments out there that hit the nail on the head I should not need to add to them.But....I had read this book in school 20 years back and was hugely looking forward to seeing this flick.Its a disaster..so many awful things.The effects are risible and yes...at one point, though you don't see it...you just know they are walking on a treadmill..honest!!If you've seen the movie , you'll know exactly what I am talking about.As for the token black dudes scene talking to himself...what the heck was that all about?And ben Kingsley was not the brilliant actor in this...folks are just saying that because he has a rep.He was just as tosh as the rest...only doing this mince to buy new wallpaper for his house or whatever.
It looks stupid, defies the purpose and wastes your time.Well, this movie is like that sock, but with holes.A millionaire without scrupulous (sight!) is selling tickets to travel back in time to the cretaceous and "hunt" a t-rex.Excuse me, if we human in the future were able to create such a machine, would it be used for such an idiotic purpose?
Thinking along the lines of 'Hey, we'll take a beloved story that sci-fi geeks will want to see and turn it into a super-duper high tech time-traveling piece with sexy stars and big action scenes of Chicago under siege"The idea then was passed on to a couple of hack writers (that's okay, I like hack writers) I don't like hack writers, however, when they think they're smarter than the original source material.
In the final analysis the movie sucks because it lacks a story, real characters, direction, visuals, and has loads of boring acting -- but wait there's more -- giant plot holes, mistakes, bad green screen scenes, no point, a bankruptcy mid-way through a flood in the Baltic country it was filmed in -- But wait there's more -- special effects that were not finished, and even if they were they wouldn't have been that good anyway and two strikes for having Ed Burns in it.So how is this any different than say -- anything Roger Corman did or any sci-fi flick from the 50's and 60's.
I go into a radiation theatre film (such as The Beginning of the End, Zero Hour or the Invasion of the saucer men) knowing its an innocent romp, I expect a film based on a celebrated author's short story coming out with a high budget with Peter Hyams at the helm to be a little more like than below average.
Not in this movie.The funny thing is that the story couldn't be worse, but it is almost over-shadowed by the terrible effects, the brutal acting and retarded dialog.If I see any of the stars, producers or the director of this film walking down the street I will punch them in the mouth...and that includes the chicks..
Well, I can only say that my expectations were shattered and this film fell short of being a c-rate movie if not for their use of special effects which were probably created at home with Macromedia or something of that sort.
Believe me, I've seen far worse (check out my reviews of Dragon Fighter and 10.5: Apocalypse).This movie is based on a short story by Ray Bradbury about a company that sends wealthy tourists to the past to hunt dinosaurs.
Subsequently they must fight many monstrous creatures on their dangerous journey.The interesting premise is based on a short story by the famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury but something went horribly wrong with the film version: the movie fails on so many levels that it's not even funny.
First I hate myself for buying this dumber than dumb attempt at a sci-fi and second I hate myself for viewing it.The movie is horrendously poorly acted, poorly scripted and all I can say, if in fact we're as dumb as they are in 2055, when this flick is supposed to take place, the end can't be too far off.I bought this as a 5 dollar previously shown DVD.
While the special effects and the acting are not the best and the plot holes do exist, it is still a really good movie.If you want to see animals you never seen before this is one for you.
Sound of Thunder should be given a chance to be seen and people should keep in mind that they could like this movie for the mere creativity that went into the original story.
All the other characters needs some work...Moving on the script was poorly written, tho in the movie there were some comic relief which is good but not enough to save the movie The ending is different from what Mr.Bradbury intended and seems just too unrealistic even for a Sci-Fi. The time travel theory they used seems improbable mainly because I know of other theory that is more widely accepted (of course the average viewers don't know as much as I do so they should be OK).
Nothing seemed to scream out that the story was not worthy of my time like so many other movies which make me squirm or groan.I enjoyed it, it was well done and might I say, that it turned out rather well considering that the makers of this film were shortchanged along the way, by the powers that grant funding for films to be made.Congratulations to all who worked on this effort.
One should think that the producers would have smelled the rat by now, but no: Some schmuck unleashed Hyams on yet another sci fi classic: Ray Bradbury's shot story "A Sound of Thunder".Everything about this movie is bad.
While I thought this would be another Jurassic Park, and kept my expectations low, it turned out to be a jolly entertaining movie, though a bit formulaic.Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder is set in 2055 Chicago, where scientists have harnessed the power of time travel, and corporations capitalizing on the technology for the rich to embark on a Time Safari, going 65 million years back in time to hunt dinosaurs, in a controlled environment.Wait, won't this disrupt the space-time continuum?
When something is changed in the past, the time waves affect the life in the present days and Travis and his crew, with the support of the inventor of the computer, Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), try to find a way to fix the problem caused in the past.When I saw the User rating of 3.9 and the bad reviews in IMDb, I questioned myself if it would be a worth movie to see.
this movie is boorring!!!.i could not get through the whole thing.the whole movie is miscast.no one is convincing.the story is lame.i think it was based on a story by ray bradbury.his estate sold the right to the story.i hope they got a lot of money for it,or else i'm sure they regret it.ben kingsley is a very talented actor,bit his talents are wasted on this bomb.he just looks ridiculous,along with the rest of the cast.from what i watched,they all just phoned there performances in.the special effects were a yawn and poorly executed.this movie is like the colour beige i.e bland.don't waste your time.if you want to see ben kingsley in a movie worthy of his immense talent,check out "house of sand and fog".as for this movie...peeeyeeww.
Directed by End of Days and Relic Helmer Peter Hyams Sound of Thunder is quite an exciting movie minus the special effects.
If you like Time Travel Movies, do see it on a big screen soon (before it disappears)..
And I really did enjoy it.If you like Time Travel movies, this is a good one.
Plus it was a great way to make a really scary movie out of Ray Bradbury's original short story.
The stories he adapts are always interesting, and A Sound of Thunder is no exception but next to films like '2010', 'Outlander', and 'The Relic', it is a bit of a disappointment.The story plays with the classic sci-fi concept of time travel, and how changing one thing in the past can alter the future in ways unknown.
The time-travel/butterfly effect film had so many bad graphics, the loudest chuckles from me was whenever they showed the dinosaur (God, I loved seeing that dino and them actually being scared of it it was hilarious!) or just simply, Ben Kingsley.
"Sound of Thunder" is a big-budget film about time-travel and evolution that features giant creatures and elaborate special effects. |
tt0039331 | Donald's Dilemma | As the film begins, Daisy Duck is talking to a psychiatrist about an incident that occurred with her boyfriend, Donald. She recalls how they were walking through the park, passing by a skyscraper. On the 99th floor of the skyscraper is a potted flower, which falls and hits Donald on the head, knocking him out. When he comes to, he hears a voice in his head, telling him, "You are the greatest singer in the world." He gets up, and proceeds to croon "When You Wish upon a Star" in a Sinatra-like voice. Daisy is stunned, but Donald coldly glances at her as though he does not recognize her. At that moment, a theatrical agent sweeps Donald into his window, causing the flower on his head to fall at Daisy's feet.She takes the flower home, as a way to remember her lost love. She sees Donald everywhere, hawking products and on marquees-- he has become a major celebrity. She almost drives herself insane, but eventually hears that Donald is playing at the Music City Radio Hall. She decides to go see him, but is greatly hindered by a massive crowd. Many months pass, during which Daisy has no success at being able to see Donald.One night, as she is going home, she runs into Donald on the street. She grovels at Donald's feet, but only succeeds in getting a dime thrown at her. She then comes back to the present, where she is talking to the psychiatrist about what happened. The psychiatrist concludes that the hit on the head from the flower pot is what caused Donald to change so radically. He offers to help, but warns her that Donald will no longer be successful if he changes back to normal. Daisy is eager to have him back, though, so the psychiatrist tells her to put the flower in another pot and drop it on Donald's head somehow. She agrees to this plan.That night, as Donald is performing, Daisy slips into the building through the back door. She makes her way past a sleeping security guard, and climbs up into the rafters, where she drops the pot on Donald. It hits him on the head, and he quickly reverts to his regular voice. He is booed off the stage and thrown out of the building, where Daisy is waiting for him. He is thrilled to see her, asking, "Where have you been?" They kiss as the film irises out. | suicidal | train | imdb | Donald and Daisy both shine!.
I do agree that the title is misleading, it is more Daisy's Dilemma than Donald's.
But when you see the quality of the cartoon, you can forgive this, because Donald's Dilemma is just wonderful.
It is a cartoon where both Donald and Daisy shine, Donald is not as temperamental as he is in other cartoons but he is still a joy here.
Especially with his singing which is one of the more mellow and beautiful singing voices of any male singing voice in the Disney cartoons.
The animation is of vibrant and fluid quality, and there is a lot of energy and style in the music.
The cartoon is both touching and amusing, touching because while I have rarely seen Daisy so angry you do to an extent feel for her and amusing because the part where Donald gets the pot crashed upon his head cracks me up every time.
The story is structured beautifully and characterised so affectionately.
The voice acting is as good as you'd expect too.
Overall, a wonderful cartoon where Donald and Daisy both shine.
10/10 Bethany Cox. Coming up Daisie's.
The title is a bit of a misnomer.
It's actually Daisy's dilemma.
For once, she is thrust center stage.
No longer the shrinking violet or amiable catalyst, she displays a ruthlessly self-centered neurotic streak light years removed from the traditional Carl Barks comic-book conception.
We sympathize with her all the same, despite her theatrics which are not all that exaggerated when you think about it.
I've known fans who would hang around stage doors for interminable lengths of time, patiently waiting for a fleeting glimpse or grudging autograph from their idol, gaining comfort during their long vigil just from the sight of a poster.Donald's Dilemma is unusual for Disney in that it tells a definite story, laid out in the traditional premise/plot development/resolution fashion, rather than presenting just a series of gags and variations on a single theme (for example, wanting to fly, trying to sleep, jitterbugging, skinning a bear) which often ends abruptly when time is up.
Happily, this well-crafted story experiment is highly successful, thanks to an ingenious central idea which is cleverly developed and brilliantly characterized, and direction that is both unusually snappy and atmospheric from the usually stolid Jack King..
Daisy's Moment To Shine.
A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.DONALD'S DILEMMA is really Daisy's - after a conk on the head leaves her boyfriend a crooning sensation with no remembrance of her whatsoever.Daisy has one of her very best screen roles in this humorous little film.
The fickleness of the public's taste in popular entertainment comes in for a bit of gentle ribbing.
Roy Williams, one of the adult members of TV's The Mickey Mouse Club, was the writer on this project.
Clarence Nash provides Donald with his ordinary voice.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings.
As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle.
Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters.
Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe.
Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor.
When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality.
The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music.
The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable.
Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto.
All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films.
Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off..
A duck crooning a famous song.
The song Donald sings is "When You Wish Upon A Star"however it is slightly different from the famous song we know today because donald Replaces the verse "Makes No Difference who you are" to "Shine in Right In From Afar.
I saw this short many times on a home video.
I have read other comments about this short and they said that the title should be "Daisy's Dilemma" and i agree with that.
I don't think i saw donald loose his temper in this short..
Daisy gets her own..
This is a funny cartoon where Daisy goes see a psychiatrist, distressed over Donald getting amnesia from a knock on the head.
Donald doesn't recognize Daisy and becomes a famous singer, becomes the world's darling instead of Daisy's.Daisy I thought has always been bullish to Donald.
Now, seeing her getting the brunt of all the bad luck and mishaps in this cartoon, from her getting kicked out by the stagehand to her going crazy over losing Donald, was rather funny and entertaining.Great fun here with lovable characters and beautiful animation.Grade A |
tt0067309 | Klute | The film begins with the disappearance of Pennsylvania executive Tom Gruneman (played by Robert Milli). The police reveal that an obscene letter was found in Gruneman's office, addressed to a prostitute in New York City named Bree Daniels (Fonda), who had received several similar letters from him. After six months of fruitless police work, Peter Cable (Cioffi), an executive at Gruneman's company, hires family friend and detective John Klute (Sutherland) to investigate Gruneman's disappearance.
Klute rents an apartment in the basement of Daniels' building, taps her phone, and follows her as she turns tricks. Daniels appears to be liberated by the freedom of freelancing as a call girl, but in a series of visits to her psychiatrist (Vivian Nathan), she reveals the emptiness of her life and that she wants to quit. Klute asks Daniels to answer some of his questions, but she refuses. He approaches her again, revealing that he has been watching her. She does not recall Gruneman. She reveals that she was beaten by one of her johns two years earlier, but after seeing a photo of Gruneman, she says she cannot say for sure.
Daniels takes Klute to meet her former pimp, Frank Ligourin (Scheider), who reveals that one of his prostitutes, Jane McKenna, passed the abusive client on to Bree and another prostitute named Arlyn Page (Dorothy Tristan). McKenna committed suicide and Page became a drug addict and disappeared. Klute and Daniels develop a romance, though she tells her psychiatrist that she fears these feelings and wishes she could go back to "just feeling numb." She admits to Klute a deep paranoia that she is being watched.
They find Page, who tells them the customer was not Gruneman but an older man. Page's body then turns up in the Kill Van Kull. Klute deduces a connection between the two "suicides" of the prostitutes, surmising that the client probably also killed Gruneman and might kill Daniels next. He revisits Gruneman's contacts to find connections with the case. By typographic comparison, the supposed obscene letters of Gruneman are traced to Cable, with whom Klute has been meeting to report on his investigation.
Klute asks Cable for an additional $500 to buy the "black book" of the first prostitute who apparently committed suicide, telling Cable he is certain the book will reveal the identity of the abusive client. Cable corners Bree and reveals that he sent her the letters, explaining that Gruneman had interrupted him when he was attacking a prostitute. Certain that Gruneman would use the incident as leverage against him within the company, Cable attempted to frame Gruneman by planting the letter in his office. He confesses to the killings. After playing an audiotape he made as he murdered Page, he attacks Daniels. Klute rushes in, and Cable jumps or is thrown out a window to his death (the film uses ambiguous editing).
Daniels moves out of her apartment with Klute's help, though her voiceover with her psychiatrist reveals her fear of domestic life and a likelihood that the doctor will "see me next week."
The film often cleverly uses dim light to make it difficult to identify the characters and what is going on. The music, though clever and tuneful, seems to enhance the built in confusion as to just what is going on. These devices enhance the tension and force of the motions of the characters. | murder, mystery, neo noir, storytelling, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0863136 | Peter & the Wolf | On the edge of the vast forests of Russia, where wolves still roam, lies a little cottage surrounded by a big, high fence. This is where Peter lives with his grumpy Grandfather. Grandfather will not let Peter go out into the forest. Peter has a friend, the lovable Duck, with whom he hangs around Grandfather's yard. A Bird with a broken wing arrives in the yard. Bird is very impatient with Peter and signals to go into the forest. His heart beating fast, Peter tiptoes into the cottage and reaches over his sleeping Grandfather and the snoring, fat Cat. Ever so carefully Peter takes the keys to the gate.Peter has the time of his life playing in the forest with his friends. He helps Bird to fly, using a balloon and some rope. Then everyone skates on the frozen lake. Everyone, that is, except Cat. She chases Bird, but is so fat that she crashes straight through the ice and into the freezing water. Grandfather awakes and sees that Peter is in the forest. Very angry, he grabs his gun an rushes outside. He grabs Peter off the ice and drags him back into the yard.Suddenly the forest goes quiet. Peter looks out through a hole in the fence and sees the Wolf on the edge of the forest. Moments later the Wolf snatches up Duck, tosses her high into the air and swallows her in a single gulp. Peter slings a heavy net over his shoulder and climbs up the tall fence and into the tall tree. Peter falls from the tree and the Wolf attacks him. Eventually, after a fierce struggle, Peter catches the Wolf.Grandfather drives into town with the captured Wolf, Peter standing, triumphant, on top of the Wolf's cage. The town bullies arrive and tease the defenceless Wolf with a gun. Peter opens the cage and the Wolf races back into the forest. | revenge | train | imdb | null |
tt0256380 | Shallow Hal | Hal Larson (Jack Black) is a superficial man whose fixation on the physical beauty of women gets in the way of seeing their inner beauty. Hal and his equally shallow friend, Mauricio (Jason Alexander), spend their nights obnoxiously hitting on beautiful women at nightclubs. Hal's work life is steady, but he is dismayed after being passed over for a long-sought promotion. His love life is nonexistent, as we see when he tries to ask his attractive neighbor, Jill, out for a date. Jill isn't interested; she finds Hal too shallow.
Hal becomes trapped in an elevator with famous American life coach Tony Robbins. While waiting for the elevator to be repaired, Robbins sympathizes with Hal's disappointment but tries to figure out his ideas about women. He hypnotizes Hal into only seeing a person's inner beauty. Hal does not realize he's been hypnotized and later meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), daughter of the president of the company where he is employed. Rosemary is morbidly obese, but Hal sees a slender and beautiful trophy blonde. He is immediately smitten by her. His boss is not certain about Hal dating his daughter, thinking that Hal may be trying to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Used to being overlooked due to her appearance, Rosemary initially interprets Hal's interest as mocking, but begins to realize his feelings for her are sincere. After apologizing to him, they begin to date, which includes a bike ride with Walt (Rene Kirby).
Mauricio, worried about Hal's new taste in women, convinces Robbins to give him the trigger phrase to undo the hypnosis. Mauricio phones Hal, who is on a date with Rosemary, and says the trigger phrase, breaking Hal's hypnosis. While at the restaurant, Rosemary tells Hal she's signed up with the Peace Corps for a 14-month mission in Kiribati. Mauricio confesses to Hal the truth about Robbins' hypnotherapy, but Hal does not believe it until he runs into a woman who initially appeared beautiful to him but whom Hal now sees in her true, unattractive state.
Hal begins to avoid Rosemary, who becomes melancholic without him around. Distraught that he was not seeing the "real" Rosemary, Hal accepts a dinner invitation from his neighbor, Jill. The two dine together and Jill tells Hal that she has observed him overcoming his shallow nature and is interested in dating him now.
Hal realizes his true feelings for Rosemary who has, coincidentally, arrived at the same restaurant with her family and sees Hal and Jill seated together. Assuming the worst, Rosemary leaves in tears. Not recognizing Rosemary, Hal walks right by her on his way to the pay phone to, ironically, reassure her of his feelings, after refusing to date Jill because of his feelings for Rosemary. Confused and distraught, Rosemary calls Hal a "psycho" over the phone and effectively breaks up with him.
Five days later Steve informs Hal that Rosemary’s Peace Corps partner, Ralph, wants to be in a relationship with her again. Hal attempts to find Rosemary, but instead encounters a young patient named Cadence at the hospital where Rosemary volunteers. Previously, due to Robbins' hypnosis, Hal saw Cadence as a perfect little girl; he now sees that there are severe burns all over Cadence's face. Inspired by Cadence, Hal changes his views on the outer appearances of people in general.
Hal, during his search for Rosemary, finds that Mauricio had his own reason for stopping Hal's hypnosis: He has a vestigial tail, which has prevented him from ever getting close to a woman. Mauricio confesses he was jealous of Hal's happiness and is afraid to start a relationship with a woman. Hal convinces Mauricio to accept his abnormality, with confidence.
Hal makes up with Mauricio and decides to reconcile with Rosemary. He heads to the Peace Corps recruiting office and confronts Ralph, believing he and Rosemary got back together. Ralph informs Hal that he and Rosemary are not together and that Rosemary's parents are throwing her a farewell party (and Ralph wasn't invited). Hal, Mauricio, Ralph and Ralph's friend Leboy arrive at the home of Rosemary's parents. Rosemary initially rebuffs Hal's presence, but then accepts his apology when Hal professes his love for her. Rosemary informs Hal she is still leaving on her Peace Corps mission. Hal says he is coming, too, having just been sworn into the Peace Corps right before arriving at the Shanahans' home.
Hal and Rosemary reconcile, cheered by the crowd as they kiss. He tries to carry her bridal-style to the car, but finds he cannot lift her, so she triumphantly carries him instead. As they drive off, Mauricio meets a woman who loves dogs and the two walk off together as he wags his "tail". | brainwashing | train | wikipedia | And Jason Alexander is always a joy to watch.I think "Shallow Hal" does the best job at conveying the message that beauty is on the inside.
And the soundtrack is pretty good--I have criticized the Farrellys in the past for using crappy music in their sountracks.If you're looking for a good romantic/date movie with some good laughs and a good message, "Shallow Hal" will be an absolute delight.
Jack Black made for a great male lead going from a total jerk into someone that the audience absolutely adored in the end.Hal, a superficial man, and his equally shallow friend Mauricio, share an interest in beautiful women, and try to act cool and hip when around them, but most women find them obnoxious and want nothing to do with them.
Now Hal has to learn on his own that the woman that he loves may not have been all that in the looks department, but is everything that he actually wants in a woman.My main problem with Shallow Hal is it's shallow message, unfortunately Hal, if he wasn't hypnotized, would have never gone for a girl like Rosemary.
I think this one prevailed the most in that department- I think 'Shallow Hal' is an incredibly sweet, and even more upon second viewing, just a charming, great movie-watching experience.
Why so many people disliked it and why critics panned it is totally beyond me!The movie is about a man named Hal, played by Jack Black, who judges women based on their looks.
They thought it was sweet and charming and bashed the critics for thinking that it was demeaning to any one type of social group because they felt that since Hal chose to be with Rosemary at the end of the film that that meant that the movie itself was teaching everyone some great beautiful lesson about how you can see the beauty within.
The issue I have with the movie is that, in the course of making the point that we should see the inner-beauty in fat people, the Farrellys are implying that by being overweight you are universally ugly.
In fact, in the world of Shallow Hal, if you are fat, you are a well-meaning mammoth who couldn't possibly be fancied unless under hypnosis or after an epiphany.The movie also seems to suggest that the friends of fat people are ugly, and that uglies keep each other's company because no one else will want to associate with them, which is another reinforcement of social divisions.
even if it is a new take on an old idea - character sees someone's inner beauty and is shocked when the magical curtain is torn away.Hal (Jack Black) is someone whose last words from his dying father were dad - under the influence of extreme pain killing drugs - telling him to go after pretty girls and forget about love.
As a result, as an adult, he is constantly going to bars with his equally shallow pal (Jason Alexander as Mauricio) and trying to chat up and dance with girls way out of his league, and he's not even subtle about it.Fate changes when Hal gets stuck in an elevator with Tony Robbins who puts him under a spell that will make him see only the inner beauty in people, not the external packaging.
To me anything more about the plot would be revealing too much; you should see the movie for yourself to fully enjoy it.Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent, so is Jack Black in his first leading role.
Don't be confused by the subject matter of this comedy, this is a very touching movie.A Shallow man (Jack Black) is obsessed with only dating beautiful women, until he is hypnotised in to only seeing the inner beauty of people he meets.
And the movie sacrifices plenty of big laugh out scenes for a really smart story, and supplies just enough laughter without over doing it, unlike EARlier works (Dumb and Dumber - which seemed it's only purpose was to make you laugh).Shallow Hal moves to makin' you care about the characters.
If want a good movie to watch, take a look at this.P.S For those who leave bad reviews, I have a message, if you didn't like it, stop wasting time and don't review it.
Consider the guy with spina bifida, do you think that the Farrelly brothers made up every joke in his script?, of course not, these are probably lines he uses every day to help him keep his disability in perspective and enjoy down-to-earth relationships with others (at least I hope he does, as that is what every mature, well adjusted and truly confident person must be able to do no matter what the scale of imperfection they have, and incidentally something that those with greater disabilities have generally learned to develop much quicker in life than the often seemingly perfect paragons of beauty in society who're always checking their face in the mirror to spot the first sign of a wrinkle or whether their butt looks big in their outfit) and if not, I can't imagine he would allow those jokes to be said of him in a movie that gets worldwide distribution and not in everyday life.
The idea that the titular character Hal (Jack Black) is a shallow guy who gets hypnotized into seeing women as they are inside instead of what they look like on the outside.
He begins falling in love with Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), a fat woman that has a big heart.Alright, that premise doesn't really make any sense because how could Hal know what people are like on the inside unless he knew them intimately, and unless the hypnosis also messed around with his sense of touch and his strength, there's no way he wouldn't realize that his vision is all kinds of screwed up, but let's just get past that.
Hit or miss jokes about Hal thinking that some ladies are hot while everyone around him stands dumbfounded, fat jokes, and visual gags of seeing beautiful women looking at big clothes or plates full of food and they don't even have the courtesy of coming in quickly enough to build off of each other and make you laugh.What saves the movie, and I would say actually makes it legitimately good is the love plot.
And, with a good friend, Mauricio (Jason Alexander), constantly reinforcing (with his own shallow perspectives) those put forth by the late Reverend Larson, it has not placed Hal (Jack Black) in good stead with the women he encounters.
For the first time in his life, Hal's eyes are opened, and it isn't long before he meets the most beautiful woman in the world, Rosemary Shanahan (Gwyneth Paltrow), with whom he quickly falls desperately, deeply and passionately in love.
With Black in the title role as a superficial dating single, the film shows us what happens when self-help guru Tony Robbins gives Hal a post-hypnotic suggestion which changes his perception such that everyone's outward appearance is in rapport with their inner beauty.
SHALLOW HAL (2001) *** Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Alexander, Joe Viterelli, Rene Kirby, Susan Ward, Jill Fitzgerald, Molly Shannon, Bruce McGill, Kyle Gass, Laura Kightlinger.(Cameo: Tony Robbins as himself) (Dirs: Bobby and Peter Farrelly)They say that beauty is only skin deep.
If that's true then Rosemary Shanahan has it in spades.The latest uproarious comedy of bad manners and gross-out hijinks from the Brothers Farrelly spotlights the superficial Hal (you can't spell shallow without hal) - played beautifully by Black, a truly talented comedian on the rise to the high life in Hollywood - a Wayne Newton coifed, tubby stock broker who only cares about scoring with major hotties the likes of what a supermodel looks like.
After a heartening conversation with his co-workers (Black's Tenacious D bandmate Gass and real-life squeeze and fellow stand-up comedienne Kightlinger) about his ridiculous barometer of the ideal woman Hal finds himself trapped in an elevator with none other than the self-help guru Tony Robbins who convinces Hal through hypnotic suggestion to see the inner beauty instead of the outside appearances with all the women he encounters (and everyone else for that matter).
Black acquits himself nicely as the under the influence Hal and Paltrow shines as a natural comedienne with her deliveries too.The Farrellys have also often incorporated real-life friends and do so daringly in these politically correct times with the introduction of Rene Kirby, Hal's friendWalt, who truly has spina bifida causing him to get around on all fours which at first is unnerving to see onscreen but like Hal, one gets over it, and sees Walt as a full-rounded character whose success belies his handicap and sustains a normal life as a self-made playboy.
After seeing this recently and then coming here to read reviews I am really surprised how many people reacted to this movie with such annoyance and anger.The Farrelly Brothers make sure to build their film on the back-drop of "why" Hal is so shallow...and then even give the person who helped make him that way an "out" for their bad behavior.Jack Black has been hit or miss for me when it comes to movie making but I thought he was great in this one.Gwyneth Paltrow is AMAZING.
First of all she is stunningly beautiful but plays a role as someone "beautifully challenged" spot on.Jason Alexander is horribly miscast...and annoying...but then again I've never liked him in anything except Seinfeld.Anthony Robbins the self help guy makes an appearance as...surprise...himself.
If you watch the DVD extras you figure out she's kinda a goof-ball...and it really suits her role in the movie.Anyway...the movie is supposed to challenge ideas we have about love and attraction...and I completely got it.For me there were lots of laughs all the way through it and real heart underneath it all.PS: Rene Kirby who plays Walt is an awesome human!
It's important, cause in our early years, we have been looking at beautiful and sexy women and it's just something you could never let behind your back, but once you have such an experience as Hal does, you might change your notion about what is real love, what is a good woman or man and what is something you simply wanna be with for more than one hot night.Of course the movie introduces some strange moments involving characters and Jack Black is overacting in some scenes, but it isn't that much of a problem.
When I first saw the previews for the movie "Shallow Hal" I thought it was going to be purely comedy seeing as how the hilarious Jack Black is in it.
A totally self-absorbed man Hal (Jack Black) who just judges women by their bodies, is put under a sort of spell by Anthony Robbins so he sees what they're like inside.
But I found Shallow Hal to be an OK movie, and a few scenes really did move me (i.e. Jack Black and the little girl in the burn unit).
Jack Black is fine as the loser who looks for love on the surface only, and Gwyneth Paltrow does an admirable job in a very challenging role as the overweight but good-hearted Rosemary.
Soon after, he falls in love with his boss' severely overweight daughter, which as it raises eyebrows everywhere the couple go, Hal is oblivious as to what everyone else is on about.Tender, sweet and subtle are not words one readily attributes to the Farrelly Brothers, but in Shallow Hal they have managed to blend all three with their penchant for close to the knuckle humour.Gwyneth Paltrow in the dual role dons the fat-suit and once again showcases her unheralded comic timing, while Jack Black proves ebullient and engaging in a role that calls for him to shut out what he is actually meant to be seeing.
Hal meets the beautiful Rosemary but his friends cannot understand why he has lowered his standards to date a fat woman.The Farrelly brothers make a film that challenges us on our perceptions and our views of what is `normal'?
Well, I suppose I should salute them for making a film that challenges the view of what beautiful is and accepting others for who they are and not what they look like, but it just doesn't sit with their jokes - not only in other movies but also in this one; they want to have their cake and eat it.
As he sees Hal being very shallow, Tony puts a spell on Hal that ever person he sees, he will only see the inner beauty which leads Hal to date a 300 pound woman, Rosemary Shanahan.This is a very good film that presents a great moral in the world we are now in.
SHALLOW HAL (2001) **** (out of ****) The Farrelly Brothers have been known for making offensive films full of gross-out sight gags and filthy humor.
"Shallow Hal" is a small film with a big message, and the Farrelly Brothers orchestrate it to perfection.
I, as a viewer, could feel it too and that was lovely.There're few other scenes too, in Shallow Hal, that wet your eyes.Talking about the acting, I must mention Gwyneth Paltrow(as Rosemary) first.
Rest of the cast like Jason Alexander(as Hal's friend Mauricio), Susan Ward(as Hal's neighbor Jill) and the courageous & admirable Rene Kirby(as Walt) perfectly played their characters.The story has truly captured the wise saying - Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.Verdict: A very uplifting & heart-warming movie.
People's visual appearance is only half of what makes a person who they are (if that), and that's something that Hal learns over the course of the movie.The two leads are great.
Black and Paltrow have excellent chemistry together, and in a film that focuses more on the romance than the comedy, this is especially important.Supporting players like Jason Alexander, the late great Joe Vitrelli, Susan Ward, and of course, Tony Robbins, are great as well.
Shallow Hal is another fantastic movie by the Farrelly Brothers.
Sure, it was one of the funniest movies of all time, but we all have our own love story about some one from our past who we could never get over, and it was central to the film's humor and fundamental sweetness.If "There's Something About Mary" was sweet, then "Shallow Hal" is simply beautiful.
Jack Black does a great job at acting his way through Hal's shallow period and his subsequent love affair with Rosemary.
Directed by the Farrelly Brothers, 'Shallow Hal' is a film that depicts the inner beauty in us, with honesty & earnestness.
Cleary, this Romantic-Comedy has aged well.'Shallow Hal' Synopsis: A shallow man falls in love with a 300 pound woman because of her "inner beauty".The Farrelly Bros have made a film about imperfect people in an imperfect world.
Shallow Hal is a good movie with a well written storyline and a great comedic cast.The movie is written and directed by the Farrelly brothers,who have made some outstanding comedies,and while this may not be some of their best work,it is still filled with loads of hilarious scenes that you'd know while watching that they wrote it.Jack Black is certainly the best part of this movie,he was really interested and confident about his character and it certainly showed on screen,he also had great chemistry with both Gwyneth Paltrow and Jason Alexander.I thought that the jokes about Paltrows character being really fat but the audience seeing her as skinny gets really old after a while,but it just keeps gong until the end of the movie,which was certainly the weakest part of the movie,it's funny for a bit,but seeing a woman with a great figure manage to break a chair or eat a two person milkshake on her own just gets old pretty fast.Shallow Hal certainly has flaws,but it is funny and unique and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and fun comedy.When looks obsessed Hal is hypnotised in to recognising only the inner beauty of women he soon falls for Rosemary,a very obese woman,but he only sees the beauty in her.Best Performance: Jack Black.
I'm almost as shallow as Hal because a big reason I liked this movie was the fact Rosemary looked so good (as Hal saw her).
Judge them for who they are." Now, in conclusion, I highly recommend this romantic, funny, and heartwarming movie that's worth its weight in humor to all you Gwyneth Paltrow or Jack Black fans who have not seen it..
For about the first 15 minutes this film seems to demonstrate these lessons, but then rather contradicts its own message about looking beyond the surface at inner beauty when Hal is obsessed by what he sees as ideal looking women.I would have thought that in America these days obese people are so common that they wouldn't get derided the way that Rosemary does, although if it's a result of being such a glutton you can't help feeling that she deserves it.
The various scenes of Gwyneth Paltrow in scantily clad poses (and some of the supporting actresses) make this film nice to look at, but like many American comedies it suffers from excruciating characters (here Hal's man friend particularly) and over-the-top/in-your-face gags.
Hal(Jack Black) is known to be a very shallow man and only care of what people look on the outside( well, don't we all) One day he gets trapped in an elevator with this guy named Tony Robbins(Anthony Robbins) who hypnotizes Hal into only liking woman for their inner beauty.
Jack Black and Jason Alexander are very funny throughout the movie and their are a lot of good fat jokes.
Paltrow does great in her performance as the inner beauty of Hal's 300 pound girlfriend, Rosemarie, and the film teaches a good lesson that everybody should know.
I think most of the Farley Brother's movies are really funny, "There's Something About Mary" is one of my top 10 favorite films, it was a non-stop laugh with a great story. |
tt0316356 | Open Range | In Montana in 1882, "Boss" Spearman is an open range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley, Mose, and Button, is driving a herd cross country. Charley is a former soldier who fought in the Civil War and feels guilty over his past as a killer.
Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by a ruthless Irish immigrant land baron, Denton Baxter, who hates open-rangers. Mose is badly beaten and jailed by the marshal, Poole. The only friendly inhabitant is Percy, a livery stable owner.
Boss and Charley become concerned when Mose does not return. They retrieve him from the jail but not before getting a warning from Baxter about free-grazing on his land. Mose's injuries are so severe that Boss and Charley take him to Doc Barlow. There they meet Sue Barlow. Charley is attracted immediately, but assumes that Sue is the doctor's wife.
After catching masked riders scouting their cattle, Boss and Charley sneak up on their campfire in the night, and disarm them. At the same time, another attack results in Mose's death. Button is badly injured and left for dead. Charley and Boss vow to avenge this injustice. They leave Button at the doctor's house and go into town, where they lock Poole in his own jail. Boss knocks him out with chloroform he has stolen from the doctor's office. The deputies are locked up as well.
Charley learns that Sue is the doctor's sister, not his wife. He declares his feelings for her, and she gives him a locket for luck. Charley leaves a note with Percy, in which he states that if he should die, money from the sale of his saddle and gear are to be used to buy Sue a new tea set, having accidentally destroyed her previous set during a "flashback" episode.
Boss and Charley are pitted against Baxter and his men. Charley shoots Butler, the gunman who shot Button and killed Mose. An intense gun battle erupts in the street, with Boss, Charley and Percy outnumbered before the townspeople begin to openly fight against Baxter. After an intense firefight, Baxter's men are dead and Baxter ends up wounded and alone, trapped in the jailhouse. Boss rushes to the jail, mortally wounding Baxter.
Sue's brother tends to the wounded townspeople and open-rangers. Charley speaks to Sue in private, telling her he must leave. She counters that she has a "big idea" about their future together and that she will wait for him to return. He does return, and proposes to Sue. Charley and Boss decide to give up the cattle business and settle down in Harmonville, taking over the saloon. | atmospheric, revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | A traditional, well-made western - suitable for most ages, features good guys herdin' cattle, bad guys tryin' to steal the cattle, codes of honour, a corrupt sheriff, a fantastic shoot-out, and Annette Bening being lovely in the wings.
Open Range is no high and mighty moraliser however; there are plenty true-to-genre one-liners, such as "You're nothing!" (grim-faced, cornered bad guy) - "Maybe so," (good guy pointing a gun at him), "but I'll still be breathing in another minute!" Towards the end of the film they also battle with their own inner demons.
If it looks spectacular on my 24-inch flat-screen, I can't imagine how awesome it would be a big plasma set.2 - Characters you really care about, led by three actors who almost always give solid performances: Robert Duvall (the best in here), Costner and Annette Bening.
And, in a different twist, it's the romance, not the usual climactic gun battle, that ends this film.I can't say enough about this movie except that I'm sorry more westerns like it aren't made today..
(This is my first written review, so bear with me)I've seen many of Kevin Costner's movies (both acting and directing), and even more westerns, and I'd have to say that this movie is the best in either category.
I applaud the creative minds behind this, and Costner, the ringmaster, above all others.I have not seen another film that captured the beauty of the title character (the open range, nyuk nyuk) in such a light.
I've seen many great Westerns--such films as "Will Penny," "Shane," "The Unforgiven," and several other Eastwood movies spring to mind--and this was right up there with them.
My thanks to Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall (of course), and Annette Bening for giving me a wonderful experience at the movies.
On screen Costner shares equal honours with the septuagenarian Robert Duvall, whose personal philosophy that "Man's got a right to protect his property and his life, and we ain't gonna let no rancher or his lawman take either," informs much of the main action.
Like Eastwood's film, Open Range also features a retired gunman who has recourse to his skills to help salvage a situation, and some of the best scenes with Costner's character concern his dispassionate and professional preparation for gunplay.
Like William Munny before, Charley Waite has something of an avenging angel about him, whose cold consideration of his trade is filmed completely without irony.Open Range has all the hallmarks of Costner the western auteur: an expansive, almost leisurely tone, supporting roles for loyal canines, a certain solemnity and respect for his conservative cinematic predecessors being foremost amongst them.
Indeed, part of the great success of Open Range is the way it single-mindedly sustains an atmosphere of fateful suspense.One thing that no one disputes: Duvall is magnificent in his part, a performance that may well prove a capstone to a long and prestigious career.
(Incidentally for a filmmaker who prides himself on accuracy, Costner has his hero 'fan' off shots, a notoriously inaccurate way of discharging a gun, but that's a minor distraction.) It's a notable confrontation, an extended set piece sequence that is one of the director's best and confirms his film the finest western since Unforgiven..
The cowboys Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and Button (Diego Luna) are conducting their cattle herd through the fields of the West.
"Open Range" is one of the best contemporary western, with the characters very well constructed and an engaging low paced story having action, drama and romance.
"Open Range" is in my opinion one of the best movies I have seen on the silver screen since John Ford's westerns.
It is definitely Kevin Costner's best performance and Robert Duvall, well, he is great in anything he plays in.
There is absolutely nothing I can criticise or find fault with in this movie which I genuinely believe to be one of the greatest Western films ever made.The two leads Robert Duvall (Boss Spearman) and Kevin Costner(Charlie Waite) are so convincing as 'freegrazers', and are firmly supported by a host of other players,Abraham Benubi as 'Mose'and Annette Bening as Miss Sue, among the most standout characters.The cinematography is beautiful, the music score is so wonderfully apt and really there is little more to say other than these 2 consummate actors who have previously turned in some really fine performances really surpass themselves in this.Costner has had one or two unfortunate mishaps along the way but more good than bad and Duvall who was brilliant in The Godfather was over-shadowed by two of cinemas all-time greats,Pacino and Brando..
Open Range is without doubt one of the best family movies I have seen for a long time.
Although not quite as good as "Dances With Wolves" Open Range, funnily enough, not only stars Kevin Costner but is along the same theme in as much as it tells a story about the early American way of life.
It's not a flawless Western the Western historians will tell you, and some will pick out the hats or the impact of a rifle to mark the film down, but really we should be embracing a genre piece in the modern age that is clearly being directed with love and respect by the director.It's story is of course a simply structured tale of the underdog rising up against the fat cats who want it all in the name of tyranny.
The film does flesh them out to enhance the film without boring the pants off the viewer, and it's only come the final reel that you realise you have been engaged in a very human and honest Western film.Most of the cast do great here, both Robert Duvall & Kevin Costner bounce of each other with moody and world wise aplomb as the two main leads, while in the sole female role of note, Annette Bening is gusto beautiful personified.
I absolutely love watching Robert Duvall in a western and here, he's nothing short of realistic, amazing and the perfect partner to accompany Costner in this journey both in text and on screen.
The main leads Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are outstanding and unlike many westerns from the golden era aren't painted as whiter than white, though of at heart decent men.
Open Range is a fantastic western and well worth watching for anyone with a love of the genre.
I am not enough of a movie buff to be able attribute his performance in this film to Costner's direction or Duval's feel for the character.
Excellent western film magnificently performed and directed by Kevin Costner.
The movie centers about facing off between settlers and cattlemen.In the cowboys group we find an ex gunslinger(Kevin Costner), an old man (Robert Duvall) and a younger (Diego Luna).
Meanwhile the ex-gunfighter will fall in love with a spinster (Annette Bening).The final showdown between the contenders is breathtaking, gunfight is likeness to "O.K. Corral duel¨.The film is awesome , sets are extraordinaries and landscapes are wonderful.The movie blends action, violence, a love story ,drama ,shootouts and is a fascinating film.Direction by Kevin Costner is of first rate as ¨dancing with wolves¨.
Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to his third directorial effort 2003's Open Range.Plot In A Paragraph: A former gunslinger (KC) is forced to take up arms again when he and his friends are threatened by a corrupt lawman.After his worst movie since the early 80's, KC responded with his best movie in 10 years.
There were quite a few shots filmed up close through the windows of various buildings in the town- and every pane of glass had that authentic hand made wobbly look- not massed produced dead flat 20th century glass panes at all.Also, one of the best shoot outs I have seen for a very long time.
It is therefore hard to compare "Open Range" to any other recent material, so it will need to stand on its own merits.Strong performances and actors with genre experience are always necessary for a good western.
This perhaps isn't so surprising because if you watch a film either directed by or starring Costner there always seems to be a running theme of the characters existing in a wilderness away from civilisation such as DANCES WITH WOLVES , PRINCE OF THIEVES and WATERWORLD alongside the philosophy that guns don't kill people , people kill people , or to be more accurate bad people kill people then good people kill bad people as seen in THE UNTOUCHABLES and THE POSTMAN with PRINCE OF THIEVES and WATERWORLD also coming into this category also OPEN RANGE continues this Costner philosophy as we're shown men or horseback against a breath taking panorama of the untouched American wilderness .
The story itself may be rather old fashioned almost in the vein of John Wayne but that doesn't stop it from being the best film with Kevin Costner for a very long time .
Duvall of course is the type of very rare actor who can make a shopping list come alive and Michael Gambon is memorable as bad guy Denton Baxter Some people might be put off by the fact that it stars and was directed by Costner and therefore expected a three and a half hour epic about nothing in particular .
This tight, and character driven Western is a return to form, and once again shows his keen eye as a director, and his engagement with fellow actors.I was impressed with the chemistry between Costner as Charley Waite along side Robert Duvall's seasoned 'Boss'.
Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner did a fantastic job of convincing me they were driving those cows through the open range.
Open Range is the only Kevin Costner movie I have ever watched that I wanted to see again and again.
Pros: Simple story, great ending, amazing performance by Kevin Costner and Michael Jeter, good acting, and great character studiesCons: Very slow pacing and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 8.4.
I know this is not a film that many people demand the public's opinion on, however, I am writing this review to describe how perfectly directed this film is and how it captures the spirit of what makes the Western genre one of the best in film.Kevin Costner, directing and starring, does a superb job playing a free range cowboy who, along with his boss played by Robert Duvall, has to defend their friends and their herd of free-ranging cattle from a vicious rancher and the lawmen and gunslingers in his deep pockets.
And I'd like to see Robert Duvall get on the saddle again one more time.One of the first things I love about Open Range is the location.
We don't even hear a single shot until the movie's half over and when it is, we are blown away by its realism.Open Range definitely has the best gunfight in any Western yet.Overall, this movie from Kevin Costner is a great epic masterpiece that everybody should check out.
It has all the Western ingredients like shoot-em ups, cattle, horses, "open range", saloon and good versus evil just to name some.
It has been a long time since I have seen a western movie that I thought really put it all together, but Open Range is one of the best.
One thing I do know for sure is that Kevin Costner's Open Range is one of the better westerns to be produced in many a Dakota moon.
Starring Costner, Robert Duvall and Annette Bening, Open Range tells the story of two free grazers who take the law into their own hands after members of their posse are shot and left for dead.
Costner and Bening as love interests are far more an acceptable possibility than having an almost 50-year old chasing down a twenty-something like we see in almost every other movie out there.
Open Range was one of 2003's best films and the undeniable proof that Kevin Costner is still as talented as he was 10 years ago, round the time of Dances With Wolves.
I really liked the movie and can easily recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a nice Western that will stay in one's mind for a long time....
Kevin Costner directs and co-stars with Robert Duvall (inexplicably billed first) and Annette Benning in this story of cattlemen being forced to take a stand against a big time rancher who wants them off 'his' land.Costner directs with a sure and steady hand, letting the story unfold at an almost glacial pace while at the same time giving a great performance as a man at war with himself, struggling to forgive himself for the sins he has committed in the past.
Benning's role is a little underdeveloped and the cursory love sub plot seems forcefully placed into the story as a means to provide Costner with a chance for redemption.There are echoes of Eastwood's Unforgiven; the change from the 'old' West to the 'new'; the old gunslinger who has tried to move on but cannot forget the past, yet Open Range opts for a more positive outlook by its' conclusion than Unforgiven's sombre climax.The film builds to a showdown that we are more than ready for and the action and gun play is exciting and feels authentic.
Open Range's story, may be considered conventional, but the beauty of this excellent film is that it presents its characters and relationships so well that you feel you are seeing something completely new, and indeed you are.
As someone who regards "Lonesome Dove" as THE template for the film genre known as "the western," and who, similarly, believes that "Broken Trail" was/is an exemplary coda to same, I find it, after belatedly watching "Open Range," absolutely astonishing, incredible?, that BOTH Robert Duvall AND Kevin Costner consider this sad effusion of cinematic cliché and stereotype worthy of their efforts, much less their effusions.
The locals in the nearby town decide to cause problems for them, but, in the end, they find out that was a MAJOR mistake.I like the comment made that no one should look for revenge; only justice.This movie was well done and Kevin Costner deserves an award for this one.
Duvall turns in one of the best performances this reviewer has seen in years.Kevin Costner directs and stars as the reformed gun-fighter attempting to forget his dark past, but is forced to return to his former ways by the corrupt Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon) and his gang who run the nearby town of Harmonville and are opposed to "free grazers".
I contend it is not the violence so much as it is the realism that may be disturbing, but I doubt if those confrontations in the old west were a thing of beauty.It can't be that bad a year for movies with the strong return of two great genres long missing from the screen.
great entertainment from all concerned with this movie..good script and great direction by kevin costner...he was influenced by the great directors Ford.Hawks,Stevens..and the pace is slow like it would have been in 1860..the performance of Michael Jetter is a shoe in from the performance ofWalter Brennan in the forties..all actors are excellent and Robert Duvall should garner a few nomination with this wonderful film.....Michel Boudot.
Costner's films should make more money than they do: watching them, you get the feeling of those grande old stories that remind you of the movies you used to love when you were a boy.
The film stars Robert Duvall as Boss Spearman, an open range cattleman alongside his hired hands Charley Waite(Kevin Costner), Button(Diego Luna) and Mose(Abraham Benrubi) as they travel the west free-grazing with their cattle herd.After an altercation with ruthless land owner Denton Baxter(Michael Gambon) in a near by town.
Robert Duvall also gives one his best performances ever, and at times he carries the movie(He should've received an Oscar nomination).The film does have some scripting and pacing issues though.
The geography of the shootout is excellent, as Boss and Waite navigate through the town, as they fend off the corrupt officials and Baxters hired guns.Open Range is a love-letter to classic Hollywood Westerns.
Open Range is huge return to directing form for Costner, its full of great western characters, both good and bad and ugly, it's a very simple story that enthralls the viewer with a fine attention to detail and its relentless realism.
Duval has been around the block a few times and his acting skills were never better in "Open Range".Costner with his casual ways and laid back manner was also great.
"Open Range" is a good western, lyrically filmed, and well-acted.
Open Range has to be the best western i have seen in over 20 years, i cant remember the names of any other western besides "hang em high" "fist full of dollars" "the good the bad the ugly" the real western movies, THE ONES TO REMEMBER.
This is a bad guys versus good guys formula-type film featuring interesting characters and fine performances by Costner, Annette Bening, and particularly Robert Duvall.
The beautiful open country is captured with a realistic touch, and the small western town Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall travel to looks very authentic.
So, if you like westerns, shoot-outs, Kevin Costner, or Robert Duvall, watch Open Range during the next dusty fall afternoon.DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, there's one scene in this movie that won't be your friend.
And if there still weren't movies like Open Range, Jack Bull, 3:10 to Yuma, or that great show Deadwood, I guess we could really say that western is dead.After mediocre Postman, in this movie Costner showed us that he can still direct and act in a movie as good as his previous Dance with the Wolves.
Whilst Robert Duval steals every scene, Kevin Costner has come back home to what he does best - damn good westerns.
Don't get me wrong,I liked Costner's revisionist western Dances with Wolves (still my favourite movie score) and still rate it as one of my all time favourite films. |
tt0488658 | Unaccompanied Minors | When Katherine and Spencer are on there way to their fathers house, a blizzard hits delaying all plane flights
at Hoover International. Zach Van Bourke (Wilmer Valderrama)
takes Katherine and Spencer to the UM room (Unaccompanied Minors Room)
In the huge concrete room there are lots of crazy kids in there. That is where Spencer meets Donna (Quinn Shephard), Charlie (Tyler James Williams), Grace (Gena Mantegna) and Beef (Brett Kelly).The five kids decide to escape the UM room and try to find something to do. Spencer grabs a bite to eat, Grace goes to the high flyers room, Donna steals a golf cart type vehicle inside the airport, Beef goes into the safety equipment room and plays around in there and Charlie sings at Sharper Image. They are eventually caught and brought back to the UM room where they discover no one else is there. They also get a lecture from Oliver (Lewis Black), the head of the airport. All the kids, including Spencer's little sister, were brought to the Hoover International Lodge to spend the night on Christmas Eve. Spencer, Donna, Charlie, Grace and Beef are all forced to sleep in the dirty UM room. The kids find a way to trick Zach Van Bourke and they manage to escape the UM room. When they get out, Beef says that he will find a Christmas tree for Spencer's sister to make her Christmas better. Donna and Grace get into a fight after arguing over something stupid. The 4 kids eventually make a trip to distract the guards by letting a dog out of its cage. The 4 kids eventually go to the unclaimed baggage wearhouse, where they find some cool things. Charlie finds 4 walkie talkies and Spencer finds a doll. Both of those things will eventually help them. They are caught on camera and must make a run from Oliver and the guards. They eventually go to the the lodge to see Spencer's sister and deliver the doll that Spencer found for Katherine. Charlie and Donna knock on people's doors and blame it on Oliver who gets punched in the face by a man. Spencer puts the doll next to his sister as she is sleeping.Oliver catches them and Spencer tells Oliver not to wake up his sister. The 4 kids are brought back to private rooms where there are guards next to the doors. They all 4 still have walkie talkies so they manage to get out through the vents in the ceilings. They are in the vents and Charlie falls through the celing into a room with decorations. The 4 kids decorate the airport because it has no Christmas decorations. Beef comes back with the Christmas tree even though he had to go a long way to get it. Oliver doesn't like Christmas because his wife left him on Christmas a couple years back. Oliver catches them but congratulates them for escaping. Oliver decides to bring Christmas to the airport so he dresses up as Santa. They get a list of all people flying alone so they give gifts to them. Spencer meets up with Katherine and there father comes to see them. He drove to the airport all the way from Pennsylvania to meet them. His car blew up on the way so he had to use a Hummer to get there.THE END | comedy, flashback | train | imdb | Sure, there isn't some complex plot with several twists; it's just a relaxed ride, a feel good movie.
They are doing things that no adult could ever get away with, but that is exactly why it made me feel good: you just know that there won't be consequences; it's just pure adventure and fun.I see a lot of B-movies lately; were the acting is REALLY REALLY bad.
The kids put down some professional acting (not perfect, but in most cases that is totally to blame on the director-- the movie doesn't need it either, this isn't a "The Good Son (1993)") and the adults act as adults typically act in kids movies, nothing that annoyed me.I think that any adult can enjoy this movie, if they keep an open mind, like children and still are enough of a kid in their heart to remember how (good) it was in their childhood.Don't expect anything deep - just sit back and allow yourself to enjoy a while without worries..
I HAVE NO AGENDA.In this holiday comedy, five kids have just been snowed in at a Midwest airport on Christmas Eve -- and there isn't a parent in sight!
Now, Unaccompanied Minors Spencer (Dyllan Christopher), rich- girl Grace (Gina Mantegna), tomboy Donna (Quinn Shephard), geek boy Charlie (Tyler James Williams) and bashful Beef (Brett Kelly) must try to outwit a disgruntled airport official (Lewis Black--"The Daily Show") in a last-ditch effort to reunite with their families.
You should know that I had decided I'd rather watch "Minors" than "Santa Clause 3" or "Deck the Halls," so going into the movie I was probably more lenient with it than I might have otherwise been...But anyway, I saw this and I thought it was okay.
I thought the four main kids--the ones stuck in the airport--had good chemistry and went well together.
The adults (Black, Valderrama), while they've done okay in other movies/shows, seemed to be "acting down." In fact, the whole movie kind of seemed that way.These kids must be 13 or 14 but they're acting more like eight or nine.
But, since I was ready to watch and enjoy this movie, I laughed at all the falling down, food-throwing, name-calling activity.I noticed a theme.
I think this theme or message is what some parents will like about the movie and what some might decide to steer clear of: children of divorce do well on their own, perhaps even better than kids whose parents are still married.
Sure, you have to overlook the way the kids are smarter than the adults and the fact that firstly the security guards aren't bright enough to be working airport security and even so aren't villains but just guys trying to do their jobs.
How ever I was skeptical about how this film would play out, and if It would be like another ones like "Christmas with the Kranks." I was surprised at how funny this actually was, It had the perfect combination of adult humor and child humor which made it enjoyable for me.
Maybe for like 40 year-olds it may seem like a waste of time, but kids under the age of 12 will probably love this movie.
I liked it not for the hilarious comedy, but for the storyline, it was great overall, any way you look at it.I strongly recommend people see it, especially on Christmas..
i just saw this movie.and as Christmas is one week ahead ,this movie made me glad and had all the good feelings together with clever stylish adventure and kids being intelligent.made me want to be in their group.no one is really bad in this movie,it did not have any "bad" characters or scenes unlike some other family movies.it was a very warm and entertaining movie.the acting was pretty good.the rhythm was proper ,not very fast ,but neither boring,keeping you happy and curious.it makes you see an airport through a child's eyes.i did not see much difference between this movie and the mega-classic home alone,except the star quality of macaulay culkin.but guess what.these kids are very likable without really trying to be,which is a great approach.all together i recommend this movie especially during the Christmas period for everyone young or old who can still feel like a little kid trying to have fun..
I don't want to say too much about the movie, but I would like to share my thoughts upon certain aspects.When I first saw a poster for this movie, I said to myself "God, not another home alone/Christmas knock-off." Later on I was invited to a private screening and I was skeptical as to whether it was worth my time or not.
(If you haven't seen Bad Santa, I suggest you do before you see this movie) I see a lot of critics already shoving this movie into the ground; 40 year-old adults that are dissing a movie about and made for kids.
The way I see this movie is that the kids want to see it, and the parents, expecting nothing, will laugh out loud.
The subtle adult based humor was good, and there were a couple of scenes that just made me crack up in my seat.When you go see this movie don't expect anything, don't take into account anything I said.
A good thing to do would be to bring your kids, it's their movie anyhow.
I asked my daughter at the end of the film what she thought, and she said, "It was really dumb, Mom. We should have seen Charlotte's Web, instead." I suppose we would have rented this one after it came out on video - we usually rent most family movies to check out good ones to buy and have in our library - now at least I won't have to waste another dime to do that.
the movie grounded was typicall of it's movie contestants,it defined most meanings and explored all emotions possible to explore.the main thing i liked about the movie is that it represents most common kids and i have to say the acting was spectacular,i mean absolutely fascinating but all in all i have to be serious and give the movie a chilling average 7 out of 10 because the movie is not eye cathing and in many terms great but i do admit as a child myself i am overwhelmed with words to this comment.
When I first saw the promos I thought it was nothing but a movie about teen wrecking things and making the adults look like fools.
To me, this is where the movie picked up and became very enjoyable to the end.I say the best performances in Unaccompanied Minors, easily goes to the kids who plays Charlie and Donna.
I so wanted more scenes of them because they had great chemistry and loved how they hook up in the end.There many scenes that are cringe-worthy but there also many scenes that are LOL funny and I was surprised that I found myself laughing at them.The movie is splatter with many cameos to name a few; The couple from The Office(Kelley and Ryan), Arrest Development(Buster and the mother), the hippy dude from Ned Declassified, and Terri Garr.
This movie takes place in an airport on Christmas Eve, where six kids are forced to stay over night, when there flight gets canceled due to bad weather, under the strict watch over airport manager Oliver Porter(The very funny Lewis Black), but these kids are not gonna sit still and be bored, they are gonna make this a Christmas to remember, by having fun and trying to outwit Mr. Porter and airport security.
My kids loved it and it does have some good messages, such as an older brother who genuinely cares about his little sister, racial harmony, and a truly happy ending.
Apparently the movie was based on a "This American Life" incident in which some children who were traveling without adults were stranded in an airport during Christmas because of bad weather.
I was forced by my family, who every year at Christmas we watch a movie together and when they picked this one out I was ready to slap them all.
LOL) out to the theaters this season for the feel- good family film of the season, "Unaccompanied Minors." It's about a whole bunch of kids who get stuck at an airport in, say, Nevada or something.
To kill the time, these kids go "Home Alone" in the airport (in a nice, post-9/11 strict kind of way) and have fun!!!!!
Wilmer Valderrama's performance was so unconvincing and disappointing, its like watching him in his role of Fez but working in an airport and Lewis Black as the movie villain was good.
Lewis Black was also funny as the airport manager who doesn't like kids or Christmas.It reminded me some of "Home Alone".
Unaccompanied Minors is a funny movie for kids and adults.
If you do that, then you will enjoy it and have some good laughs.When the movie starts, you are thrown right into the plot.
The kids and adults were very good at planning schemes, but the kids were definitely better.I think that people of any age can go and see this movie, and they will all leave being glad they saw it..
now you have teenager run amok in the airport,, so the antics start to fly fast and heavy,, lot's of laughs and pranks along the way,, you get to learn a little bit about a few of the character in the movie and such,, and one of the children tries to help one of the adults at the airport find his family or something along those lines,, all in all not a great movie,, but not a bad movie either,, pretty much right in the middle of the road..
Its got a lot of slapstick comedy and should be enjoyable for the family, providing laughs and a pretty feel-good ending.Overall: OK, so this movie's not gonna win any awards.
No one was expecting the "Citizen Kane" of kids movies here, so if you just want to see some funny stuff and have some laughs, you might actually be satisfied with the movie "Unaccompanied Minors.".
Unaccompanied Minors is exactly the type of movie I would watch when I need a good laugh.
If you discredit my review just because of my age, and believe all the negative reviews, you're missing out on an altogether sweet movie.The actors and actresses were great in their roles.
One of my favourite lines from the movie is when Mr.Porter says, "Who trained you kids, the Navy Seals?!" Maybe you just have to watch it, but I was laughing like crazy.
Maybe those reviews were posted by little kids, because I think that is the only audience that would enjoy this film.
Sure kids getting into trouble, making adults look foolish can be amusing, but it doesn't make a great film.
Basically, the movie is about some kids, who are traveling alone, get stranded at an airport over Christmas.
One technique I really liked in this movie is that it involves kids trapped in an airport.
you'll probably have more fun than where you were going.I think the main message in this movie is, if something goes wrong, make the best of it.
Like the kids did in this movie.
this is the best movie ever because have a great story, a good message and have very good actors including the kids all were good because all have the role that they have to do all knew how to act in every scene of the movie.
i enjoy the role of Oliver Porter (Lewis Black)he is kind but he is really bad with the kids he makes me laugh for the things that happen to him.I'm waiting for the DVD.
The story was mostly fun to watch as the kids decided to take their misfortune of being left with a room full of a bunch of crazy, undisciplined children of divorced parents.
They are captured by the head of passenger relations Oliver Porter (Lewis Black), and sent back to the ominous room, where the activity has died down since the remaining unaccompanied minors were taken to a quiet lodge for the night, but the six kids manage to sneak out once more, with Spencer desperately trying to get a doll delivered to his sister, who is now at the lodge.All the kids here are great and can be very effective in better material.
I believe that many, many kids would be more interested in watching kids go through and handle the same problems they possibly are going through rather than lumber around setups concocted from a fourth graders daydream.Starring: Dyllan Christopher, Dominique Saldaña, Tyler James Williams, Brett Kelly, Gina Mantegna, Quinn Shephard, Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama.
This is by far one of THE BEST movies I have seen in quite a while.Also, it is possibly one of THE BEST Christmas movies EVER MADE.I knew it was going to be an AWESOME movie when in the opening credits I am laughing more than I have in some entire films.Very rarely do I tell this to anyone, but this is DEFINITELY, i feel, worth going an paying Fri/Sat night admission price (which we all know is outrageously overpriced).The cast and story of this show are just simply awesome.
It's a funny, family-orientated, and feel good Christmas movie.
The film revolves around four kids stuck in an airport on Christmas Eve. They get into crazy antics during their stay.
The bottom line, Unaccompanied Minors may be a kids Christmas movie, but there is a whole lot to like about it, from the writing, to the in depth character development, the mixing of different comedic styles, and even the unique settings.
Usually on TBT, I have an amazing memory with the movies, but with this movie (since I was reviewing it for Christmas, which is a special time), I decided to check it out from the library, and watch it again, and I was hit with nostalgia.I like this movie.
This movie is a kid's dream: Just kids trapped in an airport having the time of their lives.I really like the Spencer kid, and how he's so determined to get anything done.
I'm also surprised that he has a really nice sister, unlike most things like this, where the sister is an annoying brat.But there are things that I don't like about this movie, like the scenes with Spencer's dad trying to get to his kids.
The guards aren't really funny, but other than that, I really like this movie.If you're an adult reading this and you're about to watch this, go into it with the mind of a child.
Its Not A Good Story Line Movie But Its Funny.
I Like This Movie Because Its Funny And Enjoy Able.
This rehash of every kid-left-alone movie has incredibly cute children, but very little laughs - and even with a schmaltzy ending - very little heart.Five kids from different parts of the country, normal kid Spencer (Dyllan Christopher), weakling Charlie (Tyler James'Williams), fat boy Timothy (Brett Kelly), spoiled princess Grace (Gina Mantenga) and tomboy Grace (Quinn Shephard), find themselves together at a Chicago airport.Put together in a dungeon-like basement for kids traveling without parents, they soon escape and make an effort to find Spencer's little sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana).This takes place as grumpy security manager (comedian Lewis Black) and his three idiot guards (former Kids in the Hall players Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney) pursue the indifferent and resourceful moppets.At least Black, whose acerbic tirades on "The Daily Show" can be hilarious; and his well-received books and stand-up specials draw much attention, is funnier here than he was in "Man of the Year." All the while, we are treated to unfunny sequences featuring Spencer and Katherine's moronic, tree-hugging dad, whose vegetable oil-burning vehicle explodes while he is driving to pick them up.
That was all right in "Home Alone" but it doesn't really work when you care nothing about any of these young characters.A sappy conclusion, featuring a reformed Black and the arrival of a deadbeat father, along with everyone getting a new girl/boyfriend (except the fat kid, because we know fat people in Hollywood films do not deserve any sort of happiness), adds to the overall stupidity.Saw several critics on the Internet Movie Data Base that actually gave 10 stars to this picture.
The main point is the kids (Donna, Charli, Beef, Spencer and the rich chick) have to get to Spencers sister and like save Christmas.Actors: Quinn Shephard stole the show and brought the movie up a lot!
A nice plus is that it didn't contain any language inappropriate, inappropriate sexual scenes/innuendo and the ending message was family friendly and pro-Christmas.For the adults there was some humor that went over the heads of my kids, I especially loved the scenes with the main characters eco-conscious father on his way to the airport.
Basically six children, Spencer Davenport (Dyllan Christopher) with sister Katherine (Dominique Saldaña), Timothy 'Beef' Wellington (Brett Kelly), Charlie Goldfinch (Everybody Hates Chris's Tyler James Williams), Grace Conrad (Gina Mantegna) and Donna Malone (Quinn Shephard) have all arrived on Christmas Eve at the Midwestern Hoover International Airport.
The critics got this right that this is more for the younger audience, the kids are typical Breakfast Club style characters that are mischievous and then touchy-feely, and it is filled with pretty tedious meant to be funny moments, a rather dull Christmas comedy.
The five kids establish a very strong bond at the end of the film.Unaccompanied Minors is very entertaining.
Trapped in an airport on Christmas Eve without your parents, with like a bazillion kids?
That's hilarious!I think Spencer was a little bit too much of your classic main character, but good all the same.
We may watch some VHS doing the holidays, or if the movie is good for everybody witch is not on DVD. |
tt0120616 | The Mummy | In Egypt, circa 1290 BC, high priest Imhotep engages in an affair with Anck-su-Namun, the mistress of Pharaoh Seti, despite strict rules that other men are forbidden to touch her. When the Pharaoh discovers their tryst, Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun murder the monarch. Imhotep is dragged away by his priests before the Pharaoh's guards can discover his involvement; Anck-su-Namun then kills herself, intending for Imhotep to resurrect her. After Anck-su-Namun's burial, Imhotep breaks into her crypt and steals her corpse. He and his priests flee across the desert to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, where they begin the resurrection ceremony. However, they are caught by Seti's guards before the ritual could be completed, and Anck-su-Namun's soul is sent back to the Underworld. For their sacrilege, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive, and Imhotep himself is forced to endure the curse of Hom Dai: his tongue is cut out and he is buried alive with a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The ritual curses him to become an immortal walking plague if he were ever to be resurrected. He is buried under high security, sealed away in a sarcophagus below a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis, and kept under strict surveillance throughout the ages by the Medjai, descendants of Seti's palace guards. If Imhotep were ever to be released, the powers that made him immortal would allow him to unleash a wave of destruction and death upon the Earth.In 1923, soldiers from the French Foreign Legion, led by American Rick O'Connell, make a final stand at Hamunaptra against an overwhelming force of Medjai warriors. The soldiers are massacred and O'Connell makes a final retreat inside the city, only to be cornered by a group of Medjai. However, they flee when Imhotep's evil presence manifests itself, leaving him to die in the desert.In 1926, Cairo librarian and aspiring Egyptologist, Evelyn Carnahan is presented with an intricate box and map by her bumbling brother Jonathan, who says he found it in Thebes. The map seems to point the way to the lost city of Hamunaptra, where all of the wealth of Egypt was supposedly stored; however, the museum curator, Dr. Bey, dismisses Hamunaptra as a myth, and accidentally damages the map. Jonathan reveals he actually stole it from an American (revealed to be O'Connell), who is currently in prison, and may be able to tell more about Hamunaptra. Rick tells them that he knows the location of the city from his days in the Foreign Legion. He makes a deal with Evelyn to reveal the location of Hamunaptra, in exchange for Evelyn saving Rick from being hanged. Evelyn successfully negotiates his release from the prison warden by offering him 25% of the found treasure; however, the warden insist on coming along in order to protect his investment. They board a ship to start their expedition to the city, where they encounter a band of American treasure hunters led by the famed Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain, and guided by Beni Gabor, a cowardly former Legion soldier who served with Rick and also knows the location of the lost city.During the journey, the boat is invaded by Medjai soldiers who are looking for Evelyn's box and the map. The expedition manages to fight them off, but the map is lost and the boat goes up in flames, forcing the entire party to go ashore. Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan are separated from the other treasure hunters and procure camels at a nearby market. Since Rick knows the way to the city, they arrive at Hamunaptra at the same time as the other party, but due to tensions between the two groups, they start exploring the city in separate locations. The Americans discover a chest between the legs of the statue of Anubis. They have it opened by several of their carriers, but the chest is booby-trapped and the carriers die from an acid spray. In the meanwhile, Evelyn is looking for the Book of Amun-Ra, a solid gold book supposedly capable of taking life away. Her team discovers a tomb buried directly below the statue of Anubis. Evelyn's box turns out to function as a key that opens the tomb; inside there is a sarcophagus. Suddenly, the prison warden runs by, screaming in pain. Unbeknownst to the rest, he had found a decorative scarab, but it contained a real scarab that entered his body and ate a way into his brain. The warden knocks himself into a wall and dies instantly.After a quiet evening outside, Rick and Evelyn get in a romantic mood, when suddenly, both groups are attacked by the Medjai, led by a warrior named Ardeth Bay. Rick forces a stand-off by lighting a stick of dynamite and threatening to blow everyone up. Bay warns them of the evil buried in the city, and gives them one day to leave. His groups then ride out. Rather than heed his warning, the two expeditions continue to work on their respective projects. The sarcophagus is opened, and contains the gory remains of Imhotep. The team of Americans, meanwhile, open the chest, in spite of a warning on its lid that threatens to kill everyone who takes its contents. They discover the black Book of the Dead, accompanied by canopic jars carrying Anck-su-Namun's preserved organs; each of the Americans takes a jar as loot, while Dr. Chamberlain takes the book, but Beni flees the scene out of fear for the curse.At night, Evelyn takes the Book of the Dead from the Americans' tent; her key also fits on it. She reads a page aloud, accidentally awakening Imhotep's mummified remains. Immediately, the first plague announces itself: a swarm of locusts invades the terrain, forcing everyone inside the city. The entire group is separated into smaller parties when a giant army of scarabs breaks loose, and eats everything in its path. One of the Americans gets lost, and is attacked by Imhotep, who takes his eyes and tongue while partially regenerating his body. Evelyn also encounters Imhotep, and he seems to recognize her as Anck-Su-Namun; however, Rick shoots him down before everyone flees the catacombs. They run into Ardeth and his group of Medjai warriors again. He berates them for resuccecting Imhotep, who will now bring along death and destruction. The only thing to do is flee the city, until a way can be found to kill him again. The entire group leaves, but Beni is left behind. He also encounters Imhotep, but successfully pleads for his life, and is allowed to become his slave.Both groups return to Cairo. Rick and the Americans plan to leave Egypt, but Evelyn decides to stay, reasoning that releasing the curse was their fault, so they have the responsibility to stop Imhotep. That afternoon, the next plague announces itself: water turning into blood, signaling that Imhotep is nearby. The group deduces that Imhotep will go after the four men who took the Book of the Dead and the canopic jars. Beni has indeed taken Imhotep to Cairo, helping him trace the Americans. Rick and Jonathan track down the American whose eyes were stolen; they find his desiccated body, and Imhotep slowly regenerating his own. Rick tries to kill Imhotep but he is invulnerable to weapons; only the presence of a cat in the room startles him, and he flees in a dust storm. Rick returns to his quarters as the second plague starts: violent hailstorms ravage the city. He locks Evelyn in her room to keep her safe from Imhotep, ordering the remaining two Americans to stand guard while he and Jonathan leave to warn Dr. Chamberlain. The doctor's chamber is empty, but they witness Imhotep killing Dr. Chamberlain in the streets, taking the Black Book and releasing a swarm of flies. Imhotep proceeds to Evelyn, entering the room and consuming the body of the American on guard. He enters the sleeping Evelyn's bedroom through the keyhole by transforming into sand, and tries to kiss her. Rick, Jonathan and the remaining American enter, and scare him away by threatening him with a cat.The group goes to the museum, hoping that the museum curator Dr. Bey may have some answers. They are astonished to find him together with Ardeth Bay. Dr. Bey reveals to also be a member of the secret society sworn to prevent Imhotep's resurrection (which is why he purposely tried to burn the map). He theorizes that Imhotep will fears cats (the guardians of the underworld) until he is fully immortal; he also thinks that Imhotep intends to resurrect Anck-su-Namun, using Evelyn's body to regenerate it. All of a sudden, a solar eclipse occurs, so they have to make haste. Evelyn hypothesizes that if the black Book of the Dead brought Imhotep back to life, the gold Book of Amun-Ra can kill the high priest once again. The group finds a tablet in the museum that describes the location of both books, and Evelyn deduces that the gold book must be buried beneath the statue of Horus. At that moment, a large group of natives, covered in boils and sores (the next plague) and under Imhotep's spell, surround the museum. The heroes leave the museum by car, but the remaining American is captured during the pursuit, and consumed by Imhotep. Finally cornered by his followers, the fully regenerated Imhotep offers Evelyn to come with him, in exchange for letting the others go. She agrees, but as they leave, Imhotep goes back on his words. Dr. Bey sacrifices his life by holding back the crowd of followers while the rest flee through the sewers.Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth enlist the help of Winston Havlock, a desillusioned WWI fighter pilot, to fly them over to Hamunaptra. Imhotep returns to Hamunaptra in a sandstorm, carrying Evelyn and Beni, pursued by Rick's plane. Imhotep uses his powers to cause a huge sandstorm, but distracted by Evelyn, he only succeeds in letting the plane make an emergency crash landing, killing only Winston. Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth enter Hamunaptra and discover a new area ful of Hamunaptra's famed treasures. They quickly get into a battle with Imhotep's resurrected mummy priests, so they make their way to the statue of Horus, where they find the Book of Amun-Ra. However, when cornered by the priests, Ardeth sacrifices himself to allow Rick and Jonathan to escape. Imhotep, in the meanwhile, has resurrected the mummified remains of Anck-su-Namun and is preparing to sacrifice Evelyn, when Rick and Jonathan interfere. Rick frees Evelyn from a group of mummies, while Jonathan reads an inscription on the book in order to kill Imhotep; unfortunately, this only summons a group of mummified guards, who go after Rick, while Evelyn is attacked by the resurrected Anck-su-Namun. Jonathan succeeds in finishing the inscription, giving him command of the guards just before they kill Rick; he commands the guards to kill Anck-su-Namun. Imhotep turns his anger towards Rick, while Jonathan and Evelyn succeed in opening the Book of Amun-Ra. Imhotep is about to kill Rick when Evelyn recites the counter-curse. Imhotep's immortal soul is taken from him, and he becomes mortal. Rick fatally stabs him, and rapidly decaying into a mummy again, Imhotep leaves the world of the living, vowing revenge. Beni, who was secretly dragging treasure outside, accidentally sets off an ancient booby trap. As Hamunaptra begins to collapse into the sand, Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan race towards the exit, with Jonathan accidentally dropping the gold book. Beni remains behind, and is trapped and eaten by a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The heroes escape before Hamunaptra disappears in the sand. Ardeth, who has unexpectedly survived, waits for them outside andthanks them for their help. They ride off into the sunset on a pair of camels laden with Beni's treasure. | horror, violence, action, boring, stupid | train | imdb | Now he is out to kill, regenerate and bring back his old lover - pretty neat, huh?I own "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy," a great movie spoofing the classic film.
I actually believe that this film is a bit classy in execution - compared to many other entertainments floating around nowadays it stands as one of the only films to return to the roots of the pure adventure films like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) so successfully did.Brendan Fraser is a perfect choice for the lead star.
Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frazer) leads the beautiful Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) to Hamunaptra (The City of the Dead) where reading from a book brings Imhotep (Pharaoh Seti I's High Priest) back to life.Once revived Imhotep has only one purpose in this world, to bring his love 'Anck Su Namun' back from the dead to join him, and will kill anyone who gets in his way.Although based on a Horror Theme, there is little horror on show here, but there are plenty of Great Action Moments, some brilliant visuals and some good humour.The dialogue is well written and punchy, this combined with some great characters bring the story to life and it turns out to be a terrific Film that is more Action/Comedy than Horror.8/10.
Some have mistakenly guessed her top was a mesh costume of some sort; not true, it is entirely - and only - paint.But Velazquez isn't the only thing to turn heads in the film, Rachel Weisz is appropriately attractive, though not as startling; her character is as solid and believable as she is lovely.The newcomer, Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bey, set quite a few female hearts aflutter; in our party, at least.
This is one film that caught my imagination like very few other Hollywood action films I have seen before.Yes,on the face of it,this is another sci-fi action adventure,a surefire winning card for Hollywood -what's so special about that ?Oh yes,there is !To begin with,there is the scenery at the beginning of the film that completely blows you away,making you feel that this movie could be something above what you had expected.And you are not wrong.The first surprise is Brendan Fraser as the American soldier Rick O'Connell, who accidentally stumbles upon Hamunaptra,the city of the dead,where the wealth of Egypt's greatest emperor Seti the First is buried.After seeing him in "Airheads " ,"Dudley Do-Right " and " "George Of The Jungle",I was very very impressed-this is one actor who can do both comedy and action and look good doing it too !Then there is the beautiful Rachel Weisz ,playing Evelyn Carnahan,who teams up with him to find Hamunaptra.She looks great playing her role,and never allows herself to be upstaged by Fraser, matching his brawn with her ever-alive intellect and quick thinking.Kevin J.O'Connor who plays the double-crossing Beni is a very new kind of villain,looking evil and ridiculous at the same time.But when the resurrected high priest Imhotep( played by Arnold Vosloo)makes his appearance in the form of "The Mummy", everything else becomes secondary.This is CGI at its ultimate best,and precisely why the film is so unusually absorbing .The horror and threat surrounding the curse of the mummy becomes a concern not only for the protagonists in the film but also for the audience-how will they kill something this scary and powerful?, they ask themselves.
.The special effects apart from the mummy are also a treat to watch,and keep you glued to your seat.The element that makes this film not only scary but also enjoyable is the dialog.Almost every member of the large cast has a one-liner that will make you laugh in spite of the sinister atmosphere surrounding the story.The script never allows one second of screen-time to be wasted, ideally combining action with fantasy and humor,creating a movie that I consider a classic.Director Stephen Sommers has delivered a film that is bound to stand the test of time,and is definitely one of my favorites..
There is a lot to like here: it has elements of action, adventure, comedy, fantasy, mythology, horror, and tells a pretty well made tale (seriously, how many movies manage to pull all of these things off?
There is little technically wrong with this film other than that is clearly borrows heavily from the King of action-adventure, Indiana Jones.What begins as a treasure hunt in the City of the Dead soon turns into a plot that essentially goes like this, as described by Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), "Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world." The good thing is, there is a lot more to it than that, and unlike Indiana Jones, the male hero is not alone in his mission nor does he get all the credit for it.
A modern affectation, sure, but I like the idea of a mummy with a great butt.Brendan Fraser looks good, has a fabulous voice, and a whole boatload of goofy charm.
The modern "Heroine in an Adventure Film" is SPUNKY, screams, and gets rescued a lot.And as to Oded Fehr, who plays the mysterious desert guardian of the mummy's tomb (a role traditionally assayed by Welsh character actors) -- I and the rest of the ladies in my party indicated, through a series of incoherent grunts and some unattractive drooling, a strong desire to see much, much more of him.
The film needs more lulls.Brendan Fraser is pretty good as the Indiana Jones figure and Rachel Weisz, a new face at the time, makes a solid impression in her debut.
Brendan Fraser may well have established himself as the John Wayne of his day with his thrilling performance here.No one can take the place of the Duke of course,but Fraser approached his character with just the right amount of swagger,wit,and charm.This take on an often told story has all the charm of the old Saturday matinee's of years gone by,and all the thrills of the Raiders of the Lost Ark series.Excellent casting,with standout performances from everyone, particularly Arnold Vosloo,Fraser,and Oded Fehr.Highly recommended..
OK, hands down this movie is just awesome...Probably the best mummy movie.Brendan Fraser as the gung-ho Rick O'Connel is really funny and one of the characters that just makes this movie so great.
one of my favourite seens with jonothan is when he is pretending to be one of the mindless followers of Imhotep.basically Rachel Weisz' character wakes up a mummy, Imhotep played by Arnold Vosloo (who i must say did quite a convincing job and i enjoyed his performance) and Imhotep sets plagues onto the land of Egypt and wants to resurrect his lost love.some people may find this movie has some scary parts in it, but its also a lighthearted movie in having comedy in it as well.
The title speaks for itself.This is arguably the greatest mummy movie ever made(well next to The Mummy Returns).You ask why is this the best one?Its the best one because it has a great story,good acting,beautiful sites at how it really was in acient egypt and some of the greatest visual effects ever seen by the human eye!Everything in The Mummy is fantastic!Vosloo,Frasier,and Weisz and Fehr are very good in it.Lots of familiar faces are in this one too.Listen to the music,buy the score,its by Jerry Goldsmith!Oh,by the way,The Mummy Returns is coming out in a few days,the soundtrack is composed by Alan Silvestri(don`t worry,he did a terriffic job) is available now!Buy it,it is the most impressive music you will ever hear!.
Brendan Fraser did a terrific job playing Rick' O'Connell a Legionnaire adventurer who served in the French Foreign Legion turned out a deserter and later a prisoner, he did outstanding acting performance as a bad ass action hero on the screen!
The best one in the series.The Mummy is a 1999 American action adventure horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Kevin J.
10/10 Grade: A+ Studio: Universal Pictures, Alphaville Films Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Jonathan Hyde, Kevin J.
It's clean and simple and makes no attempt in putting in any realism or much originality for that matter.It's obvious that Stephen Sommers, just like with his other movie "Van Helsing", was attempting to revive the old adventure genre from the '30's/'40's.
It was the movie that introduced the world to Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo, though his career never really got off the ground.
Then many centuries later, adventurer Rick O'Conell discovers him with Evy, and archeologist, Jonathan, her greed brother, and a group of Americans seeking for fame an glory.This movie is great, the cast is so good, I never heard of any of them before this movie, except for Brendan Fraser who was in the super famous "George of the Jungle" movie.
Anyways the performances are vey convincing, Brendan Fraser is great as handsome hero, Rachel Weisz is great as Evy, a clumsy but very intelligent egyptologist, John Hannah delivers the humor in this movie as Jonathan, the good-for-nothing guy who only cares about money, I have to mention Oded Fehr too, he was pretty good as the mysterious and attractive Ardeth Bay, the leader of the Mejais who is in charge to put the mummy back in his grave, and how can I forget the Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo, who was, without any doubt, the best one in this movie.
That is what I call "acting skills".The plot is good, it's not a cheezy-horror flick or something like that, and the dialogues are awesome too :) Let's not forget the direction, Stephen Sommers does a great job.
And special mention to the music, by Jerry Goldsmith, it was one of the best parts of this movie.You get a lot of "candy eye" in this movie, for guys and girls, for guys you get Rachel Weisz and in the beginning of the movie you see the Venezuelan top-model Patricia Velazques as the unfaithful Anck-su-namun; and for girls you get Brendan Fraser, Oded Fehr and of course Arnold Vosloo.Anyways I highly recommend this movie, THIS IS A MUST-SEE.
When you mix excellent work such as Stephen's directing, Jerry's awesome music, cool ILM's effects, perfect make-up, plus a good story, exotic locations and ancient Egyptian time, subtle humor you get a movie that does not need anything else.
The chemistry between the cast is amazing, especially between the hunky leading actor Brendan Fraser and the ever beautiful Rachel Weisz, who both give an outstanding performance that carries the movie forward as an adventure film with a lot of heart for the whole family.
You really feel like you are along for the adventure, as opposed to just observing it from a distance, as you witness the two leading characters, played by Fraser and Weisz respectively, go from disliking each-other to by the end of the movie being smitten with each-other, brought together by the difficulties faced during the resurrected mummy Imhotep's relentless pursuit to destroy them.All in all it is a movie you JUST have to see if you're an adventure film enthusiast, which if you aren't, what are you doing?
So before I begin this rather short review I will say this, don't watch this movie with Indiana Jones in mind as it has been compared in the past...its just simply not its a "Fun" adventure in EgyptThe Mummy is based around an American serving in the French Foreign Legion on a dig in the ancient city of Hamunaptra.Personally for me this is the best out of the trilogy of movies.
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah make this movie as entertaining as it is, they just work well together on screen.Overall its a great action/adventure that you could watch over and over again..
No, I'm certainly not saying that The Mummy is anywhere near as good as the Jones trilogy (notice how I'm leaving out the Crystal Skull out of that statement!), but it is similar.The Mummy is one of those 'family fun' kind of movies – an adventure which should most likely be screened on a Saturday afternoon for everyone to cheer along to.
However, when he's fully formed, he's played by Arnold Vosloo, who does the job to act menacing (even when he doesn't say a word of English).So, expect gun fights, undead creatures chasing our heroes, the odd car chase and pretty much everything else you'd come to find in a PG action/adventure movie.
Basically, there are two ways of watching The Mummy – you can either nitpick the whole thing and pull it apart, or you can simply gloss over any of the plot holes and simply enjoy it from what it is – the filmic equivalent of Brendan Fraser himself – big, dumb, silly fun, fun, fun..
Not mention this film made two more sequels.Starring in this film is Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo as the mummy called Imhotep.
Rachel Weisz's character, Evelyn can be klutzy at times and so is her nitwit brother Jonathan played by John Hannah.The goofiness is what's good about this movie.
Plot sees Fraser as ex-Foreign Legionnaire Rick O'Connell, who teams up with Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz) and her cowardly brother Jonathan (Hannah), to try and stave off the apocalypse born out of the unleashing of the mummified remains of High Priest Imhotep (Vosloo).It's true to say that Indiana Jones raised the bar for action/adventure films, the kind involving treasure, artifacts and mystical perils.
This is where the cast comes in, Rick (Brendan Fraser), Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah).Rick is the hero of the movie, the guy who has been there and done it all and just wants to get his money and get out.
No, it's not Raiders of the Lost Ark, and no way, Boris Karloff is not to be found anywhere, but high adventure and winking good humor await in the swirling sands of an Egyptian desert in The Mummy.Brendan Fraser is American adventurer "Rick O'Connell," a two- pistoled, high booted dude who knows where something big is buried.
I have looked at all the comments of this film the good and the bad, and there are over 700 of them.It was the best film of the year, fantastic special effect by John Berton and ILM, great direction and stunt work, and all the actors gave they're charactors credability, expecially Kevin j O'Conner and Arnold Vosloo, they were very good at being the baddies.
Stephen Sommers directs this brilliant film-The Mummy which includes everything you could want in a film, From a brilliant story to amazing special effects to the great cast off, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, Arnold Vosloo and John Hannah.
The mummy (1999) is the return of the Egyptian terror theme renewed and updated to the 90's.The story is good, compelling and exciting like an Indiana Jones movie while having some fun and humor into it.The egyptian theme has been thoroughly researched by director Stephen Sommers: -the name Imhotep is truely egyptian (not invented) as it relates to the famous Imhotep, architect of thee stepped pyramid of Saqqara.-Secondly, the egyptian reading and speaking are also correct.
However, after seeing it I really enjoyed it.Firstly, any film with talent such as Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah,Arnold Vosloo and Patricia Velazquez is bound to be good.
There was no stop to the action and also, some of the scenes were really scary even for an adult like myself.This film reminded me of the awesome Indiana Jones movies from the 1980's.
Films like this are always fun and this exceeded my expectations.All in all, a brilliant movie which at the time looked as though it could never be surpassed.
Even though The Mummy follows a typical plot like many other action adventure movies, it has something different that appeals to audiences.
Audiences just want movies where everyone dies (a lot of the time including the hero(es)), the music is heavily synthesized, and the plot is simplistic."The Mummy" is an epic adventure from beginning to end.
Fraser is great as the Indy type adventurer and paired with the stunning Rachel Weiss the pair have a great on screen chemistry that's nicely bounced off of John Hannah and Omid Djalili's comic characters.Writer/director Steven Somers manages to give the characters some genuinely snappy and funny dialogue and the action comes in boatloads but is never gruesome, gratuitous or falls back on gore which is actually a very hard thing to do especially in these days of de- sensitivity when everything has to be harsher.I simply can't praise this film enough, it's just pure cinematic entertainment full of thrills, spills, romance and visuals.
The movie assumes you have an imagination (I do obviously) and is nothing but a fun time.Brendan Fraser stars as Rick O'Connell, who will remind people of Indiana Jones, but more badass.
Joining the battle to kill the mummy is the leader of a desert people tribe (Oded Fehr) who warned the party in vain to leave the city or die.The film is not only a great action movie, but it can also be considered a comedy.
Rachel Weisz plays the meek librarian who wants to be an archaeologist and, in an interesting turn of events, finds herself hunting for lost treasure with the help of her always in trouble brother (played by John Hannah) and the treasure hunting American (Canadian Boy Colin Fraser).This movie provides some great special effects.
THE MUMMY (1999) Brendan Fraser plays the main character Rick in this action packed kind of horror/adventure mix.
It's a lot more like an Indiana Jones movie.The special effects are wonderful and the fast paced action is pure fun.
Everything in this movie is fun and the acting from Brendan Fraser, Rachael Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo are nothing short of extraordinary!
I think I have watched this like 21 times and counting.Final thoughts: The fun in this movie is excruciating and thats quite a good thing. |
tt0099582 | Flatliners | The movie opens with a shot of Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), a medical student, saying, "Today is a good day to die." The movie then moves on to explain this statement as Nelson tries to convince Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt), and Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts), four of his classmates, to help him conduct a dangerous experiment: Nelson wishes to experience clinical death for one minute before being brought back to life by emergency measures, saying he wants to see if there is anything beyond death. Nelson's classmates are extremely apprehensive about the idea, but after much arguing, the five students decide to go ahead with the experiment. Nelson is then "flatlined," and his experience in the "afterlife" is interspersed on-screen with his classmates' attempts to bring him back to life. Despite some difficulty, they are able to successfully resuscitate him. Describing later what he felt, Nelson says, "You can't break it down into specifics, but there is something there. It's comforting."The success of the experiment prompts the others to do the same, each for their own reasons. Joe goes next, looking for little more than fame, and agrees with Nelson that there is post-death activity. David then argues that, as the atheist in the group and the experiment's control, he should go next. After David also experiences things that he cannot ascribe to his previous scientific viewpoint, Rachel insists on being the next one to be put under.Almost immediately after each experiment, however, each participant starts to experience strange phenomena. Nelson sees his injured dog Champ and a little boy, who quickly progress from just appearing before him to stalking and assaulting him. Joe, an out of control playboy despite being engaged, starts seeing visions in TV sets of women whom he secretly videotaped while having sex with them. On a subway train, David suddenly sees a little girl who calls his name, insults him with schoolyard taunts, and then disappears. Nelson and Joe remain silent about what has happened to them, but during Rachel's experiment, David speaks up about his strange experiences. Eventually, he convinces the others to abort Rachel's experiment, but an electrical short almost prevents them from bringing her back.David then explains what is happening to him: he remembers the little girl that is appearing to him as a girl that he bullied in school named Winnie Hicks (Kimberly Scott). This prompts Joe to speak up about his experiences as well. David then prods Nelson to do the same. Nelson complies and identifies his assailant as Billy Mahoney (Joshua Rudoy), a kid he used to pick on, but his description of the injuries to his face get Randy's attention, as that cannot be mere hallucination. Randy argues that what the others have said is impossible, but Nelson replies that they have experienced death and are, therefore, in uncharted territory. Nelson asserts, "Somehow we brought our sins back physically,... and they're pissed." David and the others then chastise Nelson for not speaking up sooner, as that equated to an unethical withholding of findings.The team then moves on to dealing with what they have unleashed. After getting surrounded by ghosts of women using the same vacuous pickup lines on him that he used on them, Joe finds his fiancée Anne (Hope Davis) in his apartment. She reveals that she found his videotapes, and she is therefore leaving him; not for cheating on her, but for so cruelly violating the trust of so many women. Rachel is haunted by visions of her father, who committed suicide when she was five. Nelson attempts to confront Billy Mahoney head-on, only to be beaten down once again.David, trying a different approach, finds where the adult Winnie Hicks, now a mother and wife, is currently living, and, accompanied by Nelson, drives out to ask for her forgiveness, hoping it will resolve David's long-time guilt and make his hallucinations disappear. At first Winnie tries to be polite, but she reveals that she has tried to forget about what happened when they were children, and she does not appreciate David coming and reopening those wounds. David continues trying to apologize, but, realizing that he is now just making the situation worse, he leaves. As he is going, though, Winnie calls to him, and with a tear in her eye, says, "Thank you." While this is happening, Nelson, who was waiting in the car, is once more attacked by Billy Mahoney. When David arrives, all he sees is Nelson alone on the floor struggling, and he snaps a terrified Nelson out of it.When Nelson and David get back to town, Rachel, who saw another vision of her father in class, reveals to the others what is happening to her and sarcastically thanks Nelson for the "nightmare." An argument between the five then erupts. David finally calms everyone down and goes to take care of Rachel while instructing Joe and Randy to help Nelson find Billy Mahoney. David tries to console Rachel, and they eventually make love off-screen.Nelson takes Randy and Joe to a cemetery. It is explained, through a flashback, that Nelson accidentally killed Billy (and fatally injured his dog Champ at the same time) while bullying him in school. Nelson becomes angry, screaming at the tombstone, "I thought I paid my dues!" since Nelson's life was ruined after the incident, at which he was separated from his family. He then says that David is right, that he can still make amends. Nelson gets in the car and drives off alone. Joe and Randy, having been stranded by Nelson, call David. David rushes out to pick them up, and they figure out what Nelson's plan is.Meanwhile, Rachel, now alone, finally confronts her father and sees the truth of what happened when she was a child: though she blamed herself all these years for his death, he was actually addicted to heroin. Rachel and her father then have a tearful reconciliation which is interrupted when Nelson calls, apologizing for getting them all involved in the situation. He also admits to Rachel that he is going under one last time committing suicide by himself. Nelson rushes to the laboratory where the group has been conducting their experiments, injects himself with potassium, and dies. The others all show up moments later and try to resuscitate Nelson to no avail.Meanwhile, in the afterworld, Nelson appears, first young and then old, switching places with Billy Mahoney; being killed as Billy was knocked out of a tree. Finally, after twelve minutes, the team gives up and lets Nelson go. While talking over Nelson's dead body, Rachel says that Nelson told her on the phone that he thought he deserved to die. David angrily disagrees, saying Nelson was just a child who had made a mistake. David puts the defibrillator paddles to Nelson again, and in the afterworld, Nelson suddenly gets up and is faced by a now smiling Billy. He waves goodbye and walks off with Champ into the light as Nelson, hearing voices calling to him, runs the other way. Back on the table, the group has successfully brought Nelson back to life. Nelson then whispers in David's ear, "It wasn't such a good day to die," and thanks them.
NOTE: The film's depiction of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is commonly regarded as inaccurate. While defibrillation is of no use if a patient has truly flatlined, it is possible for a patient to be in ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and still be revived with use of paddles.(as per Wikipedia) | cruelty, alternate reality, haunting, flashback, psychedelic, revenge | train | imdb | It definitely is on my personal list of favorite movies, and for more than just starring Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon, two of my `actors to watch.'Perhaps I appreciate this film so much because it appeals to my slightly off-kilter taste in entertainment.
Some have complained about the murky lighting, and the illogical nature of the sets - but for me, the use of innovating lighting techniques, the plastic and sheet draped sets, the unusual settings in old buildings and dank, dripping tunnels, the use of statuary, rain and billowing curtains - all add a poetic flavor to this film, a haunting beauty that suits the dark nature of the questions being asked about life, death and forgiveness.I will focus on just two examples; in an alley scene, a change in lighting allows for certain elements of the set to come dramatically into focus, then to fade away once lighting returns to normal.
It had all the necessary features of a good movie: the cast was superb, the plot was superb, and in the case of thrillers, there was genuine "thrills" throughout.Keifer Sutherland offered a marvelous performance as the male lead in the piece, portraying a scientist who believes he can find the answers to life and death by killing himself and then coming back to life, essentially "stealing" death's secrets away.
And Oliver Platt, in another outstanding performance, portrays the voice of reason for the group and the most innocent.The story is relatively simple, yet original, and the acting is refreshing-- definitely a stand out film for the genre, and one that has set the standard for measuring other thrillers for me.8/10..
The medical student Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland) invites Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts) and Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt), who are friends from his class, to participate in a near death experiment where he will die for one minute to see whether there is afterlife or not.
What will happen to them?"Flatliners" is a suspenseful horror film directed by Joel Schumacher in 1990 with a great cast.
I am unsure about some of the comments here saying that a quality cast here was wasted - i disagree- the acting here was superb from all- i think this is the only time i didn't mind Julia Roberts, it was good to see 24's Kiefer Sutherland (Currently at the time of this review, serving a jail sentence for DUI), and Kevin Bacon sporting an interesting hair style.Overall- i liked the direction, the atmosphere, the acting, and the story line most of all- particularly the idea of karma, and , to quote Nelson Wright "Everything we does matters" So true.10/10!.
Flatliners has all the ingredients of a good Joel Schumacher film - intelligent, youthful characters, stunning cinematography, a gripping story, and excellent performances.
The close-up shots of the gargoyle statues in the campus buildings, Catholic frescoes in the walls, stop-motion cameras, and the dynamic camera speeds were all belong to Bont's skills.Flatliners became a cult movie in time with its sociological pen-portrait of the X-generation juvenile especially via its futuristic editing style with storyboard connection sequences like being part of a video music clip so much aesthetically.
A medical student named Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) hatches a plan to explore death by briefly killing himself in a controlled environment then having his friends bring him back to life minutes later.
It's as if somewhere along the line the film was brought back from the dead, but with severe brain damage.One of the primary problems that director Joel Schumacher does not overcome is that these actors just do not seem like medical students, and the setting just doesn't seem like a medical school.
Given that, I have to say the film has merit, but it is certainly not the merit of a sound plot.The acting, however, is superb, and every cast member should be applauded for their ability to rise to the occasion in this somewhat palatable "horror" film.Kiefer's ability to maintain his character's persona is exceptional, breaking at just the right moment in the film.Julia Roberts certainly gives us a performance rivaling her work in previous films, as well as adding an interesting perspective to the idea of guilt and redemption.Kevin Bacon is the glue than binds this band together, with his ability to maintain the focus of the five on the problems they are facing.Oliver Platt provides an interesting sort of comic relief, and William Baldwin brings his boyish demeanor into play with his particular sin, although you have to wonder how that character ever got into medical school.The sets really give us the "horror" feeling, and you have to give Joel Schumacher his props for his camera angles and framing of the these spooky rooms and buildings.Rated R for violence, sexual references and scenes, and language, definitely not one for the younger set.
I am a Chicagoan, and the setting in Chicago was very identifiable and artistically expedited as well!!I liked this movie, and the agitation which motivated the climax in this picture was a powerful element to the plot which was utterly sensational!!"Flatliners" centers around a group of disgruntled pre-med students who want to be flat lined as a way of attaining some sort of societal vindication!!
It becomes somewhat of a competition between them to see who can stay dead the longest; but they soon discover that crossing over to the spirit world is not free of consequences.Joel Schumacher directs this quite stylish thriller and with a very fine cast of young and talented actors - Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt and William Baldwin; we have a pretty fresh well made thriller, that is certainly worthy of your attention.6.5/10 it wasn't quite as good as i had been led to believe..
How wrong I was !Verdict: after 11 years my view on this film had changed from a very scary 1st class movie to total junk which overplays on the religious and supernatural side of things ratherly superficially.I have never been a big fan of Julia Roberts' acting (excepting for Erin Brockeridge in which she deserved her Oscar) I think the problem with this film definitely lies with the director and a so so mediocre script.
But stay sharp Gen X/Y'ers, because the dozens of disappointments dominating your trip down memory lane, might stop you from stumbling across one worth revisiting.One surprise film worth another look is Joel Schumacher's Flatliners, the supernatural thriller starring 80's popcorn heavyweights Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts and Billy Baldwin.
This movie is everything I want a good thriller to be like, its intriguing, its gripping, and the plot and story is so interesting that it has left me still thinking about it the next day.
But due to poor writing and very mediocre direction by Schumacher (who, to his credit, at least has a very distinct directorial style - albeit an extremely flawed one) it's nothing more than a top-notch cast (consisting of long-time Schumacher collaborator Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, William Baldwin and Kevin Bacon) wasted on material that isn't in the same league as they are.A huge disappointment..
Highly intense and interesting thriller which has five college students (Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon) trying to gain insights with near-death experiences.
This movie brings a fresh story line with a convincing cast including kiefer sutherland, kevin bacon and julia roberts.
First of all, "Flatlining" was his idea (and he lets us know it) but here comes David (Kevin Bacon), the "good guy", who sort of takes the control of the experiment (because everyone trust him more than Nelson) and falls in love with Rachel (Julia Roberts), the girl Nelson had a crush on.
Keen to see what happens to someone after they die, reckless medical student Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) talks four of his friends (played by Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, and William Baldwin) into helping with a dangerous experiment on himself, first inducing brain death, followed by resuscitation after a minute on 'the other side'.
When the procedure is a success, the other students take it in turns to have a peep at the afterlife, not realising that when they return to life, they have brought their sins back to haunt them.As much as I like the cast of Flatliners (with the exception of Julia Roberts, who I find irritating) and admire director Joel Schumacher for his sterling work on The Lost Boys, Falling Down and 8MM, this film doesn't do an awful lot for me: it's the 90s equivalent of so much of the anodyne teen-centric horror-lite garbage that passes for scary these days, with a good looking young cast and lots of flashy visuals, but very little in the way of substance, fun or thrills.The first half of the film proves very repetitive, as four of the five students 'flatline', and experience a dreamlike afterlife; the second half sees the group suffering the consequences, which for three of the four, amounts to little more than a few colourful hallucinatory 'nightmares' that are easily resolved.
Notwithstanding all of that Flatliners is a good effective film because of the script, the direction which again is very surreal at times, and the acting which brings four very talented actors and William Baldwin together.
If you are a huge fan of The Lost Boys like me then I would suggest watching these two movies starring Kiefer Sutherland with your friends and have a good time and get thrilled.
One of the problems is that it seems like one person involved somewhere had some pretty interesting ideas about guilt and how we deal with the fact of hurting other people while another person involved thought that good things are what the Bible says and everything else is a sin and Bad. The extremely heavy themes of Christianity and the framework of sins that the characters keep coming back to don't really fit with the guilt and harm centered framework that the story seems to want to tell.
All of the final confrontations that the characters have to deal with their apparitions (well, not the pick up artist, but that was kind of a side plot anyway) are thematically interesting and I liked them; it just feels like the rest of the movie doesn't manage to built up to or support those scenes the way it needed to.At the end of the day, I don't know if I liked this movie, but I find myself really WANTING to like this movie despite itself, and I think that's worth 7 stars to me..
And Joel Schumacher has a style of filming great-looking actors in an ethereal glow, which literally fits here being they choose to die and come back again i.e. playing God with their own bodies...Taking place in and around various classrooms and backrooms of some kind of steely, dystopic medical school, the shadow-filled, icky-green sets seem as if a neon Gothic explosion blew out most of the lights and took down half the equipment, like Dr. Frankenstein's lab dreamed-up by Tim Burton.
But it turned out more like a glossy music video, especially the choppy extreme-closeups...While Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and pretty pretty-boy William Baldwin obviously aren't unattractive (with token ugly guy Oliver Platt as a sarcastic Roman Chorus), the camera's so tight on both conversational and sporadic physical action, the audience is forced to feel about a movie that's ultimately more popcorn mainstream than the kind of meticulous inner-realm thriller it attempts to be...
Which is actually a compliment...Because FLATLINERS does have entertainment value: the resuscitating scenes are suspenseful and the reanimated flashbacks haunting these intentionally pretentious students are intriguing...But delving into earthly and mundane situations involving Keifer and Kevin's former grade school bullying; Julia's screwed-up father; and Baldwin's videotaped sexual conquests are as limited as those horror movies about ghosts who want nothing but that timeworn "closure" as opposed to being formidably evil beneath the surface.
A Mixing of Sci-fiction and horror styles this picture was made as an original idea, instead to give right answers which you didn't find it here,the director developed the plot without a propper adviser to share wth him according such interesting matters, in USA has today a plenty of studies post mortem or almost dead serious survey that could helped such production,nonetheless Joel Schumacher chose a shortcut as a simply entertainment only and became a death experience is a silly redemption cases of guilty.....simpleton approach about beyond the grave!!!Resume:First watch: 1994 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.
The story is more complex in the remake and the effects are incomparably better, but the actors and their performances can not be compared with the original cast, that includes Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt.
The dialog itself isn't anything that sounds extraordinarily special but the actors are what keeps the story interesting.The cast of actors who play these graduate students are Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), Rachel (Julia Roberts), David (Kevin Bacon), Joe (William Baldwin) and Randy (Oliver Platt).
Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt Kiefer Sutherland are young medical students who decide to push the boundaries of medical science by inducing death and then getting revived which soon becomes a competition of how long they can flat line before being revived.
Joel Schumacher has directed some great movies like "Falling Down", one of my favourite movies "The Lost Boys" some over rated movies like "St Elmo's Fire" some awful movies like "Dying Young" and sadly he also directed George Clooney in "Batman & Robin".Plot In A Paragraph: Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), convinces four of his medical school classmates — Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), Dave Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt) and Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts) — to help him discover what lies beyond death.
This is one of my favourite movies starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt.
The premise of the story is so superb and was ripe for a terrifying horror film, but Flatliners then, and now, is not terrifying, but that actually doesn't matter.In 1990 some of the more bright young acting prospects were off making Memphis Belle, the other half that was made up of potential Brat Packers like Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon, were joining director Joel Schumacher for this delve into life after death experiments.
Joel Schumacher directed this yarn about five medical school students(played by Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Julia Roberts) who repeatedly undergo near-death experiences by having their hearts stopped, then revived.
Back when Joel Schumacher was still making good movies (that is, before he got into "Batman and Robin" and such things), he directed the eerie "Flatliners", about medical students conducting experiments in which they make each other temporarily dead.
Other cast members include Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt and Hope Davis (in her debut).All in all, you may be nervous about conducting any kind of experiment after watching this movie.
Then the story unfold into a resolution and basic understanding about life and the presence and meaning of God. David Labraccio played by Kevin Bacon an atheist end up questioning his own belief about God. It's amazing to watch Julia Roberts along with Kevin Bacon, Oliver platt, William baldwin and Kiefer Sutherland at such a prime time of their careers.
Another good change.The idea and plot line caught me straight away as i think about these things a lot and its very psychological, but then again it can be freaky after the death experiences.It has a lot of secret depth in this film if you look hard enough.
A group of medical students purposely flat-line themselves to receive and near-death experience but are haunted by nightmarish visions afterwords.This movie includes a stellar cast with Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, and William Baldwin but failed to include effective performances from the actors.
However, it remains an interesting and very enjoyable thriller, thanks in large part to a well assembled cast.The story is that of five medical students, Nelson (Sutherland), Rachel (Julia Roberts), David (Kevin Bacon), Joe (William Baldwin) and Randy (Oliver Platt), who get together one night to carry out a crazy experiment: Nelson wants to flat-line so that he can find out, once and for all, if there really is an afterlife, and the others are there to make sure he comes back from the dead.
2nd movie in my Kiefer Sutherland movie marathon.This movie is great and this movies about how some medical students experimented with death and each of them start to have weird visions from there childhood.There is an all star cast in this movie with great actors and actress like my favorite actor Kiefer Sutherland,Kevin Bacon who is great in this movie,Julia Roberts,Oliver Platt and William Baldwin.Over all this movie is great and Kiefer Sutherland acted so well in this movie and if u liked Kiefer in this movie u should watch one of his other great movies like the lost boys.My rating for this movie is seven out of ten..
As well as Joe, William Baldwin,who betrayed and in the case of Rachel, Julia Roberts, drove to their death.A secret experiment was dreamed up by Nelson and his fellow medical students to see if there's really a life beyond the grave.
Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and William Baldwin are the stars of this great movie!
Somehow he convinces four other med students, Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts), and Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt) to help him out.Problem number one is that I don't think director Joel Schumacher sold this shaky premise sufficiently.
A medical student (Kiefer Sutherland) convinces four other students ( Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt and William Baldwin) to help him with a experiment, to shut down his heart for a short time to experience death. |
tt0162677 | Summer of Sam | Writer Jimmy Breslin begins narrating the film; telling the viewer about New Yorks current prosperity. However, things were not always this way, showing news articles from 1977 about the .44 Caliber Killer and explaining how the city was in a massive state of decay, explaining that there are 8 million stories in the naked city, and this is one of them:We are shown a disgusting apartment with a man screaming to stop an incessant dog barking. Eventually, he goes out and shoots two girls talking in a parked car. The film cuts to Vinny (John Leguizamo) and his wife Dionna (Mira Sorvino) going to a night club for dancing and to meet up with their friends. Dionnas cousin asks to be taken home and Vinny offers to give her a ride, allowing Dionna to stay. We soon discover the real reason he offered to take her home was to have sex with her in the back seat of his car. However, before he can finish, the two are scared off by another couple in the car behind him. As Vinny speeds off, the killer comes out of the bushes and kills the couple.While driving Dionna home, she begins questioning what took Vinny so long to drive her cousin home. Vinny offers the excuse that he had to urinate but before she can question him further, they arrive at the exact same spot where Vinny was having his affair, only now it is a crime scene. Vinny goes to investigate and to his horror, it is the same couple that scared him off. Vinny begins vomiting as he gets back to the car, telling Dionna that the .44 Caliber Killer is back. The next day as Vinnys friends; Joey T (Michael Rispoli), Brian, and Anthony inquire about the killer, they tell Vinny that the killer probably saw him and will come after him too. Although they are joking, Vinny begins taking this to heart. Soon after, Ritchie (Adrien Brody) shows up in a punk fashion to which all except Vinny object to. Ruby (Jennifer Esposito) is the last to arrive and after being dumped by her boyfriend who was only using her for sex, immediately takes an interest in Ritchie and his new style.At Dionnas fathers restaurant, the local mob boss Luigi (Ben Gazzara) is asked by one of the detectives (Anthony LaPaglia) on the .44 Caliber Killer case for help. Luigi initially refuses, but after hearing the letter left by the .44 Caliber Killer, now called the Son of Sam, agrees. Meanwhile, as Ruby discusses her current predicaments with Vinny at the salon, Ritchie comes in asking for money as he has been kicked out and forced to move into his garage after walking in on his mother and stepfather having sex. Vinny offers to give Ritchie a place to stay for a while, but Ruby convinces him to move into the garage and fix it up with her help. That night as Ritchie and Ruby finish redecorating the garage, Ruby attempts to give Ritchie oral sex but he asks her to stop. Before she can leave, Ritchie explains that just because he doesnt want to have sex with her, doesnt mean he wants her to leave.Back at the salon, as Vinny and his boss Gloria (Bebe Neuwirth) begin having sex, Vinny begins feeling guilty, but quickly gets over it and sleeps with her. After being told by Anthony and Brian that he no longer fits-in in the neighborhood, Ritchie takes Ruby to a gay theatre where he has been dancing and secretly selling his body for money. During Ritchies performance, the owner, Midnite (Michael Imperioli), asks Ruby what she likes to do as she is too hot to be giving it away for free. Outside the theatre, Ruby admits that she has fallen for Ritchie and begins dressing in punk. Meanwhile, after yet another letter to the police from the Son of Sam, Vinnys paranoia reaches a boiling point and although Dionna tries to comfort him, he is unable to perform with her. With the police making no headway with the Son of Sam, Luigi decides to take matters into his own hands and catch the killer and offers another $5,000 to the reward hoping at least to get more names on their list of suspects. Meanwhile at a pizzeria; Joey T, Anthony, Brian, and the heroin addict Woodstock are devising their own list which is primarily made up of people they dont like. At the top of their list, however, is Ritchie.While at a diner, Vinny and Ritchie discuss their relationships but are asked to leave as Ritchie is scaring some of the other patrons. Before a fight can break out, Ritchie breaks a glass over his head to intimidate the other customers trying to pick a fight with him and Vinny. As they walk down the beach, Ritchie tries to explain himself to Vinny, but the conversation proves to be too deep for him to follow. With temperatures reaching 104, a blackout hits the five boroughs. To defend themselves and their neighborhood from the Son of Sam from trying anything, Luigi has a block party for everyone while Joey T leads a mob to patrol the neighborhood, beating and attacking anyone who tries to enter. As this is going on; Ritchie, Vinny, Dionna, and Ruby are having dinner where Ritchie invites them to come see him and his band perform at the club CBGB while in the bathroom, Dionna asks Ruby for advice on what to do about Vinny as she doesnt seem to please him. The only advice Ruby can give is to not be married to him. Vinny and Dionna go to the club, but are scared off by all the people outside. So instead, they try to get into Studio 54, but the bouncer refuses to let them in. They are however greeted by another man who takes them to another club: Plato's Retreat. There, he and Dionna get stoned and have sex as well as three-ways with other people. On the way home, Vinny mocks an already embarrassed and humiliated Dionna out of jealousy more than anything. In the following fight, Dionna reveals that she knew he had sex with her cousin and drives off, leaving Vinny chasing after the car.As July 29 arrives, Joey T and the others begin slashing the car tires of everyone on their list, while we see the real Son of Sam descending further into madness and is now seeing a black dog telling him to go out and kill. The next day at the diner, Vinny, Joey T, and the others are eating when the owner come over tells Vinny that he and Ritchie have been kicked out due to Ritchies actions. Before Joey T can get more information, Vinny storms out. Meanwhile Bobby the Fairy, yet another friend of Joey Ts group, sees Ritchie in the gay theatre to which Ritchie threatens to kill him should he tell anyone. Although Ritchie is only trying to protect his name, Bobby takes this literally. That night, we see the Son of Sam kill yet another two victims in Brooklyn.Joey T and the others are now beginning to suspect that Ritchie is the Son of Sam as he is the only one whose whereabouts they cannot account for, but Vinny stands up for him, saying that he knows Ritchie as if he were his brother. They all reveal to Vinny that Ritchie has been dancing and shooting porn films with Ruby at the gay theatre and ask if he knew that. Although Vinny is shocked by this, he still refuses to accept that Ritchie is the Son of Sam, but reluctantly agrees to help Joey T and the others by telling them where Ritchie and his band perform. Joey T and Anthony go to CBGB to try and find Ritchie while outside, Vinny has already met up with him. He begins to ask Ritchie if hes in a cult, dancing in a gay joint, and is the Son of Sam. Ritchie is upset that Vinny actually would think that way about him, but is angered that he brought Joey T down to get him and walks off. The following day, a composite sketch of the killer is released and everyone sees someone different. No surprise, Joey T tries to convince Vinny that its Ritchie; however Vinny doesnt see any resemblance until Joey T draws in spiky hair on the picture. Looking more like Ritchie now, Vinny begins freaking out. So much so that when he goes to the salon, he explodes on Gloria and dumps his drink on her, storming off. By the time he gets home, Gloria has already called Dionna and told her about all the women he cheated on her with. Vinny attempts to apologies and tries explain that Ritchie may be a killer, but it is too late; a heartbroken Dionna leaves him. This sends Vinny spiraling out of control as he begins drowning himself in cocaine and quaaludes.With Richie back at his parents' garage, Joey T and the others decide to make their move and capture Ritchie and take him to Luigi. However before they go, Joey T decides to get Vinny. They break into Vinnys house to find him stoned and force him to come help lure Ritchie out of the house, promising not to hurt him. Unbeknownst to them, during this time, the police have captured David Berkowitz, the real Son of Sam. Meanwhile, Vinny comes knocking on Ritchies door and tells him that Dionna left him. Ritchie invites him in, but Vinny asks him to come outside, not wanting Ruby to hear. As the two talk, Vinny tries to tell Ritchie to run, but before he can understand what Vinny is saying, Joey T and the others spring on him. Vinny watches as Ritchie uses his guitar to defend himself, but is quickly beaten senseless by the group. Ruby is restrained by Bobby as they drag Ritchie off. However, they dont get too far as Ritchies stepfather, Eddie (Mike Starr), comes out of the house, brandishing a Luger pistol. As Joey T tries to explain who Ritchie is, Eddie reveals to them that the cops had already caught the Son of Sam in Yonkers, much to the group's surprise. As they begin to leave, Vinny can only look at a bloodied and beaten Ritchie with guilt and weakly attempts to apologize to his former friend before walking away too.Jimmy Breslin recaps the events of the summer of 1977; David Berkowitz was done in by a parking ticket and is serving six consecutive terms of 25 years to life, the Yankees won the World Series, Elvis Presley died, and 3,700 were arrested during the blackout. He finishes by reiterating that there are 8 million stories in the naked city, and this was one of them. | cult, murder, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt1401152 | Unknown | Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife, Liz (January Jones), arrive in Berlin for a biotechnology conference where he is to give a paper. When they arrive at their hotel, also the site of the conference, Martin realizes he left his briefcase with their passports at the airport. While Liz checks in, he takes a cab to retrieve the briefcase. When a truck's cargo crashes into the road, the cab veers into the river. The cab driver, Gina (Diane Kruger), rescues him but disappears into the crowd when authorities arrive.Martin is in a coma for four days. When he revives, his memory is shaky. When he sees a television news report about the biotechnology conference, he remembers that he is supposed to be there. He checks himself out of the hospital and goes to the hotel. He sees Liz at a reception and goes to embrace her. But she claims not to know him and introduces everyone to her husband, who claims to be Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).Martin wanders the streets of Berlin. He tracks down Gina, an illegal immigrant working several jobs. She doesn't want to help him because she risks deportation. Martin goes to meet Professor Bressler (Sebastian Koch), a German bioscientist with whom he had had phone calls about their plans to revolutionize food production. But when he arrives, Martin B is already there. After an argument, Martin is escorted out by police. He checks himself back into the hospital for more tests. One of the nurses gives him the name of a private detective. After one of the tests, a hit man kills the nurse and tries to abscond with Martin, but Martin disappears into the crowded emergency room and escapes.Martin goes to see the private detective, Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz), a former Stasi officer. Jurgen believes Martin's story, and tells him to track down Gina again. He finds her and asks for a place to stay for the night, giving her a watch that Liz gave him on their anniversary. As he takes a shower, the hit man bursts in. Gina kills him with his own poison. As they escape in a borrowed cab, they are pursued by a second hit man. They elude him by hiding in a discotheque.Martin and Gina meet with Jurgen. He has a friend at the airport searching security camera footage for Martin, and has contacted Martin's colleague, Rodney Cole, who Martin is certain can help. Martin follows Liz to a photography exhibition. At first she pretends not to know him but pulls him aside to tell him that she is being forced to betray him and that she still loves him and will wait for him at the airport. When Martin B and the second hit man appear, Martin is barely able to escape with Gina.Rodney Cole (Frank Langella) arrives at Jurgen's office. Realizing who Cole really is, Jurgen takes cyanide rather than reveal what he knows. Martin and Gina retrieve the briefcase with the passports and thousands of euro in cash. Gina leaves Martin to wait at the airport. Cole arrives and takes Martin to a black van where he is tasered by the second hit man. Gina sees this and follows the black van in a stolen cab. Cole and the hit man take Martin to the top level of a deserted parking garage. Cole explains to Martin that he is really a government assassin using "Martin Harris" as a cover. When Martin woke up from the post-accident coma, he believed his cover story was the truth, so Martin B was called in to finish the mission. Before the second hit man can kill Martin, Gina crushes him between the van and cab; the impact sends the van, with Cole in it, crashing to the ground below.Martin now remembers everything. Several months earlier he and Liz had gone to the hotel to plant a bomb. It would be used to kill Bressler in a manner that could be blamed on Muslim extremists opposed to the liberalizing plans of Prince Shada (Miro Hamada), who is also sponsoring the biotechnology conference. He and Gina race to the hotel. There, at a reception for Bressler, Liz copies the files containing information about a new, easily grown form of corn, and arms the bomb. Martin arrives in time and persuades hotel security that a bomb is about to go off. When security evacuates the hotel, Liz goes to disarm the bomb while Martin B follows Bressler in order to kill him. Liz fails and is obliterated in the explosion. Martin and Martin B fight amidst the debris as Gina watches. Martin kills Martin B with a glass shard.The next day, Bressler and Prince Shada freely give their new corn to the world, in their mutual effort to end world hunger. Using additional fake passports found in his briefcase, Martin and Gina leave Berlin together, as Henry and Claudia Taylor. | violence, action, murder, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt1194263 | Get Low | Old man Felix lives alone in a cabin in the woods. One day after hearing about an old local who died, he hitches his mule to a wagon and rides into town. He goes to a church and presents a priest with a handful of money to plan his own funeral. The priest suggests that Felix needs to make peace with God first. Upset, Felix walks out.Funeral director Frank is frustrated that people in town are not dying much. Frank hears from his apprentice Buddy about Felix's conversation with the priest, and asks Buddy to visit the old man at his cabin.Felix comes to Frank's funeral home, and tells him that he intends to attend his funeral as a party, where he wants people to talk about him while he is still alive. Frank is confused, but wants to accommodate him. On the way out, Felix bumps into Mattie, who is familiar with him.Frank and Buddy take Felix to town to get his picture taken, cut his long beard and hair, and get a funeral suit. On the drive back, Frank is surprised to hear Felix say that he and Mattie "had a go."After a card game that evening, Frank offers to walk Mattie home. She quietly declines.Frank and Buddy take Felix to a local radio station for a live interview about his upcoming funeral party. Felix persists with his desire to hear people show up and tell the supposedly bad stories they know about him. Felix also makes the shocking announcement that he will sell raffle tickets for his valuable 300 acres of timber, which will be given away when he dies.Mattie goes to visit Felix for the first time. The two walk around his expansive woods and he invites her to stay for dinner. Night falls, and they talk by the fire in his cabin, catching up on many years gone by. She suggests that he is not over something in his past, and then gets emotional when she sees a small picture of a woman across the room. She storms out.Frank tells Felix he is concerned about the large amount of money coming in for the raffle. Felix tells Frank to keep all the money at the funeral home until the party, and promises he will fairly settle all expenses afterward.Felix asks Buddy to drive him to an old church in the next state, where he meets Rev. Charlie, who is happy to see him. Felix asks Charlie to speak at his funeral, but Charlie asks if Felix has told the truth. Felix gets upset that Charlie wants him to deal with what he did to a woman 40 years earlier, and storms out. Charlie tells Buddy that Felix's secret is between him and God.On the drive back that night, Felix gets out of the car alone and wanders off to a tombstone marked "Mary".Frank returns to the funeral home and finds that Buddy has been beaten during a robbery attempt.Felix stops by Mattie's house in town, soaked from rain. Felix tries to confess about why he keeps the picture of Mattie's sister: he fell in love with her when he was courting Mattie. But Mattie wants to know the more crucial question of whether he was involved in her death. Felix soon faints.Felix goes to Frank to explain that he wants to call off the funeral, which Frank protests. Felix says he does not have the guts to tell the truth.Frank goes to visit Rev. Charlie and asks him to have sympathy.Buddy finds that the money is missing from the casket where he and Frank had been hiding it.Buddy goes to Felix and tells him that he suspects Frank took the money, but agrees to still give Felix a funeral if he wants one.Frank brings Rev. Charlie back to town, and admits to Buddy that he stole the money but still has it in the hearse.The three men go out to Felix's property and are amazed to see so many people gathered for the funeral party. Felix asks Rev. Charlie to tell everyone the truth if he can't, directing him to a nice casket he has made and stored in a barn.Frank begins speaking to the crowd while Felix has memories of running from a burning house. Rev. Charlie takes the stage and introduces Felix, who tentatively tells those assembled that he did something shameful he could never fix, which he confessed to Charlie 40 years earlier, and no one ever since. He explains that he never sought forgiveness because he needed to be sick about it the rest of his life. Mattie shows up.He fell in love with a married lady named Mary, and they planned to run away together. He went to visit her one night and found that her husband had beaten her badly with a hammer, but before he could help her, the house caught on fire. He tried to save her from the husband, but the flames engulfed her, and he caught on fire himself. He ran from the house, in flames. He could not get Mary out.He speaks out to Mattie and asks for forgiveness, because it was all his fault. Mattie walks away.Later, the raffle is held and the crowd disperses.That night, Mattie goes to Felix and they embrace.The next day, watching the hearse drive away, Felix sees a vision of Mary and walks toward her.Rev. Charlie speaks over Felix's grave behind his cabin, with Frank and Buddy's family assembled. Mattie drops a picture of her sister Mary on his casket.Buddy looks back at Felix's cabin. He kisses his baby, who smiles. | boring, depressing, dramatic, humor, romantic, entertaining, storytelling | train | imdb | null |
tt0110907 | Prêt-à-Porter | Paris, Fashion Week 1994: all kind of models, designers, reporters, fashion editors... join together to present next year's trends. Kitty Potter (Kim Basinger) is a reporter in search of big news.Sergio (Marcello Mastroianni) sends an identical Christian Dior tie to the president of the French Association of Fashion, Olivier de la Fontaine (Jean-Pierre Cassel) and meets with him in high secrecy. He disregards his wife Isabella de la Fontaine (Sophia Loren), who is mad at him and tries to avoid Kitty in the airport, but she sees him so he has to give the interview. They have a sandwich and then Sergio and Olivier leave the airport. Sergio doesn't realise that he is carrying Joe Flynn's (Tim Robbins) suitcase. Scruffy American journalist Anne Eisenhower (Julia Roberts) has lost Joe Flynn's suitcase. Flynn is not there yet, and she can't understand or speak any French, so she takes Sergio's luggage by mistake.While they are together in a limo, the president dies while they are stuck in a traffic jam and Sergio runs away. When the chauffeur realises that his passenger is dead, he cries for help, and Sergio jumps from a bridge so that a police officer doesn't catch him.Eccentric fashion designer Cy Bianco (Forest Whitaker) is always changing his mind. Her favourite model Sophie Choiset (Chiara Mastroianni) is heavily pregnant, so she can't walk the runway. Eccentric photographer Milo O'Brannigan (Stephen Rea) is a lazy, I-can't-be-bothered rock-'n'-roller who takes a photo of all the designers together, including Sonya Rykel (herself), and Jean-Paul Gualtier (himself).Isabella goes to the Richard Lacroix fashion show as if nothing had happened. After the show, where Christy Turlington (herself), Tatjana Patitz (herself), Naomi Campbell (herself), Helena Christensen (herself) and other models strut their stuff, Kitty will interview Gianfranco Ferré (himself), at the time head designer for haute couture house Christian Dior (himself).Anne tries to contact people in the world of fashion without much success. As she and Joe share a luxurious hotel room, and she can't stand drinking, they end up making love. The next morning, she gets angry because he jumped to the occasion, leaving it as a one-night stand when she mentions it.Watching the televised Issey Miyake show, Sergio sees Joe wearing his jacket. Kitty interviews Miyake (himself) as well. Inspector Tantpis (Jean Rochefort) and Inspector Forget (Michel Blanc) say that it's going to be easy to find who killed Olivier, as everybody hated him.Sergio moves from one fashion show to the other. He is always among the crowd, always in search of Isabella. When he finally approaches her, Isabella faints, with Kitty crying, "She's not dead! She's not dead!" again and again.Elle editor-in-chief Fiona Ulrich (Lili Taylor) wants to sign Milo. He asks her to go to her knees and bend. When she complies, he photographs her, so she dismisses him while calling him names. He laughs all the way. Later, as a freelance photographer, Milo makes an editorial advertisement for LO footwear, with Linda Evangelista (herself), Carla Bruni (herself), Kristen Fick (herself), Adriana Karembeu (herself), and Greta Cavazzoni (herself). Milo will do the same trick, this time photographing Simone Lowenthal (Anouk Aimée), who offered him sex and also wants him to sign for an important position.Sergio aka Sergei, finally talks to a dinner party where Kitty interviews Cher (herself). Sergei and Kitty were lovers when they were younger, but as they belonged to a Communist party, he left after their wedding night. He is saying that he still loves her, when they are interrupted by somebody offering her sympathies as a recently widow. They will meet the following day at 16:00 at Le Pensevr's statue.Although he is married, Cy has a gay lover, Clint Lammeraux (Lyle Lovett), and they share a joint outside at night.At the hotel, Sergio gets Joe Flynn's copy key, posing as Flynn. Cy does his fashion show on an underground train. Two models fight. Pilar (Rossy de Palma) works for Simone (Anouk Aimée), who has problems with Jack Lowenthal (Rupert Everett) because they and the company are bankrupt. Cy and his lover meet their partners, who are also cheating on one another. While they are about to fight, Kitty appears and interviews them.Isabella and Sergio go to bed, but after her striptease, he falls sleep, so she leaves in frustration. Simone makes the last preparations for her fashion show, wherein the models, including Yvette Horner (herself) wear cowboy boots and nothing else. The inspectors say that Olivier died because of the ham sandwich he ate, which got stuck in his esophagus, so he choked to death. Anne and Joe say goodbye, both better dressed this time. Simone for LO presents a catwalk of nude models to the music of The Cranberries' Pretty. First confused and then fed up, Kitty leaves, giving her microphone to Sophie, who gladly takes the position in front of the camera.At Olivier's funeral, we see some naked children playing, following the new fashion of Simone, the trend of appreciating the human body and showing it without ornaments. Sergio has fallen asleep again, so he's not in time to talk to Isabella, who dresses in black.The film ends with images of several catwalks.---Summary written by KrystelClare | satire | train | imdb | null |
tt0115433 | 101 Dalmatians | American video game designer Roger Dearly (Jeff Daniels) lives with his pet dalmatian Pongo in London. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on a beautiful female dalmatian named Perdy. After a frantic chase through the streets of London that ends in St. James's Park, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdy. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green (Joely Richardson) falls in love with Roger when they meet. They both fall into the lake as a result of their dogs chasing each other, but they return to Roger's home and Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdita and Pongo. Anita works as a fashion designer at the House of de Vil. Her boss, the pampered and very glamorous Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close), has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a taxidermist, Mr Skinner, skin a white tiger at the London Zoo to make it into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog.
Anita soon discovers that Perdy is pregnant and is then informed by Nanny (Joan Plowright) that she (Anita) is, too, much to her shock. Some time later, Cruella visits their home and expresses contempt upon meeting Roger. Her initial disgust at them having a baby turns to excitement when she finds out Perdy is expecting too. Several weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. She dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. She has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace (Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams) break into their home and steal the puppies while Roger and Anita are walking in the park with Pongo and Perdy. Along with 84 others dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her ancient country estate, De Vil Mansion. She also hires Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat.
With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of Britain, while Roger and Anita notify the Metropolitan Police. A dog who had witnessed the stolen puppies follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of them inside, before helping them escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdy. Cruella arrives at the mansion and soon discovers what has happened. Furious, she decides to carry out the job herself, while Jasper and Horace attempt to search for them also. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police on the hunt for Cruella and her henchmen and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was beaten earlier while trying to kill Lucky (one of the 15 puppies), who had been left behind. Meanwhile, Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm where they are hiding and tries to retrieve them. However, they outwit her and cause her to fall into a vat of molasses and get thrown through a window into a pig pen. Shortly afterwards, the fleeing dalmatians (including Lucky) are found and sent home via the Suffolk Constabulary, while those looking for Cruella arrive at the farm to arrest her. In the police van, she belittles Jasper, Horace, and Skinner for their incompetence before they are sprayed by a skunk which she had mistaken for her bag. Pongo, Perdy and their puppies are reunited with Roger and Anita.
After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not been claimed by their original owners, they decide to adopt them, bringing the total to 101. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the protagonists and Cruella as the villain and they move to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby daughter and a year later Anita becomes pregnant again. | psychedelic, comedy, cute, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0060636 | Lord Love a Duck | In the psychiatric ward of a prison, Alan Musgrave, who calls himself "Mollymauk" after an extinct duck-like bird, tells his story into a tape recorder. Alan and Barbara Ann Greene are both senior transfer students at Los Angeles' new, ultra-modern Consolidated High School. Under Alan's hypnotic spell, Barbara Ann reveals her desire to be popular. Alan assures her that he will make her every wish come true. First, Barbara Ann wishes to join a sorority whose members must each own a designated number of cashmere sweaters, and Alan has her persuade her father to buy sweaters. To keep Barbara Ann from failing any courses, Alan has her use her sex appeal to obtain the job of secretary to the principal. Barbara Ann then meets wealthy and handsome college senior Bob Barnard during a sex seminar at a drive-in church, and she decides to vacation at Balboa, where Bob is to be chaperon. Alan takes her to Balboa, where he sets up a possible screen test for Barbara Ann with a producer of beach-party movies. Bob, who is in love with Barbara Ann, has problems with his zany mother, so Alan installs himself in the Barnard house and takes over the management of Mrs. Barnard by introducing her to alcohol. Mrs. Barnard discovers that Marie, Barbara Ann's divorced mother, is a bar girl and tries to end the romance. Thinking that she has ruined her daughter's life and her own, Marie commits suicide. Later Bob and Barbara Ann marry, despite Mrs. Barnard's objections. Bob, who has graduated and become a marriage counselor, disapproves of his wife's career in movies, and Alan decides to eliminate him. Bob proves almost indestructible, but by graduation time Alan has put him in a wheelchair. At Consolidated's graduation, he pursues Bob with a bulldozer, eliminating him and everyone on the speaker's platform as well. Barbara Ann goes on to Hollywood fame as the star of "Bikini Widow". In the prison, Alan tries to explain why he did it all, confessing that it might have been for love. | cult, comedy, satire, murder, romantic | train | imdb | null |
tt0464054 | House at the End of the Drive | When David King purchases a house in the hills far above the angst of Los Angeles, he gets much more than he bargained for when strange and unexplainable occurrences in and around the house begin to take control of his daily life. After he and his loyal dog Sebastian settle into the house, David begins to realize theres something particularly odd with the neighborhood, and it all seems to stem from the house at the end of the drive. Before long, ghostly voices begin to whisper through the intercom system in the dead of night, strange visitors arrive, some with unsettling accounts of the houses history, and David becomes plagued with a series terrifying and gruesome hallucinations.During a dinner party at his home with friends, Robert, Felicia and Jennifer, David discovers more about the neighborhoods bloody history, and fact and fiction intertwine as the friends talk ghosts and spirits from beyond, and David recounts his odd experiences in the house. The night prompts the friends to take steps that will alter their lives forever.When they decide to sneak in and explore the decrepit house at the end of the drive, supernatural forces from the past transport them through time back to a night of brutality and murderous bloodshed. In a cruel twist of fate, David, Robert, Felicia and Jennifer materialize as the soon to be victims of a massacre they had been discussing earlier over a quiet and casual dinner. Is the knowledge of the future enough to shield them from the horrors of the Helter-Skelter mayhem from the past? Can careful plotting overpower the supernatural invasion by a most infamous family of mass murders? Surely yesterday is finally over but only time will tell, as the hapless visitors to the house at the end of the drive are swept into a hell storm of dark forces and fury beyond belief.The film is inspired by the true events of the Sharon Tate slayings one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th Century that shocked the world. Many of the events that take place in HOUSE AT THE END OF THE DRIVE are based on actual events that had taken place in the OMAN house where principal photography was shot. Like THE EXORCIST and THE ENTITY before it, the film is anchored in documented evidence of the paranormal.Which is scarier the past or the present? Sometimes there is no difference! | paranormal, horror | train | imdb | Ridiculous.
I had the unlucky opportunity of seeing this very badly directed, badly written mess of a so-called movie.
Billed as "based on the real life experiences of Producer, David Oman," who lives on Cielo Drive, a few houses down from the former site of the "Sharon Tate/Helter Skelter" murder house(the original house was torn down in the mid 1990's.
This David Oman person has exploited the fact he lives so close to the former Tate house for many years.
Appearing in episodes of "Ghost Hunters," various radio programs, etc, claiming the ghosts of murder victims, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, and others haunt his home( I guess ghosts enjoy visiting neighbors), and communicate with him.This oddball has spent over 7 years filming this movie that flat out exploits the tragic and horrific infamous murders of 1969 by changing the names of the individuals and slightly tweeking some details.
Oman has been seen in many blogs, guestbooks and forums regarding the actual Tate/Labianca murders, basically begging people to donate money so he can get this movie screened.
If after 7 years, no distributors have shown any interest of picking this piece of garbage, and if years of panhandling the internet to beg for funds from an uninterested public, Mr.Oman should simply give it up and stop trying to glorify hideous murderers in a desperate attempt of getting attention and his 15 minutes.
A really horrible, exploiting and needless movie that is not entertaining, not scary, and solely made to glorify cold hearted killers that mutilated 5 innocent human beings that night on Cielo Drive in 1969, including the torture murder of 8 and a half months pregnant actress, Sharon Tate.
Killers that wrote messages in blood on the door.
That shot and stabbed their victims over and over.
No respect or compassion to the surviving family members, friends and loved ones of the victims of one of the most notorious, and hideous murders in the history of the United States.
David Oman even charges money for "tours" of his home.
Shame on you, David Oman.
A perfect example of a talentless, opportunistic pariah.
Avoid this movie.
It's terrible..
Doesn't David Oman already have enough money?.
The first time I'd heard of David Oman was when he purchased the lot Sharon Tate's house stood on.
I've been on Cielo Dr.
& his house is a huge monstrosity.
Then, there was a TV show depicting Oman as a "private investigator" who "lived in the house below the Tate house".
Another show portrayed him as a "producer" who "built a house on the Tate lot".
Personally, with no disrespect to Mr. Oman, it's my (humble) opinion he is profiting both financially & personally from a horrendous murder.
It's bad enough that this happened to people who were doing nothing more than hanging out in their own home & end up suffering a terrible death, but now Mr. Oman comes along & continues to dredge it up over & over on multiple paranormal shows.
Haven't the victims of this tragedy went through enough?
Their families already live with the knowledge of what happened to their loved ones, they surely don't need another TV show/movie/paranormal invest/etc.
It seems that Mr. Oman continues to live vicariously through the suffering the 5 people at Sharon Tate's house went through & he does it shamelessly.
Mr. Oman, you are fortunate to live in one of the most awesome cities in the US, you live in a huge house in a beautiful area, leave these victims to rest in the peace they lost in Aug 1969.
I'm surprised Debbie Tate hasn't knocked on your door yet & told you to leave it alone.
Profiting off the misery/suffering of others is particularly abhorrent.
A Thrill Ride and An Adventure All in One. One Original Story.
Unlike anything I have seen before it was not a remake of any comic book or TV show a total original.
The story premise was completely unique like I have never seen.
Kept making twists never know what is going to happen next.
Did not know if it was real or a dream reminded me of the twilight zone it was really Bizarre.
When went back to the 60's it blew me away they became the Victims I was totally caught off guard.
When I later found out was part fact and fiction it peaked my curiosity.
The movie was inspired by the Sharon Tate Murders was really curious to find out more of the back story.
Found Videos on youtube of the back story I was taken by.
Really enjoyed this film.This is a must see I recommend this to all my friends when It comes out!.
"House".
This is one of the crimes of the century, yet, there were few attempts ever made to tackle this subject on film.
For his courage in putting up the funds and laying it all out on the line, David's film is getting a 10 from me.There are all kinds of conspiracy theory's about the event that allegedly "killed the 60's" The best source can be found on Blogger.
The Col's Blog, "The Real Tate LaBianca Blog," about the Tate LaBianca murders.Good work David.
I wish for your continued success in all your endeavors.
Spooks.
House at the End of the Drive is a independent horror film.The film chronicles a fictional story of a guy who moves into a haunted house.This murder mystery based in the 1960's is a minute by minute thriller.This film is unlike any other horror film I've ever seen.Authentic to the period of the 60's.This film will keep you at the edge of your seat.I really needed to see this whole film.
Inspired by a true life story.I need to back and see this again.
I was so intrigued by the film.Excellent film making by these independent film makers.I would recommend this movie.For horror film fans and film students alike.A "10"..
House At The End Of The Drive.
House At The End Of The Drive.
Being so close to the Inspiration for the film, I had the Amazing opportunity to view it.
From start to finish, I was glued to the film, and had chills running down my spine.
This film had me sleeping with the lights on that night.
I love the question - what would you do if this happened to you?
I loved the characters, and would love to see both a prequel and sequel.
You actually care about each and every character, and want to know more about them.
The acting was top-notch.
To have Lance Henriksen in a film like this must have been a dream come true.
This film had more twists and turns than a roller coaster.
Just when you think you can't take anymore, it keeps going.
One minute, you're wishing to get off the ride.
The next, you want to get back on. |
tt0397535 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Chiyo Sakamoto (Suzuka Ohgo), a young girl from a poverty stricken fishing village, is sold along with her older sister Satsu (Samantha Futerman) into a life of servitude by her aging father. Chiyo is taken in by Mrs. Kayoko Nitta (Kaori Momoi), the Mother (proprietress) of a geisha house in Gion, one of the most prominent geisha districts in Kyoto, whereas Satsu is sold to a prostitution brothel.
At the okiya, Chiyo meets another young girl named Pumpkin (Zoe Weizenbaum), the cranky Granny (Kotoko Kawamura), and the okiya's only working geisha, Hatsumomo (Gong Li) who is famous for her breathtaking beauty. Chiyo soon discovers Hatsumomo is secretly a cruel and jealous woman that views Chiyo as a potential rival due to her striking bluish-gray eyes, along with being a change in Mother's future financial dependence. Hatsumomo then goes out of her way to deliberately make Chiyo's new life miserable by having her take the blame for everything and intentionally withholding information of her sister's whereabouts in the pleasure district. However, Auntie (Tsai Chin) is aware of this and warns Chiyo against trusting and angering Hatsumomo, given her history with the ill-mannered geisha.
Chiyo tracks down Satsu and makes plans to run away together. However, upon returning to the okiya she discovers Hatsumomo with her boyfriend, Koichi (Karl Yune), which is against the rules of the Geisha lifestyle. When they are caught, Hatsumomo attempts to twist the situation by accusing Chiyo of stealing. Chiyo denies this and informs Mother of what she saw in the shed. As a result, everyone is barred from leaving the okiya at night except to attend work engagements, and this further increases Hatsumomo's anger towards Chiyo. On the night of their planned escape, Chiyo attempts to sneak out but falls off the rooftop and is seriously injured. As punishment for dishonoring the okiya, Mother tells Chiyo that she won't invest any more money in her geisha training. She also informs Chiyo that both her parents (Mako and Elizabeth Sung) are dead. Chiyo misses her chance to flee and never sees Satsu again. She is also demoted from geisha training to working as a slave to pay off her increasing debts to Mother.
One day, while crying on a riverbank, Chiyo is noticed by the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) and his geisha companions. He buys her a shaved ice dessert and gives her his handkerchief with some money in it. Inspired by his act of kindness, Chiyo resolves to become a geisha so that she may one day become a part of the Chairman's life.
Several years later, Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh) has begun her training as a maiko under Hatsumomo's tutelage and Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi) is envious of it as she remains a maid under Mother. She is unexpectedly taken under the wing of Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), one of Gion's most successful geisha and long time rival of Hatsumomo's. Although initially reluctant, Mother is persuaded by Mameha to allow Chiyo to train as a geisha.
Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes a maiko and takes the name of Sayuri. She grows in popularity, and Hatsumomo grows so desperate that she tries to ruin Sayuri's reputation. Predicting this, Mamaeha takes her to a sumo wrestling match where Sayuri is reintroduced to the Chairman, who seems unaware of her previous identity as Chiyo, as well as his business associate Nobu Toshikazu (Kōji Yakusho) (whom Hatsumomo finds repulsive), who takes a liking to her.
Meanwhile, Mameha orchestrates a bidding war for Sayuri's mizuage between two men: Nobu and Dr. Crab (Randall Duk Kim), which will make her a full geisha. Upon learning what Mameha has planned, Hatsumomo spreads cruel rumors that Sayuri has already lost her virginity. However, Sayuri is named the lead dancer for a popular performance, which angers Hatsumomo as she was hoping for Pumpkin to be named the lead. At the performance, she attracts the attention of many men, including the Baron (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) (Mameha's danna), with her performance. When Dr. Crab congratulates Sayuri, she secretly convinces him to listen to a different opinion before taking the word of someone who lies.
The Baron invites Sayuri to his estate for a sakura-viewing party, which Mameha is reluctant to let Sayuri attend but lets her go anyway. When the Baron presents a kimono to Sayuri in private at the party, he undresses her against her will in order to "take a look", but does not go any further.
Sayuri's mizuage is won with a record-breaking bid of fifteen thousand yen. Mother, seeing Sayuri as a financial asset, names her as her adopted daughter and heiress to the okiya. This crushes Pumpkin, who was hoping that she would get adopted so she could have security in her old age, and enrages Hatsumomo. She is then told by Mother that she must give up her spacious room to Sayuri, which further outrages Hatsumomo, who tries to remind her of her previous financial contribution. Mameha later tells Sayuri that the bid had ended up a contest between Dr. Crab and the Baron, Nobu having refused to partake in the bidding because it was against his principles. Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of her romantic feelings for the Baron, despite his bid being even higher. When returning home from the mizuage ceremony, Sayuri finds a drunken Hatsumomo in her room, where she has found the Chairman's handkerchief. A fight ensues, during which a gas lantern is knocked over and ignites a fire, and the okiya is partially destroyed by the flames. Hatsumomo is then kicked out of the okiya by Mother, her belongings given to Sayuri, and she is banished from Gion with her fate left unknown.
Sayuri's successful career is cut short by the outbreak of World War II. Sayuri and Mameha are separated, with Sayuri going to the hills to work for a kimono maker, an old friend of Nobu's, and Mameha going to a physician, the Chairman's old friend. After the war, Sayuri is reunited with Nobu, who needs her help with impressing an American Colonel named Derricks (Ted Levine) who has the power to approve funding for the Chairman's firm. Sayuri reunites with Mameha, who now makes a living renting rooms for the poor. Although she is reluctant to return to the geisha lifestyle after what she's been through, she agrees to help impress Derricks. Sayuri is reacquainted with Pumpkin, who is now a flirty escort. Sayuri goes on a trip with Nobu, the Chairman, Mameha, Pumpkin, and the Americans to the Amami Islands.
At Amami, the Colonel propositions Sayuri, but is rejected. Nobu witnesses the incident and confronts Sayuri. He finally confesses his feelings, telling her that he wants to become her danna. Knowing that entering into a relationship with Nobu will destroy any chance of her being with the Chairman, Sayuri is distraught and devises a plan. Mameha catches on to it and warns her against it because of the kindness Nobu has shown her. She wants Sayuri to accept him as her danna and not end up like Hatsumomo did. She refuses and enlists Pumpkin's help to have Nobu catch her seemingly being intimate with the Colonel. However, because of her secret resentment of Sayuri, Pumpkin brings the Chairman instead, having full knowledge of Sayuri's feelings towards him. When Sayuri confronts her, Pumpkin coldly tells her that she did a lot of favors for her in the past and she stole her chances of being adopted by Mother. She hoped by having the Chairman see her with Derricks, he would be disgusted by Sayuri's behavior and she would have to accept Nobu as her danna.
A few days later, after returning to Gion, Sayuri receives a call to go to the teahouse. Sayuri expects to see Nobu, but instead the Chairman comes and finally reveals to her that he has known all along that she was the girl at the riverbank. He tells her that he had told Nobu about the affair after confronting Pumpkin for her behavior, effectively destroying Nobu's affections for Sayuri and his desire to be her danna. He also reveals that he was responsible for sending Mameha to her so that she could fulfill her dreams of becoming a geisha. Sayuri finally reveals her love to the Chairman, and the film ends with their loving embrace and kiss, and a stroll through the garden. | dramatic, romantic, intrigue, cruelty, historical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1315962 | Partir | There have been so many variations on D.H. Lawrences Lady Chatterley's Lover over the past eighty years that it has become almost a genre of its own. Few, however, have been as successful in elucidating Lawrence's theme of the psychic need to integrate mind and body into a single life force as Catherine Corsini's Leaving.Suzanne (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is an English woman who tries to leave her French husband Samuel (Yvan Attal) after becoming sexually involved with Spaniard Ivan (Sergi Lopez) an ex-convict who has been hired to build an office for her physiotherapy business in the back yard of their bourgeois estate. Samuel uses every means at his disposal , from cutting off her finances to threatening prison for her lover, to keep her in the house, until she finds but one means of exit.It is to both Corsini and Scott-Thomas's credit that such a stale premise has resulted in a movie that succeeds so well as both a celebration of erotic self-discovery and denunciation of patriarchal power structures. Corsini is lean and precise in both her script and direction. The first kiss between the lovers is seen in long shot from an obscure angle that makes the viewer question if anything really happened. Then Corsini cuts to a shot of them in a car, and we expect but do not receive a dialogue concerning the kiss, after which Suzanne is shown in bed with her husband, reading because of an apparent inability to sleep.Scott-Thomas gives a performance of exacting physicality. In the beginning, she is all limbs and no center, observing her own body with curious amusement. Her first tryst with Ivan is accomplished through an almost paralytic clinging, as if she is a dead battery charging itself. Before attaining the perfect harmony of body and mind, there is an interim transformation during which her husband accurately if disparagingly describes her as a bitch in heat.Samuel's fury at his wife's defection explodes with the incredulous rage of a factory owner whose workers have gone on strike. "You are my wife!" he insists, reducing her to a possession without a personal identity. All the rules of civility between human beings are forgotten in the ensuing battle between the former partners in a now ruptured marriage.In transgressing the boundaries of class as well as the limits of sexual fidelity, Suzanne loses her bourgeois privileges and becomes subject to the economic harassment of the those controlling the chains of finance, from the banks to the justice system. In the end, the lovers are outlaws, frolicking in the lusciousness of the natural world, while the distant sound of police sirens echo Raymond Chandler's aphorism that you can say goodbye to just about anything except the cops | murder | train | imdb | null |
tt1037011 | Ben 10: Race Against Time | Taking place after the series, the story opens in Bellwood as a mysterious black figure appears and immediately starts destroying things. Ben Tennyson (Graham Phillips), in the form of Heatblast (voiced by David Franklin), confronts him. After a short battle, Ben seemingly obliterates the villain, which is strange considering it was way too easy.
The next day, Ben goes back to school, and has trouble adjusting to normal life again. After a bad day he gets bullied by Cash (Tyler Patrick Jones) and JT (Tyler Foden) and two girls he tried to flirt with earlier in the movie resulting in Greymatter (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) getting his revenge on the bullies by causing complete chaos at the diner where Ms. Dalton (Aloma Wright) works. Later he and Gwen Tennyson (Haley Ramm) go over and reveals the same villain Ben defeated earlier. Max Tennyson (Lee Majors) identifies him as Eon (Christien Anholt), an alien called a Chronian from an unknown dimension, who the Plumbers captured almost two centuries ago. When he arrived, he was half dead and brought a device with him called the Hands of Armageddon, which would open a time rift to his home dimension and unleash his race upon Earth if activated. They travel to the containment facility where Eon is supposed to be kept in suspended animation, only to find it empty and his guard aged to near-death. The guard tells Max not to let Eon find the hardware store, where the Hands were kept. Before he dies, the Plumber warns Ben that Eon is after him.
Traveling back to Bellwood, Max takes Ben and Gwen to the location of the Hands of Armageddon, guarded by the few remaining Plumbers ranging from Ms. Dalton, Mr. Hawkins the Postman (Jeff Jensen), Fire Chief Whittington (Michael Runyard), Principal White (Robert Picardo), Mrs. Carlay the Plant Caregiver, Mr. Jenyx the Telephone Company Worker, and Mr. Enguells the Sanitation Worker. Eon has followed them and breaks into the facility, but cannot activate the device. When Ben attempts to use the Omnitrix, it malfunctions glowing bright purple and burning giving Ben intense pain. Eon attempts to kidnap Ben, claiming it to be a rescue, but Ben escapes. Eon manages to corner Ben, explaining that his race learned to control time itself, but trapped themselves by misusing their power. He claims that his fate is intertwined with Ben's. Eon is scared off by an old man who happens to be another Plumber before he can elaborate. Grandpa Max decides it would be best for Ben to leave Bellwood so that Eon won't find him, but Ben bravely refuses and they both come to a deal where Ben will be monitored daily by a Plumber in disguise. The Plumbers, all around town, guard Ben around the clock. When Ben goes to the school gym to be alone, Principal White attempts to calm Ben's fears just when Eon freezes then reverses time as he throws White out of the way. Eon then tries to show Ben his future by disabling the Omnitrix. However, Ben sets off the fire alarm, strikes Eon in the side, and breaks out of his grasp. This time, Ben is able to become Diamondhead (voiced by Daran Norris) and fights him off. Later that night, Ben decides to lure Eon into a trap by purposefully leaving himself open, but this backfires and he is captured, along with Gwen and Max after the Rustbucket is destroyed.
At the Plumber facility storing the Hands of Armageddon, Eon explains some of the background of the Omnitrix: Ben can only remain in his alien forms for ten minutes at a time, a fail-safe to prevent them from overwhelming his human self and personality with the forms own. He also reveals that he is an evil version of Ben from an alternate timeline, which Max admits he never wanted Ben to figure out. Eon knows how to deactivate the fail safe, and in doing so, can turn Ben into a Chronian. This is because the Hands need the energy of a young Chronian, which is why he kidnapped Ben. He does so, Eon presses the Omnitrix that is glowing bright purple and turns Ben into a younger clone of him. Meanwhile, Principal White has gotten out of the nurse's office and finds the imprisoned Plumbers. When trying to find the key to that room, they point to the button near the door which freed them all. Gwen and Max manage to free themselves. While Max tries to disable the Hands of Armageddon at the cost of his own life, Gwen reaches to Ben inside young Eon. Ben successfully overcomes Eon, and with the help of the other Plumbers, manages to save Max and disables the time rift, sending Eon's race back to their own dimension.
Just when it seems like they've won, time stops for everyone but Ben. The older Eon reappears, angered at Ben's victory. After Ben points out that the Hands and Eon's world is gone, Eon throws Ben across the room in fury. Ben transforms into Wildmutt and fights him off, eventually knocking him into the Hands of Armageddon, destroying both the Hands and Eon. After doing an impromptu magic trick for the school talent show and getting second place, using Wildmutt's timely de-transformation and a well placed stage curtain, Ben finally accepts being just Ben for a while and go for pizza. Max says that it's probably a good idea to put away the Omnitrix for the time being. Max also points out that aliens are persistent, and as they walk off into the night, an alien ship flies towards Earth. | prank | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0367093 | Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation | On an unnamed planet inhabited by the Arachnids, a squad of soldiers find themselves pinned down and surrounded on all sides by Arachnid forces. Even with their new laser gun technology and assistance from psychic soldiers, the Arachnid assault overwhelms them and General Jack Shepherd (Ed Lauter) decides to make a last stand with several of his best soldiers, allowing the majority of his surviving troops to escape. The plan works, and the soldiers, whom include Sergeant Dede Rake (Brenda Strong), the psychic Lieutenant Pavlov Dill (Lawrence Monoson), Private Jill Sandee (Sandrine Holt) and her lover Private Duff Horton (Jason-Shane Scott), and Private Lei Sahara (Colleen Porch) escape. Despite reaching relative safety, the team is whittled down by deadly dust storms and Arachnid ambushes. Among these deaths is the only member of the platoon with a radio, Corporal Thom Kobe (Brian Tee). Lieutenant Dill finds himself unable to command his soldiers as he receives traumatic visions of utter annihilation. He takes his anger out on Private Sahara, who is revealed to have been psychic but lost reliable control of her psychic abilities as puberty took place, which seems to be rather typical.The remaining refugees find themselves sheltering within Hotel Delta 1-8-5, an old and abandoned structure containing Captain V. J. Dax (Richard Burgi), a disgraced (though with a fantastic combat record) soldier who had killed his commanding officer and was sealed in a furnace-like cell to be taken back to Earth to be court-martialled for his crime. As a deadly dust storm kicks up, the soldiers find themselves without communications or back-up for a lengthy period of time and protect themselves through the use of electric pulse fences with limited battery power to hold off the Arachnid warrior bugs. Dax takes command of the small group, much to the annoyance of Dill, and the two develop an instant dislike to each other at first sight. Dax sees Dill as an incompetent commander, while Dill sees Dax as a traitor to the Federation.Soon after defenses for Hotel Delta are set up, Shepherd and three of the soldiers return. While the troops in the outpost originally think that all of their comrades has reached safety, it becomes clear that, in fact, all their comrades died. But Shepherd was rescued by three of his fellow soldiers. In addition to Shepherd, the three troops include the near-catatonic Private Charlie Soda (Kelly Carlson), the odd acting Tech Sergeant Ari Peck (J. P. Manoux), and the medic Private Joe Griff (Ed Quinn). With the help of the newcomers, they solve all of their technical issues, including lack of communication. After General Shepherd manages to radio to the Starfleet, they now need only to wait for a Fleet dropship to rescue them, but it may take several hours due to the fleet being on the other side of the planet.Tempers flare at the base as Soda seduces both Horton and Sandee. In a rage, Soda finds a new significant other in Griff. However, both Horton and Sandee soon act strange, as do many other survivors. Sahara seems to have become ill as she has nightmares and wakes up vomiting. Accidentally brushing Griff's hands brings on a psychic vision in Sahara. Sahara goes to Rake for advice and tells her what really went on. Rake suggests that Sahara is simply pregnant and that pregnancy not only brings on the symptoms she describes, but makes girls temperamental and makes them think that "they know it all". Eventually, Sahara and Dax find themselves facing a new breed of Arachnid, a small bug that infests the human body by forcing open the mouth and propagating inside the brain. They come to Dill with their news and make amends with him, also learning that he only made bad decisions because of the visions he was receiving and that he felt incredibly guilty over the loss of men under his command in the escape. Sahara tells Dill that she has been receiving parts of the vision as well, and Dill reveals to Sahara that an occasional side-effect of pregnancy is the temporary return of the psychic abilities lost at puberty.Soon after making amends, Dill corners several infected soldiers and intends for them to be captured and studied, but as he insults them another infected soldier kills him with a knife that Dax gave him earlier. The assault is blamed on Dax (his name was inscribed on the knife) and he is imprisoned again in the cell.Eventually a dropship finally arrives but all of the troopers are infected including Shepherd, who, if returned to Earth, may infect the leaders of the Federation. Rake takes multiple adrenaline shots, wounding one infected soldier and killing another before freeing Dax, but kills herself because she has also been infected (Note: it is unclear why the parasite was unable to control her, perhaps because of the adrenaline shots).A soldier attempts to infect Sahara, but after several unsuccessful attempts to stop him, Sahara manages to kill him and escape. Sahara uses her restored psychic abilities to read the mind of the bug that had attempted to control Rake's mind and discovers the bugs plan: use General Sheppard to infest High Command allowing the bugs to wipe out the human race on Earth and cause Sahara's vision to come true. Sahara and Dax kill the rest of the infected troops, and make it to the roof of the structure to confront the infected Shepherd just as the pulse fences give way, allowing thousands of warrior bugs to swarm over Hotel Delta. Just as Shepherd is about to be rescued, Dax kills him with two rifles held akimbo. He gets Sahara onto the ship and tells the bewildered crew that she holds information vital to the survival of the Federation. He then refuses to get onto the ship ("Murderers don't go home!") and vows to give her time to escape. Dax goes down in a blaze of glory, fending off bugs as they overwhelm him.Planet Earth, one year later. Although Dax is labeled as a Hero of the Federation, his death is shrouded in propaganda as the Federation uses his end as a means of recruitment. Sahara and her newborn baby attend a lecture by a recruiting officer whom is encouraging visitors to join up in the continuing war against the bugs. Having received an honorable discharge from the military to raise her infant son, Sahara walks out of the recruiting station. The recruiting officer walks up to Sahara after the lecture and thanks her for attending, and then, after seeing her baby that she is holding, urges her to raise her son well for: "we need fresh meat for the grinder". Sahara, alarmed, flees the recruiting station. This act appears to have no effect on the recruiter, showing the movie's take on military idealism. | violence, flashback | train | imdb | STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION has a budget of a around $6 million so naturally the special effects in this one look like crap.
The horror elements are derivative of several much better movies, and generally don't work like they're supposed to, for various reasons(bad special effects,bad acting, bad camera angle).
Review: I love it when I have exceedingly low expectations for a movie then it just ends up being so good that it just takes me by surprise just how much I am enjoying the movie that I'm watching....this is exactly what happened to me with Starship Troopers II.
But now with Hero of the federation, the budget has been sliced, the situation isn't as grand and the production values have gone way down...still the movie managed to maintain a level of quality that is very astounding.Phill Tippets a visual effects genius having worked on such films as Jurassic Park, The Star Wars trilogy and many others, so he puts all that knowledge to good use here.
All in all Id say this is a very well directed flick, there was nothing that got in the way of the storytelling and it had some pretty cool camera shots.The trick they used to bring down production costs was, basically the same trick that all small budget horror movies use.
Good stuff.The story will really grab you, I liked the twist the film takes and it goes into Invaders from Mars and Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory with the introduction of a new bug which makes from some really intense and gory sequences!
They make it to a mostly abandoned makeshift fort and succeed in holding the enemy at bay outside, only to discover that they may have enemies just as lethal amongst themselves.Phil Tippet may be a genius with visual effects in other films, but in his first turn as a director, he's made a mess of Starship Troopers 2.
No, Starship Troopers isn't really good, but at times it threatened to get a 3 out of 10, while the closer it got to the finish line, the more it started seeming like a 7 out of 10 to me.
At least until halfway through the film, when we begin to see some cinematography and lighting on the single set that we could call "almost competent".Even though I wouldn't subtract points for the difference in tone, it is quite a shock if you start watching Starship Troopers 2 expecting anything even remotely resembling the first film.
Even the tongue-in-cheek military/war advertisements shown on a computer-like screen from the first film fall flat here because they're presented more like television commercials with no window dressing or explanation for context.Starship Troopers 2 isn't a complete failure, but I can't recommend it beyond its curiosity value, or for die-hard horror fans who are slightly masochistic and don't mind sitting through the war material to get to something more interesting.
Firstly I have to make something clear I loved the first movie,it was a sci-fi masterpiece.This sequel does something no other sequel has ever attempted to do......and thats were it all went wrong,the plot has absolutely nothing to do with its predecessor it stumbles along at a very slow speed which becomes highly annoying due to the incredibly bad script which is badly performed by very poor actors who included BRENDA STRONG!
the reason i have placed an exclamation mark after her name is due to the fact that she died in the first film and played a completely different character.One thing this film is said too have going for it is the high level of quality CG effects but if you actually watch the first film you will notice that every good CG moment is repasted into this production and changed in no way whatsoever.OK lets talk about the directing,actually lets not because in my view this director seemed like he was trying to make a soft corr porno movie and not the sci-fi action film that most had hoped for,why do i say this you?well when you take in all the unnecessary nudity and cheesy as sin sexual innuendos it seems that the alien bugs have no interest anymore in getting into our galaxy and destroying our planet they seem too have more interest in getting into the Troopers pants.This film supposedly cost $3,000,000,Hmmmmmmmm it would seem to my that Glenn S.Gainor should learn to spend his money more wisely.
Please if you value your time and sanity avoid Starship Troopers 2 at all cost for watching the entire movie will leave you feeling like the enson from the SS Roger Miller after his encounter w/ a brain..
i picked this film up cheap on DVD not long ago, mainly down to the fact that the 1st movie was a blast, mindless gory sci-fi fun...iwas pretty much hoping the sequel would provide the same thrills...did it?
"Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation" is unlike your typical sequel to a big budget sci-fi action film.
You would think this movie would just be like the first "Starship Troopers:" excessive gore, gratuitous nudity and romantic subplots, but it is hardly any reflection on the first film.
I went into watching this movie with a open mind, because I knew it would not be better than the first "Starship Troopers." One thing I did like in this movie is the twist.
The titular "hero" is a murderer who hates the Federation but fights for the soldiers who he feel are betrayed by their superiors.The first one was brimming with satire, but the sequel tones that down, until the last scene (which is great and lifts the movie a notch).
Other reviewers of this film must have had their expectations set a little bit too high...Anyways, Richard Burgi does a nice job playing Captain Dax and Mr. Ed Lauter is always good to watch.
Nothing new there either.So, the movie is overall quite standard, not even close to the masterpiece that part one was, but it still is pretty nice - absolutely one you would want to rent in your local video-rental-store, if you are into SF horror (Alien, Pitch Black, Tremors, stuff like that).
And I really enjoyed it.Instead of thinking 'wow, this looks really cr*p', I was thinking more 'this looks fantastic, and a lot of it is DP-ed & directed so well that it doesn't look and feel like digital!'Well done to the cast too - no Hollywood 'stars', but good character actors, and even today (saw it last night) I can still remember the characters and plot etc.Special effects were cool too, thanks to Phil Tippet directing.Writing was waaay better than I expected for a film like this, with some great lines and really cool, well drawn 3D characters (not talking about CGI here).Most of the film, all I could think of was I wish they'd been given enough money to shoot on film, the rest of the elements were up to scratch and it deserved it.The only negative points I have were: The sandstorm as they were approaching the outpost seemed to be kinda arbitrary and not really fit.
Also really pleased to see the film kept up the intelligence of ST1 in it's treatment of the naivety of fascism, contrasted with over-the-top harsh blood&guts of real war.A lot of the lighting/sets reminded me of the approach David Fincher and his DP took with Alien3.Thought it was worth adding a comment since most will be 'this movie sucked'...
I wish it was like that all the way.The film had a much smaller budget than the original, but you could probably guess that since this was a straight to video movie.
Granted, it doesn't have the feel of the first movie and the original cast is absent from #2 (Brenda Strong returns, but in a different role), but it's still an enjoyable direct-to-video sequel.
the only thing a disliked about this movie was the brainbugs that took over peoples mind, and i dislike that fact that one of the actors that was killed off in the first movie was back playing a different role in the second movie (((but that isn't the first time we've seen that happen ...ala Harry Morgan as a drunken saloon cowboy in Walt Disney's Apple Dumpling Gang & then he was back as a totally different character as a Commanding Calvary Officer in Walt Disney's The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again))) None the less if you over look the the fact the one of the actors returned in a totally different role, and the brain bugs infesting peoples minds ..this becomes a decent (not great..but decent) movie.For a film that was filmed for less than $6MIL they did pretty darn good.
The special effect were decent (again, not great...but decent) the story line is actually good(or at least I thought so).And there were some very sexy women in this movie (some really hot nude scenes).This movie has very little in common with the first movie...but that's okay.I enjoyed this movie....granted its no Casablanca or Dr. Zhivago.
OK, you can tell straight away that this is a much lower budget, and the cast is about 1 or 2 dozen and no more, but this gives it a much more claustrophobic feel, which is good, the film focuses much more on one squad in one outpost on one planet, not the whole war like the first.
4 - New stuff: Yeah, lots of little 'infiltrator brain bugs', which give the movie a real 'The Thing and The Hidden' feel.
I was worried after the first ten minutes or so, but this movie ended up pretty darn good.It can't really be compaired to the massive budget original, which was an epic war movie, this is more like Starship Troopers 1.5.
Step forward director Phil Tippet who has been given seven million dollars and listen to the sighs and gasps as the fans realise this film will be going straight to DVD As it stands ST2:HERO OF THE FEDERATION is nowhere as bad as it could have been and at least it's recognisable as a sequel unlike American Psycho 2:All American Girl which had absolutely nothing in common with the original .
Low budget and quickly shot b horror movie, it may have clichés but this one does have a few memorable scenes and a good satirical' ending and not to mention one of the best "why we must kill the humans" speeches ever.
However, while the sequel is more compact, has a lower budget than the first film, and has no characters in common, it is in fact a better movie.
The conflicts are more suspenseful and psychological than action, and it's more akin to The Thing and The Hidden than either the first Starship Troopers or Aliens.The art is nothing special, but the special effects are good, which is expected, since the director, Phil Tippett, was the visual effects director from the first film.
The story has a nice twist relating back to the original Starship Troopers movie and especially the end is rather unexpected.I think everyone with a brain will appreciate it.
But it is a film that is fast paced has a good linear plot, some characters that are true to the feel of the first movie and will keep you entertained for the 1½ hour it lasts.Especially the (anti) hero Dax is perfect.
Also it contains just enough nudity to appeal to my basic desires as a man, some funny scenes that could be taken from some B-rated horror movies and of course plenty of action.The effects aren't spectacular but they are alright and don't really disturb the watching of this sci-fi horror action movie.If you liked the first Starship Troopers and found it funny you'll definitely like this one as well..
There are enough moments of gory violence, CGI bug action and gratuitous nudity to make it enjoyable enough to watch.The film in it's credit does feature one good strength that almost makes up for the much to dark cinematography and the fact they have shot on digital and not given in a proper film frame rate.
This film is a true modern day B-movie, meaning sometimes it's so corny it makes you laugh but provides just enough suspense, action and excitement, along with some particularly disgusting special effects, to keep you watching.
His eye for satire and gore are the things that I was missing the most.This movie and "Starship Troopers" have in fact very little in common.
The gore and violence in this movie are also typical horror like, not that is a bad thing of course, some of the scene's are actually quite good (ever seen a chopped-off head in a microwave?) but it's just that the style of gore and violence is so different from the original "Starship Troopers".Still the movie surely ain't as bad as people make you believe it is.
First of...I heard from three of my friends that this movie was sooo baad they could not finish it..I don't see why...it does not suck...its just not good.It is a fun 92 minutes,neat sub plots and story line,and I was really interested in a few of the characters survival to the point that i had to watch it to the end.A small budget is pretty obvious here,but still it has decent special effects and a few good actors...hey there is a drought of good sifi right now so I will take what I can get.Worth a watch..
I have just purchased the movie on DVD and I thought it was a good film, the storyline was original and action-packed (Didn't see it coming).
Starship Troopers 2 is a very cool movie, full of action scenes and great visuals.
Whilst the result is nowhere near as good as Verhoeven's excessively violent blockbuster, it's certainly better than many reviews suggest.Hero of the Federation sees a mobile infantry unit seek refuge in an abandoned military outpost; as a violent storm rages outside and an army of arachnids gather to surround the building, the war-weary troopers realise that being locked inside a fortress does not ensure their safety, for the bugs have evolved a new kind of creepy crawlya parasitic creature that can use a human being as a hostand several people inside the compound are already infested.With no message or satirical subtext to worry about, Tippet gets on with the job at hand: delivering OTT gung-ho action, some nifty CGI aliens, a touch of nudity (from blonde hottie Kelly Carlson), an effectively claustrophobic atmosphere, a touch of paranoia, and quite a large dollop of yucky gore.Such a markedly different approach is bound to upset many fans of the original, but personally, I was not offended at all, finding the change in style rather brave and quite refreshing.
Second; gore isn't scary either if its overdone and the actors are crap then it just falls flat on the ground (which is actually pretty funny).I am actually a fan of bad movies because I find it enjoyable to laugh at bad acting and silly dialog and Starship Troopers 2 has got both those things.
It's like their missing the big picture here: being a small picture, a fun picture, a cool little fun story to watch and enjoy and get off on more bug/trooper stuff.
I do like Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation very, very much.Is it different than the first movie?
I do like new species of bugs - it's nice to see intergalactic beasties that aren't too derivative of the titular menace from Alien.Yes you can see the movie was made on a lower budget than the first one, but it delivers anyway.The story is similar to that one in Thing, but there are some interesting twists.
I do like new species of bugs - it's nice to see intergalactic beasties that aren't too derivative of the titular menace from Alien.Yes you can see the movie was made on a lower budget than the first one, but it delivers anyway.The story is similar to that one in Thing, but there are some interesting twists.
The cast is far better this time, than those wooden actors from the original Starship Troopers.
The cast is far better this time, than those wooden actors from the original Starship Troopers.
(And she doesn't hesitate to show of her body too ;-) I do like that girl with pony-tail too.Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is a strong, good movie, and it's an entertaining ride..
(And she doesn't hesitate to show of her body too ;-) I do like that girl with pony-tail too.Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is a strong, good movie, and it's an entertaining ride..
If you watch it not really expecting a true sequel to the first Starship Troopers in terms of big budget, recurring characters and satiric tone, then you're more likely to enjoy it.
I don't believe it is, but that is just my opinion.Starship Troopers 2 never made any claims to being a great movie with millions invested in special effects, original music, or location filming around the globe.
Obviously, the movie does not stack up well against much more heavily financed films, but for a $7,000,000 budget it did very, very well.To the critics, yes, special effects, original music scores, and an all- star cast may have made it a better visual experience.
I think the visuals are BETTER than in the original movie.What I did not like about this was the facts it's not as long as the original.Hope they'll do Starship Troopers 2 someday.. |
tt2334873 | Blue Jasmine | Jasmine Francis (Cate Blanchett) disembarks in San Francisco after a flight from New York City. She takes a taxi to her sister Ginger's (Sally Hawkins) apartment, where Ginger is dismayed to learn that Jasmine traveled first class despite claiming to be broke. Jasmine has recently suffered a nervous breakdown and, having incurred heavy debts, has been forced to seek refuge with her sister.
A series of flashbacks reveal that Jasmine's husband, money manager Hal Francis, was arrested for running a fraudulent operation with his clients' money. Ginger and her husband, Augie, were among Hal's victims; he swindled them out of $200,000 of lottery winnings that Augie had wanted to start a business with. Hal committed suicide in prison after being publicly disgraced. Jasmine's step-son Danny (Alden Ehrenreich) dropped out of Harvard and cut himself off completely from Jasmine, believing her to be complicit in Hal's crimes. Ginger and Augie lost everything in the Ponzi scheme and their marriage fell apart. After Hal's death, Jasmine began drinking heavily and abusing anti-anxiety medication. She also developed a habit of talking to herself about her past.
Ginger is now dating a mechanic called Chili (Bobby Cannavale), whom Jasmine detests for his low breeding and coarse manners. She considers becoming an interior designer because of her "great taste" and past experience in decorating her homes. She wants to take online courses, but, having no computer skills, she decides to take a class in computers to gain basic proficiency. With no income, she grudgingly takes a job as a receptionist with a dentist (Michael Stuhlbarg), who pesters her with unwanted sexual advances. She fights him off and quits.
Jasmine's situation improves when she meets a wealthy widower, Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard), at a party. Dwight is a diplomat aspiring to become a Congressman. She poses as an interior designer, telling him that her husband was a surgeon who died of a heart attack. Dwight is impressed by her stylishness and invites her to decorate his new home. Ginger begins a romance with Al (Louis C.K.), whom she met at the same party. She breaks up with Chili, who begs her not to leave him. Eventually she finds out that Al is married and gets back with Chili, realizing she has been influenced by Jasmine.
Jasmine develops a romance with Dwight and he is about to buy her an engagement ring when they bump into Augie outside the jewelry store. Augie rails at Jasmine about what Hal did to Ginger and him. Augie also reveals that Danny is living nearby in Oakland and is now married. Dwight is outraged that Jasmine lied to him and calls off the engagement. Jasmine goes to Oakland and finds Danny, who tells Jasmine he never wants to see her again because of what she did to his father.
It is revealed that Jasmine finally learned of Hal's many affairs and confronted him. When he told her he wanted to divorce her to be with a 19-year-old au pair, Jasmine, in a moment of blind rage, called the FBI to inform the authorities of Hal's fraudulent business dealings. This led to his arrest.
Jasmine returns to her sister's apartment and finds Ginger back with Chili, who is moving in now. Jasmine and Chili needle each other, and Jasmine is furious when Ginger takes his side. Jasmine lies to Ginger and claims she is going to marry Dwight, and leaves. Jasmine, now totally unhinged, takes a seat on a park bench and starts muttering to herself. | dark, depressing, flashback, melodrama, tragedy, entertaining, sentimental | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0398378 | Vampires: The Turning | Prologue: For many centuries, phi song neng (vampire spirits who have
vowed never to drink human blood) have lived among the villages of the Far
East. One day, over 800 years ago, a young, human warlord named Niran fell in
love with a beautiful song neng woman named Sang. Niran wanted Sang for his
own, so he killed her husband and son. In her pain and rage, Sang attacked
Niran during a Songkran []New Year] solar eclipse, turning him into a vampire. From Niran
have come many jai tham (vampires who drink human blood and kill humans for
pleasure). Only Sang can end the jai tham's nightly attacks on humans. Doing
so, however, will end the entire bloodline and turn every vampire, song neng as
well as jai tham, into mere mortals again. Since the coming Songkran festival
will feature the first solar eclipse in 800 years, Sang intends to kill herself
by exposing herself to the sun's rays at the end of the eclipse and, thus, wipe
out all the vampires in Thailand.Connor [Colin Egglesfield] and Amanda [Meredith Monroe] are vacationing in Thailand during this year's Songkran
festival. Connor, trained since childhood in Muay Thai (Thai boxing), takes
Amanda to see a match. However, Amanda cannot take the brutality and goes back
to their hotel alone. On the way, she gets lost in the Phang Nga market, and Mr
Nice Guy [Dom Hetrakul] offers to show her the way to her hotel. He leads her on a short cut
down a deserted alley, then suddenly turns into the vampire Niran, drinking her blood
and carrying her off on a motorcycle. Connor tries to follow, but he is stopped
by another vampire, obviously intent on killing him. Just as the vampire is
about to succeed, a bald-headed man appears and chops off the vampire's
head. Connor begs for his help finding Amanda, but he warns Connor to
leave Thailand immediately and threatens to kill Connor if he follows him. Of
course, Connor steathfully (i.e., ten steps behind) follows Kiko [Roger Yuan] home to Kong
Sai House.When the police refuse to consider Amanda missing until 48 hours have
passed, Connor goes back to Kong Sai House, only to find everyone asleep. While
snooping through the house, Connor is attacked by a female vampire [Stephanie Chao] (who turns
out to be Sang, but Connor doesn't know that yet). Connor gets away from her by
jumping out a window. As Connor lands on the ground below, he is stopped by vampire slayer Raines [Patrick Bauchau] who insists on testing Connor's blood to see if he
is infected. When Connor comes up clean, he begs Raines to help him find
Amanda but, like Kiko, Raines warns him to leave Thailand. Amanda is as good as
dead, he says. If she resists, the jai tham will bleed her dry; if not, they'll
turn her, and then Raines will slay her (he gets $10,000 for every vampire he
kills). Either way, Amanda should be considered dead to Connor.Connor won't accept it and returns again to Kong Sai House. While there,
he sees a photo of Niran in front of the Techno Games Arcade near the Phang Nga
market. Figuring that Niran might have taken Amanda there, he snoops around. He
finds Amanda being held in a cell with skeletons, carcasses, and other humans
in various stages of being drained of their blood. Basically, he's stumbled
into the jai tham's pantry. Amanda and Connor escape but are attacked outside
by two jai tham on a motorcycle. One drives off with Amanda; the other stays
to kill Connor. Just as Niran and the rest of the jai tham arrive to join the
fun, Sang appears. Connor grabs a motorcycle and, with Sang riding behind him,
they succeed in outrunning the jai tham.Both Amanda and Connor are now faced with decisions. Amanda must decide
whether to allow Niran to turn her or to keep on drinking from her, which
causes acute pain. Connor has to decide whether or not to join the song neng in
hopes of winning the battle with the jai tham and helping Sang to kill herself
so that all vampires (including him) will be turned back into mortals. The
alternative, if Sang is not successful, is that Connor will remain a vampire
until the next Songkran eclipse rolls around in 800 years and Sang can try
again. Connor's decision is made doubly hard because he's got the hots for
Sang. Amanda decides to continue resisting, and Connor decides to become song
neng. This requires being bitten by Sang and, apparently, having sex with her,
too.The day of the eclipse is upon them. The song neng have made a deal with
the slayers. Since Sang's embrace of the sun must take place in the same
spot where the curse began 800 years ago (a couple blocks away), the song neng
have made a deal with Raines. Raines and his slayers will line the buildings
and walls that overlook the site, which looks like an archeological dig, in
order to kill any jai tham who try to stop Sang. Connor, Kiko, and the rest
of the song neng will help Sang get to the required spot. The eclipse starts at
3:00, and they will have 17 minutes to do the job. All is set.Suddenly, the sun is covered and the city falls dark. The slayers are in
position. Connor and the song neng move out from under the trees. The jai tham
arrive on their motorcycles. In the melee that follows, Connor and Niran fall
through a weak spot into a pit where they continue fighting. Time is running
out, and Kiko realizes that the slayers have double-crossed them. Suddenly, the
slayers open fire, shooting everyone, song neng and jai tham. Only Connor and
Niran remain protected in their hole. Connor manages to impale Niran, but when
he surfaces from the pit, Connor finds only bodies. He shouts for Sang, but
there is no answer. Raines walks up, gloating over how much he will get for all
the vampire heads AND those in the future. If Sang ends the curse, he explains,
there's no more vampires, and we're in the vampire hunting business.Connor locates Sang as Raines turns his crossbow on her. Connor offers to
shoot Sang so that she doesn't have to suffer. Raines hands his bow to Connor.
Connor aims at Sang but suddenly swings his aim to Raines. Forcing Raines to
carry Sang to the designated spot, Connor gives her one last kiss before the
sun reappears and Sang is toast. She explodes, taking Raines with her. Connor
hurries back to the jai tham's pantry and rescues Amanda.Epilog: Connor and Amanda are on an airplane flying back to the States.
Amanda looks out the window, and her eyes appear to be totally black. Is she or
isn't she? [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl] | cult, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt1821681 | Touch | A preternatural drama in which science and spirituality intersect with the hopeful premise that we are all interconnected, tied in invisible ways to those
whose lives we are destined to alter and impact. Through masterful storytelling, the series follows a group of seemingly unrelated characters, beginning with a former firefighter tormented by his inability to save a dying woman, an Iraqi teenager who will go to great risks to help his family, a
gifted singer whose actions at a karaoke bar save lives thousands of miles away, and a British businessman desperately trying to retrieve a key piece
of information from his lost mobile phone, who affect each other in ways seen and unseen. At the center is Martin Bohm (Sutherland), a widower
and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his mute 10-year-old son, Jake. Caring, intelligent and thoughtful, Martin has
tried everything to reach his son, who shows little emotion and never allows himself to be touched by anyone, including Martin. Jake busies himself
with cast-off cell phones, disassembling them and manipulating the parts, allowing him to see the world in his own special way. After multiple failed
attempts at keeping Jake in school, Martin is visited by social worker Clea Hopkins, who insists on doing an evaluation of the Bohms' living situation.
Although new at her job, Clea sees a man whose life has become dominated by a child he can no longer control. She believes his attempts to
communicate with Jake are just wish fulfillment, and determines that it's time for the state to intervene. But everything changes when Martin discovers
that Jake possesses a gift of staggering genius -- the ability to see things that no one else can, the patterns that connect everything. Jake is indeed
communicating after all. But it's not with words, it's with numbers. And now he needs Martin to decipher their meaning and connect these numbers to
the cast of seemingly unrelated characters whose lives they affect. Along the way, Martin will be guided by Boris Podolsky, a discredited aging
professor who offers Martin a compelling but unorthodox theory about Jake and his rare ability. Whether it be chance, coincidence, timing, synergy or
fate, there are events that touch us all, as part of an interconnected, dazzlingly precise universe.OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS | paranormal | train | imdb | null |
tt3063516 | Bad Grandpa | In the opening shot, an eight-year-old overweight boy, named Billy (Jackson Nicholl), is sitting in the waiting room of a law office. He reads a magazine and turns to a page with a picture of a guy fishing. Billy turns to the lady next to him and says he'd like to live in that spot next to the jail house since his mom is going there for getting caught selling drugs. His mom then comes out to grab him and tell Billy they're going to see his grandpa.We meet the enderly Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, checking out a magazine of his own and getting aroused at the sexual imagery. A nurse comes in to tell Irving that his wife had taken a turn for the worst, and she is now dead. After a brief moment of silence, Irving starts laughing, overjoyed that his wife is dead. He talks to his penis "Leroy" and says "We're free!" Irving leaves the hospital to get himself off, but unfortunately for him, the massage parlor and strip club are closed. Desperate, he sticks his penis in the slot of a vending machine. That's when he gets himself stuck and starts asking onlookers for help. He tries pulling his penis out, stretching it to an unnatural length before someone steps in to help.Irving attends his wife Ellie's (Catherine Keener, as a corpse) funeral with a whole group of strangers. He is surprised to see them all though he admits he and Ellie outlived all their friends. Just as he starts giving a speech, Billy and his mom Kimmie (Georgina Cates) barge in and Kimmie pulls Irving out to talk to him. She has a loud conversation with him saying she's going back to jail for violating her parole, and she orders Irving to make sure Billy stays with his father. Irving reluctantly agrees and they re-enter the church. Kimmie starts to steal a pearl necklace from Ellie's casket, but Irving goes to stop her. Their struggle ends up pushing Irving into the casket, spilling Ellie's corpse onto the floor to the horror of everyone in attendance.Irving takes Billy to a restaurant to meet with a counselor while they contact Billy's father Chuck (Greg Harris) via webcam to inform him of the current circumstances. Chuck turns out to be a deadbeat jerk who refuses to take Billy in as he cannot afford to. He proceeds to take a hit from his bong as his girlfriend comes in to remind him that he can get child support for Billy, so he instructs Irving to take Billy down to Raleigh, North Carolina to drop him off with Chuck by Sunday at 2:00.Irving later starts selling Ellie's belongings. He tries to sell her bed to a potential customer and then offers to test it out. He hands her a pad with a button to adjust the bed, but once she presses it, the bed folds rapidly, bending Irving repeatedly. The customer is then too freaked out to buy the bed. Later, Irving calls a couple of unwitting guys to come help take the bed out, though he really asks them to help him and Billy carry Ellie's body to the trunk of his car, since he felt that she needs to be taken south to be buried properly. Though disturbed, the two men help them and then leave before they are implicated in a crime.Irving and Billy hit the road not long after getting everything together. Billy says he's hungry, so Irving pulls over to a nearby market where a woman is selling food. He tries to hit on her while Billy goes on a kiddie ride outside the shop. He tells Irving that it's not working, forcing Irving to test it out. He ends up getting shot through the window as the ride springs off it's base, startling everybody else. Frustrated, Irving tries to ship Billy off to North Carolina in a box. He takes him to the post office, but because Billy keeps moving and speaking, the two women in the place open it and are shocked to find him in there. Before he can get in anymore trouble, he says he'll just take Billy back on the road.Irving leaves Billy in the car as he goes to a rec center to play Bingo with other older folks. Irving starts to drink the ink from the markers before pulling out a margarita maker and blending drinks for everybody. He mentions that he visited a country where lemon juice was squirted on a man's penis to determine if he had a disease, then proving his being clean by squirting lemon juice on his own penis. Irving then proceeds to hit on the women there, making them laugh or repulsing them. Meanwhile, Billy leaves the car to walk around and stop an older gentlemen to get him to tie his shoe. He keeps him talking for a few minutes while trying to coax the man into adopting him.The two stop in a supermarket when Billy gets hungry again. Irving takes food out from their containers and makes himself and Billy sandwiches, which is seen by the employees. A woman comes out to chastise Irving for eating without paying and criticize him for influencing Billy. Still, Irving gets Billy to smuggle some items and run from the manager, who yells at Irving even as he tries flirting.The two pull into a motel for the day. They pull Ellie's corpse out of the trunk since Irving thinks it would be disrespectful to leave it in the car, all while another man watches them in displeasure. Irving then asks the man if he knows where there is a strip club around here so he can seduce a black woman. The man points him out to one and he leaves Billy in the room.Irving goes to a club featuring male performers. He tells one of the dancers that he plans on waiting until the women are so aroused by the dancers for him to swoop in and make his move. He starts talking to a group of women, making them laugh despite is crass behavior. When the men start to dance, Irving jumps on the dance floor and pulls down his pants, revealing his balls that sag past his thighs. Everybody runs away while laughing in surprise and disgust.Meanwhile, Billy leaves the motel room to find Irving. He goes to another strip club and then to an adult book store. The book store employee offers to watch him while they find his grandpa, and Billy tells her that she looks like a stripper, naming her Cinnamon. Irving eventually comes back home before they have to hit the road again.As they near North Carolina, Irving tries to use Billy as bait to find a woman to hook up with. The women they speak to find Billy adorable, but they all turn Irving down. They drive to a diner where Irving drives the car into a large penguin statue, knocking it over and arguing with one of the employees about fixing it. In the diner, Billy asks why he has to stay with his dad when he doesn't like him very much. Irving insists that he has to go with him, and then he farts. They get into a gassy contest, which ends when Irving pushes too hard and sharts against a wall. They proceed to leave and later play some basketball while Billy asks Irving if he can take him fishing.On another misadventure, Billy gets hungry yet again and Irving takes him to a church where a wedding reception is taking place. During a group photo, Irving swipes a glass of champagne, causing the whole tower of glasses to collapse, and he ends up falling on top of the table, spilling the cake on the floor. Billy seizes the opportunity to eat some of the cake.Irving eventually drives Billy to a bar where they are meeting Chuck. Chuck is talking to a member of a biker organization called Guardians of Children, who help abused kids. Chuck explains that Billy will allow for him to get child support just as Irving and Billy walk in the door. Irving asks Chuck to make sure that Billy is well taken care of, though he rudely responds to Irving that he'll get the job done. Irving bids Billy farewell and they say they love each other, just as the GOC members watch the scene. As Irving leaves tearfully, one GOC member comes out to assure him that they'll keep their eyes on Billy. Irving drives away, but quickly starts to miss Billy and reminisces about their time on the road. He proceeds to turn the car around and drive back to the bar to get Billy back, just as Chuck is showing off his bad parenting by denying Billy any food in the place. Irving calls Billy to him, but Chuck prepares to fight the old man. The GOC members pull the two away from each other and allow Irving to leave with Billy while they hold Chuck off and warn him there will be trouble if he acts threateningly.To celebrate their reunion, Irving and Billy crash a child beauty pageant after spotting a flyer for it on their road trip earlier. Billy gets dressed up as a girl and charms most of the judges, even though one reigning child champion and her mother note the unusual event of a girl being there with a grandpa. Billy dresses up as a sailor girl to put on a show while "My Bunny Lies Over The Ocean" plays. It appears cute until Billy rips off the outfit to reveal him wearing women's underwear and then put on a risque pole dance to "Cherry Pie". The other parents and girls are stunned, and Irving tops it off by walking onstage and throwing Billy dollar bills. His wig falls off and the two run out.Irving drives up to a bridge where he and Billy finally get rid of Ellie's body by throwing it into the river. The two then proceed to fish, fulfilling Billy's desires.During the end credits are outtakes and behind-the-scenes looks at Johnny Knoxville performing as Irving in the outrageous stunts, and the reactions of all the unknowing extras when the filmmakers pop out to inform them that they're shooting a movie.The credits end with a dedication to the late Ryan Dunn. | prank, stupid, humor, boring, flashback | train | imdb | Despite all its low brow humor and childish gags Bad Grandpa is by far one of the funniest and seriously ingenious comedies of the year and when watched with the right mindset will be a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes at the movies.Played by a worryingly good Johnny Knoxville Irving Zisman is the titular bad grandpa, a man set upon every women he sees and a man that finds himself in many a hilarious situation.
Knoxville's strong inhabitation of Irving however would have been wasted if his grandson weren't such a mischievous delight as well.As played by child actor Jackson Nicholl Irving's grandson Billy is the perfect foil for the antics the film sets up and Nicholl displays a rare ability for a child to think on a whim and more than once he will have you laughing hysterically with his verbal comebacks or physical comedy (A highlight being the trailer centerpiece and films ace up the sleeve beauty pageant routine).
It's good to see Jackass stalwart and co-creator Jeff Tremaine handle both the situations and actors so well and one senses that this creation will set forward more projects under the similar vein of real life candid cameras mixed with a anchoring plot line.Obviously not for everyone and more likely to offended than not Bad Grandpa is still a must see for all comedy fans and even if Jackass is not your usual cup of lime juice Bad Grandpa offers up a welcome deviation from the usual Jackass presentations and a showpiece for just how funny Knoxville is when given the right material.4 knocked over penguins out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions head over to - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com.
Surprisingly, it's a gamble that pays off: Bad Grandpa is frequently as funny as it is in bad taste.The ostensible plot of it all goes something like this: Irving Zisman (Knoxville) is saddled with his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) when his flaky daughter is sent to prison and his wife Ellie (Catherine Keener - yes, really!) passes away.
Along the way, they meet people from all walks of life: most of them unsuspecting, several of them kind, all of them pretty good sports.Much of the thrill of watching Bad Grandpa comes from knowing that it is a hidden-camera comedy - one that draws its greatest laughs and amusement from people who have no clue that Irving isn't actually a senior citizen.
The great surprise is Nicoll, a child with the most perfectly deadpan of faces - he's hilariously convincing whether he's asking a complete stranger to adopt him or re-enacting a scenario reminiscent of Abigail Breslin's wildly inappropriate grind-bump dance in Little Miss Sunshine.This is - evidently - very far from great cinema, even though director Jeff Tremaine does actually manage to sneak a little more sentiment and plot into the film than you might expect.
I really did try to like the first couple of Jackass movies, but they were more sporadic laughs and face palming, than comedy gold.
Bad Grandpa (2013) **** (out of 4) Johnny Knoxville dresses up as old man Irving Zisman and takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his grandson (Jackson Nicoll) back to his real father.
We get stuff dealing with the old man's sex life, his dead wife, various scenes of him playing drunk and causing trouble and of course there are some of the moments that everyone saw in the trailer like the beauty pageant.
its nice to see true reactions of people to insane behavior, and personally a little sad that the Jackass gang got so famous that we would never get to see another movie like Jackass 1, but with Knoxville all "Dunn" up like a old man gave him the chance to do it one more time.a lot of people this this is crude humor and penis jokes.
That being said, this movie was a one star film, I give it two because of the beauty pageant scene, which was really the only moment when I laughed out loud.
That's the movie...There is a few laughs in this film that's from the creators of Jackass, a TV show about practical jokes and hurting oneself for the sake of hilarious humiliation.
The little, chubby sidekick had one or two good moments, nothing of any real interest."Bad Grandpa" is certainly the weakest installment in the "Jackass"-franchise, lacking all the crazy, painful stunts that made it so popular, and definitely it is a total waste of money and time.
This flick is half the real, crazy, way out MTV's Jackass pranks and a very boring fake story line of a Grandpa driving his Grandson from Missouri to North Carolina.
Much like Sacha Baron Cohen did with Borat, Knoxville has taken a supporting character from an existing show and attempted to place a story around him, however unlike Borat this falls very flat on its face.The main premise here is that Irving is asked to transport his grandson Billy cross country and deliver him to his selfish father after Billy's mother is told she is going to jail.
Bad Grandpa is a good movie with a pretty good storyline and really good performances from those who are acting.Most of the movie is hidden camera as Johnny Knoxville playing an old man is communicating with real people who have no idea they are being filmed for a movie,this works out really well and most of the scenes are full of cringe and it is impossible not to laugh.Johnny Knoxville does a very good job as Irving Zisman,he really got interested in this character and it wasn't until I saw a sign that said Knoxville towards the end of the movie that I had completely forgotten it was Knoxville,he puts on a voice very similar to Stan Lee's and play's a really convincing and strange old man from start to finish.The grandson Jackson Nicoll does a very good job as well,I found his comic timing very impressive for a boy his age.I am not a fan of Jackass but I really enjoyed this movie,though I think Jackass fans will enjoy it,it's different enough for people outside the Jackass audience to enjoy,because the humour isn't just watching people get hurt and there is also a storyline.I would recommend Bad Grandpa to anyone who enjoys hidden camera comedies and just comedy in general.When his daughter is sent to jail,Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) takes his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) on a road trip across the country to take him to his irresponsible father.They get up to some crazy antics around complete strangers along the way.Best Performance: Johnny Knoxville Worst Performance: Georgina Cates.
Nothing New. I feel like I just watched an extended version of the trailer, compared to other works of Knoxville this was definitely below par, I was bored throughout the movie and only stayed to watch the scenes that I had seen in the trailer which was the reason I went, but apart from those scenes everything was disappointing.
Unfortunately, though, he goes solo for the first time in 'Jackass' history in this brilliant spin- off film, 'Bad Grandpa'.The film revolves around Jackass' horny pensioner, Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville), who is given the task of driving his impressionable 8 year old grandson, Billy (Jackson Nicoll) across America to get him to his deadbeat father when his mother is jailed.In a change of the original formula, this instalment of the hidden- camera prank series sees a very loose narrative that is accompanied by several 'Jackass' stunts and pranks.
This kid is easily the best part about the movie, everything he does in the film, he does with fearlessness and class, stealing scenes from Johnny Knoxville and capturing hearts.The story includes all of the immature, raunchy moments that you would expect to see from 'Jackass', it features all of the uncomfortable reaction shots and the gross- out gags, but surprisingly, it also has a lot of sweet moments, too.
The disc will have some extra funny bits, different takes on some of the things in the movie.But it all feels like this is Jackass mixed with a bit of Borat for good measure.
Irving finds himself having to drive his grandson across America to be raised by his father after his mother, Irving's daughter, goes to prison.This sounds like it could be funny but instead of telling a genuinely funny story, it's Jackass style, which means it's shot with hidden cameras and of no intelligence.
From shitting on walls to getting children drunk, all the usual stupidity is here but it's rarely funny or original, even for Jackass standards.The story is somewhere between Bad Santa and Little Miss Sunshine but doesn't come close to either of those films because, even when it's not obviously setting-up the scene for a mindless stunt, it doesn't have the ability to make us feel anything but disgust.Too few guilty laughs, if any, make Bad Grandpa just another bad movie..
I have seen the Jackass movies and actually have laughed through most of them but this film was pathetic .
There will be pleasant surprises along the way, particularly in the bikers' bar, when the child finds some unexpected support.Don't worry Knoxville is still using his candid camera approach for many of the scenes, continues to find ways to amuse himself and the audience goes along for the ride, enjoying inspirational moments that let you believe there is hope for just about everyone in this world, regardless of their crude behavior as long as there is a heart that beats strong and is able to feel real love..
Bad Grandpa is the fan-favorite skit from the show Jackass, where Johnny Knoxville pretends to be an old man to see how much shenanigans he can pull off, stretched into an hour and a half film.
The runtime is just perfect.All of the jokes are funny and the stunts are all real.Pros: Hilarious story, good acting by Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll, great use of real people, fast pacing, a good runtime, and all of the jokes and stunts were funnyCons: Some slow pacing towards the endOverall Rating: 8.2.
The best part was seeing the reactions of the people in the film, and even better was watching the end credits.Jeff Tremaine's latest Jackass entry focuses on a 86-year old man named Irving who must take a cross-country trip with his 8-year-old grandson to hand him to his estranged father.
Johnny Knoxville of course plays Grandpa very well and looked nearly unrecognizable in that makeup of his, which actually garnered this film an Academy Award nomination surprisingly enough.Overall, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is funnier than I have anticipated and it is definitely worth watching.
Clown extraordinaire, Johnny Knoxville, goes in search of big laughs as Bad Grandpa.There is a story that carries the pranks, it's not important but it works.
If you like this kind of humour you may suffer a heart attack.It's candid camera with Knoxville as a cantankerous old man, recently widowed enjoying his freedom and he ends up having to take his abandoned grandson to his dads house.There's a series of pranks interwoven in the story in this buddy movie.
If you like that kind of humor, then you are in for a treat.Johnny Knoxville keeps his character consistent and the little kid (Jackson Nicoll) does a good job too.
Where they've started off being funny, they're now just pushing the boundaries of dangerous and bad taste.Bad Grandpa is a great story idea which had its moments, but it could've been so much more than it was.No doubt, Johnny Knoxville played a great character- he did it well, but it wasn't enough to save the movie.Sadly, the preview clips show the highlights I think.Sure I got a laugh at some of it, but there was just as much that was predicable and not funny..
I went into this with very low expectations since I really did not enjoy the previous Jackass films, but this was a surprisingly good movie.
Here with the Jackass king, Johnny Knoxville plays as this rude, perverted, funny old man trying to get his grandson back to his dad.
Seeing the people's reaction are priceless as ever, the kid in the movie did a pretty good job, and Johnny Knoxville took it to a whole new level.8.5/10.
The Bouncing back and fourth between a written screenplay, and candid reaction worked out perfectly.A great laugh all around, and i thought it was very funny some of the reactions people gave in awkward situations.This is not an emmy award winning comedy, the plot is very simple, and the film will not have you leaving the theater with an acknowledgement of a deeper moral lesson.This is a fun movie that tried something different, and ultimately pulled it off incredibly well.
Bad Grandpa tries to deliver an actual story, in the best way a movie like this can.
In Bad Grandpa, Knoxville and his 8 year-old grandson Billy, played by youngster Jackson Nicoll, get the laughs from absurd behavior, creating immensely uncomfortable situations and causing America's public to second guess how crazy someone can be.
Real life people and situations create some preposterous moments and Knoxville uses his wit and inappropriate words to make a dirty and funny 86 year-old character.
Each character feeds off each other and the combination of an 86 year- old man and a 8 year-old child acting completely raunchy provides for some huge laughs.While Bad Grandpa isn't your ordinary Jackass movie it still does the name justice.
Although it's obscene,vulgar,dirty and lewd is outrageous funniest comedy since Borat...Knoxville is a genius really,some scenes are totally unexpected for those whose caught in the hidden camera,the highlights are stuck in vending machine is a crying shame,the funeral is embarrassing,fishing Moby Dick is a shameless scene,restaurant is awful dirty,Penguin is dangerous,ladies night is most original idea of all time and adjustable bed is scary and a lot of bonus material with deleted scenes....oh my God l've been waited for my own Blu-ray to watch it again a full lenght movie!!
From the beginning of the film Bad Grandpa, regulars will be familiar with Johnny Knoxville's Irving Zisman persona, and the theory that one can get away with anything if you're disguised as a lecherous, liver-spotted old man is taken even further when Zisman reluctantly takes a road trip with his nine-year-old grandson, with hidden- camera gags along the way.Bad Grandpa comes across as disjointed and aimless.
I will say that Johnny Knoxville's old man makeup was flawless though and probably the best thing of the movie.
Initially against his will, Irving takes Billy on a road trip in which ends up turning into an adventure of hilarious shenanigans and stunts.Filmed in documentary style, much like the television series and movies, this hysterical spin-off presents viewers with a insanely crude, yet funny experience with the two main characters engaging in hilarious pranks and mischief that often results in appalled or amused reactions from extras on screen.
They present their characters with such amazing comedic chemistry.Bad Grandpa may go a bit overboard at times, but it is a faithful and stunningly hilarious spiritual successor to the Jackass films, and Jeff Tramaine does a great job directing this.
When Knoxville and his writing partners figured out a way to make Zisman's antics into a feature film, a highly inappropriate grandfather figure was born."Bad Grandpa" is part "Jackass" and part "Borat".
It was better than I expected from watching the trailer.The movie is built as an actual film with a story, which incorporates a candid camera in each scene.
OK it's not an all time classic hence the 7/10 instead of a 9 or 10 but it's still very enjoyable.I'm a big fan of both the Jackass TV series and movies, I thought a lot of what they did was very entertaining and it's very hard to shock me so I loved their crude stuff as well.
However I have to say even thought it wasn't as crude as the Jackass movies a lot of the pranks and stunts were still very funny and because they aren't very crude they may even appeal to a wider audience.There is a small storyline inserted as well, which is no harm because it explains why this child is in the full time care of the rude, sleazy and often hilarious 86 year old Irving Zisman (Knoxville) but it doesn't get in the way of any jokes, in fact if anything it adds to the jokes.Johnny Knoxville does his best work with Jeff Tremaine and always looks far more at home under the 'Jackass Logo' and this movie is no different, he's hilarious as the Grandpa.
This movie was worth the watch it was really funny but poor child who had to act the part :) he was so so so cute the kid did very well, it would have been a blast making this movie and hanging out johnny Knoxville even dressed as grandpa :) there were some really good belly laughs in this movie which was awesome i would watch it again some of the acts were really bad tho i was shocked with some of the things happening which is why i guess i gave it a 5 but yea over all it was a good movie about a grandfather and his poor unwanted grandson as i said before i liked it :).
Johnny was convincing as an old guy, the kid did his job well, the real people's reactions were interesting and at times funny.
Much like Borat the best part of this movie is watching the people react to what is going on.
Following in the 'Borat' mould of playing pranks on the unsuspecting public, the movie sees Knoxville disguise himself as the titular grandpa – the lecherous Irving Zisman, who embarks on a road trip with his nine-year-old grandson, Billy, played impressively by Jackson Nicoll, who often out-acts Knoxville when it comes to the comedy. |
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