Courtroom Drama: This 1996 movie stars Richard Gere as a flamboyant Chicago defense attorney who volunteers his services when a stray teenager from Kentucky (played by Edward Norton) who had become an altar boy in Chicago is charged with the murder of a Catholic archbishop.
Good:
1. Great acting, especially by Edward Norton. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award in the same category for his career-launching role.
2. Gere is good too. And I also especially liked Frances McDormand (the actress that played the pregnant cop in Fargo) who played a psychiatrist in this movie.
3. Good pace. I thought in my recent viewing that it started out slow, and seemed dated. But as the main story emerged things started moving faster, and complexities to the story seemed reasonable: sleazy lawyer, sleazy characters who run city government and sleazy church leaders all playing with the life of an inncocent ( as all are until proven guilty) young man. As Gere's character telling says at one point: "Why gamble with money when you can gamble with people's lives? "
4. If you think about this movie, it really makes you think.
5. It takes place in Chicago. (Always a plus with this reviewer.)
BAD:
1. For me the relationship with the city attorney trying the case (played by Laura Linney) and Gere's character was cliche, Linney didn't have the lines she needed to round out her character.
In essence she is a good character with a job that she tries to perform with integrity. Neither her boss or her opponent (her former boss and lover) show any integrity.She is being played by everyone - yet she comes out as looking like the real bad guy.
Other reviewers opinion:
Primal Fear garnered positive reviews from critics, earning a 72% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
My Judgement 4/5 -------------------------
Rated R for brief grisly violence, pervasive strong language and a sex scene
Think about this after watching the movie:
How does the title relate to the film? In the end does the boy get the correct sentence? Trailer
Watch Primal Fear now on your computer through Amazon's Instant Video service for as low as $2.99
Movie quick summery:
Convicted in the late 1940s for the murder of his wife and her lover, banker played by Tim Robbins is thrown into jail at the Shawshank penitentiary in Maine for two consecutive life sentences. In prison he meets and befriends another lifer, played by Morgan Freeman, who teachs him how to survive in prison.
The Good:1. The movie has excellent acting, excellent cinematography, and great music. Its one of those roller coasters of emotion movies that in the end leaves you feeling good.
2. One of the best book to film transitions ever.
Stephen King's may be best known for his horror writing but this is not horror. The movies success starts with the brilliant Steven King novel that it was based on ""Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"". You can find the novella in a 1982 King collection, ""Different Seasons"", along with a story, ""The Body,"" that became the basis for the another top notch movie the1986 smash ""Stand by Me"".
3. It celebrates the triumph of the human spirit.
The Bad: 1. Bad title.
2. It is a prison melodrama, and it does contain violence, and suggest some horrible things - so if your not into that be forewarned...but at the same time it also contains almost no action.
It's not a simple feel good movie- there is a good deal of brutality in it. As one of the characters explains: " this is no fairy tale world."
3. Some critics have felt that the movie is a little too sentimental, and a little two long (142 minutes).
It is about a 20 year friendship between two men in a prison (in my opinion). In telling that story the narrative highlights the memorable moments. The film is also about long-term imprisonment. The movie is not driving towards it's conclusion. A lot happens, and the film just seems to amble confidently along like the film's main character. The conclusion comes about as just another story among other stories. The story teller just saves the best story for last.
The Bottom Line: It can be as much a spiritual experience as it is a simple movie.
I remember reading a review about the movie when it came out where the reviewer was upset that the ending was too clarified.WOW - I found it- Washington Post September 23, 1994: "" And leave it to pandering, first-time director Frank Darabont to ensure no audience member leaves this film unsure of the ending. Heaven forbid a movie should end with a smidgen of mystery!"
No one I have ever talked to has felt that way about this movie- just the opposite, they have theorized about what this film means ...is it an disguised story of Jesus?...a simple tale of friendship?...a tale of corruption?...a lecture on faith and 'holding on'?...or is the main character not who we think it to be for 3/4 of the film? ... and what really is the redemption?
Extra Information: The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards (including best picture), 2 Golden Globes, USA, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Awards - and didn't win any.
The original movie did not do well in theaters. But once released on video it became recognized. The Wall Street Journal ran an article about how the video version ""Shawshank"" groundswell in April 1999, at the time it was occupying first place in the Internet Movie Database worldwide vote of the 250 best films; it's usually in the top five.
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Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Stephen King (short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"), Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Bob Gunton
~I am writing this on the night of the Academy Awards (Kings Speech wins best picture.)
I have just watched one of the best movies I have ever seen- Elite Squad 2 (2010).
I had refrained from watching this, though I thought Elite Squad (2007) was brilliant- because I find that most often the sequels are lacking the intensity of the original (think Matrix). This movie is better in my opinion than the excellent original (you need not see the first to fully appreciate this movie -this movie stands on it's own.)
I watch a lot of movies and review very few. Time is limited. To be a movie `critic' does not necessarily mean that you need to criticize a movie. I try to review movies that I like.
(The reason I watched this movie had everything to do with the reviews on the Internet Movie Data Base http://www.imdb.com/ .)
Brazil put the film "Lulu, the son of Brazil" - up to represent the country at the Academy Awards, and why not push for a positive depiction of your country with a rags to riches story? --" The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politician in Brazil's history." I have not seen that movie yet. the movie did not get selected as one of the five in consideration for the award. "In a Better World"from Denmark won, which was a huge upset for critic favoriteBiutiful, which hailed from Mexico
Elite Squad 2 is much more `intense' than it's predecessor ( by the same director). It, like its predecessor, is described as an "action, crime, drama, thriller". And it succeeds in all those areas.
The IMDB gave the movie "Kings Speech" (based on collected criteria) an 8.4. And this sequal " Elite Squad 2- an 8.6.
It might be possible to argue, that as an United States citizen that I cannot fully understand the psychological depth of this movie. I would have to agree. But for me, because of how well it was .. choreographed --the film transcended it's location - and simply was a great film.
However it for some was more than just a `movie'. There are references in other reviews that it was almost a `truthful' documentary about the state of affairs in Brazil. It definitely touched in the pulse of that country= "about 11.1 million paying viewers made Elite Squad 2 the most seen movie in Brazilian cinema history. It also became the highest-grossing film of all time in Brazil, beatingAvatar(2009)'s record."
Consider this review:
"I saw the film in its world premiere in Paulinia, São Paulo. 1,500 people in the audience. Perhaps, 1/3 industry members and 2/3 non-industry members. It was a collective catharsis, I only remember a group experience of the same intensity watching Crouching Tiger in its Cannes premiere.
The audience applauded the film five times, the last a standing ovation."
(Emphasis mine)
------
So what is it all about?No spoiler.
A man, who is the leader, of what we in the US would call SWAT, is involved in a prison uprising that gets out of control. He is the narrator of the film. He is divorced. He has a young son. His wife has remarried a very left wing professor . The two major social problems (the plot of the movie) that the government seeks, through its police to eradicate, are drug dealers and arms dealers.
With that short scenario you can predict both violence and emotional conflicts, which the movie provides.
The director and writer of the film José Padilha has made several documentaries- thus there certainly, in my opinion- at times, a documentary feeling within the film (though not boring). Padilha studied business studies, politics and economics in Rio de Janeiro, followed by English literature and international politics in Oxford.
The star is Wagner Moura who seems to me as an unlikely choice, but who he makes his role work (he is also the narrator of the movie) by his personal intensity.
--
How does it end? - Open, in my opinion, for further development, ( I hope so) but not necessarily. It is a full movie, and what I here consider a possible open ending, might actually be to let the future of the story be considered by the viewer.
The movie Love and Other Drugs, got mixed reviews - it also recieved two Golden Globe nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Jake Gyllenhaal & Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Anne Hathaway.
This movie could be classified as a quirky comedy, a love story/melodrama, a guy's flick with college fratboy humor, and a corporate commentary. {Note: Part of the movie is based on the book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by author Jamie Reidy, himself a former Pfizer sales rep, }
This hodgepodge of thematic areas that the film covers does make it a bit uneven, but it is not confusing. The thing that reviewers call the `tone' of the movie shifts quite a bit. And like most `serious films' it tries to be emotionally manipulative. (It's success in that department depends on the viewer). There is plenty of nudity from the leads -(Hathaway's breast and Gyllenhaal's but) and both fit into the category John Lennon would call: "beautiful people."
From a technical perspective the filming itself is great. The story-line however seems chopped - as though there are obvious missing scenes.
Personally I found the actors playing the secondary characters lacking. Oliver Platt, who plays Jamie's sales manager, for me was too boring. Josh Gad, who plays the Jamie's little brother was just wrong. Here, I mean, that the actor selection was ineffective - and changing those two actors could have greatly improved the film.
The basic synopsis of the movie is: a smart guy who is the black sheep of a successful family becomes a pharmaceutical salesman (Gyllenhaal). His (first) product is the anti-depressant Zolof, and he is trying to break into a market dominated by Prozac. (This is historically accurate. And a certain `deepness' in the film begins - because the second drug in the anti-depressant game has less side effects. But the first drug has a strong foothold that is held by the practice of `bribing' doctors) . Using bribery himself (Gyllenhaal), has a chance meeting with Maggie (Hathaway). After events, I won't spoil, they `hook-up'.
It is at this juncture that a moment (in my opinion) that this great movie dialogue comes:
Maggie Murdock:What's your game?
Jamie Randall: My game?
Maggie Murdock:Oh I'm sorry. Right. This is the part where we talk about where we come from and what we majored in in college.
Jamie Randall: : You have beautiful eyes.
Maggie Murdock:That's it? That's the best you got?
Jamie Randall: I'm serious. They're beautiful.
Maggie Murdock:Let's go.
Jamie Randall: Excuse me?
Maggie Murdock:You want to close right? You want to get laid?
Jamie Randall: Now?
Maggie Murdock:: Oh right, right, right. I'm supposed to act like I don't know if it's right. So then you tell me that there is no right or wrong. It's just the moment. And then I tell you that I can't while actually signalling to you that I can, which you don't need because you're not really listening. Because this isn't about connection for you. This isn't even about sex for you. This is about finding an hour or two of relief from the pain of being you. And that's fine with me, see, because all I want is the exact same thing.
I admit that I do not watch many so called comedies, chic flicks, or romance films. I admit also to finding the line: "This is about finding an hour or two of relief from the pain of being you"; disturbingly right on- and one the reasons I watch films.
If you are prone to contemplating `deeper meanings and connections' and `ying/yang opposition and interdependent correlatives' this film offers food for those type of thoughts,
In conclusion - perfect or great this film is not. Watch-able and intellectually `prodding' (as in "isn't it interesting that..") it is.
I admit that I have never seen Broakback Mountain white Gyllenhaal and Hathaway. I admit also that I am biased by the fact that Gyllenhaal's early film `Donnie Darko' is a favorite.
In the end I give it thumbs up - 7/10 - Paul Grant (follower of Basho)
One reviewer wrote:
"I get that a lot of people think this is just a super cheesy movie. I actually felt the same way when I first saw the trailer, and thought it was just another 'Friends With Benefits' or 'No Strings Attached'. Truth is that this movie does have a lot more going for it than just comedy or cheese. I actually cried in this movie, and was greatly amused by the jokes. The actors have chemistry, the dialogue is good. It was a good movie. Don't think this trailer shows the whole move. Trust me.... It actually doesn't."
TRAILER:
WATCH THIS MOVIE NOW - Through Amazon's Instant Video for $2.99 CLICK HERE
Movie review by Paul Grant (follower of Basho)
Trailer at end of review
The movie starts with an average teen, Dave (Aaron Johnson), who is a fan of comic books, asking the question: with so many people on the planet why isn’t there individuals who become super hero’s?
Quickly this is answered by one of his friends, who points out that in general no one has “super powers”. Intelligently this is responded to with the fact that Bruce Wayne (aka Batman), had no super powers. Ah, but he did have incredible wealth and was able to buy super cool crime fighting toys, and most people don’t have that kind of wealth and those that do have other things they find more interesting than risking their lives for justice.
So what would happen if you had neither super powers, nor incredible wealth and set out to be a so called super hero? This is the beginning premise of the movie. The predictable obvious disastrous result follows.
Our hero protagonist barley survives his first attempt at being a super hero whom he self names Kick Ass. When he comes briefly conscious in the ambulance, he is able to beg the paramedic to not let anyone - especially his father know about the costume he was wearing prior to his near death. This results in him arriving to the hospital naked. His father worries that in addition to his severe physical problems - he might also have been raped. And somehow, rumours passing through his school involving his near death and arriving at the hospital naked causes the female object of his teen desire (played by
Katie Deauxma), who prior would not give him any attention, to come to the conclusion that he is gay - and therefore a safe boy-who-is-gay-friend. None of this takes up much time, but it adds to the complexity of the underlying first story line.
The second story line involves an ex policeman who had been framed for a crime and ended up going to prison. The police officer (who is played by Nick Nolte) wife is overtaken by grief and commits suicide. Luckily the hospital was able to save her unborn child, a daughter. The daughter is cared for the police officers old partner, until the ex-police officer ggets out of prison. The ex-police officer and the daughter (played by Chloe Moretz who played the sister in in (500) Days of Summer ), now slightly older, (eleven), also choose to become costume wearing super heroes going by the names go by the names Big Daddy and Hit Girl. The differences being that the ex-police officer and his daughter are extremely well trained in self defence and heavily armed, and that their motive is revenge and not justice.
The third story line involves the bad guy and his nerdy son (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse
who was Fogall in the movie Super Bad.) The son seeks the respect of his king pin gangster coke snorting dad (played by Mark Strong), and comes up with a plan to also become a costume wearing super hero Red Mist only this time serving his father’s agenda.
Kick ass is an action comedy, but beforewarned the humour is subtle (not laugh out loud type of humour) and the action is a lot of violence. Many reviewers compare the violence to something from director Tarantino. But unlike a Tarrintino flick (think Kill Bill, for example) thier isnt the dwelling on the gory. The result is that though their is a lot of violence it doesn't become trivialized, so that when a good guy gets hurt it resonates more.
The movie is R-rated because of the violence (brutal and frequent. Some of it is played for laughs but most is serious); some drug use (cocain and pot smoking); some sexuality (A few masturbation references, some sexual jokes and brief (inexplicit) nudity. Though a lot of profanity: Between 120 and 150 uses of "f*ck", close to half that many uses of "sh*t", and plenty of anatomical terms not counting innumerable utterings of the film's title. Close to 250 obscenities and profanities total, including one use of the word "c*nts". Hit-Girl, who is eleven, says many of these, including the latter. 3 uses of cock (one or two with sucker). (Above based on Parents Guide for Kick Ass).
Kick-Ass is based on a comic book series of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The comic series was adapted for the movie by English screenwriter Jane Goldman and British film producer Matthew Vaughn, who also directed the movie. There are quite a few major changes between the book and the movie.
Itg was made with a small budget of only 38 million ( with help from producer Brad Pitt .) It opened April 18th 2010 on 3065 Screens. It was profitable bringing in more than 48 million at the time of this writing.
Chloe Grace Moretz
Though not the star of the movie- Chloe Grace Moretz really is the star of the movie. As Claudia Puig of USA Today calls the actor "terrific as the fearless and foul-mouthed 11-year-old Hit-Girl." Some interesting facts: She was 11 when she made the movie and now is 13. She trained with Jackie Chan's stunt crew for three months prior to filming Kick-Ass and did most of her own stunts while filming on location.As she said in an interview: “I literally did a thousand crunches every night” Moretz Hit-Girl influences include Ulma Thurman in “Kill Bill,” Kirsten Dunst in “Interview with the Vampire,” Angelina Jolie in all her action movies.
NEGATIVE REVIEWS :
Thumbs down from Richard Ebert:
The movie is extreme, and their are many reviews unfavorable as there are favorable. (Ok maybe not.) The Village Voice reviewer Karina Lonworth writes: “Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be, Kick-Ass is half-assed.”
Peter Travers of the reviewer for the Rolling Stone wrote that the movie is “deliciously unsuited for mass consumption, is a nightmare for the Christian right.” Tarvers also notes the complex feeling that he has after watching the movie, ending his very positive review with the somber observation : (Director Matthew )”Vaughn gives his film version of Kick-Ass distinction by showing a keen eye for the broken places in his characters. They live in a world of hurt that's not so easy to laugh off.”
But of the many negitive criteques of the movie, non quite touch the emotional chord as well as long time movie reviewer Roger Ebert, who though not liking the movie is able to praise the actors. He is able to be critical of the movie in a way that is hard to criticise:
“ Shall I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool? Will I seem hopelessly square if I find “Kick-Ass” morally reprehensible and will I appear to have missed the point? Let's say you're a big fan of the original comic book, and you think the movie does it justice. You know what? You inhabit a world I am so very not interested in. A movie camera makes a record of whatever is placed in front of it, and in this case, it shows deadly carnage dished out by an 11-year-old girl, after which an adult man brutally hammers her to within an inch of her life. Blood everywhere. Now tell me all about the context.”
“The early scenes give promise of an entirely different comedy. Aaron Johnson has a certain anti-charm, his problems in high school are engaging, and so on. A little later, I reflected that possibly only Nic Cage could seem to shoot a small girl point-blank and make it, well, funny. Say what you will about her character, but Chloe Grace Moretz has presence and appeal. Then the movie moved into dark, dark territory, and I grew sad.”
Other notes: Aaron Johnson (Dave) plays the young John Lennon in the upcoming Nowhere Boy.
And yes, it has been announced there will be a sequel coming out next year: Kick Ass : Balls to the Wall.
September 2009 (USA) now on video or stream online now. What it's about: In a future mind-controlling game, death row convicts are forced to battle in a 'doom'-type environment. Convict Kable, controlled by Simon, a skilled teenage gamer, must survive 30 sessions in order to be set free. Staring, Gerard Butler,Michael C. Hall , Amber Valletta, Logan Lerman ( who last played Christian Bale's son in the Western 3:10 to Yuma), and Terry Crews. The Good: 1. It's exiting- as Kim Newman of Empire Magazine- writes it's an injection of adrenaline straight to the eye – which isn't entirely a bad thing 2. Six Feet Under/Dexter star Michael C. Hall finally gets a worthy movie role as an eccentric puppet-master villain. 3. Like all good science fiction films there is much to be considered. Some topics, such as the cost of carrying for death row inmates might be mitigated by using those inmates to fight one another for public entertainment, have been heavily referenced in many other movies. But that is not the main point of the film (in my opinion). Technology and it's control leading to abuse is the main point (again in my opinion.) The concept of control and the willingness to be controlled ("It's a job".) and the inanity of those who are controlling (not by capability but by wealth) speak to the culture of today. The Bad 1. It won't win points for originality or depth, 2.Gerard Butler in a laughable version of the usual character played Schwarzenegger in his heydays . 3. Convoluted storyline. Even fans of lousy movies will have a hard time following it. Parts of this movie just seemed very disjointed. 4. The film dashes from one over-stylized battle sequence to the next and some think it uses too many quick-cut edits during the fight sequences. 5. Emotionality is lacking in this film, by choice. There is no big emotional payout at the end. It's almost like a highly violent sports event where at the end the losing team, simply tells the winning team- `good game'. And, after all, the movie is about a game and those that play the game. Though not strongly `preached', a character does consider how everyone in life is in a sense playing a game.
VERDICT Gamer is a sci-fi flick that blast violently through it's 95 minutes. As one reviewer described it :"It's a vehicle for sex, violence and over-the-top acting." If that sounds like it might be entertaining, you should check out this film.
You can stream the entire movie live now through Amazons Streaming Video Service CLICK HERE
extra Info: written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, known together professionally as Neveldine/Taylor.
The duo is known for maintaining a small budget and worldwide gross making all of their films financially profitable. They have written and directed several films together that include the better known Crank, and Crank: High Voltage also starring Jatham Statham. They are also known for often being their own cameramen , in this movie during a battles sequences Mark filmed the action while wearing their rollerblades, (much like he did in Crank,) and in another scene, Mark was hung from a rig that had him suspended 40-feet above the action running forward and dropping down into the middle of it.
More EXTRA INFO: Gerald Butler, (born November 13,1969) is a Scottish actor, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies(1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his breakthrough work as the lead in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained worldwide recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects includingP.S. I Love You (2007), Nim's Island2008), Rocknrolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Gamer (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009) and The Bounty Hunter (2010).
: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by author Jamie Reidy, himself a former Pfizer sales rep, }
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