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tt0093010
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Fatal Attraction
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Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) is a successful, happily married New York attorney living in Manhattan when he meets Alexandra (Alex) Forrest (Glenn Close), an editor for a publishing company, through business. While his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and daughter, Ellen (Ellen Hamilton Latzen), are out of town for the weekend, Dan has a passionate affair with Alex. Though he thought it was understood to be a simple fling, she begins clinging to him.Dan explains that he must go home and Alex's cuts her wrists in a suicide attempt. Dan helps her to bandage her wrists and later leaves. He thinks the affair is forgotten, but she shows up at various places to see him. She waits at his office one day to apologize and invite him to the opera Madama Butterfly, but he turns her down. She then calls his office until he tells his secretary he will no longer take her calls. Alex then calls his home at all hours and informs him that she is pregnant and plans to keep the baby. Although he wants nothing to do with her, she argues that he must take responsibility. She shows up at his apartment (which is for sale) and meets Beth, feigning interest as a buyer. Later that night, Dan goes to Alex's apartment to confront her about her actions. In response, she replies that she will not be ignored.Dan moves his family to the New York village of Bedford, but this doesn't deter Alex. She has a tape recording delivered to him filled with verbal abuse. She stalks him in a parking garage, pours acid on his vehicle, and follows him home one night to spy on him, Beth, and Ellen from the bushes in his yard; the sight of their family life literally makes Alex sick to her stomach. Her obsession again escalates. Dan approaches the police to apply for a restraining order against her (claiming that it is "for a client"), to which the police lieutenant claims that he cannot violate her rights without probable cause and that the adulterer has to own up to his adultery.At one point, while the Gallaghers are not home, Alex kills Ellen's pet rabbit, and puts it on their stove to boil. After this, Dan tells Beth of the affair and Alex's pregnancy; enraged, she asks him to leave. Before he goes, he calls Alex to tell her that Beth knows about the affair. Beth gets on the phone and warns her that if she persists, she will kill her. Without Dan and Beth's knowledge, Alex picks up Ellen from school and takes her to an amusement park, buying her ice cream as well as taking her on a roller coaster. Beth panics when she realizes that she does not know where Ellen is. Beth drives around searching and rear-ends a car stopped at an intersection and is slightly injured and hospitalized. The film cuts the scenes between the roller coaster ride and the car collision.Dan barges into Alex's apartment and attacks her, choking her short of strangling her. He stops himself, but as he does she lunges at him with a kitchen knife. He overpowers her, but puts the knife down and leaves, with Alex sitting on the floor, smiling. He approaches the police about having her arrested, but the police still say they lack cause to take action against her. Following her release from the hospital, Beth forgives Dan and they return home.Beth prepares a bath for herself and Alex suddenly appears, again with the kitchen knife. Alex starts to explain her resentment of Beth, nervously fidgeting and slightly cutting her own leg with the knife and then attacks Beth. Alex and Beth struggle. Dan hears the screaming and runs in, wrestles Alex into the bathtub and seemingly drowns her. She suddenly emerges from the water, swinging the knife. Beth, who went searching for Dan's gun, shoots her in the chest, killing her. The final scene shows police cars outside the Gallaghers' house. As Dan finishes talking with the cops, he walks inside, where Beth is waiting for him. They embrace and proceed upstairs as the camera focuses on a picture of Dan, Beth, and Ellen.
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violence, revenge, suspenseful, murder, cult
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train
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imdb
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tt1492966
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Louie
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Louis C.K. writes, directs and stars in this show about a stand-up comedian, mostly performing late night shows at small clubs and restaurants. He is a single father living with his two school-going daughters. Episodes focus on events in his everyday life, and are bookended by clips from his stand-up routine. C.K. is the only regular in the show, and even his daughters are portrayed by more than one actor. The style of humor is often sexual and racist, with occasional use of vulgar language. C.K. exercises total freedom in the episodes he creates and there are few boundaries established throughout the show, with episodes dealing with such diverse topics as picking up the kids from school to doing drugs at his next-door neighbor's. Most of his stand-up routines mirror his real life and often have little or no association with the topic of the episode.
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psychedelic
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train
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imdb
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I hate giving the 10-star rating because it appears exaggerated and the best I can do to avoid people looking down on the review/plea for people to watch this program is to say, "It's the best at what it's trying to be." I'm not going to use that statement to save my ass here because I'm not sure what this show is trying to be other than honest.'Louie' is the first show I've come across that I absolutely refuse to let myself wait for DVD to see.
'Louie' is simply something I watch because it feels like I'm gaining life experience from it, which is impressive considering Louis C.K., or at least the Louie character's self-proclaimed life goals are to raise his kids and hold his title as World's Best Masturbator.It's also impressive considering that I, and I'm sure many viewers, have already experienced nearly every situation this show covers, from being forced out of the house with no plans to being on a date with someone who thinks less of you for doing the right thing despite saying that he/she valued righteousness.
Great shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm bank on this question by allowing the main character to vengefully act on his everyday irritations only to have it bite him in the ass by the episode's end.
This way you can laugh at the absurdity while saying, "I know what he's feeling, man," followed by, "but I'm sure glad *I* didn't act on it." It's a winning formula because the audience always comes out unscathed.
'Louie' makes that show look like it's playing too safe (which it isn't, by the way.)If the Louie character ever acts on his irritations, he does it in a way that almost feels like he's seen Curb, and thus trying to avoid any unnecessary harm while still following his gut instinct.
Integrity is a word that just might pop up in a more competent review.Like Seinfeld who inter-cut his show with staged fragments of his live routine, Louie uses his nightly club sessions to vent his daily frustrations, but the mood and feel is very different because Louis C.K. is not just riffing on airline peanuts and oddly buttoning shirts.
Seinfeld revolved around a stand-up comedian constantly sabotaged by the catastrophic social faux pas of himself and the people inextricably involved in his life, intercut with performance sets by the actual comic.
It's a gallows comedy, in which we can find ourselves laughing in elation at the both wry and surreal absurdity of one moment, then clenching our chair arms in both tension and incredulity at moments of agonizing pain and even at times a true sense of impending brutality.There is no continuity from one episode to the next, or even from one vignette to the next.
Whereas every sitcom we've ever seen has one essential soundstage, an ongoing play-like farce that runs before two cameras, all the same characters show up and everything not only works out but is just the same as before by the end, each week Louie will give a stream of consciousness an unsystematic narrative silhouette almost invariably a sequence of encounters with characters who enter and exit, yet very few ever return.
Louie's mother is at one point played by an old woman as an appalling malignant narcissist and in another episode a humble, warm-hearted young working-class woman.The show is written, directed and edited by its star, and he creates a visually realistic look and atmosphere for his small stories, captured quite cinematically.
Louis CK is a genius and he once again proves it by making this miraculously humorous show.The humor is of the best kind - dry and effective, and Louie faces some real problems that are common for all of us at one point - aging and going through tough (but hilarious) changes in life...
His comedy is genuine and honest and i know it sounds corny but his show feels very real the dialogue and the situations are how real life i think would be.
I've heard it be compared to seinfeld but the only comparison is that there are clips of louie doing stand up, the actual show is nothing like it.
While I am not going to sit here and say this is the next Seinfeld, it had certain feelings to it, like the stand up comedy part in the start and the end.
The jokes I would say are more like Curb Your Enthusiasm.I will not try to spoil much for those who haven't seen it, but the show is basically about a middle-aged man who has two children, both girls, and recently split up with his wife.
His character symbolizes Larry David's to a degree, although I don't see his good will like Larry shows time to time, yet he's still a very sympathetic character and one who is easy to get behind.I love the comparisons to Seinfeld and CYE, because I think they are both excellent shows, thus I hope this show can use that type of formula but also be able to come up with some innovative and compelling ideas on its own.
While the show retains an overarching structure revolving around Louis' daughters and his stand up comedy, the actual content of the episodes can cover virtually anything CK chooses, a sense of freedom he clearly loves.
Other shows require their less interesting characters to have scenes in each episode, forcing the writing staff to jimmy them into the plot just so the actor can have a line of dialogue.
If you're fed up with every character speaking like a comedy writer and having their conversations broken up by the requirement of canned laughs so that you, the stupid viewer, will know when to laugh, then watch Louie.
Whether Louis C.K. will fulfill Ricky's pronouncement as "the funniest comedian working in America today" remains to be seen, but he's off to a good start.
No wonder he agreed for the cameo, he must be a big fan!For this series alone Louis C.K. shall be remembered as THE comedy genius of our time and not only for his killer standup specials.
It isn't a word that comes up commonly in mixed conversation, so I guess Louie was trying for shock value, but this would have limited attraction to anyone not brain-dead.In one episode Louie, in his stand up act verbally abused an audience member in a particularly coarse manner.
And if that isn't good television America, I don't know what is..Ps I watch Always Sunny, Curb, Increasing bad decisions of Todd Margret, Arrested Development, and other dark comedies.
But after watching season 5 episode 1 I am done with Louie.
And this is all coming from a guy who loves Louis CK's stand up, his interviews on Stern and the first 3 seasons of Louie.
I would watch S5E2 but I have no hope that this gets any better and I just can't bear the thought of spending 22 more minutes inside Louie's sick, sad mind..
I have real important things to care about, like the way you carelessly destroy the planet while sitting on your butt laughing with shows like these, or the children starving to death while you cruise around with your big car, grease from the burger in your hand spilling on your belly when making an effort to swap it for your ringing new model android phone..
It's less funny and I really hope he gets back like the first season otherwise I might just skip watching it..
Louie C.K. is heir to the throne of Carlin...his stand up is on the level of the all time greats, and he now has a show that really comes off like his stand up act;hilarious, sometimes uncomfortable but always sharp as hell.I like how each episode is it's own stand alone story, sometimes 2 stories...and you never know what you're in for.
The stand up segments in the show are a great icing on the cake too.This is easily the best new comedy on TV and a great vehicle to showcase Louie's talent.10/10.
It's probably the most realistic portrayal of the life of a stand up ever shown on television (Sorry Seinfeld) but unfortunately most comedians are depressed, lonely individuals, who really only bring out the laughs when they're up on stage.
But I have recently discovered an American stand-up comedian who makes me laugh out loud, consistently and uncontrollably, every single time I watch his show.It has taken a while for Emmy Award-winning Louie CK (Comedy Central) to establish himself on this side of the Atlantic, and I only wish it had happened sooner.
Part stand-up show, part semi-improvised sitcom, this is a quite remarkable series, made even more remarkable when you learn that Louie not only writes, performs and produces this show himself, he also directs it and edits it as well.Louie CK shouldn't be anywhere near as funny as it is.
Seinfeld was churning this stuff out twenty five years ago, and by now it should feel stale and repetitious.But there's something about the way Louie CK does it that makes you feel like you're watching stand-up comedy for the first time in your life.
Louis C.K.'s stand-up comedy is also shown throughout each episode.
Louis C.K.'s stand-up comedy is also shown throughout each episode.
This is Louis C.K.'s semi-autobiographical surreal take on his family, his love life, and his stand-up comedy.
like, REALLY good.Funny, well-scripted and I can't wait to watch the whole thing from episode 1..
Louie has so many stand out memorable and down right funny moments its hard to think of any off hand (though the Ricky Gervais doctor character had me falling off my chair and crying with laughter and the Chris Rock cameo had me in stitches).
This touching, personal, and incredibly open window into the life of a 40 year old divorcée living in New York is brutally honest and incredibly, so, so, incredibly FUNNY!If you like your humor intelligent with more than a dose of pure unadulterated filth you'll love this show!.
I watched it though and now i cant wait for the second season.It's different from every other clean-cut polished American series so its not for everyone, if you expect to see something like the other sitcoms that are there don't watch it.All in all in this series its clear that they left all artistic control to Louis CK and he made a fantastic job with everything and finally i love that there is no major casting and that no character except Louie appears in more than 3-4 episodes, this way he avoids all character relationship building scenes that are some times boring for the viewer.
Louie's monologue humor is not funny; it's the kind of stuff that drunk boys might find hilarious, but not people who are serious about comedy.
Not only are you possibly one of the most engaging, talented and funny comedians around at this moment, but you have this likability and watchability that makes a transition from stand up to comedy show utterly seamless.
Louie combines the situational and often crass storytelling of a heightened version of himself that made Curb such a great show with elements of his incredible stand up routine; something that echo's the format of Seinfeld.
---This review was written after watching seasons 1~3---I am not a big fan of stand-up comedy, so it's rare when I find a comedian very funny.
Dark humor, annoying (little) things in life, and with a healthy dose of surreal situations make for a combination I like very much.
I mean, there are still jokes, and funny moments, but the series, starting from the second season, is more of a dramedy than a comedy.
Remember how the TV sitcom "Seinfeld" was considered a landmark because it was "a show about nothing" (or in other words, a show about the little things in life and how a comedian gets his material)?
This show is none other than FX's daring, thoughtful, and hilarious original comedy-drama series, "Louie".
Like "Seinfeld", "Louie" centers on a fictionalized version of a popular comedian which in this case is Louis C.K. He is a recently divorced father who has to raise his two daughters in New York City.
The show, as stated before, basically consists of unconnected story lines and segments that revolve around Louie's daily life tied in with his stand-up performances.
When compared to its obvious comparisons "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Louie" is a very dark show when you think about it.
On top of the clever comedy involving the boss's broad directions to Louie, the ending stays true to the tone established by this series.
It's not every day a comedy-drama TV series like "Louie" is on the air and I'm all the more grateful for its existence.
I was a fan of Louis CK before this series started, so when I heard about it I was looking forward to seeing it.Well, the first thing I discovered was that the show is not exactly comparable to his stand up comedy.
He does his best, but always saying or doing the worst possible things, but in an incredibly well and sincere way, making it hard not to cringe while watching, while the honesty really gets to you.I didn't see a strong connection to Curb or Seinfeld in the beginning, but there definitely is.
The show's just there and you just keep watching it and a few episodes in, you'll say to yourself "yeah man, that's so true" and it'll probably hit you then what a masterpiece Louis C K has created.
After watching Louie I feel grounded and elevated at the same time.
I know that Louie does it on purpose, as he stated at one point that he did not care for continuity, that he was more concerned with whatever message or laugh a specific episode aimed for, but it does feel like a cop-out sometimes.
after being a fan of that for a while and watching that show i think too deeply into the segments and i hope that's a hidden message in the show and the point of the show that their is a causal audience who can appreciate Louis CK and can get on his wave link.but in saying that their is a massive gain or even more for anyone who is deeply into Louis CK's stand up comedy.
I've re-watched episodes that didn't make complete sense to me straight away over again and some of them have a lot more deeper thought.Like the episode in Season 2 ep9 that episode feature a guy who many fans of Louis CK's comedy love in Doug Stanhope and that episode felt like a legit interaction between friends who have been on the comedy circuit for years and one of them is just as good just not as successful and that feeling came to me.
Chappy Watched: Louie - Season One. I watched three Louie CK stand ups in a row as soon as I got Netflix and I loved them.For quite sometime, I've been interested in Louie and that just grew when I watched his live shows so I finally got around to watching the TV show.Wow. I'm actually very disappointed.I really wanted to like it but I am bored sh*tless watching this.There are barely any laughs in both the drama side and the comedy side, though I do prefer the stand up segments more than the drama part of the show.I think I'll just stick to his stand up shows..
Hope Louie gets some more good stuff in his life..
I have seen the first two seasons of Louie, and I just really love this series.
You notice this especially in the second season, that although probably not as funny as the first, it breathes new life into the series.
It's gotten to the point that it feels like the most sincere comedy series in a very long time, and its most subtle moments don't even hit you until you think back to them..
I like Louis CK and thought Lucky Louie did not deserve the fate it had on HBO.However, This show was not funny, the stand up comedy moments made no sense.
He is a comedian that should be doing straight sitcom shows like the mentioned Lucky Louie.
I found the show quite funny and it made me wonder how close to the character of Louie is Louis CK.
I feel we see a better version of the stand up comedian life than was portrayed in Seinfeld.
Unlike Louie the Character, Louis CK is more than successful as a stand up comedian and actor/writer/producer.
I like Louie's style and his stand up on the show is mostly funny.
That said, this is an incredibly good show.Louis CK is probably one of the best, funniest and most talented comedians working today, along with Ricky Gervais (who has an hilarious cameo by the way), and if you're a fan, this will not disappoint.Usually amusingly awkward and strange, often laugh out loud funny, Louie is a masterpiece of modern comedy.
I saw just Louis C.K's stand up and it was just amazing so I started watching Louie.I just like that kinda of humour.
I have always been a big fan of Louis C.K., which is why I put off watching this and Lucky Louie for so long.I have seen enough bad TV to know that most stand-up comedians do terrible sitcoms and I hate to be disappointed.Wouldn't you know it, this may be the worst TV show a comedian has ever done.It makes Ellen look like comedy gold.I really don't understand how this show is so popular.Even if you aren't looking for laughs, this show has nothing to offer.Just a sad old man wandering the streets and being a bad father.It's not entertaining at all.Maybe C.K. means Comedy Killer?If you feel the urge to watch this crap go watch Lucky Louie instead.That was a real TV show..
definitely funny show but portrays Louie as two different characters.
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tt1851988
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Ko
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Ashwin Kumar (Jiiva) is a photojournalist working for the private newspaper Dina Anjal. He witnesses Naxalites robbing a local bank. He chases them and manages to click photos of the robbers. When he tries to escape, he is stopped by a young woman Renuka 'Renu' (Karthika Nair) who assumes he is the culprit and helps the robbers to take his camera. However, he is able to secure the memory card of the camera. The police catch him, and to prove that he is a press photographer, he shows the photos to them, who identify everyone except the gang leader (whose face is covered by a mask). At his office, he again meets Renuka, who has newly joined as Article Editor. Saraswathi 'Saro' (Piaa Bajpai) also works in his office and has feelings for Ashwin, who does not reciprocate.
Settled in her new job, Renuka writes a cover story about a politician Aalavandhan (Kota Srinivasa Rao), describing his attempt to marry a minor. Enraged by this, Aalavandhan barges into the newspaper office and shouts at Renuka. The audio recording of her interview disappears (courtesy Aalavandhan), and she is fired from her job for falsified reporting. Ashwin later risks his life to capture the pictures of Aalavandhan who actually engages in child marriage in a temple at midnight. Later the story with the photos is printed in their newspaper and this makes Renuka to fall in love with Ashwin, which the latter reciprocates. Saro is initially jealous of the love between Ashwin and Renuka, but later accepts it and gets over Ashwin.
Meanwhile, Vasanthan Perumal (Ajmal Ameer), a recent graduate and engineer who is Ashwin's former college mate, strives hard to enter the politics by contesting the upcoming election. He is contesting against more experienced politicians who capture the people by giving freebies and money. No one cares about Vasanthan and his team of graduates, who promise a healthy government to people. Their party name is 'Siragugal' (feathers). Ashwin and Renuka find out about Vasanthan's election campaign, and they and the entire Dina Anjal team extend their support to the campaign, covering it extensively, much to the chagrin of Aalavandhan and the Chief Minister Yogeswaran 'Yogi' (Prakash Raj).
One night, Vasanthan's party organises an election campaign meeting. Ashwin, photographing the event, receives a text message from Saro that states there is a bomb underneath the stage where Vasanthan is speaking. Ashwin manages to save Vasanthan just before the bomb explodes. Later, Ashwin finds Saro fatally wounded near the blast site. Saro struggles to tell something to Ashwin and Renuka before she dies. Ashwin, through a video clip recorded by another photographer, finds out that Saro was intentionally killed by someone. He later notices a resemblance between the leader of the bank robbery and this unknown killer, concluding that the Naxalite leader killed Saro.
A few days later, Renuka notices that Vasanthan's photo in their newspaper was cut from a college class photo, where Ashwin is also present. Confronted by Renuka, Ashwin tells her that he and Vasanthan studied in the same college and were best friends. He also tells her that he is happy for Vasanthan's success and is wholeheartedly supporting his election campaign.
In the election, Vasanthan's party wins by a huge majority and Vasanthan becomes the Chief Minister. He orders the release of 20 naxals on Republic Day, citing humanity. Shocked on hearing this news, Ashwin rushes to the secretariat to meet Vasanthan. In Vasanthan's office, Ashwin notices that the Naxalite leader who killed Saro is there, talking with Vasanthan. Ashwin airs his grievances to Vasanthan, who ignores him. Ashwin then follows the leader to his hideout. At the same time, Vasanthan orders the Tamil Nadu Police to go kill the Naxals at their hideout and the Police Commandos surround the perimeter of that place. Ashwin, already at the hideout, confronts the Naxalite leader, whose name is Kadhir (Bose Venkat) and finds out from him that Vasanthan had made a deal with the Naxalites to help him win the election. They orchestrated events such as the burning of a hut and saving the woman in that hut (who was also a Naxalite) in order to win people's sympathy. In the same vein, they had planted a bomb on the stage where Vasanthan was speaking during his meeting. Saro had found out the truth about Vasanthan, but was fatally assaulted by him so that she does not reveal his character and intentions to anybody. Ashwin realises that Saro had tried to warn him and Renuka about Vasanthan's true character before dying and also that now Vasanthan is double-crossing the Naxalites and is planning to kill them as a show of achievement. Ashwin records this confession using his mobile phone camera and sends it to Renuka, who plans to publish this story in their newspaper. Vasanthan then arrives and kills Kadhir. He also tries to kill Ashwin. However, Ashwin triggers a land mine there which explodes, killing Vasanthan, while Ashwin manages to escape.
Vasanthan's party members arrive at the hideout on hearing the news that Vasanthan had died. Seeing their innocence, Ashwin forces Renuka not to reveal the truth about Vasanthan because his party members would get into serious trouble and lose their seats just for supporting Vasanthan. They did not know about Vasanthan's true character and intentions and supported him, believing his false claims of a "healthy government". Instead, Renuka publishes an article saying that Vasanthan had sacrificed his life fighting the Naxalites and died as a martyr. Ashwin and Renuka submit their resignations to the Chief Editor for falsified reporting, but he rejects their resignations and tells them to cover the upcoming election.
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murder
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train
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wikipedia
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Racy all through, it is a movie that is worth a watch .....Great Film !!!!.
The movie starts off with a bank robbery and Jeeva's breathtaking bike chase...This itself attracts everyone...Jeeva(Ashwin) is a sharp and smart photographer who stands against crimes and manages politicians whenever required and finally trap them on time by just a click!.Karthika(Renu) is an editor in the same press company (Dina Anjal).Piya(Saro) is a cute and bubbly girl who loves Ashwin and tries to propose him..but as usual u know, he loves the right person.
K.V. Anand has done a wonderful job in his third film as a director with a full-fledged political thriller with adequate doses of romance and humour without deviating from the original story.
But unexpected twists will keep the audience glued to their seats.Jiiva as Ashwin excels in his role as a photographer.
Stalwarts like Prakashraj and Kota Srinivasa Rao played their characters with their usual finesse.The highlight of the film is the cinematography.
The nothing-great Gala Gala song does not live up to its pre-release build-up despite a host of well-known faces making cameo appearances.In short, Ko is a brilliantly shot political thriller laced with the usual commercial elements.
The word KO means a leader or king in,I wonder why the director kept this title for the film.I say it for sure that Tamil cinema lost a good title.Moreover it is an unofficial remake of state of play.even after remaking the film the director of the film K.V.Anand did'n say anything about state of play,at least he could have mentioned it in any TV shows, like what director myskin did for yutham sei.The first scene of the film was too bad that the robbers were looking like some idiotic goons who don't know even how to handle a pistol.They were very powerful that they even break very hard glasses with their shoes(what a man).Hero of the film Jeeva who gave remarkable performances throughout his career gave even a better performance which was the only good aspect of the film.Entry of new face Kaarthiga(daughter of Raadha)is a great disaster for Tamil cinema,she don't know even how to act or dance.For every scene she gives same reaction.There were many unwanted comedies which were not needed for the film which made me shout at the theater.In the climax even after pulling the trigger of the bomb it waits for jeeva to jump out and then he lands safely without any fractures(once again , What a man).I am sure that harris jayaraj (the one who thinks himself as hans zimmer) has stolen the title theme from wrestlemania theme !!!!!please get out of our country you filthy copycat.I pray to god to give a good movie taste for tamil audience..
His earlier Ayan (2009) was tolerable only because it followed the usual commercial formula and had Surya leading the credits.Ko's screenplay is bizarre, the action is overdone and half-way through, the movie loses its grip on the audience and on itself.
However, KV Anand makes sure he botches his own efforts with seriously pathetic sequences and hilarious stunts.Today, everybody is a director.
Noted is the fact that some wonderful cinematographers such as Balu Mahendra have succeeded at direction but one must not twist it and start assuming that every flathead with a digital camcorder can try his hand at film narration.I feel sorry for Jeeva.
An extremely capable actor who has produced some nice performances such as Raam (2005), E (2006) and the path-breaking Kattradhu Thamizh (2007) has lost his standing and has started giving us a fair amount of BS through Pori (2007), Thenaavattu (2008) and our very own Ko. Radha's daughter sure is pretty and Piya's childishness is mostly at acceptable levels but some of the other actors in the movie need to find better jobs, such as the grease ball who plays CM.
It is the same old story : "Hero fights the bad guys all by himself and saves the world" Couple this formula with unrealistic situations( which,by the way, are abundant in this film), an heroine who cant "act".
Moreover few songs were just "inserted" into the plot.They just didn't fit in.Overall a normal movie pictured in a good way.Definitely watchable.But highly overrated..
Every element of this film, starting from the opening credits is high end and shows the director's sensibility.
But the character we all truly fall in love with is that played by Piaa Bajpai, who's adorable and charming and does complete justice to her purpose in the film.
KV Anand is one of India's best cameraman, but in his film why the camera is handled so worse, I think KV should have stuck with the camera too.
Like this, lot of lags in Screenplay!As for as acting is concerned Jiiva and Ajmal both have done their job well!
Harris impresses in ENNAMO ETHO alone!The movie would've been fine if the director had finished it with SIRAGUGAL's win and added few details and steadied the screenplay!
The director could have enjoyed his status of being a smart-ass with this movie also but alas everything falls apart with the first act itself with half-baked characterizations, poor chemistry for the love track, lackluster sound track, average performances and some sloppy direction.
The saddest part is that having the original movie released a couple of years back , the desi director couldn't improvise the screenplay.
well...to speak about the script...it has got most of the grasp power...honestly trust me ...whn i went to c this movie and asked reviews from people i heard them saying this movie is 100 times better than ayan and u will notice an unexpectd twist..with this excitement i went...i was blank in mind when i was seeing.but at the 20th minute of the movie i predicted almost the entire story..i can withstand all the comments given by users and all ppl..except for one status updated by some dumbass which said KV ANAND IS THE GUY TO BEAT MANI RATNAM AND SHANKAR..wat the F ..he can overcome shankar but never mani...but i would like to give more credits to screenplay and song locations..and u would notice in the climax the greatest fun where a number of land mines fall from a cupboard and nothing blows..and hero escape even after stamping it and he takes minimum of 4 seconds to escape from the blast.even though these wont be considered and these r of primary importance in a tamil cinema...guys if u wanna enjoy an extreme commercial go ahead get a popcorn and enjoy ..
A photojournalist-turned-director, K V Anand, with 'Ko', has rendered a movie that is like reading a newspaper fresh and folded very early in the morning from page one till the last.Journalists are until known to be portrayed in a clichéd manner in Tamil cinema, wearing a pyjama kurtha, spotted with a beard carrying a long shoulder bag.
Times have changed and so are the lives and struggles of journalists.With 'Ko', Anand has turned the arc light on the unsung heroes of modern India, the neo-journalists, their dedication and passion towards the profession.Anand has proved his mettle coming with intense thrillers with great detailing, thanks to writers Suba in his side as it was evident in 'Kanna Kandein' and 'Ayan'.'Ko' speaks about power struggle and press freedom, laced with all commercial ingredients in an interesting manner.
Tautly written, there are hardly any logical loopholes.Be it a hardworking scribe or a photographer who are chasing sensation news, a power-lust Chief Minister, or an opposition leader, or a youth who wants to change the political system, all characters do have a say in the film.
Anand has woven all of them craftily.The movie revolves around Ashwin (Jeeva), who is a talented photographer in a Tamil daily Dina Anjali.
He is the sought-after lensman in his newspaper for his images speak a thousand words and bring awareness.There are a couple of other journalists in the same media house- Renuka (Karthika), who covers sensational events and entertainment -in-charge Saro (Piya).
As typical politicians, as they are portrayed, they do everything under the sun to come to power.But Renuka and Ashwin's brilliant investigative reports and photographs, help a third force led by youth Vasanthan (Ajmal) emerge the front-runner.
An intense performer, Jeeva pulls it off with ease.Karthika as Renuka brings out the nuances needed for the role well.
An intense performer, Jeeva pulls it off with ease.Karthika as Renuka brings out the nuances needed for the role well.
His looks compliment the character.The veterans Prakash Raj and Kota Sreenivasa Rao have played their part well.
Ever since his stupendous success with 'Ayan' (the director should be commended for making fun of this movie in a scene in 'Ko') there had been huge expectations for his next venture and the slick and stylish trailer of 'Ko' just increased those expectations.
With the right mix of commercial & intelligent cinema (took this line from Behindwoods review) he delivers big time.From the intelligent choice of title and really brilliant opening credit sequence the viewer is all set to be taken for a different ride & the director and his crew keep the tempo till the end.
Jiiva as a photo- journalist is handsome, stylish and excels in his role and proves yet again why he's one of the rarest breed of perfectionists in Tamil film industry.
But the most important & extraordinary role in the movie goes to Ajmal who has breathed life into his character, though I feel he could've emoted well in a few sequences.
Prakash Raj & Kota Srinivasa rao, do justice to their small roles and Bose Venkat comes as a surprise in the end.All that said about actors the technical crew have excelled in almost every frame.
Story wise there are ample twists to keep the viewers engaged till the end and it is commendable that the director has touched a lot of contemporary issues like 'cash for vote', 'naxalism', 'journalist ethics' without being overtly preachy.
They just go well with the flow.When the movie opened with the 'bank heist' sequence (one of the best choreographed stunt sequences in recent times, kudos to Peter Hein) I felt that there is some inspiration from 'The dark Knight' and the climax and ending just confirmed it.
Like the rapid succession of photographs from Ashwin's(Jeeva) camera the movie too goes at breakneck speed.
Editor Anthony makes a surprise cameo as the editor of a private TV channel.K.V.Anand proves his mettle once again while wielding the megaphone and the movie is far better than his previous outing Ayan.
The bike stunts in the beginning of the movie deserves special acclaim, great work Peter Hein!A brilliant movie released at the right time given its theme - Politics, Ko is sure to propel Jiva to the A list of heroes in Kollywood!
The film starts at Dina Anjali a Tamil daily newspaper office where Ashwin (Jeeva) is a photographer.
Two lady journalists working in the same newspaper Renuka (Karthika) as the investigative reporter and Saraswathi (Piaa) as covers the entertainment section.All the three of them try to break the news and stand up on their toes for all getting the latest happenings news.Next character get introduced Vasanth (Ajmal) as an engineer.
Vasanth (Ajmal) plans to contest in the upcoming elections.Ashwin (Jeeva) has good political contacts he makes his friend Ajmal as a politician for a good cause.
But after turning as a politician Vasanth (Ajmal) turns into a corrupted politician like all other politicians and kicks Ashwin out from his camp.Yogi (Prakash Raj) is the Chief Minister of that political party.
But seeing all these Ashwin (Jeeva) plans to bring down Vasanth (Ajmal) by using the same political contacts.
The rest of the story forms the interesting with twist.Jeeva's brilliant performance is one of plus point of the film.
Jeeva perfectly fits in the role of Ashwin and he is stylish in the character.
Jeeva dialog delivery and body language was extraordinary.Karthika looked beautiful and her performance is impressive as Renuka.
Both Jeeva and Karthika looked as a perfect pair.Piaa Bajopai is fit in her role of Saraswathi and she is looked cool and stylish.Ajmal performance is quite equal to Jeeva.
Editing by Anthony is speed up the film.After a long time a best movie in Tamil..
The movie,Highly hyped after the director,K.V.Anand's successful 'Ayan',lives up to it completely.
Inspired by K.V.Anand's real life incident when he was a photo journalist for 'The Times' Newspaper, He has portrayed the hero's character beautifully.
Prakash Raj, The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the movie, shown as both a good guy and a bad guy,which I guess the director used to say that everybody has both a good side and a bad side.
Kotta Srinivasa Rao,The opposition party chief,tries his best to get to power by bribing voters and believing in the odd superstitions(one that if he gets married to a minor girl,he'd remain in power forever).Jeeva,as the hero,Ashwin does justice to the role given to him.
He has done a great job in terms of acting and the stunt sequences are very cool,just like the ones in the director's previous movie,Ayan.Ajmal as Vasanthan, the leader of a bunch of middle-aged guys who want to bring a change to the society by joining politics and doing something good for the country they were born in.
There are lots of twists and turns,which would make you go like "oh my god" every single time.The Soundtrack of the movie is a hit too.
The locales of the song are simply awesome and you'd be surprised that someone could find locations like that.Bottom Line: In the first half of the movie,K.V.Anand makes you feel that you want to be a photo journalist in real life but in the second half of the movie,he makes you think exactly otherwise.
And you do not want to glance at your watch even once through the course of the movie because you'd feel you'd miss something important by then.Its not just the storyline and the acting which rocks,even the starting credits is beautiful boasting off a series of beautiful pictures shot in different places in the world.If you had high hopes of the movie,I can assure you that you'd come out very content!.
Just for the opening, the team of KO deserves special mention.Storyline: Jeeva is a photo-journalist who has a knack of being at the right places at the right time.
Piaa Bajpai looks fresh and has played a neat cameo.The storyline brings together the three afore mentioned journalists and also the most powerful package of the film Ajmal, who leads a pack of youth and forms a political party of young, educated and well bred friends.
The political angle in the film has been handled admirably and the dialogues are sure to tug at the thought strings of many.Ups: The lead pair, Ajmal and the supporting artistes take the movie on their shoulders till the end.
Cinematography, Screenplay, Direction, Dialogues and casting are perfect and overall they make this movie a real entertainer.Downs: The movie, though fast paced has some flip sides.
The locations are spell binding and the grace of the lead pair help too.You wonder sometimes as to why the hero remains just another photographer without any special promotions or rewards, despite his daring and revolutionary exploits!!The second half does seem to drag on a little but the screenplay re aligns itself to end in a crescendo with a climax.But the most disappointing facet comes in Ajmal's character.
Every dialogue of his in the former half of the movie, loses credibility in the end when his character reverses and this is upsetting, the director should have taken better care of this aspect.Bottom line:On the whole, KO is a perfect summer movie.
Why not give a 10, I in fact loved the movie, not the technical stuff or the cast or the music or the story line.
But Ko's musics takes aways and nothing less than Vannam's killer.Jeeva, could have improvised on a mature character but his child like face kills it at some shots.Pia and Karthika looks silver screens at all times, cant take the eyes away on the frame they are.As a photographer the artist should have used a Nikon and none of his equipments were apt to the sceen, its just a camera in the hand than the professional equipment and some stupid tricks like the side lenses, well it isn't bad, but could have a better thought.Ajmal's big break and a very good adv for the film, hope he cont to perform such classic roles than the hero.
In fact credit goes to him more than Jeeva at any point of time.Watch it, Enjoy it.
K.V.Anand's "Ko" is an interesting political thriller which like his previous flick "Ayan" has loads of logical pothole submerged under a racy screenplay.
Thus K.V.Anand has once again reiterated the fact that he is one of the best when it comes to handling a commercial plot.Wonder what all those who rejected this movie where thinking.
The song placements in the second half are ridiculous to put it mildly.Kudos to K.V.Anand & his team of scriptwriters for risking a commercial script without much heroism & managing to stick onto reality as much as possible.Jiiva does a neat job while Ajmal shines towards the end.
The supporting cast is a mixed bag with certain people like Bose Venkat , Jagan & Sona doing a good job while certain others amateurish in their work.Technically the movie is excellent .
The climax fight sequence is beautifully shot.Harris Jayaraj's background score is good in patches while on the whole average.
Thank You K.V. Anand for producing us again a very good movie.
Coming to Story, Yes it is inspired from movie "State of Play" as some extent but it is not at all copy of the Hollywood movie.
Some of the scenes are overdone like the opening bike van chase, Romantic song in the middle of intense situation but it is manageable to watch.
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tt0092746
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Cherry 2000
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In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into postapocalyptic wastelands and limited civilized areas. One of the effects of the economic crisis is a decline in manufacturing, and heavy emphasis on recycling aging 20th-century mechanical equipment. Society has become increasingly bureaucratic and hypersexualized, with the declining number of human sexual encounters requiring contracts drawn up by lawyers prior to sexual activity. At the same time, robotic technology has made tremendous developments, and female androids (or "gynoids") are used as substitutes for wives.
Business executive Sam Treadwell owns a "Cherry 2000" gynoid named Cherry. After Cherry short-circuits during sex, Sam is told by a repairman that she is irreparable. A gynoid dealer tells Sam that "Cherry 2000" gynoids were manufactured in a defunct factory in "Zone 7", a particularly dangerous, lawless area. With Cherry's memory disk, Treadwell hires Edith "E" Johnson, a tough tracker, to guide him to the factory.
As they enter Zone 7, they encounter Lester, a wasteland overlord with deranged subordinates. Edith and Sam enter an underground reservoir occupied by Six-Fingered Jake, an elderly tracker who was Edith's mentor. When Lester's men attack, the three attempt to escape, but Sam is knocked unconscious and taken to a 1950s-styled motel/village run by Lester. He is greeted by his ex-girlfriend, Elaine, who now calls herself Ginger and works for Lester. Ginger tells Sam that he was the only one spared by Lester's men. Lester decides to induct Sam into the group, and Sam goes along. When he witnesses the group sadistically murdering a tracker, he decides to escape. As he escapes Lester's group, Sam runs into Edith and Jake. Jake stays behind to create some distractions, and gives Cherry's memory disk to Edith, though he had earlier led Sam to believe the chip had been lost.
Edith, realizing Sam is a veteran of earlier wars, begins to see him in a new light and have feelings for him. Sam realizes he is attracted to Edith, but feels guilty when he is reminded of Cherry. After fighting off Lester's goons, they continue on to the factory. Edith goes to a brothel/gas station owned by Snappy, a friend of Jake, to borrow his light plane. Snappy betrays them to Lester. Jake is killed, but Edith and Sam escape in the plane.
Sam suggests that they turn around, but Edith is determined to find a Cherry 2000 model so Jake's death will not be meaningless. As they land, Zone 7 is revealed to be actually the ruins of Las Vegas, now a ghost town. The gynoid "factory" is actually a casino called "Pharaoh's Casino". Sam finds a functional Cherry 2000, and activates her with the memory disk.
When Lester's gang finds them, Edith and Sam manage to evade and kill many of his henchmen. Escaping to the plane, the three find that their combined weight prevents takeoff. Edith jumps out, despite Sam rejecting the idea. Sam turns the plane around to help the now-trapped Edith. Sam sends Cherry to get him a Pepsi, then has Edith get aboard. Lester is killed trying to stop them from escaping. Edith and Sam then kiss as they fly away.
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cult
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train
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wikipedia
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Man Meets Robot, Ditches Robot for Hot Babe with Gun. Cherry 2k is a low budget one-off adaptation of the Mad Max concept mixed in with futurist technology ideas and a very cool love story.
Fortunately, Cherry 2000 bucked this trend and deserves a spot on the shelf of any cult classic and/or Sci-fi movie collector..
But unlike many other cult movies, it actually deserves the title.There are many things to like about this flick.
Of course, Tim Thomerson as Lester nearly steals the show, providing a truly strange, ruthless villain.The effects are cheesy, sure, but they never look fake, unlike a lot of the CGI films coming out today.
a post-apocalyptic world (or sum such) where recycling is important, new fashions are in play and sex robots are possible and people (at least from the characters point of view) have to have contracts to date/copulateCherry then shows us one of the first *real* female action hero's (basically Tomb Raiders Laura Croft v1.0) and some great desert and action sequences that are widely unpredictable and done wellAll the while this stories carries on with credibility and imagination, Cherry 2000 is one of the most successful B movie sci-fi's ever accomplished it's these kinds of movies that give me hope to see more..
(note of course sci-fi had a great few years from about 1997 to 2001)On my last viewing this time I noticed again how good Basil Poledouris score compliments the movie..
I have loved this movie since it first appeared, Melanie Griffith is tough and sassy.
Don't let the age of this flick put you off if you haven't seen it and have even a passing interest in post apocalyptic and/or sci-fi flicks.The special effects are live action which really stand out if you haven't watched an older movie without CG in awhile.
It is the future on earth where anything is possible: even robots that look, act and perform like humans and can do almost any task.
High powered businessman Sam Treadwell (David Andrews) has a problem: his android model Cherry 2000 short circuited during some heavier than expected foreplay.
Weird and Entertaining Sci-Fi. In 2017, Sam Treadwell (David Andrews) is in love with his android Cherry 2000 (Pamela Gidley).
He travels to the border of the Zone 7 to hire the tracker Six Fingered Jake (Ben Johnson) to get another one from the dangerous cemetery of robot controlled by the insane criminal Lester (Tim Thomerson).
Along their journey, Sam discovers that a perfect woman is not a robot."Cherry 2000" is a weird and entertaining sci-fi with a funny story and lots of action.
Melanie Griffith is great as E Johnson, a tracker hired to find a memory chip for a robot.
They could probably make a male version for females, but their heads would probably explode because no matter how hard you try to program it to act perfectly, it will still somehow set a woman off by making her mad, or by making her cry the robot would then just short circuit because no matter what it tries it fails.
In 1987, both of this movie's main future premises that autonomous, artificially intelligent robotic "perfect companions" would exist as consumer products by about 2000, and that America would suffer a partial political collapse in the same decade were not particularly outlandish.While Cherry 2000 is presently achieving cult film status, it was originally received as a much more conventional SF movie..
This guide turns out to be a spunky, independent woman (played by Melanie Griffith!) and...you can probably guess the rest but that doesn't mean it isn't fun getting there.
Melanie Griffith, in a role unfairly shunned by the academy, is a bounty hunter in search of a replacement Cherry 2000, the spiffiest sex android on the wasteland market.
In the first scene, our lead character, Sam Tredwell, ( David Andrews) has a soapy, after dinner mishap with his own Cherry 2000 doll, which kick-starts the plot of him having to travel the wastelands of 'Zone 7′, to find another one.
Co-starring with Andrews is a jaunty looking Melanie Griffith, who seems to be playing a female 'Rambo', running and gunning her way through her scenes.
Surprisingly, some of the stunt work, locations and set pieces are genuinely quite stunning, which makes it all the more a shame that the end result is such an elaborate mess.Cherry 2000 is like Mad Max, but madder.
Johnson (the E stands for Edith), hired by lonely man Sam Treadwell (a fairly stiff David Andrews) to take him to a dangerous area where he can find a replacement for his robot wife Cherry (Pamela Gidley).
On their journey they run into colourful characters played by such wonderful acting veterans as Ben Johnson, who's endearing as Six Fingered Jake, and Harry Carey Jr., as Snappy Tom.You know you'll be in for a good time when you look over that supporting cast: Marshall Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Michael C.
The soaring score composed by Basil Poledouris ("Conan the Barbarian", "RoboCop", etc.) is fine accompaniment.Although Thomerson as Lester shows himself to be a serious psycho, this never gets too, too unpleasant, with director Steve De Jarnatt keeping the action moving and having fun with the offbeat little details provided by screenwriter Michael Almereyda (story credit goes to executive producer Lloyd Fonvielle).
I really wanted to like this film and I almost did, for reasons of Melanie Griffith looking really hot alone, but the truth is that this is a really goofy piece of cheese and there is nothing in the movie that really teaches anything.
It has that 80's look which fascinates me, no matter how bad a story or acting, but other than that, just a really bad Mad Max.The idea is that this guy from the rich part of the world loses his beloved female robot to a short circuit.
In the end, he realizes that killing people with grenades and high powered guns makes a "real" girl that looks like a porn Barbie doll be more lovable than a robot.
Mindless action, great characters, dime-novel romance, wonderful scenes and scenery, ridiculous premise, even more ridiculous action sequences, gender confusion (from the DVD cover, "She's your man").And more, no message (OK, a really weak and fun one, capped by my favorite quote having to do with a cola-based soft drink), creditable acting, Ben Johnson AND Harry Carey Jr. Most of all, this film is visually highly original/creative.
I wonder sometimes how such a movie gets produced (like, how did Michael Nesmith get Repo Man out of the Hollywood grinder?).My DVD front cover lists Melanie Griffith and Ben Johnson but not David Andrews, who was excellent.
A dirt and gravel road was all there was to connect to Ash Meadows, and a billboard marked the turn, advertising free coffee.The brothel itself featured a small motel, a pool (seen in the movie), a 9-hole golf course, and an air strip, which might still appear on civilian aviation charts.Some time after the brothel closed, the State of Nevada made it a landmark of some sort, and I believe it takes special permission to enter.If not for Cherry 2000, I would never have been able to see this place.
Thousands of people have seen the movie Cherry 2000 without knowing that they were seeing an historic place..
Up to this point in my life, ( I am 19 ) I note that the worst movie that I've ever seen is "Cherry 2000" I don't know how people consider Melanie Griffith an actor.Her unenthusiastic tone doesn't fit her role as a "bounty hunter".
Apart Melanie Griffith who are a true star, his top billing companion was totally miscasting to the main male role, no enough charism allowed to match with the gorgeous red-haired, despite it was Box office's fairlure twenty years ago this one has enough breadth to survives until now, due the major portion upheld by a odd fabulous supporting casting as Snappy Tom played by Harry Carrey Jr, the great Ben Johnson as Six Fingered Jack cooking snakes, and Robert Z'Dar a weird funny character with ugly face and protuberant jaw as trademark made history in small roles, some sort of Freddie Mercury's alikes, enchanting and fully entertainment for all kind of audiences and it looks like better in original dubbed version!!!Resume:First watch: 1990 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.
An unheard barely seen Melanie Griffith sci-fi film.
The main character is a young man named Sam Treadwell who owns a "Stepford Wives" type female robot who acts as his housekeeper and sexual partner.
(If the number 2000 was supposed to indicate the year in which Cherry was first manufactured, this is yet another in the long list of sci-fi predictions which have proved sadly premature- human colonies on Mars by 1987, and all that sort of thing).Sam discovers that there is a supply of Cherry 2000s in an abandoned warehouse, and decides to recover one and install the previous model's memory chip.
Sam also runs into his former girlfriend Elaine, now Lester's mistress, and the sort of neurotic, foul-tempered woman who could drive any man into the arms of a robotic substitute.The film is intended to be an action-adventure story, but it suffers from one fatal weakness; it stars Melanie Griffith.
She would probably have been better playing the robot Cherry, the girl with the artificial, carefully manufactured bimbo personality.There is occasionally some sharp dialogue; I liked, for example, the exchange when Elaine, told by Sam that her new boyfriend Lester is a psychopathic killer, snaps back "Don't impose your values on me, Sam".
Cherry 2000 is classic model of a love robot in the near future.
When Sam Treadwell's short circuits, he is devastated.He searched for a replacement Cherry (he kept the data chip to place in the new one) but finds that there are none.Finally he is tipped off that there is one in Zone 7 (a Mad Maxish Wasteland area of the USA).Sam hires a tracker (Melanie Griffith) to help him retrieve this Cherry model.
I watch a lot of 'so-bad-they're-good' films, but 'Cherry 2000' was actually quite different.
Therefore, the only thing he can do is set out into a forbidden wasteland where there's – apparently – a robot graveyard full of perfectly-kept Cherrys waiting to be taken back to some lucky man's kitchen.So he does.
A recent article in The Telegraph predicted that, by the year 2050, human-on-robot sex would have overtaken human-on-human sex; I reckon they could be right if the robots look anything like this film's titular model, the Cherry 2000, created to fulfil its owner's every desire.
Blonde, beautiful and obedient, Cherry (Pamela Gidley) seems like the perfect match for Sam Treadwell (David Andrews), which is why he goes to such great lengths to find a replacement body for her memory chip when a frolic on the kitchen floor results in some serious blown circuits.
With the only Cherries still in existence to be found in the robot graveyard of Zone 7, a desert wasteland inhabited by dangerous psychopaths, Sam hires the help of pretty 'tracker' E.
Johnson (Melanie Griffith), and comes to realise that his ideal woman might not be battery powered after all.Director Steve De Jarnatt's other film, Miracle Mile, is an almost flawless example of '80s apocalyptic cinema—an extremely tense, darkly humorous, and touching example of low-budget film-making revolving around a compelling dilemma—what would you do if you discovered that WWIII was imminent?Cherry 2000, a post-apocalyptic adventure that takes place in the near future of 2017 (next year, as I type), also poses an interesting question—will sex with a machine ever be as satisfying as the real thing?—but despite a much bigger budget than Miracle Mile, the film proves far less successful, thanks to an awkward blend of genres, its clumsy, episodic nature, and questionable performances.
Griffith is the film's other obvious weakness—she looks lovely (even with her bad hairdo and dubious wardrobe of tasselled post-apocalyptic attire), but fails to convince as a tough cookie who can handle almost any situation.Cult actors Robert Z'dar (Maniac Cop), Tim Thomerson (Trancers, Dollman), and Brion James (Bladerunner, Enemy Mine) join in the 'fun', but can do very little with the messy material (which might explain why Thomerson doesn't even seem to try).
That said, the biggest problem I had was the 'will they, won't they?' thing between the leads; now, I'm sorry, but given a choice between Pamela Gidley and Melanie Griffith, I'll take the robot any day.All in all though, if you like B-movies and fast forward through the hopelessly (non-)directed action sequences, it's worth watching; it could just have been much better if they'd decided what kind of movie they were making before they shot it..
OK things have moved on and maybe I should take off these rose tinted spectacle, but I don't want to.If you were born after 1990 and are thinking of watching this then you should know, before parting with your cash, that sci-fi films from the period (unless someone threw a tower block sized wad of cash at them) tended to be a bit lame.The effects here are ludicrously bad (even for the 80s) at one point what appears to be Aires Rock is taken out with a rocket launcher.The editing and direction are very sloppy.
A road-movie and science-fiction film, which has become a cult film, that is funny and entertaining despite the downs.The film has a great inventive and a good premise, and the characters are, a priori, quite attractive.
If the movie had been presented as a comedy, and not taken itself not so seriously, I would certainly have rated the film higher, as I laughed more than with many comedies.The cast counts with a very young Melanie Griffith in the role of the naive but daring E.
Sci-Fi. There is little that can be said positive about the soundtrack, wardrobe, acting, directing, blocking, editing, cinematography, casting, sound, lighting, locations or writing regarding this "B for bad" movie.
The music of Poledouris is most effective and stops the film from slipping completely into 'B' movie territory but the main reason we stay with this likeable tale is the relationship between the two leads and the supposed hunt for his 'true love', a plastic doll with extremely realistic robotic functions.
David Andrews gave a pretty average (and wooden) performance while Melanie Griffith shone in the film.
It is a little weird to read the tag line of the movie "In the year 2017, a good woman is hard to find.
This little-known, under-rated, obscure little film packs a lot of entertainment value.A 1987 production, directed by Steve De Jarnatt, and starring Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, and Pamela Gidley, "Cherry 2000" goes highly unnoticed and unsung in the sci/fi field.
However; I cannot say why, as this movie is extremely well written and extraordinarily entertaining.When Sam Treadwell's robotic companion breaks down, he goes in search of an exact duplicate in which to install her memory chip, and continue his life.
He hires Edith "E" Johnson (Griffith) as a tracker to find her, and together they begin their journey into "The Zone;" a danger-filled jungle of a city in which Treadwell finds the ideal replacement for his Cherry model 2000 love.It is not just a science fiction classic, but it is a tremendous love story, and a marvelous work of writing.
David Andrews and Melanie Griffith had great chemistry together, and this pre-Data android: Cherry 2000 (albeit an intelligent sex toy), gave the plot an amusing and very human twist.
Since most of the story is set a world very reminiscent of Mad Max and Waterworld, fans of the post-apocalyptic type of fantasy should really enjoy this movie.
it's in the future where Melanie Griffith is a action type bounty hunter and this guy has an android lover which is his wife that dies and he has to do find another one like it.but she is kind of out of production.he can get a modern one but he wants the same one so he hires Melanie Griffith to go in to this war zone and track it down,there is only one place where he can get another.in the end he goes for the real thing and not the android.there is action and great music.it will entertain,I recommend if you like sci-fi and action movies..
I think they were showing movies of Melanie Griffith because "Working Girl" had become so popular at the time, and they were showing what a range this actress had from action-adventure to abused secretary.
And Melanie Griffith does have that range.Cherry 2000 didn't look finished when I saw it, but what I loved about ti was it's story.
Great hip action!") so it was suggested that there might be a Cherry 2000 model out in the wastelands of robots.
So, this man had to go into dangerous robotic wasteland territory with a real flesh and blood woman to find a Cherry 2000 robot that he thought was the only woman that could make him happy.As I pointed out, the story was a good story, the acting was fine, the production and post production values were light which took away from a lot for me as I watched it.
The story is about a guy with an expensive "Cherry 2000" sex bot played by the always sensational Pamela Gidley.
The movie addresses some interesting ideas about the future of courtship, with all the diseases now it seems like a robot girlfriend is probably the way to go, but their not human, their just cold machines.
Johnson (a delightfully feisty Melanie Griffith, who looks great with fiery red hair) to take him into a dangerous region known as the Zone in order to find a replacement model for his beloved Cherry 2000 android (the extremely cute, bubbly and enchanting Pamela Gidley) after the original blows a fuse.
In contrast, "Cherry 2000" is one of the worst.The whole cast are more two dimensional than "Cherry" herself, and I'm sure this is one movie that Melanie Griffith would quickly like forgotten.
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tt0059678
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The Satan Bug
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Lee Barrett, a private investigator and former intelligence agent discharged for his outspoken views, is approached by a man with a tempting offer to join a political organization opposing bioweapons. His refusal proves the correct response, as the man is an impersonator sent by his former boss Eric Cavanaugh to test his loyalty. Barrett is asked by Cavanaugh to investigate the murder of the security chief of Station Three — a top-secret bioweapons laboratory station in the desert of Southern California — and the disappearance of its director and head scientist, Dr. Baxter. After they arrive at the station and wait for a time lock on the sealed lab to open, they are advised by another scientist, Dr. Gregor Hoffman, to seal the lab using concrete. Hoffman informs them that there are two lethal bioweapons in the lab, a strain of botulinus that oxidizes eight hours after its release, and a recently developed virus that he calls the "Satan Bug", which could kill all life on Earth in a matter of months. Determined to discover what happened in the room and taking extreme cautions, Barrett enters to find Dr. Baxter dead, with the vials containing the "Satan Bug" and 1200 grams of botulinus missing.
A mysterious telegram leads Barrett to a nearby hotel where he has a surprise reunion with his old flame Ann, the daughter of his superior, General Williams, who has flown in from Washington to supervise the investigation. Ann reveals she sent the telegram, and that she has been assigned to Barrett as his partner, an arrangement neither minds. At her father's home, Barrett's speculation that a lunatic with a messiah complex is behind the theft is confirmed by a telegram, threatening to release the viruses unless Station Three is destroyed.
Barrett and Ann discover another scientist from the station (not heard from since the theft) is lying dead in his swimming pool. A phone call to the scientist's home reveals the name Charles Reynolds Ainsley, a reclusive millionaire crackpot who fits Barrett's profile and quickly becomes the focus of the investigation. After a demonstration incident in Florida proves the thieves' willingness to use the botulinus, General Williams receives a phone call threatening to release more of the toxin in Los Angeles County unless Station Three is closed. The caller cuts himself off before he can be traced, but not before confirming that he is Charles Reynolds Ainsley.
A police tip brings Barrett and Ann to the location of where a car broke down and was left abandoned during the evening of the theft. Deducing the driver was involved, Barrett with Ann's help locates an airtight steel box containing the missing vials in a nearby stream, only to be confronted by two armed men, the thieves themselves. They are taken with the box to the home of Dr. Hoffman, the other conspirator in the theft, who decides to take them hostage, unaware they are being followed. It come out that Veritti and Donald, the two men working with Hoffman, have hidden some vials with a time activating device in Los Angeles. At some point, the flask containing the "Satan Bug" is separated from the others by Hoffman, leaving the rest with Veritti and Donald along with the hostages, despite an attempt by Barrett and Ann to overpower them. Soon the henchmen realize that they are being shadowed by two security agents in a car.
After a confrontation at an abandoned gas station, Veritti and Donald decide to lock the two agents along with Barrett and Ann in the garage. Realizing the thugs intend to kill them, Barrett persuades them to keep Ann as a hostage, and as they leave they shatter one of the vials. Though both agents are killed, Barrett survives by forcing an exit and setting the garage afire. After an unsuccessful attempt to radio for help, he stops a passing car being driven by Hoffman, who has pulled a double cross on his own men. Barrett makes a deal to learn the location of the flasks in Los Angeles in return for the closure of Station Three, aware by now that Hoffman is Ainsley himself. After they hear an announcement on the car radio reporting the closure of Station Three (which Barrett knows is false, having arranged it earlier), they are intercepted by two men revealing themselves as security agents. Arresting Ainsley, they take him and Barrett in their car towards Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Veritti and Donald are killed at a roadblock in trying to escape, the flasks they are carrying are safely retrieved, and Anne is reunited with her father, who assures her Barrett may still be alive, his body not found at the gas station.
Barrett himself has realized that the "agents" driving him and Ainsley are more of Ainsley's men on their way to rendezvous with a helicopter flying above them. After single-handedly taking them down, he again confronts Ainsley, who threatens to break the flask containing the "Satan Bug", telling Barrett that he waited to steal the virus until the vaccine could be isolated, which is why Baxter and the other scientist were murdered. Now that the vaccine is in his blood, Ainsley is immune. He declares his willingness to destroy the world and then live on in it alone rather than give up the power he holds. The helicopter lands, piloted by another of Ainsley's men. Another uneasy deal is made between Barrett and Ainsley, and they fly off, eventually finding themselves above Los Angeles as it is being evacuated. In the meantime, a cryptic doodle left by Veritti leads Ann and the authorities to surmise that the other vials are hidden at the Los Angeles baseball stadium, and during an intense search, they are located in the ice of a concession stand, attached to a bomb.
Above in the helicopter, Barrett notes it is flying past Los Angeles, meaning Ainsley is pulling another double-cross. Barrett fights with the pilot who tries to throw him out of the helicopter, only to be thrown out instead. Barrett is in danger of falling out after him, but manages to pull himself back to safety. During the fight, Ainsley drops the flask containing the "Satan Bug", and as it is about to tumble out, Barrett grabs it at the last second. Having served as an army rescue helicopter pilot, Barrett successfully takes over the controls, then covers Ainsley with a gun, pointing out he has nothing now. Ainsley throws himself out of the helicopter rather than reveal the location of the missing vials, unaware that they are now safely disarmed. After contacting Ann and his superiors, Barrett prepares to land, ironically commenting things are back to where they started.
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neo noir, murder, cult, violence, insanity, suspenseful
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train
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wikipedia
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tt0419294
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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
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South of Texas, in the desert. A jeep driven by one man wearing army clothes stops on the road. The man and his buddy see coyotes in the distance eating something behind some rocks. The buddy shoots the coyote, and they both go to see what's happening.THE FIRST BURIAL OF MELQUÍADES ESTRADAPeter "Pete" Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) goes to a south Texas hospital to find out what the forensics say about that death of his friend Melquíades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo), a Mexican cowboy hired by Perkins as his aid at the ranch where he is a foreman. Pete throws up because the corpse of Melquiades is badly decomposed from having been buried in a shallow grave. Police officers are busy running after immigrants and flirting with their girlfriends, and thus take no interest in this obvious murder case.A border patrolman, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), promises his wife Lou Ann Norton (January Jones) a nice little house after moving to their Texas border town, Van Horn. Later he becomes very violent with one of the Mexican immigrants. She (Vanessa Bauche) was trying to run away during a crossing, but she stays back to defend her husband. Mike hits the lady with excessive brutality.Pete talks to another of the patrolmen. He's come back to the location of the murder and found .223 bullet casings in the area. However, captain Frank Belmont (Dwight Yoakam) doesn't want to worry about that; he is more concerned about getting a quiet breakfast from diner waitress Rachel (Melissa Leo), a married lady with whom he is having an affair.Violent Mike is told off by his boss, Captain Gómez (Mel Rodríguez), because there may be problems arising from his vile treatment of prisoners. When Mike goes home, his wife Lou Ann is more interested in her diet - although she is pin thin - and watching a soap opera than talking to him or even having sex with him, something which she allows him to do (for the few seconds he lasts) while she is watching TV. No passion there. When he finishes, Lou Ann is still looking at Mary (Jourdan Henderson) and John (Spike Spencer), the soap opera stars who are discussing their marital problems.Pete approaches one of the patrolmen and asks about the caliber of their ammunition, and he answers that it's .223. Although Pete doesn't say so at that moment, that detail makes him think that the his friend Melquíades was killed by one of the patrolmen of the area.THE SECOND BURIAL OF MELQUÍADES ESTRADAFinally, Melquíades is buried in an undignified grave at Van Horn's local cemetery.Mike is about to look at some porn and shit on some rocks during his border watch, but he is scared away because he hears shooting. He runs away with his trousers down and picks up his rifle. He shoots somebody.The police seem to think that Melquíades must have been involved in something fishy, but Pete does know for sure that he wasn't.Lou Ann complains that she's bored all the time. She used to be the most popular girl at school, and Mike used to be the most sought-after guy as well. Rachel consoles her, saying it takes time to get used to life along the border, or adult life, for that matter.Rachel invites Lou Ann on one of her motel flings with Pete (whom she also fools around with), and he brings his friend Melquíades to entertain Lou Ann. Being new to each other, they feel strange, until they start dancing to the sound of gentle country music.Melquíades is shooting a coyote to protect his goats, a sound that scares Mike. As it turns out, Mike shot and killed Melquíades. Two patrolmen, Belmont and Gomez, are discussing it while Rachel listens to their conversation. She tells Pete. Pete demands that Gomez go arrest Mike, but he won't do that. Pete starts watching Mike's home. Their neighbor (Karen Jones) is a lady who looks a bit demented, always taking out her quiet dog and staring at their neighbors.Pete decides to enter Mike's home at night. He points his gun at Mike in front of Lou Ann. He tells Lou Ann what her husband has done. Pete forces Mike to dig up Mel's body. He plans to force Mike to take the body to the home where Melquíades once lived. Pete had promised his friend Mel that he would bury him in Mexico, in the small town where he was born, called El Tostón.Pete forces Mike to go riding on a horse with him until they reach the town, while Mel's body is carried wrapped in a tent on another horse.THE JOURNEYThe rest of the patrolmen go after Pete and Mike. Lou Ann seems to be all right. They all think that Pete's crazy, but Frank Belmont won't shoot him when they have the opportunity. One of the horses falls down a steep cliff. The patrolmen's car also gets stuck on the rocky dry soil.Pete forces Mike to stay close to the rotting corpse of Melquíades, which obviously stinks. Mike wakes Pete up because carnivorous ants are eating up Mel's body. Having already filled the body with antifreeze to preserve it, Pete then pours gasoline on the body and lights it to burn the ants away.A blind old man (Levon Helm) is listening to the radio in Spanish although he can't understand what he hears. He gives them shelter, food and water. He tells them that his son used to visit him once a month with food and money, but the son got cancer and probably died because of that. The blind old man asks them to shoot him, but Pete refuses on principle.Mike tells Pete that he's innocent, because Mel shot him. Pete falls off his horse, and Mike, instead of helping him, tries to run away. Pete is not hurt. Pete does not shoot Mike while he runs away, although he had the opportunity to kill him. Pete and his three horses go after him, slowly. Mike hides in a small cave, but a snake bites him, so he ends up screaming for help.A whole troop of police cars and helicopters follow Mike and Pete. They question the blind man, who tells them he saw nobody. The police leave. Meanwhile, a group of Mexicans has discovered Mike, still in his small cave and crying for help. They meet up with Pete, who asks whether they know anybody who could save Mike, and the leader suggests a lady "who is good with herbs." Pete hasn't got the 3,000 dollars which the leader requires to cross the border from the USA to Mexico. They reach an agreement.Pete puts a lasso around Mike and forces him to cross the river into Mexico. They seek out Mariana (Vanessa Bauche), who turns out to be the lady Mike beat so severely at the beginning of the film. At first she refuses to help the pathetic patrolman. Pete asks her to cure him as he needs to keep him alive. She heals him, but possibly in the most painful way possible.Lou Ann has meanwhile decided that enough is enough, Mike is beyond redemption. She says she is going to leave him forever, and she finally does so. Pete phones Rachel, who tells him that the patrolmen are after him and that Lou Ann has left. Pete asks Rachel to come down to Mexico and marry him, but she prefers to stay with Bob (Richard Jones). Pete is disappointed because she has told him that she loved him more than Bob.A sad Pete tells Melquíades' body that he's about to reach home.They make their way to El Tostón. They find a group of cowboys watching a soap opera on an old TV set, the same episode from when Mike had sex with Lou Ann in the kitchen. This makes Mike remember and cry. The cowboys asks what the performers are saying.Pete asks two women (Maya Zapata and Montserrat de León) about the woman in a photograph he has of Melquíades. Pete finds the woman and learns that Mel's ranch was in an area called Jiménez, outside of El Tostón, but it no longer exists. At last Pete brings Mike to what remains of Jiménez, the ruins of a house. Pete recognises the place for the beauty it was.THE THIRD BURIAL OF MELQUÍADES ESTRADAPete and Mike try to build a new roof with some brunches and twigs, and mend some walls. Mike has to dig a tomb with a piece of stone. Finally, they bury him.Pete makes Mike kneel in front of the tomb and he forces Mike to say to Melquíades that he's sorry. He finally gives in - after Pete had to shoot several times. Mike cries that it was a mistake, that he didn't want to kill him, and that he's sorry.Mike falls asleep. Pete wakes him up with a kick. Pete lets Mike go.Mike admits that he always thought that Pete would end up killing him. To that, Pete simply replies that Mike can keep one of the horses. The horse is tied to the tree on which they put the photograph of Melquíades and his family.Mike shouts after Pete had already gone - asking him if he will be all right.---originated by KrystelClaire.
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realism, revenge, murder, violence
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train
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imdb
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Although it takes place in modern day Texas, its main character Pete Perkins, superbly played by Tommy Lee Jones, seems to be living resolutely in the past.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada(2005) ****Tommy Lee Jones steps up to the plate and takes a big first swing with 'Three Burials.' This is a movie that captures the old Peckinpah-esquire style of the rugged west and combines wonderfully with Guillermo Arriaga's moody and alienated script.
A diablo of a marketing challenge: a bilingual movie, with an impossible-to-remember title, a story of white trash, Mexican wetbacks (that's the film's language), cruel Border Patrol "cowboys," and Tommy Lee Jones as the director and the uniquely memorable lead character...
For the next hour and a half, however, there is a crescendo of images and situations hitting the viewer over the head, amazing and moving.Taking the corpse of a friend - and his very much alive killer - back to Mexico for a "proper burial" and to mete out justice, Jones' voyage is a quirky, epic adventure, based on the brilliant writing of Guillermo Arriaga (of "21 Grams"), and filmed to perfection by Chris Menges (of "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission").Besides Jones (who won the 2005 Cannes Festival best actor award for this), "3 Burials" features fabulous performances by Barry Pepper ("25 Hours"), Julio Cedillo, and a large group of remarkable supporting actors on both sides of the border.Jones says something in the production notes that could sound arrogant or affected...
Directed by Tommy Lee Jones, marking his first time behind the camera, with a screen play by Guillermo Arriaga, this is a film that tells a story about an murder in a troubled border area between the US and Mexico.
We get to meet the cruel Norton and his bored wife Lou Ann. It also serve as the way to tell us how Pete and Norton meet.Tommy Lee Jones, with his rugged looks, brings a tremendous presence to his own film.
Julio Cedillo plays the dead man, Melquiades Estrada.Tommy Lee Jones is blessed to be working on his first venture with the great cinematographer Chris Menges.
The editing of Roberto Silvi sets the tone for the early part of the movie."The Three Deaths of Melquiades Estrada" shows us a mature Tommy Lee Jones who has learned his lesson well in front of the camera.
Written by Guillermo Arriaga, also writer of "Amores Perros" and "21 grams" and the first movie of Tommy Lee Jones as a director (but also lead actor), "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" tells the story of Ranch hand Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) who wants to fulfill the promise he made to his recently deceased Mexican friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
Finally, the film centers on a classically picaresque story of personality development through trials and tribulations: Pete (Tommy Lee Jones), on a flashback-laden quest for his own way of justice, dragging along the rapidly disintegrating corpse of his friend, brings about the personal journey of a trigger-happy, macho-racist border patrol officer (played by Barry Pepper) from guilt to redemption...
Tommy Lee Jones' film about a rancher (Jones) who keeps his promise to his friend and co-worker Melquiades Estrada who wanted to be buried in his homeland in Mexico.
Now, he has joined some of his famous and acknowledged colleges like Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, and made the step from actor, to actor & director in his own very first motion picture - The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.In this movie, Tommy plays the lead as Pete Perkins, who under some mysterious circumstances, finds out that his best friend has got killed.
This above average film concerns about Pete Perkins , a foreman (Tommy Lee Jones) from a Texas town , nearly the Mexican border .
When Melquiades's body is accidentally found one week later, his best friend, the ranch foreman Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones), claims the body to fulfill his promise and bury Melquiades in his hometown Jimenez and presses the local sheriff Belmont (Dwight Yoakam) to find the killer.
When Melquiades is shot and killed by a hot-head border patrol guard named Mike Norton(Barry Pepper), Pete kidnaps him and, the body of Melquiades in tow, heads for Mexico, where he intends to honor his promise to his friend and bury him in his home town.
The movie starts strongly, with bits and pieces told in an out of whack chronology, and a host of other characters introduced whose roles in the story we wait to discover: a local police officer and friend to Pete (Dwight Yoakam), a waitress in a diner and mistress to Pete (Melissa Leo), the young and bored wife of Norton (January Jones).
But sadly, all of these characters dissolve from the movie (the women especially) to make way for Pete and Norton's grotesque journey for the border, that's equal parts "As I Lay Dying" and Homer's "Odyssey" (Jones even works in a meaningless sequence with a blind man who comes to the pair's aid).
I suppose Jones's message about the nobility of the Mexican race is aimed at those who need to hear it, but those who need to hear it wouldn't be watching a movie like this in the first place, which leaves the rest of us feeling preached at and talked down to."The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a noble effort that doesn't really work.Grade: B-.
"Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" goes just like the trilogy directed by A.G.Iñarritú but it is directed by Tommy Lee Jones and it's more simplistic than the other films (at least in the way the story is presented, less confusing so to speak).
The other thing in common is that all of these films are brilliantly well-made, well acted and with many great things to say.Jones stars as Pete, a rancher who wants to find out who killed his best friend, the Mexican Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo), and to fulfill his friend wishes, he needs to bury Melquiades on the other side of the border, in a place called Jimenez.
Pete and Mike will carry the decomposing body of Melquiades in a haunting and dangerous place in the middle of the desert, cross between Texas and Mexico, chased by the police and fighting lots of adversities and meeting a friendly blind man (Levon Helm) who asks them a strange request (one of the best twists in the film, pay attention to this part).Arriaga once again wrote a life changing story in his well-known style that reminds us of a magic cube, where things are and aren't connected at the same time but you gotta stick to the end to see the whole picture formed perfectly to understand its complexity.
But all that humor doesn't extinguish the drama of this great story whose major moments is when Pete remembers all the good times he had with Melquiades (in these parts everything is spoken in Spanish and Jones is very fluent in this language), and includes the promise Pete had to make that covers the whole film.Tommy Lee Jones is the man on and off screen that makes of "Three Burials..." a great memorable film that seemed to resurrect his career that was a little sleepy, and gave the opportunity of working in classics like "No Country for Old Man" and "In the Valley of Elah" (very similar films in a way).
Barry Pepper has a great performance and so does Dwight Yoakam, Melissa Leo, January Jones and Julio Cedillo in the supporting roles.A striking film about the accidents that change our lives, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, but it is those accidents that makes us all connected.
For one, it requires the viewer to work at keeping track of the past, present and future and for another it requires laughter where humour isn't normally a response: as in red ants crawling all over a decaying corpse.The plot is loosely based on a true story but the genius is in bringing the writer Guillermo Arriaga (21 grams, Amores Perros)and freshly hatched director/talented actor, Tommy Lee Jones together in creating this cross-border cross-emotions film which goes in so many different directions.
Barry Pepper, who plays the hapless, emotionless Border Patroller, Mike Norton, has to be commended on a truly outstanding performance.The story begins in a bleak Texan town close to the Mexican border and centres on the friendship between a cattleman, Pete, played by Tommy Lee Jones, and his ranch hand, Melquiadas, in a small but significant role played by Julio Cedillo.
As with those other films it does tend to have a slow pace, but it does so give the viewer a grander scenic sense of the landscape Arriaga and Tommy Lee Jones, who direction should not be overlooked, unfold for us, a literate, mindful, grossly underrated modern western which manages to say many powerful things about the world today and human life in general..
If you are graving I mean craving for a quirky western-type film about a delusional ranch-hand who seeks revenge on a border patrol officer who killed the ranchman's best friend then you should dig into the indie film "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada".
Pistol Pete discovers that his best friend, Mexican immigrant Melquiades Estrada, is killed by a dodgy border patrol officer named Mike Norton played by Barry Pepper.
I was not interested in watching this movie because the writer was Guillermo Arriaga,who wrote the boring (in my opinion) screenplays of Amores Perros and 21 grams.However,on The three burials of Melquiades Estrada,Arriaga wrote a great script.First of all,the movie is very well written.Past and present are brilliantly combined.Tommy Lee Jones made a great work as an actor and as a director,but the best performance of the movie was made by Barry Pepper.The three burials of Melquiades Estrada is a very fun and great drama.I totally recommend this movie.Rating:9.
The first time someone takes a gander at Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, it'll be hard for them to believe that such a poignant and moving story could have been made in today's modern world of blockbusters and reality T.V. shows.
Pretty soon one might feel as if they'll soon see John Wayne cascaded upon the screen, shown holding his elbow (in a sign of loss) as he walks off into the sunset to only be remembered for his reputation and his most famous movie role, Ethan.As one might figure, Tommy Lee Jones' Pete Perkins is very similar to John Wayne's Ethan, if not only for the fact that Perkins has a solemn peacefulness to his structure, yet there's something amid his eyes that tells the audience that whoever killed his friend, Melquiades Estrada, they're going to pay dearly for their action.
The kind that tells the tale of the love for life and the honor amongst friends.So, after all of my introspections I feel that Jones' movie deserves to be sitting on the shelf next to the likes of Ford's The Searchers and Hopper's Easy Rider, for its ability to make its audience feel comfortable with the images that are placed upon the screen (just as the characters are fine with their status quo, just because they have no other choice in the matter, among the mountains that border on Texas and Mexico).
And Jones has found those actors and has directed them in a mesmerizing story about friendship and the promises extracted from it.Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) is a dusty old man with friends wherever he sets his hat - be that in a café where knows the married waitress Rachel (a brilliant Melissa Leo) as a bed partner, or on his cowboy runs where his best friend is a Mexican man Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo), a friendship bonded by promises and gifts and commitment.
I think this is the best thing I've seen Tommy Lee in but the intense Pepper (perfect for a Border Patrol Agent), the smoldering Leo (spot on for her rather small town street wise role), the folksy Yoakam (couldn't have found anyone better to play Sheriff), and the hapless Cedillo (sweet man just trying to get by, irrespective of borders), and finally the lovely January Jones (what an incredible beauty) they all held up their end as well.
What is surprising is how easily Three Burials gradually turns into a 21st century Western with the classic revenge theme played out in a most dramatic way.Tommy Lee Jones stars as Pete Perkins, a weathered cowboy somewhat past his prime who befriends a Mexican--the Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedilla) of the title--who has come across the border.
The third burial comes near the end of the film, and you can guess who's going to do the digging.What makes this work is the fine acting all around and the realistic feel created by Tommy Lee Jones.
It's an interesting tale very well presented with a lot of color and atmosphere.See this for Tommy Lee Jones who gives a fine performance while directing himself in his feature film directorial debut.(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!).
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Tommy Lee Jones re-invents the western with his searing directorial debut, which only enjoyed a limited theatrical release but received much deserved rave reviews and applause from critics.The man himself plays Pete Perkins, a local rancher in the autumn of his life who whiles away his time enjoying an affair with Rachel (Melissa Leo), the wife of a local cafe owner and hanging out with his best friend Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo) horse-riding, fishing and general bonding.
Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo)are truly friends in this film, where they practically share the same THIRST for life.
Before answering the above question, I will recount TTBOME's story: Melquiades Estrada (Cedillo), an illegal immigrant working in a Texas ranch, is accidentally killed by Mike Norton (Pepper), a border patrol officer.
Using the theme of life in a border town as a background for their story, Jones and Arriaga create an amazing modern western about friendship, loyalty, and redemption.The movie starts with the discovery of the dead body of Mexican cowboy Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo) half buried in the desert near a Texan border town.
After discovering that the man who killed Melquiades is actually a member of the border patrol named Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), Pete kidnaps him and starts the long trip to the small town of Jimenez, Coahuila, where he promised to take Estrada's body as it's the place where he wanted to be buried.Writer Guillermo Arriaga builds up his quixotic tale of loyalty and redemption as a mix of road movie and modern Western that explores the nature of human relations (both real and ideal) as the two main characters travel from Texas to Mexico.
While the story inevitably does touch the subject of the political relationships between the U.S. and Mexico, surprisingly it never loses its focus and remains dedicated to his characters and their journey towards Jimenez.The film's biggest surprise comes from director Tommy Lee Jones, who in this his first theatrical feature has truly surpassed all the expectations.
However, while Jones indeed shines through the film, the real revelation is Barry Pepper, who as Mike Norton gives definitely the best performance of the movie.
It is truly an unforgettable performance that shows the young actor as a truly talented thespian.I think that what makes "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" work is the fact that Jones seemed to realize not only the potential of the script, but also his own limitations as a director, and decided to play by them without aspiring to nothing more than to create a good movie.
He kills Melquiades Estrada and tries to hide the body in the desert.Melquiades was an illegal immigrant hired by Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones, also directing) and a good man who didn't deserve to be shot down by some rookie cop.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find any better, currently.There's intensity about Jones that just shines, piercing through the most banal of stories (e.g. Men in Black) to show what he can do with good material in this movie: the almost surreal landscape of the border land between USA and Mexico, and a finely drawn cast of supporting characters, lead by Barry Pepper as the almost psychopathic border guard, Mike Norton, who inadvertently kills Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo) who, in turn, just happens to be a good friend of Pete Perkins (Jones).
Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a rare and extraordinarily interesting modern western centering around illegal immigration at the Texas/Mexico border.
His buddy, Pete Perkins (played by Jones himself), a gringo with a natural affinity for Mexican immigrants, discovers that the killer is a violent, hotheaded young border patrol agent named Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), who, it turns out, shot Estrada more out of fear and confusion than any sense of malice.
When the movie starts, it's kind of bizarre the chase of Pete(Tommy Lee Jones)for Melquiades' killer.
Marking the directorial debut of actor Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a stunningly evocative film exploring the power of loyalty, forgiveness and redemption set along the borders of Texas and Mexico.
Tommy Lee Jones stars as Pete Perkins, a ranch hand whose newest employee and friend, Melquiades (Cedillo), is accidentally shot dead by a rough border patrol officer, Mike Norton (Pepper).
Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a mournful, strange, intense movie.
Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars as Pete Perkins, the cowboy whose friend Melquiades is killed, and he wants answers.
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tt0209077
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Ken Park
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The opening of the film depicts teenager Ken Park (nicknamed "Krap Nek", which is his first and last name spelled and pronounced backward) skateboarding across Visalia, California. He arrives at a skate park, where he casually sits in the middle of it, sets up a camcorder, smiles, and shoots himself in the temple with a handgun. His death is used to bookend the film, which follows the lives of four teens who knew him in the weeks running up to his suicide.
Shawn is the most stable of the four main characters. He's polite and caring. Throughout the story, he has an ongoing sexual relationship with his girlfriend's mother, Rhonda. He casually socializes with her family, who are all completely unaware of the affair, including his girlfriend.
Claude fends off physical and emotional abuse from his alcoholic father while trying to take care of his neglectful pregnant mother, who never does anything to defend him. Claude's father detests him for being insufficiently manly. However, after coming home drunk one night, he attempts to perform oral sex on Claude, prompting the boy to run away from home.
Peaches is a girl living alone with her obsessive and overly-religious father, who fixates on her as the embodiment of her deceased mother. When her father catches her and her boyfriend Curtis on her bed about to have sex, he beats the boy and savagely disciplines her, including forcing her to participate in a quasi-incestuous wedding ritual with him.
Tate is an unstable and sadistic adolescent living with his grandparents, whom he resents and frequently abuses verbally. He is shown engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation during masturbation. He eventually kills his grandparents in their bed, in retaliation for his grandfather "cheating" at Scrabble and his grandmother for "invading his privacy". He finds that the act arouses him sexually. He records himself on his tape recorder so the police will know how and why he killed his grandparents. After finishing recording, he puts his grandfather's dentures in his mouth, lies naked in his bed, and falls asleep.
The film cuts frequently between subplots, with no overlap of characters or events until the end. As Tate is arrested for his grandparents' murder, Shawn, Claude, and Peaches meet and have sex as a threesome, while Gary Stewart plays. The ending finally reveals the motive behind Ken Park's suicide: he has impregnated his girlfriend, who responds to his suggestion of an abortion by asking if he wishes he'd been aborted himself. Realizing that he'd rather never have been born, he sets out to the skate park to kill himself.
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violence, murder, romantic, flashback
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train
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wikipedia
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"Ken Park" demands that the viewer suspend that response, look beyond any arousal or outrage generated from the explicit sexuality and focus on the relationships in the film (of which sex is merely the expression).
Living in Australia, there has been a lot of controversy about this movie, leading to the government banning it (and even forbidding it to be shown at film festivals, to intelligent, consenting adults), so I had some idea what to expect when watching it.The thing that surprised me was that there was almost none of the "explicit sex" that the tabloids and conservative politicians would have us believe.
Could it be that Harmony Korine's razor sharp screenplay, largely based on the personal experiences of some of director Larry Clark's friends and models, actually hit too close to home for a lot of people to admit ?Though the sleepy suburb in this movie might qualify as quintessential Americana by definition of many, I can assure you that the stuff that happens over there takes place all over the world.
Much more than simply courting controversy, Clark (and co-helmer Lachman) have crafted a beautiful, funny, touching, heartbreaking and absolutely haunting (those final frames with the titular Ken Park will be etched in my mind for life) work of, yes, art.A lot of older viewers have remarked that the film is somehow unfairly slanted in favor of the young characters (compelling actors the lot of them), rendering the adults as grotesque caricatures.
It seems as though Larry Clark's ideas for characters were just him thinking he wanted to push the limits of sex on film, and so that's what the characters are doing.
To someone like me who hasn't led a sheltered and fortunate life, well there isn't much difference, this film is pure shock value with absolutely no plot.It's possible to make a movie as shocking and graphic as this and still provide some sort of coherence and plot, but that's not Larry Clark's style.
It was as if he took Todd Solondz' Happiness, removed all wit, all semblance of plot and character development, and threw in a few explicit sex scenes for some shock value.After watching Bully and Kids, I have come to accept Clark's style of storytelling, however I felt that this movie went nowhere.
He's usually good at juggling multiple story lines that end up converging in a natural sense, but I felt that in Ken Park he didn't have a enough time to delve into any single character's storyline deep enough for the audience to become engaged with the characters, which to me is a crucial element in any good drama.When the 1h10 mark came around, I was more alarmed by the fact that there were only 20 more minutes in which to resolve the story than by the incest and murder taking place on screen.This failure was akin to Lukas Moodysson's A Hole in My Heart.
Too bad because I loved Kids, Another Day in Paradise, and Bully.Here are some of the "highlights": 1) a teenager (he looks like he's 15 yrs old) goes down on girlfriend's mother, 2) a kid (around the same age) blows his brains out, 3) A widower catches his daughter having sex with her boyfriend, beats the crap out of him, then forces her to put on her mother's wedding dress and marry him (the father)4) a teenager kills his grandparents 5) A teenager's father tries to go down on him.
I'm beginning to think that Larry Clark cares more about "pushing the envelope" by depicting exponentially more and more gratuitous teenage sex with each of his films than he does about ensuring any realistic plot.
If this was an attempt to tell a legitimate story it falls completely short of its goal, because at best this is a completely sanitized version of anything that could be truly called gritty reality, and instead falls into a category of no other purpose except to shock and titillate.There is one useful purpose that this movie does serve, though, and that is prove the universal truth that actors are whores who will do anything and everything in order to get their faces on celluloid and into the public conscience no matter what the price is to their personal dignity.Who were these peoples (actors) advisors?No *'s out of 10.
The actor playing the kid has about zero charisma, looking like he really doesn't want to be there.Then there is a story that I could actually feel something for, a boy whose father felt he was a disappointment.
Though the girl is smart, she doesn't show it by tying her boyfriend up while in her house counting on her father(who is obviously unbalanced), be away long enough to be undisturbed.The biggest point made about this movie was that it was showing how these people all had messed up lives, and sex was their only refuge.
"Look at me, Im controversial, woohoo" Im not a stuffy type and am very open minded but this is just not good..I mean I was a teenager once and have friends that still are and yes there is bad things that happen to kids but they all seem to be messed up in this fill and also leave tons of holes in the story.
There are some sex scenes, but they are realistic, aesthetic, and the percentage of the total film duration is small.The main focus of Ken Park is not the consequences, but the reasons why those teens have come to life such a life.
Ken Park goes several more steps in that direction.It's too bad, because there was a movie here to be made, with more focus on Claude and Shawn, and way less of pretty much everybody else -- a story of two kids who survive the minefield of dysfunctional suburban life that their friends don't, ending at the same place: with them wondering if they are better off than Ken Park."So who the hell are you to tell him how he should make his movies?" Ken Park is undeniably "art", in some form or another, and obviously Clark has the right as an artist to do what he wants, and as an artist, he owes his audience nothing.
Of course, I have seen Larry Clark's other films, and was expecting "Ken Park" to follow along the same path as say, "Kids"--following skater punks in their daily lives of sex, drugs, etc.And the movie does follow its predecessor.
It has a lot to offer for you though, when you consider yourself as especially decent or respectable or when you simply like to see sex in movies.So the "respectable" viewer could be shocked of this movie because of its explicit depictation of sexual encounters between teenagers and grown-ups.
The problem that I have with larry Clark and with his new film "Ken Park" is not the extreme sexuality and violence, that I can tolerate just fine, but his absolute embellishment of the truth, which he often claims that he is capturing.
His first film, "Kids," was much more realistic and acurate because it was freshly written by a then nineteen year old Harmony Korine, but this new movie just feels like left overs from that shoot so many years ago.
Clark has taken one good idea, which he used in "Kids," and tried to squeeze two more movies out of it, but unfortunatly for him and for anyone unlucky enough to sit through this garbage, his films have become little more than cliche ridden kiddie-porn.
It is directed by Larry Clark, who specialises in gratuitous sex and nudity for shock value, and seems to creepily delight in making films about teenagers.
Everything was set up for a good exposition of modern teen life with a profound ending.However, Clark can't help himself and, as the movie progresses, he starts to throw in the gratuitous sex and nudity he is known for.
Instead of a well-thought-out and crafted examination of teen life we have extreme and weird plot developments, just for shock value.It's not all bad though: some of the sub-plots (e.g. the Tate one) remain interesting and the ending is quite powerful and ties the movie together.Overall: better than expected, but disappointing because it could have been great..
I'd give it 6/10 but as far as the exploration of angst-ridden, depressive lives of teenagers in Americana goes, "Kids" or Harmony Korines "Gummo" are by far the better films (and don't even have the need for explicit, seedy and un-simulated sex)..
Larry Clark, who made the controversial teenage sex drama 'Kids', goes one step further with Ken Park by actually filming explicit sex scenes performed by a cast who look a lot younger than they actually are.Mix in the occasional moment of extreme violence, and the result is a shocking and sometimes uncomfortable viewing experience that makes one sometimes question the makers' motives.
I don't have the answer—but I do have my suspicions.The film opens with the bloody suicide of the title character (played by Adam Chubbuck), and then goes on to follow the lives of several other teenagers: Shawn (James Bullard), who is secretly banging his girlfriend's mother; Claude (Stephen Jasso), a skateboarder with a drunk bully of a father; Peaches (Tiffany Limos), a pretty girl experimenting with sex, whose bible-thumping dad believes her to be pure—until he catches her indulging in a spot of the nasty; and psycho Tate—messed-up mad masturbator and, ultimately, murderer.Ken Park's narrative is a collection of disparate ideas, connected only by the theme of dis-functionality in the family unit; the story cuts randomly from one character to another and by the end of the film, not much has really been resolved.
Clark directed Kids and guided the cast of young actors wonderfully thanks to his own personal experiences of adolescent recklessness and disregard for societal norms, while Korine, who was twenty-eight at the time, wrote the film still a part of that drug-driven, often reckless lifestyle.
Kids focused more on dialog and character relations, while Ken Park explores the same themes as in that film, but with much more visually shocking instances that capture the rawness of the adolescents' behavior.
Let me be straight : this movie is NOT for everyone, and not just because of the sex scenes, but because it is very hard to watch those characters struggling with their families and with life.
With no supervision, these kids seek for love and appreciable affection where they can find it : with their friends, drugs and sexual experiences.As always this is a Larry Clark film, so realism is at it's top level, and as always he makes all these stories, scenes, characters completely believable.
This is a lot like KIDS but it is much more watchable and interesting to me.I think the biggest thing this movie touches on is the need to deceive people who can't handle the truth because they are close minded judgemental idiots and the incredible confrontation that occurs when they finally have to deal with the truth that has been hidden from them because they simply don't deserve the truth.There are a lot of awesome characters and anyone that thinks these characters don't exist in real life is obviously one of those idiots that is being lied to by these kind of characters because if they knew the truth, they couldn't handle it.Highly Recommended if you like a teen angst reality ride instead of stupidwood..
I'm a fan of his earlier films "Kids," "Bully," and even the movie made after "Ken Park," "Wussup Rockers." There's something about his ability to visualize a scene using young and underused actors that can hold it together and play a scene through to the end, especially when the scenes involve heavy, adult-themed concepts involving drugs or blatant sexual acts.
I think it might be better if he stuck to one story like the rest of his works, but divide them up amongst the various groups, like Kids did, or even Bully.The problem I have with the groups who have reviewed this film always point at the fact that this wasn't released here in the U.S. because it was sexually explicit and too real of an experience.
Though the theme of twisted home lives may seem like perfect material for a chilling message movie, Ken Park manages to reduce the concept to nothing but shock tactics.
Well for starters, plot has never been Mr Clark's forte, and when you watch one of his movies you know that there's going to be a substantial amount of nudity; but while I can see one of the aims of the movie - i.e. demonstrating that the adults are equally (if not more) f***ed up than the kids - you do have to question the point of such a graphic masturbation scene.
The movie never stops shocking you, and with such wonderful characters that feel real [although I have never, ever seen Teens like this].
The rest of the characters play out like real teens, and towards the end, you realize that quite possibly the single most innocent character in the movie is Ken Park, despite what he does.
A movie where half of the film feels like a softcore porn is kind of a touchy subject, but for what its worth, I enjoyed it.7/10 Pros: Great acting, realistic families, flawed characters, shocking, and it keeps you interested.Cons: Some moments seem a bit, umm, pointless.
In Ken Park, the kids have so many other problems that their explicitly filmed sexual activities seem like a relief, like the last pleasant thing in life.
Parents and grandparents, for instance, play a very important role in this film, which is not the case in Kids.Now what is the message of a movie like Ken Park?
I was disappointed although the movie had all the hallmarks of Larry Clark's work: troubled teenagers, irresponsible adults and a lot of naked bodies.My issue with Ken Park is the focus on the dark side of humanity.
The reason I dislike this film, as I did both Kids and Bully (two movies that appear tame by comparison), is simply because once you take away the shocking aspects of it - the violence, the no-holds-barred sex scenes - it really isn't about anything much.
That we are watching dysfunctional families is beyond doubt, and perhaps is it that Ken Park did not want to end up like his parents that drive him to it, but I still think he could be left out.I understand it that we have an uncensored version in The Netherlands, and that really makes me ask what people saw in the cinema.
This means that while Clark is clearly very excited to pose his actors, he doesn't trouble at all with their characters, and this fixation on a physical presence (specifically of willing young men) that the viewer can't access becomes a black hole at the movie's centre.Many of the things that happen - a young man who kills his grandparents, a boy who sleeps with his girlfriend's mother, a young woman forced to marry her insanely religious father - could have been the basis of a really interesting film if only they were followed through: each one is a beginning or a conclusion, but none is a story.The characters don't develop or change, the situations don't evolve, what occurs is without causes or repercussions.
The last scene was just pathetic, being almost like something borrowed from a very bad porn movie...Oh yeah, something totally "realistic" and "deep".Ken Park is the worst indie film that I've ever saw.
And in fact the story of Ken Park doesn't come up with something completely new or original, it has pretty much the same same stories (alcoholic father, guy sleeps with his girlfriend's mother, severely religious father abuses daughter) the only difference to other such films is, that the directors show sexual organs in closeup view in almost every second scene.
Then we get to know the other people living in that area one after one, and everybody has a skeleton in his closet: One guy chokes himself while masturbating and kills his grandparents, because they got on his nerves and gets an erection while looking at the dead bodies, a father wants sexual contact with his own son after he comes home from a booze, another catholic father catches his daughter unprepared having sex with her boyfriend, beats him up and marries his on daughter as some sort of punishment.The film is definitely a bit entertaining, but the problem is, that the director doesn't really emphasize the character's feelings, he only pays attention to showing as much as possible provoking scenes such as showing sex and masturbation in closeup view.
Before I begin I must say, I'm not adverse to confronting films, of which "Ken Park" is surely one of them, but when I tell people that I don't like this movie I'm labeled a "prude" or that I "just don get it".
Ken Park is a melodrama-erotic film that are based on Larry Clark's journals and stories.
I watch it, because I thought, maybe it would be as good as portraying real life troubles like the movie 'Kids' with something new.
The first thing I'll say is that if the viewer is not familiar with Larry Clark's 7 (to my knowledge) other films and his style, then Ken Park is absolutely not the first one they should see.
As I watched the movie, he confirmed he had no real viewpoint, he just filmed a series of violent, trashy scenes together and called it "Ken Park".
There is one other normal kid in the film, but he too is almost violated by his gay abusive dadI don't know what really goes on in Larry Clark's head, all his movies are the same trash, putting minors in sexual explicit situations while he as the directors gets of making them get of.
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Young Ones
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In a post draught-apocalyse USA, people would literally kill for water. Ernest Holm lives with his son Jerome and daughter Mary in their small town house and field. While everybody has left, Ernest stays, believing that the land will grow once more if only theres irrigation. Ernest gets water for his family by trading supplies with the water people who extract water from deep wells. When his mule breaks its legs and he has to kill it, Ernest goes to the auction and buys a robotic carrier machine to replace it, beating the offers of Flem, a young man whos been seeing Mary without his consent. Ernest rejects Flems offer to rent the machine. One morning Ernest finds his machine is missing, and he goes looking for it. When he gets to the water people, Ernest is accused of stealing. He wins a fight with the water peoples leader Caleb and takes his knife.Continuing on, he finds his machine and Flem with it, transporting a supply of water. Flem is taking it somewhere. Ernest takes Flem tied up but he soon gets weary due to refusing to take a drink from the water theyre carrying. Flem, wanting to continue his smuggling run, then throws a bottle at Ernest killing him. Time went by, the people found and buried Ernest, but the machine has gone missing. Flem marries Mary after helping the family build an irrigation system thus saving their farm. But the machine, limping and mangled, didnt shut down, and its default protocol makes it walk to a store in town. The store owner reaches Jerome in the Holm residence, informing about the machine. After tricking his way to town over border patrol, Jerome gets to the store to find the store owner has repaired the machine.Jerome gets interested to the machines laser sensor. It turns out the sensor can behave like a video recorder. Curious about the machines adventure, Jerome plays the recording and finds the truth about Flem and Ernest. Arriving home before Flem, Jerome picks on him as how did the machine find its way home. Flem lies further, which only infuriates Jerome even more. But he doesnt take any action. One day Flem goes on a supply run with the machine, and accidentally falls into a pit, breaking his legs. As he cries for help, Jerome, who has been secretly following him, comes at the pits mouth. As Jerome only stands there, Flem realizes that Jerome already knows about what happened to Ernest. Flem tries to talk his way into Jeromes mercy. Eventually Jerome shoots him in the head, and decides not to tell anything, even about Ernest, to Mary.
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violence, boring, murder, romantic
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Movie 43
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Movie 43 is a series of different sketches containing different scenes and scenarios.
=== The Pitch ===
Produced and directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Rocky Russo, Jeremy Sosenko, and Ricky Blitt
The film is composed of multiple comedy shorts presented through an overarching segment titled "The Pitch", in which Charlie Wessler (Dennis Quaid), a mad screenwriter, is attempting to pitch a script to film executive Griffin Schraeder (Greg Kinnear). After revealing several of the stories in his script, Wessler becomes agitated when Schraeder dismisses his outrageous ideas, and he pulls a gun on him and forces him to listen to multiple other stories before making Schraeder consult his manager, Bob Mone (Common), to purchase the film. When they do so, Mone's condescending, humiliating attitude toward Schraeder angers him to the point that, after agreeing to make the film "the biggest film since Howard the Duck", he confronts Mone in the parking lot with a gun and tries to make him perform fellatio on the security guard (Will Sasso) (Wessler had gotten on the lot by doing the same thing) and kill him if he does not make the film. Wessler tries to calm Schraeder down with more story ideas to no avail, but Mone pulls out a gun and shoots Schraeder to death. The segment ends with it being revealed that it is being shot by a camera crew as part of the movie, leading into the final segments.
Cast
Dennis Quaid as Charlie Wessler
Greg Kinnear as Griffin Schraeder
Common as Bob Mone
Charlie Saxton as Jay
Will Sasso as Jerry
Odessa Rae as Danita
Seth MacFarlane as himself
Mike Meldman as himself
=== Alternative version (The Thread) ===
Directed by Steven Brill and written by Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko
The structure of the film released in some countries, like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, differs. Instead of a pitch, the films are connected by a group of three teenagers searching for the most banned film in the world, Movie 43, which will ultimately lead to the destruction of civilization. Calvin Cutler (Mark L. Young) and his friend J.J. (Adam Cagley) make a video in the style of MTV's Jackass and upload it on YouTube where it instantly reaches over 1,000,000 views. This turns out to be an April Fool's prank from Calvin's younger brother Baxter (Devin Eash), who cloned YouTube and hyper-inflated the views while working on his science project. Calvin and J.J. attempt to get revenge. They tell Baxter of a film that's so dangerous it will cause the annihilation of the world. The movie is known as Movie 43. While J.J. and Baxter look for Movie 43 on Google, Calvin retrieves Baxter's laptop and loads it with viruses from porn sites, and masturbates to a strip tease video on the porn sites in a bathroom. Baxter finds hundreds of results for Movie 43 on a website referred to by him as a dark corner of the Internet. They find the sketches starting from the 43rd search on the list of results. As he and J.J. keep watching videos, they are interrupted by a man known as Vrankovich (Fisher Stevens) and a group of Chinese mobsters (Tim Chou and James Hsu) who are tempted to find Movie 43, even going as far as to take J.J.'s classmate Stevie Schraeder (Nate Hartley), film executive Griffin Schraeder's oldest son, hostage. Vrankovich warns them that if they find Movie 43, civilization will be left to ruins. They ignore his claims and keep searching. They eventually find the real, the one and only Movie 43, which turns out to involve Baxter as a profane commando who leads a group of recruits to survive after the world has ended. As Calvin finishes ruining Baxter's laptop, their mother (Beth Littleford) enters, wearing the same shirt and shorts that the woman in the strip tease video wore, causing Calvin to flip out after realizing that he had masturbated to a video of his mother. He also has visions, and finds semen from his erect crotch on his hand causing him to stare at his hand in shock and horror. Afterward, a deadly earthquake rumbles and mankind is lost. However, a few years later the only survivor, a crippled Calvin, finds Baxter's laptop still working despite viral infections. He watches the last remaining skits on the laptop. This version of the film was released in the U.S. as part of the Blu-ray Disc of Movie 43 as an unrated alternate cut of the film.
Cast
Mark L. Young as Calvin Cutler
Adam Cagley as J.J.
Devin Eash as Baxter Cutler
Fisher Stevens as Vrankovich/Minotaur
Tim Chou as Chinese Gangster #1
James Hsu as Chinese Gangster #2
Nate Hartley as Stevie Schraeder
Liz Carey as Sitara
Beth Littleford as Mrs. Cutler
=== Segments ===
==== The Catch ====
Produced and directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Bill O'Malley and Rocky Russo & Jeremy Sosenko
Beth (Kate Winslet) is a single businesswoman who goes on a blind date with Davis (Hugh Jackman), the city's most eligible bachelor. When the two arrive together at a restaurant, Beth is shocked when he removes his scarf, revealing a pair of testicles dangling from his neck. Over dinner it confuses her that Davis fails to acknowledge his anatomical abnormality, and that nobody seems to be surprised by it. When two friends of Davis (Roy Jenkins and Katie Finneran) come by, one of them convinces him to give Beth a kiss. Davis agrees, but when he kisses her, his neck-testicles are dangling near Beth's mouth, causing her to scream and budge out of the kiss.
Cast
Hugh Jackman as Davis
Kate Winslet as Beth
Roy Jenkins as Ray
Rocky Russo as Waiter Jake
Anna Madigan as Abby
Julie Claire as Pam
Katie Finneran as Angie
==== Homeschooled ====
Directed by Will Graham and written by Will Graham & Jack Kukoda
Having recently moved, Sean (Alex Cranmer) and Clare (Julie Ann Emery) have coffee with their new neighbors. The neighbors, Robert (Liev Schreiber) and Samantha (Naomi Watts) have a teenage son, Kevin (Jeremy Allen White), whom they have home-schooled. Sean and Clare begin inquiring about the homeschooling, and the numerous manners in which Robert and Samantha have replicated a high school environment within their home, going as far as hazing, bullying, and giving out detentions, are revealed. They also throw high school parties and Samantha instigates Kevin's "first kiss" with him. Visibly disturbed, the neighbors end up meeting Kevin, who says he is going out and gives them the impression that all is fine: until he reveals a doll made of a mop with Samantha's face on it, referring to the doll as his girlfriend.
Cast
Jeremy Allen White as Kevin Miller
Liev Schreiber as Robert Miller
Naomi Watts as Samantha Miller
Alex Cranmer as Sean
Julie Ann Emery as Clare
==== The Proposition ====
Directed by Steve Carr and written by Rocky Russo & Jeremy Sosenko
Julie (Anna Faris) and Doug (Chris Pratt) have been in a relationship for a year. When he attempts to propose to her, she reveals to him that she is a coprophiliac, and asks him to defecate on her in the bedroom. Urged by his best friend Larry (J.B. Smoove) and others to go along with it, he eats a large meal and drinks a bottle of laxative prior to the event. Wanting foreplay, Julie is angered when Doug wants to finish, and she runs into the street. Chasing after her, he is then hit by a car and graphically evacuates his bowels everywhere. She cradles him and apologizes; covered and surrounded by his excrement on the road, she exclaims that it is the "most beautiful thing" she has ever seen and accepts his marriage proposal. (In the end credits, Julie and Doug are mistakenly renamed Vanessa and Jason by Rocky Russo, Jeremy Sosenko, Steve Carr, Peter Farrelly, and Charles B. Wessler).
Cast
Anna Faris as Julie (aka Vanessa)
Chris Pratt as Doug (aka Jason)
J. B. Smoove as Larry
Jarrad Paul as Bill
Maria Arcé as Christine
Aaron LaPlante as Friend
==== Veronica ====
Directed by Griffin Dunne and written by Matthew Alec Portenoy
Neil (Kieran Culkin) is working a night shift at a local grocery store. His ex-girlfriend, Veronica (Emma Stone), comes through his line and the two begin arguing, which soon turns into sexual discussion and flirtation as they lament over their relationship; unbeknownst to them, Neil's intercom microphone broadcasts the entire explicit conversation throughout the store, where various elderly people and vagrants tune in. After she leaves in tears, the customers agree to cover his shift while he goes after her.
Cast
Kieran Culkin as Neil
Emma Stone as Veronica
Arthur French as Old man
Brooke Davis as Tall lady
Josh Shuman as Short man
==== iBabe ====
Directed by Steven Brill and written by Claes Kjellstrom & Jonas Wittenmark & Tobias Carlson and Rocky Russo & Jeremy Sosenko
A developing company is having a meeting in their headquarters over their newly released product, the "iBabe", which is a life-sized, realistic replica of a nude woman which functions as an MP3 player. The boss (Richard Gere) listens to his various workers (Kate Bosworth, Aasif Mandvi and Jack McBrayer) argue over the placement of a fan that was built into the genital region of the iBabe, which is dismembering the penises of teenage boys who attempt to have sex with them. The board members then agree to strongly emphasize the dangers of the product via its new commercials.
Cast
Richard Gere as Boss
Kate Bosworth as Arlene
Jack McBrayer as Brian
Aasif Mandvi as Robert
Darby Lynn Totten as Woman
Marc Ambrose as Chappy
Cathy Cliften as iBabe #1
Cherina Monteniques Scott as iBabe #2
Zach Lasry as Boy
==== Superhero Speed Dating ====
Co-edited and directed by James Duffy and written by Will Carlough
Robin (Justin Long) and his cohort Batman (Jason Sudeikis) are in Gotham City at a speed dating establishment seeking out a bomb threat by their nemesis, Penguin (John Hodgman). While Robin attempts to connect with various women through speed dating including Lois Lane (Uma Thurman) and Supergirl (Kristen Bell), Batman encounters his ex Wonder Woman (Leslie Bibb) and attempts to stop Penguin from detonating Supergirl, who later turns out to be the Riddler (Will Carlough) in disguise, which Batman already knew and was screwing with Robin, who kissed "her" moments before unveiling.
Cast
Justin Long as Robin
Jason Sudeikis as Batman
Uma Thurman as Lois Lane
Bobby Cannavale as Superman
Kristen Bell as Supergirl
John Hodgman as The Penguin
Leslie Bibb as Wonder Woman
Will Carlough as Riddler
Katrina Bowden as Stacey
==== Machine Kids ====
Written, co-edited, and directed by Jonathan van Tulleken
A faux-Public service announcement about children stuck in machines and how adults' criticism of these particular machines affect the feelings of the children stuck inside the machines. This commercial was paid for by the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Inside Machines".
==== Middleschool Date ====
Directed by Elizabeth Banks and written by Elizabeth Wright Shapiro
Nathan (Jimmy Bennett) and Amanda (Chloë Grace Moretz) are watching television after school at Nathan's house as their first "middle school" date. When they begin to kiss, his older brother Mikey (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) enters the living room and makes fun of them. Amanda then discovers she is menstruating and tries to hide it, and when Nathan sees blood on her pants, he panics and believes her to be bleeding to death, causing a debacle, which would later have Nathan and Mikey's father Steve (Patrick Warburton) and Amanda's father (Matt Walsh) involved. Amanda calls them out on their stupidity and feels embarrassed to know that she's getting her first period in front of them and they don't know what to do about it. When she leaves with her father, Nathan yells that the process of keeping the lining of her internal organs intact by inserting his erect phallus into her vagina is much too complicated and Mikey agrees. Steve cheers them up by farting in front of them. As Mikey goes to the bathroom, Nathan and Steve watch a game on television, which has a very graphic Tampax commercial in which a girl gets eaten by a shark due to her menstruating.
Cast
Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Mikey
Chloë Grace Moretz as Amanda
Jimmy Bennett as Nathan
Patrick Warburton as Steve (Nathan and Mikey's father)
Matt Walsh as Amanda's father
==== Tampax ====
Directed by Patrik Forsberg and written by Patrik Forsberg & Olle Sarri
Another faux-commercial involving two women who go swimming in the sea. As the women submerge into the water, a great shark suddenly appears and eats one of the women. A tagline appears, reading: "Tampax. Now Leak-Proof"
==== Happy Birthday ====
Directed by Brett Ratner and written by Jacob Fleisher
Pete (Johnny Knoxville) captures a leprechaun (Gerard Butler) for his roommate Brian (Seann William Scott) as a birthday present. After tying the leprechaun up in the basement, they demand he give them a pot of gold. The obscene leprechaun threatens that his brother is coming to save him. When he arrives, Brian and Pete are shot at but ultimately kill both leprechauns. At the end of the segment, Pete reveals he has also caught a fairy (Esti Ginzburg) who performs fellatio for gold coins.
Cast
Gerard Butler as Leprechaun #1, Leprechaun #2
Johnny Knoxville as Pete
Seann William Scott as Brian
Esti Ginzburg as Storybook fairy
==== Truth or Dare ====
Produced and directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Greg Pritikin
Donald (Stephen Merchant) and Emily (Halle Berry) are on a date together at a Mexican restaurant. Tired of typical first dates, Emily challenges Donald to a game of truth or dare. She dares him to grab a man’s buttocks, and he follows with daring her to blow out the birthday candles on a blind boy’s cake. The game rapidly escalates to extremes, in which both of them get plastic surgery and tattoos, and humiliate themselves. When Donald and Emily arrive back at Emily's apartment, they praise their date. Donald tries to kiss her, but she rejects him, claiming she's not attracted to Asian men (which he was surgically altered to resemble). It is revealed that she was joking and invites him to have sex with her as she shows him her enlarged breasts.
Cast
Halle Berry as Emily
Stephen Merchant as Donald
Sayed Badreya as Large man
Snooki as Herself
Caryl West as Waitress
Ricki Noel Lander as Nurse Elizabeth
Paloma Felisberto as Bachelorette party girl
Jasper Grey as Patron
Benny Harris as Blanco the bartender
Zen Gesner as Stripper
==== Victory’s Glory ====
Directed by Rusty Cundieff and written by Rocky Russo & Jeremy Sosenko
Set in 1959, Coach Jackson (Terrence Howard) is lecturing his all-black basketball team before their first game against an all-white team. Worried about losing the game, the timid players are lectured by the coach about their superiority in the sport over their white counterparts, which he expresses vulgarly. When the game ensues, the all-white team loses miserably yet rejoices in a single point they earn.
Cast
Terrence Howard as Coach Jackson
Aaron Jennings as Anthony
Corey Brewer as Wallace
Jared Dudley as Moses
Larry Sanders as Bishop
Jay Ellis as Lucious
Brian Flaccus as White guy #1
Brett Davern as White guy #2
Evan Dumouchel as White guy #3
Sean Rosales as White guy #4
Logan Holladay as White guy #5
Mandy Kowalski as Cheerleader
Eric Stuart as Narrator
==== Beezel ====
Written and directed by James Gunn
Played mid-credits, Amy (Elizabeth Banks) worries that her boyfriend Anson’s (Josh Duhamel) cat, Beezel (an animated cartoon), is coming between their relationship. Beezel seems to detest Amy and anyone who comes between him and Anson, but Anson only sees Beezel as innocent. One day, Amy witnesses Beezel masturbating to summer vacation photos of Anson in a swimsuit. Beezel attacks her and violently urinates on her. Anson still finds his pet innocent but Amy threatens to leave if he doesn't get rid of Beezel. Caring more about his relationship, Anson agrees to find a new home for him. That night, from a closet, Beezel tearfully watches the couple make love (whilst sodomizing himself with a hairbrush and dry humping a stuffed teddy bear). The next day when it comes time to take Beezel away, he is nowhere to be found. Amy goes outside to look. Beezel then runs her over with a truck and attempts to shoot her to death with a shotgun, but she chases him into the street and begins beating him with a shovel, which is witnessed by a group of children attending a birthday party at a neighboring house. When Anson approaches to see what is happening, Amy tries to explain Beezel’s motives. Beezel acts innocent and Anson sides with his cat. The children of the party then attack and murder Amy for beating up Beezel, stabbing her with plastic forks. Anson grabs Beezel, as Beezel again fantasizes about French kissing his owner.
Cast
Elizabeth Banks as Amy
Josh Duhamel as Anson
Emily Alyn Lind as Birthday girl
Michelle Gunn as Mommy
Christina Linhardt as Party clown
==== Find Our Daughter ====
Written and directed by Bob Odenkirk
In this segment that was cut from the film, Maude (Julianne Moore) and George (Tony Shalhoub) are looking for their breast-flashing daughter Susie (Jordanna Taylor) with the help of the private eye (Bob Odenkirk), who is behind the camera with only one clue which is a small video that features their daughter. The scene was included as an extra on the DVD and Blu-ray release.
Cast
Julianne Moore as Maude
Tony Shalhoub as George
Jordanna Taylor as Susie
Bob Odenkirk as Private Investigator
==== The Apprentice ====
Written and directed by Steve Baker and Damon Escott
The second segment that was cut from the film follows Wayne (Anton Yelchin), a shy apprentice mortician who is secretly a necrophiliac at the hospital he works at. One night, a body he's having sex with is brought back to life from the pressure of his thrusts. His supervisor Bob (Shane Jacobson) suddenly walks in and mistakenly believes that Wayne has performed a life-saving operation of some kind. The staff at the hospital and the media congratulate him while a news reporter asks what he did to save her. Unable to conjure an answer, one of the cops on scene tells everyone else they can just watch the security tapes to find out. As they rush to the security room, Wayne is given a personal thanks by the girl (Maria Volk) he revived, upon which he responds with an awkward "Your Welcome". Unlike Find Our Daughter, this segment was not included in the DVD or Blu-ray release and instead premiered at the 2014 LA Comedy Festival.
Cast
Anton Yelchin as Wayne
Shane Jacobson as Bob
Maria Volk as Girl
Christopher Kirby as Cop
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comedy, fantasy, murder, adult comedy, violence, flashback, humor
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train
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wikipedia
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I don't know, maybe I just have a strange sense of humor, but I thought this movie was funny.
It isn't even that I'm a prude or hate gross-out humor, I'm 18 for crying out loud- I just have the ability to recognize when someone put actual effort and thought into making a movie funny and when Hollywood is laughing AT US, instead of vice versa.
I have never written a review before, but I feel that writing one is the best way to clean my mind of the crappy film I have witnessed.
It's funny too!In short, Movie 43 is a disjointed mess, full of lousy jokes, terrible writing, and actors that no doubt deserve to be in something else.
You either love this movie or hate it, judging by the votes and comments, but I loved it, and many others will too - so give it a chance and watch, don't just read the bad reviews.
Perhaps you won't find this movie suitable to your "evolved" pallets, but for those of us that still laugh at farts, and make dick jokes and think seeing someone getting punched in the balls is funny, then you should be amused by this one.
A-List stars doing nasty stuff.AMAZING how they got away with it!!The only thing that would have made the movie any better (worse) than it is, is if they had Dennis' crazy brother Randy Quaid in it..
The funny jokes you already saw in the preview and since you see them coming a mile away and the movie is an enormous buzz kill you won't even laugh.
I encourage you to get drunk.A special mention goes to Gerard Butler, who as a leprechaun does the best work of his career in a segment so stupid it makes you want to kick every leprechaun you will never see.This was by far the worst movie I've seen in a while..
I have watched bad movies like the gamer but this is the worst of the worst in the same low level as the gamer.
This movie is so bad and unfunny that I finally caved and created an IMDb account to warn you - they good people fighting the good fight not to watch this atrocity.
The jokes might be funny if you're in pre-K but for anyone else they're disgusting and awful.Even if you thought Epic Movie and the rest of those movies were the greatest ever you may have trouble laughing.This is the kind of movie where you spend most of it trying to figure out why anyone would consider going through the process of writing and directing it.I can't imagine why these great actors would agree to do such an awful movie..
Millions of people watch sketches like this on YouTube everyday but may a movie well that's just ridiculous, calm down.
Not just in the sense that it goes out of its way over and over again to be offensive, but in that it goes well out of its way to avoid ever being funny.If you have ever written a script, poem or short story, it is guaranteed to be better than Movie 43.
My girlfriend was feeling a bit depressed so I decided to take her to see this "comedy" and now regret every second that I spend watching it.It is one of those movies, which show all the interesting bits in the trailer and then fill up the rest with idiotic stuff.
Pointless.Yes, there is a variety of stars appearing in the scenes, but that ain't gonna stop me from trying to make anyone who wishes to see it skip movie day.Much to my amazement (i thought it's just me that feels stupid about it), the entire movie theater looked relieved when the movie ended.
I wanted to get up and leave the theater so bad but spending almost $10 on a movie...I figured I'll get my moneys worth first.
I agree with a previous review, there hasn't been a movie this bad ever; Valentines Day or the New Year's Eve crap Garry Marshal got high and attached his name too were not even close to this pile of crap.
I saw my first five-star film of the year, Lincoln, a film that will surely rank as one of the best by the time my end of year review comes around.And then I watched Movie 43.Is it possible for there to be a worse film in 2013?
Without these huge Hollywood stars it would be a complete disaster, but when you see Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry and others, you unwillingly start to think that probably this movie has some value.If you enjoy humor like in Jay and Silent Bob, you have got to see Movie 43.
The one thing that was omitted from the blurb is that the movie isn't particularly funny.The film is a series of episodes that play out as Dennis Quaid's character pitches them to a producer.
The only reason that would explain why good stars would get caught up in a misfire like "Movie 43", other than being paid a lot of money for a small amount of work, which apparently they weren't, is that maybe they only ever saw their segment and were unaware of the content of the others - maybe?
Awful Not funny No plot Waste of time It's what I've come to expect when there are several good actors/actresses in a movie.
I understand that some people might enjoy serious, thought provoking films while others might enjoy the movies that are ridiculousness enough to make you laugh.
Alright, I'm gunna spare you the paragraph This movie was god awful I mean, yes this the latest in the line of (unfortunately) high grossing films portraying the ever downwards spiraling of Hollywood, but I mean come on people Each vignette slowly pulled me closer and closer to the power button on my TV, and yet the sheer crudeness of the acting and LSD infused script sat me back down to stomach the best this film industry could give me.
Going into this movie I had very high hopes, I mean just looking at the cast alone makes me get excited and then the trailers showed a lot of funny jokes, and apparently the only funny jokes, the rest kind of just well fall short of even nod worthy, absolute worst movie of 2013 and that is including 21 and Over, who ever okay'd this movie to be made needs to not only be fired but lined up and fired at, with all the DVDs this thing didn't and won't sell, because any human being with even a sliver of a brain can look at this and just scoff in utter disgust as they should.
It angers me that people are able to give movies like this a 10/10 rating, it makes a mockery of the IMDb rating system, this film was beyond poor.
I honestly feel bad for the actors that have starred in this movie.
I had high hopes for this movie after seeing the trailer, I'm just glad I didn't waste my money watching it at the cinema, gave the movie a chance and it disappointed me at every step..
The star power cannot save a movie if the script, plot, story, dialogs or any other film-making factor don't meet up at least to the minimum requisites.
Movie 43 is not at all enjoyable & if you are tired of reading the same negative reviews everywhere, I will directly say - "DO NOT WATCH IT UNLESS YOU HAVE FREE TIME, NO MIND, NO CS & FREE TICKETS!"The anthology made me grow inquisitive and boy, was it funny?
Directed by a slew of different directors (but mostly by Peter Ferrely) and starring Kate Winslet, Liev Schreiber, Anna Faris, Naomi Watts, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and the list goes on (but you've surely seen the trailers by now) "Movie 43" is the newest movie hoping to push the boundaries of the raunchy American comedy.
In saying that, while I don't share quite the same loathsome regard for this film as many of my fellow critics do, those who come out of "Movie 43" proclaiming it a laugh riot, are probably the same people who classify Adam Sandler as a comedian or amuse themselves by watching syndicated episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos.
Even with its star power and the potential comedic material each sketch promises, "Movie 43" isn't really a film worth watching.
In fact, I will go so far as to make the early prediction that this is one film which seems destined to make it onto more than a few peoples "worst of 2013" lists.Aside from the first two sketches (which are admittedly pretty damn funny) a final sketch which works primarily because of Terrance Howard (the African American basketball skit from the trailer) and a post final credit segment concerning a woman played by Elizabeth Banks, who is jealous of her boyfriend's pet cat (animated cat) that is somewhat funny, "Movie 43" is simply not nearly as funny as it promotes itself to be.
So even to say that one should see "Movie 43" because it is the most vulgar movie of all time is in fact a misnomer; but one which will undoubtedly result in garnering more ticket sales.Side Note: This is the type of sketch comedy movie that seems as if the actors had more fun making it than anybody could have watching it.
But creating comedic parallels between "Movie 43" and SNL may be a misconception, when sadly most of this film is motivated by uninventive poo poo and pee pee jokes, more so the likes of the defunked MADTV, than any other sketch comedy show.Final Thought: Even though it's the cocktail of wishful thinking that maybe the next bit is going to be better than the last boring bit, or the morbid curiosity that comes from wanting to see who will be the next big name actor/actress to make an appearance that does give this film it's momentum, "Movie 43" is severely hindered by the fact that it contains a runtime longer than 15 minutes.
I cannot understand why some of the better known actors took part in this movie.I have a warped sense of humor, but I feel totally ripped off.
Movie 43 is an absolutely brutal movie with a terrible storyline that just set the whole movie up for a bunch of incredible disgusting and just not funny sketches starring some very talented actors playing unlikeable,disgusting and offensive characters.The movie cast is surprisingly brilliant,starring some very different actors,from Richard Gere to Emma Stone to Hugh Jackman to Jason Sudekis,and it really depressed me that such great actors wasted their talent in these ridiculous sketches,I honestly don't understand how they read the script and thought it was a good idea to star.There was not a single sketch that I liked,I am sensitive to vulgar humour,I'm a fan of stuff like South Park and American Pie,but this movie went way too far,with several jokes about incest,children losing fingers because of a music device that looks like a naked woman and a gay cartoon cat,it was incredibly offensive and just unwatchable.Whether Anna Faris wants Chris Pratt to take a dump on her,Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant want to play a dare competition or Keiran Culkin and Emma Stone want to do weird things to each other,Movie 43 is a terrible movie in every way,that a fantastic cast can't even make enjoyable,I wouldn't recommend it to anyone,avoid it in all ways necessary ,it is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.When two close friends and ones younger brother learn about Movie 43,the most banned film on Earth,they go to the dark corners of the internet to find it,which leads to a series of strange sketches they find online..
Including the security guards at the studio that let these people on the lot to make this film.I would highly recommend that you avoid this movie, like you would avoid herpes.
If not, don't waste your money!By the way, I'm 18 and enjoy comedy movies like American Pie and I absolutely hated this.
I can't believe actual respected actors took part in making this
I don't even know how to describe this
calling it a movie will be an insult to all movies out there
I have seen some stupid vile comedies in my days but this one takes the bank.
They did the joke better.Strange movie...very strange...and I'm now I'm being forced to add another few lines to my review...which can not end either...Right now I'm watching Elizabeth Banks beat a cartoon cat, then get attacked, and stabbed by a group of kids.....Is it over now???
The acting is of course amazing, and I personally believe that the story line, although seemingly nonexistent, is also a great work of art, no matter how random and arbitrary it is.I love this movie.
Movie 43 The best part of watching theatrical releases online is you don't have to pay $16 to sit through 20-foot-tall car commercials.However, none of the films streaming in this comedy could every make it to the silver screen.To get revenge on his computer-whiz brother Baxter (Devin Eash), Calvin (Mark L.
This horrible piece of filmed theater, yes, it is so bad that I think it does not deserve the title of movie.
The process that I had to go through in order to leave a review is ridiculous but I want to save all the people who haven't yet wasted their time both paying and watching this awful movie.
This film is by far the worst thing i have EVER!seen, the acting was bad the story lines were bad it was crude and just plain awful.
(Almost like "So bad, it's good", but on purpose) However, upon resuming the film and really paying attention, it becomes clear that this isn't an attempt at "Anti-Humor." These performers, directors and writers are honestly trying to tell good jokes.
And to be blunt, I don't think they would be clever enough in these circumstances to even attempt purposeful "Anti- Humor.""Movie 43" is one of those bad films that you won't soon forget.
Wow. So many big names in the worst movie of all time.
This movie is so bad,don't know what to say,i only watched it because of Emma Stone.There were good stars but it's such bad movie i mean it's like "The Expendables" filled with stars but filled with bad lines,only a person under the age of 15 can think this is funny.I do not recommend that you watch this movie if you like good or normal rated movies but if you have time and nothing else to do or just love Emma Stone(like i do)you should watch it,or just if you are under the age of 15.You will be bored to hell while watching this movie,i mean they had a good idea,good stars starring in the movie,but so bad lines,i mean so bad.Yes,the movie is worse than the "Lord of the rings" or every other normal rated movie that has got these great actors,but it's not the worst movie ever seen.Like MaryAnn Johanson said "Oh, this is adorable!
The marketing team must have had a hell of a time trying to sell "Movie 43" to the general public because it's a comedy that really isn't about anything.
I did not find this movie funny or even slightly entertaining.How could anyone in their right minds use so much money on this garbage, and with these great actors.Don't waste money on this, not to encourage piracy but if you really want to see what the fuzz is about then go watch it there.
Or walk out of the movie theater when you can still get your money back.(Random filler so i can post this review and prevent future time waste)......
Some will say that they have never seen more stupid, "shit humor" comedy, while others will really enjoy the form and elegance and actual wit and depth of the movie.It probably wouldn't work at all if those star actors weren't there, people would simply not watch it past couple of scenes.I suggest people who go to watch Movie 43 to open their mind a little bit, prepare to be challenged at some of their core values and have some really good time.
I knew going into this that it was not gonna be great, but I should have known how far it would sink.This film pretends to have a plot, but it's just an excuse for a bunch of talented actors to do unfunny and disgusting things.
This film is hardly worth of writing any review, maybe only to warn those who did not see it yet and unaware of disastrous movie-going experience that awaits them.
At least this former movie did not claim to be trying to be good...This film is now my all time favorite worst film because it meets that criteria on every level except maybe for some of the actors and I imagine many never knew that this would be the finished product or would have never have signed up for it.I love fellow Aussie, Hugh Jackman, but "what were you thinking, mate?" Fair dink-um and stone the crows, this movie will haunt you and everyone else involved for the rest of their lives and maybe a few decades beyond that.
Is Movie 43 the worst film ever made?
Seriously someone should have said "maybe this isn't has funny has you guys think it is" and just scrap it.I wanted to see this because, like everyone else there are a lot of great actors in it......but...
Sometimes a movie is bad, but it's actually fun and entertaining to watch.
And it's really a big waste of these actors talents to be in such a movie without any taste in humor.
Don't waste your time watching it.This movie was a disastrous experiment..
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tt0029171
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Love from a Stranger
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Carol Howard (Ann Harding) is young woman who works in London at a very ordinary clerical job. She wins a fortune, ninety thousand pounds, in a French lottery. According to what we find later, this is 36 times the price of a nice cottage in the country. She walks off her job and returns to her modest apartment to talk to her best friend Binnie Hale (Kate Meadows) and her elderly aunt Lou (Jean Cadell), who uses complaints about her health to get a bit of loving attention. Carol wants to have luxury and fun with her money for a while, and postpone worrying about her future.Carol's fiancé Ronald Bruce (Bruce Seton), after years of hard work, is just about to get a promotion, and does not want to give that up. His refusal to quit his job causes disagreements and they break up.Carol makes living arrangements for Aunt Lou and puts her flat on the market for rent prior to leaving for France to collect her money and travel in luxury. Cultivated bachelor Gerald Lovell (Basil Rathbone) shows up to inspect the flat and says it is just what he needs. He claims to be a wealthy chemical engineer with a passion for his photography hobby, and he takes the modest flat although he could afford something much more expensive, explaining it reminds him pleasantly of his youth.As Carol and Kate get on the boat to go to Paris, they find Gerald is on board. Gerald now turns on the charm, and Carol quickly falls in love with the romantic and sophisticated man, who is a connoisseur of food, art and Paris.Some time later Ronald comes to Paris and seeks out Carol in her luxurious dwelling, having had second thoughts about their breakup, offering to change his work plans, but it is too late. Carol has married Gerald, despite warnings from Kate.Indications that Gerald has major things to hide begin as the couple makes plans to return to England. Gerald claims that bureaucratic problems with his bankers make it necessary for him to borrow five thousand pounds to make the purchase of a charming secluded country cottage, and he gets Carol to sign legal documents without reading the details.As they move into their cottage, Gerald insists on setting his darkroom in the basement, and has strict orders that no one should ever enter it, on the excuse that there are dangerous poisonous chemicals around. Gerald's violent anger when a servant puts a package inside the basement, or when Carol comes in to talk to him there, indicate he is disturbed and possibly dangerous.In the following weeks, Gerald succeeds in isolating Carol so she has no one to talk to. Then he announces that on the day of the town fair they will be leaving for a long trip to a location that only he knows. He shows signs of illness, and Carol insists that he see the local doctor, despite loud protestations from him that doctors are all quacks, and he will refuse to take any medicines.At about this time Carol hears from the servants that the cottage they live in was priced at two thousand five hundred pounds, not the five thousand that Gerald had borrowed. When Gerald hears about this discrepancy, he goes into an angry tirade. At this moment Carols attitude switches from idyllic honeymoon to fear.When Dr. Gribble (Bryan Powley) examines Gerald, he diagnoses Gerald as having a serious heart condition that threatens his life unless it is treated. Gerald dismisses Dr. Gribble completely until the doctor happens to notice a book that Gerald has been reading that denotes a serious interest in criminology. They strike up a conversation on the book and the criminal case histories in it, focusing on Fletcher, a serial murderer of wealthy women who has avoided conviction. Gerald waxes lyrical, enthusiastic and admiring in talking about Fletcher's accomplishments. As Dr. Gribble examines the book section on Fletcher, he says he has the same book at his home but it must be a different printing, as his book has a photograph of Fletcher. The doctor offers to bring his own copy of the book some time, but Gerald says some other time, as they are leaving for a long trip in the following morning.Ronald and Kate show up at the cottage, sensing that something may be wrong. Carol is very happy to see them and wants to invite them to stay for dinner, as she has arranged for a celebration dinner of sorts with the maid Emmy (Joan Hickson). But when Carol goes upstairs to tell Gerald about it, he goes berserk and yells angrily that he won't put up with them for one minute.As Carol is saying a slow good bye to Ronald and Kate, Dr. Gribble comes back to the house with his own copy of the criminal case histories book. A comparison with his copy shows that the portrait of Fletcher has been torn from Gerald's copy. Fletcher has a beard and is blond, while Gerald has a small mustache and is black haired, but we the viewers can recognize him. Carol comments that he does look vaguely familiar.Dr. Gribble leaves, Gerald comes down the stairs and, after dismissing Emmy for the night and until they return, proceeds to lock all doors of the house. By this time Carol becomes very concerned about her own safety as Gerald's psychological problems are increasingly manifest. In order to gain time she goes ahead with the planned elaborate dinner, and in her conversations she is both verifying her worst fears that Gerald is Fletcher and intends to kill her shortly, and planning some sort of escape.As the conversation proceeds, it gets ever more intense, and Gerald notices that a sort of confession is being wheedled out of him. He confesses that he learned that Carol had won the lottery from the agent who was offering the apartment for rent. Leaving little unclear, he talks about why he has murdered several women, his attitudes that no woman could ever match his intellect. Carol in desperation claims that she herself is a murderer that got away with it. As Gerald demands to know more and more details of what and how and why of her murder, just at the moment when he finally decides that she is lying, and he announces triumphantly that he doesn't believe her, she tells him that his coffee has been poisoned, and that she is just making time until he drops dead. She points out to him that she has not taken any coffee at all, and she stares at him.Gerald, taken aback, rises, his weak heart gives out, and he collapses to the floor.Miraculously, at this time, Dr. Gribble, Kate and Ronald arrive, with help from others they break into the locked house, and all is well for Carol at the end.
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insanity, romantic
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train
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imdb
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tt0087981
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Razorback
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Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr) is babysitting his grandson at his house in the Australian outback when a massive razorback boar attacks him, smashing through his house and dragging away his grandson to devour alive. Jake is accused of murdering the child and while his account of the events are met with considerable skepticism, he is acquitted due to lack of evidence of a boar being responsible of the attack. The event destroys his credibility and reputation, however, and he vows revenge on the boar.
Two years later, American wildlife reporter Beth Winters (Judy Morris) journeys to the outback to document the hunting of Australian wildlife to be processed into pet food at a run-down factory. Beth gets video footage of two thugs, Benny Baker (Chris Haywood) and his brother Dicko (David Argue) illegally making pet food out of animals and is subsequently chased down by them by car. They catch up, force her off the road and attempt to rape her only to be chased off by the same boar that killed Jake's grandson. Beth attempts to take shelter in her car but the hog rips off the door, drags her out and eats her. With no witnesses, her disappearance is subsequently ruled an accident resulting from having fallen down an abandoned mine shaft after leaving her wrecked car.
Some time later, Beth's husband Carl (Gregory Harrison) travels to Australia in search of her and encounters Jake, whom Beth interviewed during her initial report. Jake refers him to the local cannery where he meets Benny and Dicko, whom he convinces to take him along on their next kangaroo hunt, only to be abandoned by them when he spoils a potential kill. Carl is then attacked by a herd of wild pigs, spurred on by the giant boar, who chase him through the night and force him take shelter atop a windmill. The next morning the pigs knock over the windmill but Carl is saved by landing in the pond at the windmill's base, in which the pigs fear to swim.
Once the pigs leave Carl attempts to make his way back to civilisation, all the while suffering from dehydration-induced hallucinations, before finally reaching the house of Sarah Cameron (Arkie Whiteley): a friend of Jake who has been tracking and studying the local pig population and the only one who believes his story of the giant razorback. While recovering at Sarah's house, Carl and Sarah become intimate and he learns that something has been causing the wild pigs excess stress, leading them into unusual behavior such as increased aggression and cannibalizing their own young. Meanwhile, after learning that Carl had seen the razorback, Jake sets out for the pumping station and manages to shoot it with one of Sarah's tracking darts. He also finds Beth's wedding ring in the boar's feces which he returns to a grieving Carl, who resigns himself to returning home.
After overhearing a radio conversation suggesting that Jake knows what really happened to Beth Winters, Benny and Dicko, fearful that Jake is attempting to implicate them in her death, attack him at his camp, breaking his legs with bolt-cutters and leaving him to be killed by the razorback. His remains are later found by Sarah and Carl, along with marks in the dirt made by Dicko's cleaver. Realizing that the brothers were responsible for both his wife and Jake's death, Carl attacks Benny at his and Dicko's lair, interrogating Benny by lowering him into a mine shaft before letting him fall down it. As Sarah rounds up a posse to hunt down the razorback using the tracker Jake shot into it, Carl corners Dicko at the cannery, but the razorback suddenly appears and mauls Dicko before Carl can shoot him. The razorback then chases Carl into the factory when Sarah suddenly arrives and is seemingly killed by the boar, who continues to pursue Carl even after impaling its throat on a broken pipe. In its maddened rampage, the razorback ends up damaging the cannery's generator which sends the machines running out of control as Carl lures the boar up onto a conveyor belt that throws it onto a giant fan, chopping it to pieces. After shutting down the machinery, Carl finds and rescues Sarah, who had merely been knocked unconscious, and the two embrace.
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revenge, violence
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train
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wikipedia
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Despite the apparent ridiculousness of the plot, this movie is better than one might expect.Beth Winters, a Canadian reporter, has come to the small Australian Outback town of Gamulla to shoot a story about the local dog food packing plant, which uses the meat of poached kangaroos in its product.
And there are some pretty funny scenes, notably one where the monster eats a nasty watchdog that's chained to the side of a house; naturally, the corner of the house to which the chain is attached comes off and Joe Couch Potato is left sitting in a wall-less abode, staring quizzically as his television disappears into the outback.Treat it as comedy, and the film makes a lot more sense..
The action scenes and especially the ones with the razorback, a huge boar, are more or less comprehensible in that you get the basic idea of what's going on but all the crucial scenes happen between cuts, so the editing is jumpy, kind of like a TV edit.
The worst example is the movie's finale and the destruction of the monster, which after an exhaustingly loud, dark, monotonous battle between man and monster plot-wise also ends on a ridiculous and schmaltzy note and so the film leaves you with a bad aftertaste.
Razorback is one of the best Australian horror/action movies ever made.
In short, a giant boar (a Razorback) goes on a killing spree in a small outback town.
These qualities are almost disorientating during the film's action and horror sequences, making them all the more suspenseful and eerie.Mulcahy's dizzying direction combines brilliantly with Dean Semler's superb cinematography.
Put simply, Razorback is one of the most beautiful horror films not made by an Italian giallo master.The cast is equally accomplished, offering a smorgasbord of excellent Australian character actors.
American import, Gregory Harrison, does respectably as Carl and the late Arkie Whiteley is sweet as Sarah, a woman who inexplicably monitors boar movements in the middle of nowhere.The special effects still hold up reasonably well and the creature effects for the Razorback are great.
Furthermore, the irony of an animal rights activist being eaten by a giant boar was not lost on me.Razorback is an excellent genre film that deserves much wider recognition.
If you liked American Werewolf in London, get this and you won't go wrong.I don't want to be accused of padding but do an internet seach and you will always find great ratings for this film - it just seems to slip beneath the radar for most reviewers which is a shame because it deserves to become a classic for all the right reasons.
I first saw this film over 20 years ago and it has remained a favourite of mine ever since.The plot is a little bizarre but the performances and cinematography are excellent in evoking a nightmare world of loss,desperation and pain.I wouldn't automatically bracket this film as a "Horror" at all but more a violent depiction of loss and the need for revenge.The grandfather obsessively searching for the Razorback is brilliant-pain,loss and terrifying determination.For me the only down is the ending which I felt strays into "schlock horror" territory too much.It could have been much better and more interesting in keeping with the rest of the film but,overall,it doesn't do the film too much harm.Quirky,bizarre,nightmarish and crazy-nice one..
A wild boar isn't the first animal you would think of to star in it's very own creature feature; but the idea actually works quite well, and it makes a nice change from the usual barrage of sharks, crocodiles and whatnot.
It's not exactly intelligent stuff, but it's a lovely premise for a fun ride.The film is directed by Russell Mulcahy, and it was made a year before he would have his big hit with Highlander.
This is both a help and a hindrance to the movie as, on one hand, it ensures that the film stays lively and exciting; it also restricts the viewer from placing their confidence in the character as we don't get to spend a lot of time with them, which hinders it when it comes to the tension building sequences.
Later comes her husband(Gregory Harrison), he along with an old man(Bill Kerr) confront against two nasties brothers and the large wild boar.Gregory Harrison, Bill Kerr and Chris Haywood offer cool performances on a cast mostly unknown.
Powerhouse special effects light up the screen in this story of a giant pig from the depths of the Outback that causes massive destruction along the Australian landscape.
A little boring at times, but the brilliantly achieved effects and Aussie outdoors make this a must-see film even on the small screen, and don't miss the astounding attacks by the giant wild boar.
But the most memorable performances is the cheerful maniac brothers Benny and Dicko who are marvellously played by Chris Haywood and David Argue that add the wild and wacky feel to the flick.A highly spirited and trashy Australian knock-off that goes down well with a few cold ones..
I remember him spending most of the film getting beaten up and/or falling down.If this had focused on the "Moby Dick" aspect of the storyline, that has a grizzled old man searching the outback for the killer boar that killed his baby, it would have been a bit stronger in the storyline department.
When Morris's character is killed by a razorback, raped prefore, by the dickhead duo, the husband if you can believe who (Trapper John M'd's Gregory Harrison) arrives, desperate to find answers, where a wonderfully rich, avenging moment ensues.
Razorback has to be one of my all time favorite Australian horror/action films.
basically involving fairly low-budget flicks taking advantage of government Arts Council funding to churn out a vast range of sex romps and action/thriller/horror films - most of which should be deservedly desecrated.Razorback, however, finds director Russell Mulcahy (of Highlander fame) in devastating form.
If you watch one giant killer pig movie, make it Razorback!
Directed by Russell Mulcahy (director of "Highlander" and just about every early 80s music video you can remember ["Rio", "True", "Video Killed the Radio Star", "I'm Still Standing", etc...]), this minor Ozploitation classic has a vicious wild boar wreaking havoc upon a small community in the Australian outback.
"Jaws" is the pinnacle of this sort of nature-gone-wild type of film, and "Razorback" is nowhere in that same league, but I'd argue that it's a minor classic on the level of "Piranha" or "Alligator." The films stars Gregory Harrison of "Trapper John, M.D." fame and was shot by Oscar winning cinematographer Dean Semler, so it's a quality made exploitation film.
Overall, "Razorback" will absolutely entertain fans of these sorts of films (meaning if a giant killer pig running amok does not sound like a quality film premise, "Razorback" is probably not for you)..
A giant bloodthirsty razorback boar goes on a killing spree in the Australian outback,taking the life of an animal rights activist in the process.Her husband travels over from America to find out what happened to her,unaware that her killer was a monstrous pig."Razorback" is a pretty entertaining killer pig flick that delivers plenty of violence and excitement.The film is well-photographed and nicely edited and the electronic score provide some chills.Unfortunately there is a minimal amount of gore on display,however the most effective pig attack sequences are the ones in which the razorback isn't even seen,where it's basically up to editing and sound effects to do the trick.When the razorback does make an appearance on screen,it looks pretty awful and unconvincing.Overall, this piggy horror flick has the special place in my heart,because it was one of the very first horror flicks I have seen as a kid.That's why I give it a pretty generous 8 out of 10..
For starters, it was set in the Australian Outback which is the most isolated place you could film a horror movie and certainly not a place where anyone would want to be left at the mercy of a killer pig.
A lot of wildlife horror movies feature too many close ups and this spoils it as usually the featured animal is so obviously fake and such a joke!The thing I like about this film is the fact that the hero is in the Outback far away from any weapons, any police or any help.
The grandfather, Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr) is tried for the murder of his grandson, but found innocent and his pursuit of the razorback that no one believes in, begins.From America comes animal rights activist and reporter Beth Winters (Judy Morris), who is doing a report on the slaughter of the kangaroos in a small town that houses a pet food packing plant.
We are soon to find out that Jake Cullen and Carl have a lot more in common than they would like to believe.This was director Russell Mulcahy's first feature film after directing MTV videos (including the first video ever aired on MTV, "Video Killed The Radio Star").
Russell knew what type of movie he wanted from the beginning, it's just his flair for the dramatic that shines throughout.Cutting to the quick, this is just a really damn cool flick that needs to be watched and appreciated by as many horror fans as humanly possible.
"Razorback" is a brutal, strikingly filmed, Australian entry in the 'natural horror' canon that features an immense razorback boar terrorizing the outback.
Later, while searching for his wife (an American animal-rights activist that disappeared while investigating kangaroo hunting), Carl Winter (Gregory Harrison) comes face to face with the tusked monster.
I just watched Australian film called Razorback (1984) and I was surprised how much I enjoyed watching this movie.
In the fact that model razorback was built at a cost of $250 thousand and is seen for only a few minutes, but the movie still made me interesting watching to the end.
Some argue the villainous characters were annoying, however, I found them quite unnerving and were arguably just as if not more terrifying then the Razorback itself.Russell Mulcahy did a splendid job directing wise and went onto direct one of the best fantasy films of the 1980's, Highlander!The filmmakers use the Jaws effect in that you only see bits and pieces of the Razorback.
The style also makes the film more memorable then 'that movie with the killer pig'.
I would highly recommend watching the film on Blu-ray since the picture quality is stellar and the special features are also quite good.I'm glad Razorback still has a cult following since it's definitely a film worth talking about.
Beths' husband Carl (TV veteran Gregory Harrison) goes to Australia himself to find out what had happened and ends up having to help the locals vanquish the beast.As directed by Russell Mulcahy, who went on to helm "Highlander", "Razorback" is at its best when basking in the atmosphere inherent to this wilderness.
This is an enjoyably grisly and visceral movie and doesn't skimp on thrills.The acting is solid - Harrison is fine as an average guy & unlikely sort of hero, the lovely and appealing Arkie Whiteley, who sadly died way too young, is a joy as female lead Sarah, Bill Kerr solidly convincing as the vengeance minded old boar hunter, and Haywood and Argue appropriately repulsive as the human antagonists.Overall, this is a good deal of fun that puts its own spin on the entire "nature strikes back" sub genre that was especially popular in the '70s after the success of "Jaws".
For those who may scoff at the thought of a giant killer pig movie, it's more entertaining than one might think and as said is not playing everything 100% straight faced anyway.
Well if you've seen a better killer pig movie I'd like to see it!.
A killer boar, not just any boar but a member of the titular Razorback species a breed so wild "Neither God or the Devil could have made a more horrible creation", is on a 2 year long rampage that began with the destruction of hunter Jake Cullen's (Bill Kerr) house and the death of his grandson, for which he was promptly blamed and charged for; insult to injury, and more recently the death of American reporter, whose death is not entirely to blame on the pig (think Deliverance in the Australian Outback).
The reporter's husband, Carl Winthers (Gregory Harrison), sets about investigating her death, or better stated disappearance (as Razorback's leave little for the dingo's) and thusly teams up with the cantankerous hunter and his caring and beautiful charge Sarah (Arkie Whitely).And so begins a horror film about a big ol' piggy.Let me say fans of horror, creature features, Ozploitation and Russell Mulcahy (later to direct Highlander, even later to direct Scorpion King: Rise of the Warrior...
The film's cinematography is astounding, simply brilliant and the way scenes of tension are shot with a styled finesse which renders the Razorback as an actual deadly threat, not just an over-sized piglet.The film is an early prelude to the horrors with the down played comic touch that is now a staple of that genre, Dog Soldiers comes to mind.
Also of note are the films de facto villains, two deranged locals, played by Chris Haywood and David Argue, whom play the manic pair with such intensity you may think twice about visiting any familia in the land down under.To finish, a great movie, off beat and original, well shot and superbly acted, and thoroughly entertaining.
And I'd like to end with, if you've got a better film about a killer pig, do tell?!?!?.
It should be distracting, but in reality it helps to heighten the paranoia and tension: you can't trust most of the characters in this film, mainly cause they're just bad psychopathic backwoods-Aussie folk, and, of course, that big boar could be anywhere.It certainly still feels dated being from the 80's (again, lots of SMOKE and FOG, not a bad thing just what it is), but that's part of its charm when it occurs.
When it gets to being exciting Mulcahy and writer Everett DeRoche (veteran of many Aussie-exploitation movies) ramp up both the suspense and the black-humor; there's a scene where a fat guy is sitting at home watching his TV, the razorback hooked up to part of the house, and when he runs away he takes half of the house (and the TV) with him!
It is definitely an Australian movie, which you will understand if you like Aussie films, which I usually do.
If you like bad, weird, killer animal, and/or Australian movies, check this one out..
Gregory Harrison plays the american who travels to Australia in search of his wife who was killed by the giant boar known as, you guest it Razorback!.
So, basically, not a whole lot changed for Mulcahy, as he went from directing "Wild Boys" to "Wild Boars"
Perhaps I'm a little bit biased, because I saw "Razorback" at a very young age and it definitely helped stimulating my interest in the horror genre, but even after more than 20 years I still consider it to be a widely versatile and genuinely nightmarish effort.
Jake Cullen prowls for the giant pig ever since it killed his grandson and Carl Winters came over from New York because his wife – a journalist slash animal activist – mysteriously vanished whilst filming a documentary on kangaroo poaching.
But what I will remember about Razorback is those night scenes of the Aussie outback, all that smoke and clever lighting, as others have said, it looked like an alien planet.But this is not just a visual movie, this movie captures my home country of Australia, our humour is performed so well by the male cast members.
Man-eating Pig - What A Ham. Went to borrow the DVD because the 20 to 1 TV show episode featuring Top 20 Movie Monsters rated the Razorback #11 on the list - beating Jaws (a mere #18) and King Kong (#20!).
The plot of this Australian film "Razorback" concerns a rampant wild boar that eats people who get in its way.
Razorback is about a giant boar that attacks and eats people on the Australian countryside.
At some point in the movie, I was almost begging for the boar to show up and kill those people.With that said, I can say that the acting is pretty darn good.The story is nice and develops at a steady pace.
boring film is quite talky has annoying dialog it's also headache inducing at times has a bad premise and some laughable pig attacks it has okay acting Gregory Harrison does good here and is likable too bad he is in a dumb movie Judy Molis does okay in her limited screen time but spurts out some bad lines at times Arkie Whitpley is cute and does okay it has an amusing moment where the Razorback drags the house with it but it has an intense finale cool photography and a decent score but it's much little too late to save this it is quite bad and is painfully slow at times overall i would say not worth it but well if you must go ahead *1/2 out of 5 it is quite hard to find now a days so.
This distinctly average Australian horror film about a giant boar is indeed a gigantic bore.
But no, this movie takes place in Australia, and American actor Gregory Harrison plays the lead.The production of this move is not bad.
Movie captures the atmosphere of Australian outback pretty well.
From the director of 1986's Highlander and the 1991 sequel The Quickening, Russell Mulcahy brings you a monster revival flick involving a giant killer boar, also known as a "razorback." What we have here is a cleverly executed film, alittle typical considering the time period, but entertaining nonetheless.A young woman by the name of Beth Winters is sent on assignment to film a wildlife documentary in the Australian Outback.
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tt0049515
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Mohawk
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A wagon train courses across the Cherry Valley in New York, headed for Ft. Alden. As members of various indian tribes comprising the Iroquois Nation watch, two women riding on a wagon are worried about possible danger. The man driving the wagon tells them that the indians are currently peaceful, but can't be trusted to stay that way. He tells them white women in their war paint (make-up) make him much more nervous.The women are Aunt Agatha (Barbara Jo Allen) and her niece Cynthia (Lori Nelson) Stanhope. They are on their way from Boston to Ft. Alden to find Jonathan Adams (Scott Brady), an artist whom Cynthia hopes to marry. Adams had been commissioned by the Massachusetts Society to go to Ft. Alden and produce at least 20 paintings representing the area.Captain Langley (John Hudson) is the commandant of Ft. Alden. When he learns that the ladies are there to meet up with Jonathan Adams, he's a bit taken aback, especially when they tell him that Cynthia is Jonathan's fiance. It seems Jonathan has a bit of a reputation as a ladies man. The ladies' visit was meant to be a surprise.Langley calls over the fort's store proprietor, Clem Jones (Rhys Williams), and asks him if he knows where Adams is. Jones doesn't know specifically, only that Adams is with his daughter Greta (Allison Hayes), and a milk cow, outside the fort someplace doing a painting.Greta is a beautiful redhead who is in love with Adams, but she knows he doesn't love her, so when he mentions that he should marry a woman like her, she comments that she's too stupid for him and will be fat like her father in another 10 years.Three Iroquois maidens stumble upon Greta and Jonathan, but the couple don't see them. One of the maidens is Onida (Rita Gam), the daughter of Chief Kowanen (Ted de Corsia). She's curious about the practice of kissing, which she observes Greta and Jonathan do.Mr. Butler (John Hoyt) is a life-long resident of the Cherry Valley who resents both the indians and the settlers who now live there. He goes over to the indian encampment and meets with Chief Kowanen, informing the chief that 61 new settlers and a wagon load of rifles had recently arrived in the valley, inferring that the rifles were meant to be used against the indians to force them off their lands, which are needed for the growing number of settlers. Kowanen responds that "the eagle is not afraid of the mole." That elicits and immediate response from a Tuscarora Indian named Rokhawah (Neville Brand), who says that's just the sort of thing that his father used to say before their people were overwhelmed by the white man.Minikah (Mae Clarke), Kowanen's wife, glances down at the indian blanket draped across her shoulders and reads the story told by the symbols on the blanket about the history of their people and how the Great Spirit and the wise men all counseled the Iroquois peoples to band together and maintain the peace by being strong in unity. Kowanen tells Butler and Rokhawah that he will not seek hostilities against the whites.Jonathan and Greta arrive back at the fort just as the gates are being closed at sunset. Jonathan is shocked to see Cynthia and Aunt Agatha standing there. After exchanging hugs hello, he introduces them to Greta. Cynthia then asks Jonathan to show her what paintings he had completed to date. She observes that he is two months overdue in returning to Boston. She wants him to return with her and get married. He doesn't seem interested in either idea.Greta shows Agatha the painting she and the cow had been modeling for. In the painting, Greta stands holding the bottom of her skirt up so that her legs are showing. Agatha doesn't seem impressed.At dinner, Butler is informed by Agatha that she is a "Miss," and further explains that she's a spinster due to her wit, because every time a man proposed to her, she laughed at him, and after some time, the joke was on her. Mr. Butler reveals a strong bitterness to his table mates when he speaks that his family used to be the only white family in the valley and they considered it to be their personal property. He thinks that indians have the same rights as animals and are fit to be no more than slaves. He observes that so many white settlers are showing up, that they are squeezing the life out of the valley.Kowanen's and Minikah's son, Keoga (Tommy Cook), and Rokhawah both believe an attempt should be made to get the rifles away from the settlers so they can't be used against them. Keoga asks his sister, Onida, if she will help them. Onida seems to share their concerns and agrees to help. Because indians are allowed inside the fort during the day, but must leave at dusk, Onida hides out inside the fort and later lets the warriors in through a door connected to a secret tunnel that leads outside the fort. The indians proceed to club four sentries unconscious and begin removing rifles from the back of a wagon and passing them to others outside the fort. Another sentry sees them and shoots, wounding one brave. The rest of the fort's occupants are alerted by the shooting and rush out to see what's up. The indians all make to escape, but another warrior is shot before they all get out.Agatha wonders why Jonathan just sits at a table continuing to calmly eat his supper when there's obvious trouble outside. He tells her that his help isn't needed. Seeing that the ladies are distraught, he offers to escort them to their quarters for the night, then goes to his own room. Onida didn't go over the wall with the warriors, so she attempts to return to the tunnel to get out, but as Adams is there by then, he grabs her as she runs past. He's immediately taken with her looks and spirit. They struggle for awhile, but when they hear others approaching, he hides her behind his bed. A small detail led by the commandant enter Adams' quarters. An old timer immediately goes to the doorway in the wall and explains to the commandant that it provides access to a tunnel leading outside the fort and was likely how the warriors gained entry. A small keg of dynamite is placed inside the tunnel and it's blown closed.After the detail leaves his room, Adams tells Onida that he'll smuggle her outside the fort tomorrow in his wagon. He tells her he would like to paint a picture of her. He directs her to a mat on the floor to sleep on. When he gets in his big bed and turns on his side to gaze admirably at her, she pulls her knife from it's sheath in a threatening gesture and he turns over and goes to sleep.The next morning, Cynthia asks Greta why she's in the picture Adams is painting when there's already a cow. Greta explains that the cow is required by the Massachusetts Society and she's in there as the surprise.Adams tells Cynthia and Greta that he's going out to paint by himself that day. With Onida in the back of his wagon covered with a blanket, he hooks up the milk cow and heads out. He tells the soldiers at the gate that he won't hold them accountable should anything happen to him as a result of the indians being riled up. They decide to go ahead and let him leave the fort.Out in the countryside, Onida climbs up on the seat next to Adams. She wants to know the nature of his relationship with Cynthia and Greta, as she'd witnessed him kissing them both. She says her people never kiss and she doesn't understand it. He then kisses her and she pulls away and laughs. It tickled and seems odd to her. Onida tells Adams that he's different than other white men and she thinks he has a good heart. She wants him to come to her village and learn about her people and learn how peaceful they are. Adams says he'll go if he can paint what he sees.At the indian camp, a council is underway. The leaders are discussing recent events. Rokhawah is the most agitated and is itching for a fight. When Adams arrives, Rokhawah insults him, prompting Onida to chastise Rokhawah, as does her brother, Keoga. When Rokhawah slaps Onida, Adams punches him and the fight is on. Rokhawah draws a knife, but Adams evades it and knocks Rokhawah down and takes away the knife, breaking it on a tree trunk.Chief Kowanen takes a liking to Adams and tells him he's always welcome among his people. Adams offers to paint the indians so he can show other whites the pictures and allow them to get to know the Iroquois better.When Jonathan does not return to the fort by sundown, nor for the next several days, the women are very upset, especially when the commandant won't send a patrol out to look for him. Agatha astutely figures Adams is either dead or in the arms of some beautiful woman. The commandant tells them that Jonathan had been warned of the danger. Mr. Butler wants to go to the encampment and forcibly search for Adams if need be (an excuse to slaughter them), but Langley says no. Butler tells the people at the fort that they'd better react to the earlier attack at the fort and to Adams' disappearance, or the indians will believe there's no repercussions to fear.Jonathan is busy painting scenes of indian life at the encampment. He paints a scene of indians signing a traditional song around a campfire as Onida explains it's meaning to him, then the next morning, working shirtless, he paints a group of women washing clothes on the rocks in a nearby stream as another group of young women play what seems to be an early game of Frisbee. Onida is one of the Frisbee players and when Adams teases her by catching the ring and tossing it into the river, the other women join her in pushing him into the water. Adams and Onida end up wrestling around in the water and then kissing on the bank. Rokhawah, returning from a deer hunt, witnesses that and is obviously not pleased.Rather than send out a patrol to look for Adams, Langley decides to go by himself. He rides over to the indian encampment where he finds Adams painting a picture of the chief and his wife (they are very impressed with the work). Langley tells Chief Kowanen that Mr. Butler is stirring things up at the fort among the soldiers and settlers and they need to be reassured that the Indians have no intent of disturbing the peace. Jonathan offers to go back and explain what's going on. The chief decides that sending his son Keoga along will serve as a demonstration of his peoples' peaceful intent.As Adams and Keoga ride toward the fort, Butler is lying in wait and ambushes them. He shoots and kills Keoga, then runs off. Adams immediately places Keoga back in his wagon and returns with the body to the indian encampment.Rokhawah is about to bust with hatred and the desire for revenge now. As the Mohawk Priest (Michael Granger) says a prayer over Keoga's body, Rockaway interrupts and observes how the Iroquois people have not only suffered being killed by the whites but the dead must walk the earth forever because the whites had plowed up all the burial grounds. He calls for war. Chief Kowanen is likewise very upset but he won't go to war unless it's agreed to by the other chiefs. He calls for runners to go out and summon the chiefs to a war council.As Adams struggles to figure out who might have cause to shoot Keoga, Onida tells Adams about the time Butler came to the encampment and told her father about the arrival of new white settlers and a wagon with rifles. She now fears for the safety of Adams, telling him that if the Iroquois decide to go to war, he will likely be the first one killed and dumped outside the doors of the fort. She wants him to leave, but he refuses and instead runs over to where the war council is going on and tries to dissuade the chiefs from declaring war. They tie him to a tree at the edge of the encampment. The decision has been made to go to war. It's clear that Chief Kowanen has had a distinct change in attitude about his feelings towards Adams, now just another white man.Onida informs her mother that she loves Adams and will defend him to the death. Minikah seems angry about that at first, then showing great wisdom, she counsels her daughter to go cut Adams loose before he is killed. But, before Onida can do that, Rokhawah approaches Adams and prepares to start a process of slowly cutting and torturing Adams, preparatory to killing him. Onida then sneaks up on Rokhawah from behind and stabs him before he can do any harm to Adams. Onida then sends Adams away, to go warn the people at the fort. He promises to return for her.Some of the warriors see Jonathan jumping over the encampment wall and three of them give chase. It's a long way to the fort and they all run full tilt the entire way, but Adams is able to get their without being caught.The indians begin their attack and the settlers take flight, loading up their wagons with their women and children and head for Ft. Alden. The indians burn the abandoned homes and crops, whooping and hollering the entire time.Langley sends a rider to go find their colonel and bring back more men to help.Mr. Butler prepares to leave the fort on his own and ride away somewhere to safety. That's when Adams confronts him, suspecting he was the one who shot and killed Keoga and had also earlier told the Iroquois about the rifles in the wagon. Butler doesn't deny any of the accusations, making it apparent that he did do those things, so he's shoved outside the fort on foot, and the gates are barred behind him. As the indians approach the fort, Butler bangs on the doors begging to be let back in, but an arrow hits him in the back and kills him.The Iroquois rush the fort with homemade ladders, but they are repelled from scaling the walls. However, they massed outside the walls, so the fort gates are ordered open and a cannon is fired point blank into the mass of indians, causing them to lose their fervor and fall back to the edge of the woods.Cynthia doesn't want Adams to do any fighting, fearing it will kill or injure him so that he can't paint anymore. Greta tells Cynthia that Adams wouldn't amount to much of an artist if he wasn't a man first.The rider sent out by Langley reaches the colonel and the colonel orders his men to head for Ft. Alden. Meanwhile, the Iroquois have re-gathered for another attack. They find some powder kegs and place them near the gates of the fort and set them off. That causes a fire that results in Langley ordering everyone to fall back and get inside the buildings. The indians then climb over the stockade walls and open the gates. It's not long before they break into the buildings and the fighting becomes hand-to-hand. That's when the colonel and other men arrive and turn the tide. Lots of people are hurt or killed, but the battle has ended.Chief Kowanen is speaking about how the fight was such a waste and he believes that neither side won. Adams comes forward carrying the dead body of Butler and dumps it at the chief's feet, explaining that it was the man who killed Keoga. The chief announces that too many people had died already because of that man and peace is re-established.Adams sends more than his contracted 20 paintings back to Boston with Cynthia and Agatha. Both Cynthia and Greta had come to the understanding that Adams wasn't interested in marrying either one of them and that he was choosing to stay there.Adams heads back to the Iroquois encampment where he marries Onida. Chief Kowanen and his wife Minikah inform Adams that he is now like a son to them and they have given him an Iroquois name: Keoga.The End
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revenge, murder
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train
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imdb
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tt0421073
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Street Kings
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Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. The movie opens with Tom Ludlow waking up, having been drinking the night before. Working undercover, he meets with two Korean gangsters in a parking lot, who are looking to buy a machine gun from him. After a vicious beatdown, the Koreans then proceed to steal Tom's car. Locating his car at the Korean's hideout, Tom storms in and kills all the people inside, even an unarmed man on the toilet, and he then locates two missing children who have been imprisoned at the house. Using a pair of rubber gloves, he then proceeds to cover up what really happened.In the next scene, Ludlow is surrounded by police at the scene of the crime. While the other officers in his unit congratulate him, he is confronted by his former partner, Terrence Washington (Terry Crews). Apparently, all of the cops in Ludlow's unit, including their captain, Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), bend and break the rules of conduct on a regular basis. Washington no longer approves of the corruption and deception of the unit and he has gone straight. Wander congratulates Ludlow, and then takes him to the hospital to tend to a wound he got in the gunfight with the Koreans.At the hospital, Ludlow waits for a particular nurse who turns out to be his girlfriend, Grace Garcia (Martha Higareda). While he is waiting, a fawning patient in the next space in the ER recognizes Ludlow and is eager to hear how he solved the crime involving the Koreans. Before Ludlow says anything, another policeman walks up to the fawning patient, and reveals the patient to actually be James Biggs (Hugh Laurie) , Captain of Internal Affairs. Biggs gives Ludlow his card and encourages Ludlow to work with him, but Ludlow plainly despises Biggs.At a department party, Ludlow hears that Washington's report inspired Biggs to investigate Ludlow. Upset at Washington for "snitching", Ludlow follows him to a convenience store to confront him and beat him up. However, before entering the store, Ludlow sees two masked men drive into the parking lot. He tries to convince Washington that a robbery is about to occur, but Washington doesn't believe him. The two men enter with machine guns and execute Washington. One shot from Ludlow's gun also hits Washington, although it is not clear if this is intentional. Wander comes to investigate the crime, and he encourages Ludlow to steal the store's security video disk which might implicate Ludlow in the murder of Washington.DNA of two criminals known as Fremont and Coates is found at the scene, as well as drugs in Washington's car. It is assumed that Washington himself was corrupt, despite his seemingly changed attitude, and that he was stealing drugs from the department's evidence room and selling them to Fremont and Coates, who killed him over a bad deal.Ludlow convinces Detective Paul "Disco" Diskant (Chris Evans) to enthusiastically pursue the case. Their search for the shooters involves some tough interrogation of other known criminals, which eventually leads them to a house in the hills where they discover the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates buried in a shallow grave. The decomposition of the bodies is so severe that it becomes apparent that they were killed well before Washington's murder.Ludlow and Disco, posing as corrupt cops who are willing to take over Washington's activity of stealing and selling drugs, set up a meeting with the two criminals masquerading as Fremont and Coates who they believe killed Washington. Ludlow tries to convince Disco to stay away, but ultimately takes him to the meeting. The meeting goes bad when the criminals recognize Ludlow from the convenience store and then realize that he and Disco are off-duty and seeking revenge. Disco also realizes that he recognizes the two criminals, but before he can reveal their true identities, one of the impostors, Coates (Common), shoots and kills Disco. A gunfight follows, and Ludlow kills both Fremont and Coates and escapes back to his girlfriend, Grace's, house. There a TV news report reveals the dead "criminals" were actually undercover sheriff's deputies, and that Ludlow murdered them. Ludlow is mystified as to how the story, especially his participation, could be on television so quickly.Suddenly, Santos (Amaury Nolasco) and Demille (John Corbett), two fellow officers from his own unit, break into Grace's house and capture Ludlow. He thinks that they are driving him to the police station, when they turn the car in the opposite direction. Santos and Demille admit that they planted Fremont and Coates' DNA and the drugs in Washington's car at the scene of his murder, in order to prevent Washington from testifying against Wander (and not Ludlow) in Biggs's investigation. Ludlow realizes that Santos and Demille are going to now kill him, and he attacks the driver from the back seat of the car, causing it to crash, but he does not get away. The two cops take Ludlow out to the house where the two bodies were found earlier. They want some of his DNA, to plant at the crime scene, and then they will execute him. They taunt Ludlow, but he manages to crawl into some brush and ultimately kill them.Ludlow now heads to Washington's house, ancticipating that another member of Wander's unit, Mike Clady (Jay Mohr), will be there searching for the security disk he left there, and which would disclose the real circumstances of Washington murder. Clady is beating up Washington's widow, but Ludlow stops him, and throws him in the trunk of Ludlow's car.By now, Ludlow is pretty sure that he has been a pawn in a plan masterminded by Captain Wander. Ludlow goes to Wander's house to make sure that Wander really wanted to kill him. He asks Wander if he can "fix it", and encourages Wander to text Clady and get his help. In fact, Ludlow has Clady's phone, and he reads Wander's message on the phone, in which Wander has told Clady to come to his house and kill Ludlow. A struggle betwen Ludlow and Wander follows, and Ludlow ultimately handcuffs Wander to a railing. Wander then tells Ludlow to tear down a wall of Wander's house, disclosing a large amount of stolen money. Wander reveals that he also has incriminating evidence on just about everyone in the department, as well as judges and politicians. With so many people in Wander's pocket, he has been able to quickly move up the department ranks as well as bury his unit's corruption. Wander tells Ludlow that he will become chief and then mayor, and he tries to convince Ludlow that he is his friend and that all the cash is for the benefit of Wander's unit. Ludlow tells Wander "You were my best friend," and then shoots him twice in the chest.We next see Ludlow out on the back porch of Wander's home when a plain-clothes policeman arrives and tells him to put down his gun. Internal Affairs Officer Biggs arrives behind the policeman, and he says that he came as soon as Ludlow called him. Biggs tells Ludlow that Biggs was using Ludlow to catch Wander and get access to Wander's documents and cash, by opening Ludlow's eyes to the real corruption going on within his unit. Biggs returns Ludlow's gun and handcuffs, saying "One day the chief will pass you in the hall and he will give you a nod and you will know why."
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violence, neo noir, murder
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt0051205
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Womaneater
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The title and credits are shown over a painting of a jungle at dusk. We open with a view of the Thames River. A man enters the Explorers Club. In a comfortable club room, Dr. James Moran (George Coulouris) is discussing an interesting tale recounted by a deceased colleague by the name of Ashby. Dr. Patterson (Norman Claridge) and Lewis Carling (Robert MacKenzie) listen with some skepticism. Moran tells them he was made aware of a tribe in the Amazon that can bring the dead back to life. He has a map and he intends to go see for himself. He asks Carling if he wants to join him. Carling thinks the departure date is too soon. Moran is called from the room. Dr. Patterson warns Carling that while brilliant, Moran is very strange and insanity runs in his family. Ultimately, Carling joins Moran and they fly to the Amazon. Hacking through the jungle they spot a mountain noted on Ashby's map. The tribe they seek is related to the Inca. A native ritual is underway when they encounter the tribe. A man and a woman stand on a raised platform. The snake handling witch doctor (Shief Ashanti) presides. The native girl (Marpessa Dawn) appears to be drugged, swaying to the beat of the drums. Carling is overwhelmed by the ceremony, and shouts at the natives. He is killed with a spear. The native girl is led to a large plant, the womaneater, which waves its many arms. She sees the plant and screams as she is pulled towards it. The next day Moran is stricken with jungle fever. He is taken away on a stretcher with very little chance of survival.ENGLAND. Five Years Later. A car pulls up to a large country home. Moran survived and is doing research in his study. He unlocks the door to and enters a well-equipped basement lab. A native man, Tanga (Jimmy Vaughn) plays a drum with a jungle beat. He leads a woman, Susan Curtis (Sara Leighton), towards the same plant we saw five years earlier. The woman is pushed into the plant. Moran notes, "She'll become part of the plant. And from it I'll get the serum to bring the dead back to life. She won't have died in vain." Tanga burns her clothes in the furnace as Moran checks on his formula. He injects the formula into an eggplant-shaped object which begins to pulsate. A few minutes later it stops--the formula is a failure.Sergeant Bolton (Edward Higgins) pays a call on Moran. He tells Moran he is making inquires about the disappearance of Susan Curtis. Moran lies, and denies any knowledge. He asks his housekeeper, Mrs. Margaret Santor (Joyce Gregg) if she's seen the girl. Mrs. Santor sees the policeman out.At a carnival we meet Sally Norton (Very Day) helping a barker, Bristow (Harry Ross) the carnival owner, draw customers. She performs a hula dance to entice the crowd. During a break, she meets Jack Venner (Peter Wayn) and agrees to meet him the next day at his garage. Sally was fired because of a fight the night before between Venner and Sally's boss. Venner takes Sally to see Dr. Moran for a job. Sally goes to the door and Tanga greets her. She is shown into the study by Tanga. Moran initially tells her he has no job at the moment, but changes his mind. He asks her, "Would you be prepared to live in?" She agrees, but later tells Venner, "He's rather a strange person though, had a funny look in his eye." Sally grabs her bag and walks up to the house to start her new job. Over Margaret's strong objection, Moran has engaged Sally to help with the housework. Moran warns Margaret, "Be nice to her."The police are still investigating the Susan Curtis disappearance. They suspect it may now be murder. They agree that Moran's property needs to be searched. They return to see Moran again. Inspector Brownlow (Maxwell Foster) and Bolton are invited in by Sally. Brownlow asks Morans permission to search the grounds. Of course, they find nothing. Tanga and Moran draw a beaker of plant sap from the womaneater. Moran is convinced he can improve on the formula to restore life.It is too dangerous for Moran to recruit local victims, so he goes to the city. In London, Moran walks the city streets at night. He follows a woman, Judy (Joy Webster), into a private club. The woman has joined a man (David Lawton) at a table for a drink. When the boyfriend becomes angry and walks out, Moran moves in. He pays for her drink and offers her a cigarette. Judy goes off with Moran. Moran takes Judy home and down into the basement lab. Tanga seizes her and prepares her for the plant. Moran returns to his study and is confronted by a suspicious Margaret. Five years before Moran and Margaret had a spark for each other, but Moran is no longer interested in Margaret. "I believe you're doing something wicked," Margaret tells Moran. He threatens to send her away. Cowed by the threat, Margaret backs down and returns to her room. Judy is now drugged and prepared for the plant. Tanga plays the drums and then leads Judy to the womaneater. It stands about seven feet tall and has half a dozen branches like arms drawing its victim towards the mouths.The next day Sally visits Jack Venner at his garage. Jack blurts out, "Sally, how about us getting married?" She thinks it's a crazy idea, as they've only known each other for two weeks. Sally returns to the house late and Mrs. Santor voices her objections to Moran, but she is overruled. Moran tells Sally he is sending Mrs. Santor away and she is to replace her. Sally is reluctant to accept the promotion and tells Moran so. Like Margaret, Sally is suspicious. Moran and Tanga draw off another beaker of plant sap. Sally leaves the house and returns to Jack's garage. She tells Jack, "Oh, Jack, I've got to leave that place. I can't stay there." Jack gives her a drink. He tells her not to return, but she tells him she will spend the night and pack and leave the next morning. Margaret admits she's still in love with Moran, but he does not reciprocate. Margaret gets angry at being jilted for a younger woman. She pulls a ceremonial knife off Moran's desk and tries to stab him. He manages to disarm Margaret and chokes her to death.The next morning Sally brings Moran tea. She tells him she won't accept the job. Moran tells Sally she can leave anytime she wishes. Sally returns to her room and packs her clothes. Before she can walk out the front door, Moran uses the final salary ruse to draw her into his study. When pressed for an explanation for refusing the job, Sally tells Moran she's going to marry Jack Venner. Moran expresses his love for Sally. He takes her down into the lab.At police headquarters, Brownlow gets a telephone call that relates to Moran and the plant. Evidence of a girl's clothes was found close to the Moran house. Venner is waiting at the garage; Sally is overdue. He calls the Moran house but gets no answer. Venner drives over to the Moran house. He knocks on the door. Moran answers. He tells Venner that Sally left this morning. Venner tells Moran he thinks Sally is still in the house and he demands to see her. Venner leaves and vows to go straight to the police and report his suspicions. Moran returns to the lab and unlocks the door Sally is behind. He takes her to see the plant. She asks, "What is it?" Moran answers, "It's the great juju of Tanga's tribe. Its their idol. They worship it." Tanga begins playing the drums to the rhythmic movement of the plant's arms. Venner stops at the police station to see Sgt. Bolton. He is told Bolton is out investigating a missing person out by the Moran house.Sally watches as Moran injects his formula into a body on a gurney. The body begins breathing and the pulsometer responds. Margaret sits up and the sheet covering her face falls away. Moran calls to Margaret, but she does not speak. Moran concludes that the body is revived by the formula, but not the mind. Moran accuses Tanga, "Your people cheated me. They gave me only half the secret." "Our secrets are not for you," Tanga replies. Margaret, mimicking the plant, reaches out and pulls her arms back while she walks towards Sally. Sally screams. Margaret's head snaps back and she falls to the floor. Margaret is once again dead. The police arrive and pound on Moran's door. Venner forces a window and they enter the house. Tanga leads Sally towards the plant. She resists, but Tanga picks her up in his arms and carries her to the plant. Moran, seeing Sally as the next victim of the plant, attacks and struggles with Tanga. While the police search the house, Venner finds the basement lab and takes Sally out as Tanga and Moran struggle. Moran manages to knock the younger man out. He tells Tanga, "You've cheated me. Now I'll destroy your Idol as you've destroyed me." Moran throws a flammable liquid on the plant. It bursts into flames. Moran tries to exit the lab, but Tanga awakens and hits him with a knife in his back. We close with Tanga falling to his knees before the burning womaneater plant.
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murder
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt1327194
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The Lucky One
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Is there really such a thing as destiny? Is Fate shadowing our movements, stacking the deck, or are all our momentsordinary and extraordinaryrandom?A Marine (Zac Efron) has seemingly defied the odds during three tours of duty in Iraq. The story opens in Iraq, where U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault is on his third tour of duty. Almost immediately, he is thrust into a firefight that changes his life forever.Central to the story is Logan's connection to what he comes to perceive as his own good luck charm - a photograph of a stranger he finds in the middle of the war zone.Returning to the States, Logan is unable to fit back in with his own family. Will Fetters says many of his friends who served echo that sentiment. "The disconnect these veterans feel when they come home is so immense. It takes a while to get back into the rhythm of life. Their once usual surroundings feel alien. Nothing will ever be the same."Logan is also unable to shake his curiosity about the woman in the photo (Taylor Schilling), who inadvertently saved his life. Deciding he must try to locate her, he scours the internet to identify the lighthouse in the background, and finds the match. Soon he embarks on a trek from Colorado to Louisiana, with his dog Zeus at his side.However, when Beth meets Logan, there's immediate distrust. Beth lives at her family home, where she runs a dog kennel and training business with her grandmother, Ellie (Blythe Danner). Ellie, who, upon observing Logan's command over Zeus, hires him to help at the kennel, despite Beth's objections. Hicks comments that Ellie might also have ulterior motives.Another person who welcomes Logan's arrival is Beth's seven-year-old son, Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart). Logan becomes fast friends with Ben, who delights in beating him in chess and showing off his magic tricks. Logan also not only accepts but encourages Ben's playing of the violin, something his own father dismisses.Ben's father, and Beth's ex-husband, is the town's Deputy Sheriff, Keith Clayton (Jay R. Ferguson), who uses their son Ben as a pawn to intimidate and control Beth. It only gets worse when he jealously starts to view Logan as an interloper in his family.
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romantic
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train
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imdb
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From what I've heard, the books are exceptional, however, the movies always fall short.Logan (Zac Efron) is a marine who serves three tours in Iraq.
He recognizes a tower in the picture and walks with his German shepherd, Zeus, from Colorado all the way to Louisiana.Of course, Logan and the woman, Beth (Taylor Schilling), fall deeply in love, but struggle through the conflicts that arise.
Sadly, most of this movie is revealed in the trailer, which seems to happen quite often these days.Zac Efron does a decent job playing the character of Logan, however, he just can't pull off the tough-guy look that is essential in this film.
In Iraq, the marine Sergeant Logan (Zac Efron) finds the photo of a young woman with the message "Keep Safe X" on the back in the debris of a construction and he keeps it in his pocket.
The plot is very simple and predictable, but the chemistry among Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner and the boy Riley Thomas Stewart makes the film worth.
This was the first Nicholas Sparks book I read and I loved it, so I had high hopes for the movie.
Considering the novel at hand here (the source so to speak) comes from the same man as the Notebook, you'd be forgiven to expect something similar.While I think Zac Efron might be underrated by many as an actor (although he still has to prove himself), he doesn't help his case in this one.
Whenever there is a new adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel is released, there's always a mass amount of haters and so be it because some of them are extremely cheesy and bad, however I think that the hate towards The Lucky One is unwarranted, I personally thought it was a very enjoyable romantic drama.
The Lucky One is quite different to other Sparks movies, I found the storyline to be a lot more serious and mature than normal, and the story being told from the male perspective is also a nice change.The acting from Zac Efron is top form, as he gets older his roles get better and his acting improves with each movie, Taylor Schilling is also nice, if not being a little too old for Efron, but she brings some niceness to the character, and Blythe Danner is a bit of a scene stealer in her small role.Yes parts of this film are a little cliché, particularly towards the end, but it's no biggie, the lack of chemistry between the two leads is a bit annoying at first but soon it changes and gets better, even though Taylor Schilling is nice in the role I do think that she is miscast, I think Abbie Cornish may have suited the role a little more.
I feel someone with his circumstances would have emotion (having lost people close to him, having gone through a war...) Emotion of pain or anger, at least, but I did not feel it, and I have seen so many military movies where the soldiers were pleasant to watch because of their raw emotions- makes for a really emotional, wonderful, movie experience.I also didn't sense the emotions of passion in the love scene between him and "Beth", I felt they showed the physical aspect of their "love" but didn't feel the emotions (once again) I just saw blank stares at one another.
The supporting actors were good, I really love Blythe Danner playing the role of "Ellie" she definitely pulls it off, which is not surprising because most of her movie roles are very similar characters.
Taylor Schilling as "Beth" was okay, but the bad acting on Zac Efron's part, and the lack of an interesting, unpredictable plot made it hard for me to enjoy her part in the movie.
You know there was a day when Nicholas Sparks's movies were actually good, like the notebook.
There's no end to his activities, whether it's relating to the shy kid who talks or plays for no one but him, finding an identical lighthouse in the middle of nowhere, curing himself from PTSD in a day, taming the wild dogs like a pro, or frightening fellow hicks just by standing there, this muscle's your man, here to woo random d1tzy girl silly who suddenly found a great man in her life, unlike that douch3bag husband she only married because she got pregnant with the quarterback jock, who also happens to be the top sheriff in town, lookout!
Zac Efron looks so clueless he tries hard to portray like an ex marine but God alone knows who told him that it means to look anally retentive at all times.
I mean the movie was still really sweet and I did enjoy it but if you read the book you probably share the same disappointment of a lot of things that made it really a great story.
I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like there's no point in watching a Nicholas Sparks movie.
Its usually a nice romantic story, but then in the end someone will die, most of the time it's the main character who we have learned to love throughout the movie and we will be heart broken thinking what the hell is the point of his troubles if he cant even spend 10 minutes with the girl.
The plot is mediocre, typical Nicholas Sparks, the actors are okay, not too convincing, but okay, still tolerable, especially cause Zac Efron is really hot, he doesn't look like a kid anymore.
I would add, the interaction between Zac's character and the little kid, was great.Overall a enjoyable movie but like one of my friends said, "When are they gonna realize The Notebook was the greatest movie ever made, and when will they stop trying to remake it?".
I would add, the interaction between Zac's character and the little kid, was great.Overall a enjoyable movie but like one of my friends said, "When are they gonna realize The Notebook was the greatest movie ever made, and when will they stop trying to remake it?".
In the few moments they actually got the opportunity to act with each other, it looked like Effron & Schilling had some chemistry and enough talent to let the audience in on their romance and FEEL the love story.
Both Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling are good actors and beautiful eye candy on screen but that "connection" was never fully felt during the movie for me.
I can't be bothered going through too much of this, except to say that Zac Efron plays a Marine who after an ambush while on a tour of duty in Iraq finds a picture of a beautiful girl who he comes to believe is his guardian angel because he survives the rest of his tour and so he wants to find her when he gets home to say thanks.
This is a story about a surviving Marine in a battle looking for his lucky charm lady; a picture of a woman whom he believes has saved his life.
These days Critics don't like Nicholas Spark's novel based movies but I had great time watching it and in my opinion it was better than uneven "Dear John" and Clichéd "The Last Song"..
The film centers on Logan (Zac Efron) a marine who one day stumbles upon a picture during a tour of Iraq.
It's note easy to find a dramatic romance movie that captures the imagination and runs away with a memorable storyline and acting performance, especially one to compare with The Lucky One. Chocolat (2001) stands out for its quirky theme of cooking sweets against the backdrop of a rigidity of an entire community, The Air I Breathe (2007) has a gritty flavor and more harder but strong fictional content between Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Geller, The Cooler (2003) where Mark Isham's music also appears as a special relationship connect but with a anti-hero of sorts, The History of Violence (2005) that has a questionable man uphold the integrity of his love of family against the darker forces that catch up to him, and much more dramatic flourish of Moulin Rouge (2001) or at its most extreme Excalibur (1981) where the knights of the round table upheld the most chivalrous standard of man.
Last year's Tree of Life (2011) probably depicted the highest standard by which to compare this movie while perhaps, The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and the Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) reflect the prolonged character development and more sedate, involving, and substantive counterpoint to the more populist The Lucky One.What this mainstream movie is able to accomplished in all its predictability is good editing, good inclusion of the main plot points without excess, and in most cases a nicely refined underplay of the usual story narrative.
Zac efron managed to pull out the character from the book, as well as Taylor Schilling with her acting skill during some scenes.
If they had made more of this subplot it would have given the actors something a bit more than conveying affection and concern with their eyes - which Zac Efron can do well - but I'm sure there is more to his acting talent than the insipid script and poor character development allows; far too many musical montages driving the story along.
Aside from a few things' being predictable and not a perfectly genuine plot, I felt this movie did it for me, I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time, this movie made me a bigger fan for Zac Efron, somehow it's the second movie of his that I watched so far, and I am really convinced by everything, it needn't be that big to make it worth your money.6/10.
This was a good book, I enjoyed the movie too, a decent enough adaption of another Nicholas Sparks romance.
Anyways, Zac Efron is nice to look at and does a good job as a slightly PSD'd Iraq war veteran who returns from his third tour of duty and tracks down the woman from a photo he credits with keeping him alive.
His good luck charm, a woman he doesn't know but who he soon suspects may be the love of his life.I enjoyed quite a few things about this movie; it's beautifully shot; sunlight filtering through trees in Louisiana.
He is a character that you can easily hate, which is always fun.My favorite scene in this movie would be when Logan "schools" 'Keith' disarming the drunken bully on a crowded street, all the while maintaining his cool and making Beth's ex the Sheriff look like a total ass.I was disappointed with the "exciting" climax though; a storm, rising flood waters, a child trapped on a wooden bridge and both men fighting through the waters.
As I said, I have not read this Nicholas Sparks story, but seen movies of his other romantic dramas.
Zac has a special reason for wanting to meet Taylor, he is so handsome and she is so lovely, and seeing them together in this story I was spellbound by their romance
the locations for the film in the southern states are quiet and green
It's in my collection, no intention of selling this DVD but as I watch again I decided to write this understated review Malcolm in Toronto May 2015.
The photo is the property of Beth's brother who didn't make it back from Iraq.I like Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling individually.
The movie is based on a novel written by Nicholas Sparks (The notebook, Dear John, A walk to Remember, etc.) and follows marine soldier Logan, who, during a battle in the Iraq war, discovers a photo of a woman on the ground beside some debris.
Zac Efron manages to give his character Logan, a charming touch without overdoing it; Taylor Schilling as his love- interest, gives the movie sweetness, and at the same time an emotional depth to the overall plot.
"The Lucky One" is the seventh adaptation of a novel by Nicholas Sparks, the writer of "Dear John" and "The Notebook." This time, Zac Efron plays a marine named Logan, who is serving in Iraq, when he finds a small photograph of a girl with the words "keep safe" written on the back.
He is ruthless and always hungry for victory, a trait that he tries to instill in his son.Immediately, he is suspicious and jealous of Logan and doesn't hide his disdain for the former Marine.Zac Efron may not be up for Oscar consideration yet, but his performance is as convincing as his character would allow, and Taylor Schilling and Jay R.
Ferguson are also credible as their surprisingly multi- dimensional characters.Expectedly, as Logan and Beth become romantically inclined, their relationship becomes physically heated, but directly after such scenes, the movie often cuts to the couple attending church, which could lead one to think that they are trying to make premarital sex seem like no big deal.Or is it just me?
watch it for a one time watch ....Recommended for Couples....Stars: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner | See full cast and crew.
Finding the likeness very appealing, Logan feels compelled to go to Louisiana, where the couple lived, and tell Beth what he knows of her husband's situation.
The only positive thing I got from this film was to see Zac Efron maturing to become a man; he is no longer the boy with just the good looks in the "High School Musical" series..
Zac Efron stars as Logan a marine who finds a photo of a beautiful girl in the rubble in Iraq.
In The Lucky One even gets some tastefully done romantic sex scenes with co-star Taylor Schilling.While in Iraq on a military style mission Efron finds a picture of a pretty woman with the inscription 'stay safe' on the back.
Whether that makes a good story or not is an entirely different question.Sergeant Logan Thibault (played by Zac Efron) is on his third tour in Iraq when he and his fellow soldiers engage in a firefight.
The acting is questionable from all involved, the script is crammed with cheesy lines like "I'll always be next to you," Blythe Danner's character hovers about but seems fairly redundant, and the filmmakers come across as reasonably aware that the film's only noteworthy strength is Efron's muscular build.
The film has many wonderful moments, and I enjoyed spending some time in the Nicholas Sparks world created by the movie.That said, Zac and Taylor don't quite come off as one of the most memorable couples in the cinematic pantheon of romantic pairings.
I also agree with other reviewers when they say Logan's dog had a massive role to play in the book but hardly appeared at all in the movie.I have given it 8/10 as I love Zac Efron and his acting in this.
I loved the Notebook (also a film based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks) and i expected a lot more from this film.I'm always a little cautious watching a film with an actor from Disney in the cast however i didn't think that Zac Efron did a bad job.
Additionally, every movie based on the beloved romantic Nicholas Sparks' story line, is predictable.
In The Lucky One, Logan (Zac Efron) is a marine who has just come back from the Iraq war where he was almost killed by a bomb but instead walked away from where his camp blew up and found the picture of Beth (Taylor Schilling).
She's Beth (Taylor Schilling), who works at the kennel, is a single mother to her seven-year-old son, Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart), and shares the home with her mother (Blythe Danner, who gives the most interesting performance in the film).
I'M A SLIMEBALL!" written on it.The Lucky One is pretty standard stuff as these kind of films go - The central romance between Logan and Beth is nice and all, but the characters don't really have a lot of personality to go with their physical attractiveness.
Whoever The Lucky One was meant to be, it certainly wasn't me.If you've read any of Nicholas Sparks' novels (I haven't) or suffered, sorry, seen any of the film adaptations (Message in a Bottle, The Notebook etc.) then you'll understand the formula: Woman in need of love meets man but an obstacle (death, another woman/man etc.) bars their way to rumpy pumpy and never-ending happiness but something will occur (argument, misunderstanding, accident etc.) resulting in the death or change of heart of the cause of the obstacle and the opportunity for the heartthrob to prove his prowess and win the girl.If that was a plot spoiler for you, you evidently didn't watch the trailer (the entire film in 30 seconds – and better for it!) and deserve only to watch such turgid, pox-ridden flicks as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.There are no surprises in The Lucky One other than how utterly predictable the plot and outcome are and how thoroughly stereotypical and two-dimensional the principal characters turn out to be.
As the Logan character in the book didn't have much dialogue neither did he in the movie and I thought Zac Efron did amazingly well conveying his emotions through facial and body movements.
The best part is that Zac Efron is amazing in this and although for me his character was already well developed from the book I think he did a good job in the movie as well!.
I was pleased that the ending was at least reasonably "happy ever after" because one thing with Sparks' stories is that you never know what the "big disaster" will be at the end or to one of the main characters.Zac Efron is a teen heart-throb and because the film wishes to appeal to the young teen girl demographic he is the perfect choice.
So, I'll change my mind -- not a chick flick -- a drama.This is the first film I've seen Zac Efron in where I actually liked his acting.
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tt0490076
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All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
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At a Texas high school, Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is a popular outsider. Fellow student, Dylan, (Adam Powell) invites her to a party at his house and she accepts with the provision that her best friend Emmet (Michael Welch) can attend also. At the party, Dylan and Emmet clash so Emmet goes to sit on the roof overlooking the pool watching Mandy. Dylan joins him and Emmet convinces him to jump from the roof to the pool to get Mandy's attention. Dylan jumps but misses, hitting his head on the edge of the pool and dies.Nine months later, Red (Aaron Himelstein) is having a party at his father's ranch and has invited Mandy along. She obtains permission from her Aunt (Peyton Hayslip) and agrees to go. Following from Dylan's death she now refuses to talk to Emmet. On the way to the ranch, the kids steal a keg from a driver (Robert Earl Keen) at a truck stop. When they arrive at the ranch Chloe (Whitney Able) won't drive her car over the cattle grid and so with a shortage of seats Mandy and Bird (Edwin Hodge) elect to walk to the ranch.While walking they are picked up by Garth (Anson Mount), the ranch hand. Once at the house they begin drinking and playing games. Mandy is the only one to stay sober. After a disparaging remark, Jake (Luke Grimes) walks out, followed by his girlfriend Marlin (Melissa Price). They stop in a cattle shed and, after engaging in oral sex, Jake leaves. Marlin is caught by a stranger and has her jaw broken by a shotgun. While looking for Marlin, Jake discovers her body and is shot by the stranger.Bird, Mandy, Red and Chloe are joined by Garth at the house after a stranger in Red's car fires fireworks at them on the porch. Bird chases the car, believing that Jake is the driver, but he encounters Emmet. During their fight, Emmet blinds Bird by cutting his eyes, chases him and finally stabs him to death. At the ranch, Garth stays over. Mandy falls asleep in the kitchen. Red and Chloe fall asleep on the couch.In the morning as they prepare to leave, Emmet shoots Garth. Red and Chloe escape out the back and run to Chloe's car. On the way they both encounter the bodies of Jake and Marlin. They reach the car and Red is shot as they kiss and, as she runs back to the ranch, Chloe finds the body of Bird. She is chased by Emmet in Red's car who has taken the keys from a dying Red. Meanwhile, Mandy retrieves the keys to Garth's jeep, and the hunting knife Emmet used to kill Bird. She then sees Chloe running towards the ranch, pursued by Emmet. As Chloe runs up to Mandy, she stabs Chloe in the stomach. While Chloe bleeds out, Emmet and Mandy discuss their plan.Emmet has kept a journal giving the reason behind the killings since he and Mandy have previously agreed to a suicide pact. However Mandy refuses to take the pills Emmet gives her. They fight. Garth shoots Emmet who then attacks Garth with a machete. A brief chase ensues and after Mandy falls into a pit of dead animals, Emmet jumps on top of her. They fight until Mandy manages to club him to death with a log. Mandy then returns to a wounded Garth and heads to his truck and they drive off.
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horror, murder
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train
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imdb
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Too much of this film is subjective; some shots are excellent and stylised but the content leaves a lot to be desired; some of the gore is well done; in the q & a on the DVD the lead actress talks about awkwardness in Mandy Lane's character as she took her clothes off to join the group in a lake - I saw a classic playboy disrobe shot of a pretty girl.
People would do silly things like dying for her too.In typical slasher flick formula, a group of students, Mandy included, organized themselves for a getaway in a secluded ranch, where a ranch hand Garth (Anson Mount) provides that element of question as to who amongst the group will be the hunter, and who will fall as prey.
Like how the formula warns against decadent teenage lifestyles, such as the unwritten rules of having the non-virgin being dispatched first and the likes, you're constantly kept guessing as everyone in the group, save for our goody-two-shoes Mandy, get sloshed in a flood of sin, with the smoking of weed, snorting of coke, being highly sexually charged and active, and downing alcohol as if it was water.It does take quite a while for the first person to fall, and you probably won't feel much for the characters that had to kick the bucket in the most violent of deaths, which get shown quite graphically, only to pull back at the last minute through visual tricks and edits the filmmakers use.
But for slasher flick fans, it's a long ride to get to this stage, and frankly speaking given that the characters all don't appeal to you (i.e. you couldn't care less if they live or die), the movie does seem to coast along the tried and tested, until its last act.Surprisingly, the narrative decided to reveal its boogeyman quite early on in the film, which provided some perplexing questions.
But it didn't take long to realize that "All the boys love Mandy Lane" is far from the typical Slasher Movie and that is because its in all ways superior done...
if you got a little bored with the genre like me "All the boys love Mandy Lane" is a real gem..
Anyway, despite being based on well worn movie clichés, "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" was really rather good, not a bad movie at all, so the squad would have been forced to let me go.My interest in a film like this lives and dies on outside of what is going regarding the horror content.
"All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" also has a really good soundtrack of melancholy pop music, culminating in a song that everybody knows: One of the creepiest pop songs of all time.
The filmmakers do not forget that "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" is supposed to be a horror movie.
The characters are all well defined and form a totally believable and generally likable group of friends, despite their human weaknesses.It's almost a surprise when people start being killed off because the film feels so real and doesn't bear any of the tired trademarks usually associated with the genre.
Mandy Lane is hot for sure but I think "like" is a mis-characterization of how all the boys feel about her.This is another one of those contemporary slasher flicks that ends on a very dark note.
Unfortunately, as soon as they arrive at the country house where the all the "horror" ensues the movie loses direction and gets boring.Most of the time "Mandy Lane" seems like a nostalgic hymn to the wild and careless life of young people.
Some time after, some of the kids at this school are going for a party at a secluded ranch and they decide to invite Mandy along...and after a while; they start being picked off one by one.It seems obvious that director Jonathan Levine was trying to make a movie in the seventies style, and for that reason it's a real shame that this wasn't better as I'm a big fan of the stuff that this takes influence from.
The camera hovers at breast height for the majority of the film especially when Mandy is running or jumping which is great!, but again makes you feel a bit guilty you are watching so avidly (maybe it is an English thing).The film gets plus points for...Good production but not overly glossy.The gore has been kept down but the murders still make you wince.Stays inside the classic 90 minute barrier.Keeps you guessing, you will work out the ending ahead of time but not before mixing it up with lots of other theories.Over all it is an okay film, takes a while to heat up then burns out fast.
I finished watching Mandy Lane about an hour ago, and felt the urge to come straight home and get up here to warn anyone that's about to spend money on the DVD - DON'T.The supporting characters are shallow, the failure of acting is higher than that of Matthew McConaughey movies, and up until the end twist, the plot is everything but obvious.
What could have saved this shallow, tedious movie is some decent splatter, or at least gore worthy of the genre "Slasher" - It fails there as well.If you need a background movie to a party that you can jump in and out of without missing anything, I recommend buying All The Boys Love Mandy Lane.If you're looking to sit down and actually concentrate your eyes on the screen for more than 15 seconds, I don't..
apart from Amber Heard (Mandy Lane), I can see why all the boys love her, she is smokein' her character develops more and more as the film goes on and Anson Mount he's also easy on the eye and is the only male in the movie with a good heart.
The rest of male cast are all simply unlikeable morons and the other female cast are sexy but they're horrible people, and I was glad when they started getting killed off one by one.All in all "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" does have beautiful scenery to match the stunning cast, it's just that the movie is just wasn't my cup of tea and too boring, but I think Amber Heard will go on the bigger and better things than this, she's already recently starred in "Pineapple Express" which was a big hit, so Amber Heard is definitely someone to watch out for.And lastly there is a twist at the end was okay..
I lean toward believing the latter because of how the filmmakers use Mandy Lane, who is, herself, a horror movie cliche-the American virgin, who is pursued but never caught by horny high school dudes or the killer.
Most of the movie feels like a basic cookie-cutter slasher formula and the initial plot reveals are obvious, but the last 15 minutes of the film will give you all the twists and turns to make the prior slow, predictable plot completely worth it.Also, the cinematography is gorgeous.
Don't be taken in by the revisionist comments made by other users, I can't see anything in this film that warrants that and I'm surprised at how many positive reviews it has received as it an extremely average film.Director Jonathan Levine is obviously a big fan of Michael Bay as this poor attempt at a slasher movie looks fantastic but lacks any real depth or substance due largely to the poor script and to a lesser degree the low budget.In its defense the acting is uniformly good, and as mentioned above the film looks superb due to some excellent cinematography although even this strays into annoying MTV blipvertness.The "twist" at the end despite being obvious is also poorly explained and ultimately remains confusing as opposed to ambiguous.What this film needed was some particularly gruesome gore and/or a witty script with some original elements to liven up an otherwise dull & uneventful 86 minutes..
"Mandy Lane" isn't bad--as someone else noted, it's got above average cinematography, editing and directing--but the story is unremarkable, even with its twist ending.The film has a self consciously cool feeling to it that keeps it from being truly immersive.
So I just resorted to watching it online.All the Boys Love Mandy Lane isn't your conventional horror films by any means.
But soon, Mandy's friends start being killed off one by one
As stereotypical as the plot may sound, Mandy Lane is not your typical teen slasher film.
Amber Heard, who plays the film's title role, has a lot to live up to playing Mandy Lane, a girl who is supposedly loved by everyone, and she pulls it off beautifully.
Make some popcorn, call some friends, and watch the new horror classic, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane..
I was not very impressed when watching this particular film.However the way it was directed as a 'teen' movie was admirable because of the issues and conventions you would normally see.However i felt that was the narrative progressed, it became more and more vague, until the drama hits and i became extremely confused and lost the entire plot.Disregarding the narrative, i was impressed with the performance of Amber Heard, Michael Welch and Anson Mount, but sadly felt that some of the actors were rather lazy when it comes to dying.It seems the director spends more time finding genius, gory and elaborate ways to kill people rather than come up with a convincing story to go with it..
Shy but hot Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is the main character, and the setting is a friend's ranch where she and other friends are enjoying weekend.There is little to say about this film, other than that it takes the raw formula of slashers and uses it without adding anything.I mean, successful slashers always have something added into it.
Even 'Friday the 13th' had a then uncommon twist.'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane' has nothing that differentiates it from the slasher formula of teen stereotypes being killed off one by one.
The killers identity and the final twist are very predictable, the acting is in the typical range of terrible to bland, and the visuals are in the ultra-gritty style from recent horrors, like 'Saw' or 'I Spit on your Grave', that seems to be taking over the genre.The soundtrack, surprisingly, is very good.
The main character Mandy Lane(Amber Heard)is the sexiest girl in her high school.She is hot,athletic and has never had a boyfriend.Mandy is seen as pure,untouched and is sought after by the boys in her high school and envied by the majority of the girls.After two deaths Mandy goes to a getaway with some newly made school friends.The party in an abandoned ranch ends in nightmare as somebody starts killing Mandy's friends.The few death scenes are effective and sadistic but the most surprising is that the film does spend some time focusing on the hang-ups of today's teenagers.It also has a grainy bleached-out look to some of the scenes and the final twist is quite surprising.The killer's garb-slouched in a hoodie and strapped with carrying bags for the tools of death-evokes the Columbine massacre too firmly for that to be accidental.8 out of 10..
An above average, if predictable horror slasher, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane has all the typical slasher movie tropes with a twist I saw coming miles away.
The title of the movie to me sounded more like a revenge flick like "I spit on your grave" i wasn't expecting to turn out the way it did, Amber Heard really knows how to use what she is giving to work with and she pulls it of very well as the rest of the cast but thats probably it, honestly you don't have to rub two brain cells to know who is the killer, its painfully predictable, the cliché characters are all there, but I've seen worst, i just was expecting something different, prove me wrong or agree,out of curiosity give it a watch..
'ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Indie horror film that was made in 2006 but is just now getting a US theatrical release, seven years later, because of studio financial troubles (although it was released in other countries in 2008).
As Mandy is constantly harassed and hit on by every guy at the party people begin dying (one by one) and it becomes clear that an obsessed stalker (also wanting revenge on his bully classmates) has followed Mandy to the party.I wouldn't go as far as to say the film looks as beautiful as a Terrence Malick movie but I will agree with the critics who also compare it to Tobe Hooper's early work (and think it's very reminiscent of his classic 1974 slasher film 'THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE').
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is one of the best slasher films that I've seen in a while.
If I had to choose five horror films that represent the decade of the 2000's, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" would be one of them.
The film does utilize the now clichéd "Scream" type ending, but with a minor twist that is still somewhat predictable.Where "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" advances the genre is in style.
It's like the director is saying, "look, a teenage slasher film can be entertaining AND be beautifully shot." It is definitely the right direction for this type of film, particularly if horror fans want people to start taking these films seriously as pieces of art.It is sad that, as of even today, this film has not had a U.S. release either theatrically or DVD.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a horror/thriller reminiscent of some slasher films.
He winds up dead, of course.Three more guys are presented with the chance at breaking in Mandy when the virginal beauty agrees to spend a weekend with friends at a secluded ranch; but when a killer turns up and begins to bump off the teens, sex takes a backseat to survival...After the impressively nasty pool-party opening, director Jonathan Levine shifts down a gear to build a foreboding atmosphere at a leisurely pace and allow his audience to get to know the characters.
Also serving to annoy is the incessant pop/rock soundtrack and a lame 'twist' at the end that does little to detract from the fact that All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is really nothing more than another pedestrian horror/thriller with a photogenic cast..
A group of high-schoolers invite Mandy Lane (Amber Heard), a good girl who became quite hot over the summer, to a weekend party on a secluded ranch.
All the boys love mandy lane is a slasher type horror movie centering around a group of teens that go away to a cottage and mysteriously get murdered.
Amber Heard is Mandy Lane, a virgin that all the boys are after, and a group of students invite her to go along on a weekend party to a secluded ranch.
After the sublime intro, showcasing a drunk macho kid miscalculate his jump off a rooftop in order to impress the titular beauty, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" turns out to be just another textbook and uninspired horror movie about a bunch of idiotic kids getting stoned and horny on a secluded ranch before getting killed off by a not-so-unidentified maniac.
A trio of boys that wish to deflower beautiful young high school girl, Mandy Lane (Amber Heard, "Pineapple Express") invite her up, along with a few other girls, to one of their father's remote ranch for the weekend, unbeknownst to them a killer is also going to crash the party in this stylish, but ultimately perplexing teen slasher movie.The film doesn't deviate too much from the tried and true slasher path (with all the pitfalls that that entails), however the characters are a tad better realized then most films if the ilk and it's well acted enough by the leads.
Even down to the so-called shocking twist at the end, the movie is like an old 80's horror updated for the noughties, and on this score it succeeds.Unfortunately, it also inherits a lot of the problems of the films of that era too, namely the paper-thin characters and the predictability of the whole enterprise.
'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane' is probably one of the strangest titles for a horror film I can remember.
However, if you generally like your slasher films then this one should entertain.Nothing special, but if you're a fan of the genre then it should fill an hour and a half of your time (although, personally, I thought Mandy Lane's mate was prettier than the – much sort-after – lead!)..
ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE became "the" horror film that just couldn't be seen.
ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE is one horror film that lives up to the good hype that surrounded it..
All the boys love Mandy Lane is a story of a beautiful girl (Amber Heard)who was a subject of male sexual desire.
And I am talking about a beautiful girl who is the only interesting person in this movie and no one else.I can understand that Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is the main character who is pretty but when you make a movie you have to think that the audience will be interested not only for this but for more things.
I can't help but feel that ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE has something of this vibe going on, in that it's a slasher film done in a way you wouldn't recognise, like a teen drama.
Before you can even say "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane", the film falls sharply into the pitfalls of horror clichés, and never recovers.
To start off with, Mandy Lane is the only "good looking" female in the whole movie.
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tt0097770
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Lock Up
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Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), a skilled mechanic and football player, in Hoboken, New Jersey is a model prisoner nearing the end of his sentence in Norwood, a low security prison. He occasionally spends time outside prison in his garage fixing cars and looking at pictures of his childhood and high school football years and pictures of him with his father. He also spends time with his girlfriend Melissa (Darlanne Fluegel) and he goes to the park playing football with kids in the neighbourhood. Melissa drives him back dropping him off at prison and gives him a lucky charm necklace. One night while sleeping in his cell, guards arrive and forcibly take Leone to maximum security Gateway Prison run by Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland). Drumgoole explains that Leone will serve hard timeLeone was the only person to escape from Treadmore and did so on Drumgoole's watch. Leone escaped because his mentor and friend was dying; Leone was refused even one hour to see him. Leone went to the press about the warden's treatment of his prisoners, resulting in Drumgoole's transfer to Gateway and Leone serving in minimum security before his transfer.Leone befriends fellow prisoners Dallas (Tom Sizemore), Eclipse (Frank McRae) and First-Base (Larry Romano). The foursome refurbish a Ford Mustang, which Eclipse nicknames "Maybelline". After Leone reluctantly allows First-Base to start the car he refuses to turn it off and drives the Mustang out of the garage. Drumgoole has them watch as inmates destroy the car and Leone is subsequently sent to solitary confinement for six weeks. The warden orders that the letters sent to him from his girlfriend Melissa be stashed away but as Leone is released Braden the good conscientious prison guard secretly delivers them to Leone.Upon release, the warden wants an excuse to slap Leone with more time, so he allows prisoner Chink Weber (Sonny Landham) and his bullying friends to kill First-Base in the gym. Leone fights and defeats Chink, but he spare's Chink's life because he knows that's precisely what Drumgoole wants. Since Leone didn't kill Chink one of Chink's friends stabs Leone from behind with a shank. Whilst Leone recovers in the prison infirmary, one night a stranger, an inmate who claims to be an old friend from Treadmore, says that Chink has paid him to rape and murder Melissa. Dallas offers to help Leone escape to warn Melissa but instead delivers Leone to the utility basement right into Drumgoole's hands where he finds out that Drumgoole wanted him to try to escape so he would receive a mandatory 10-year sentence for the second escape attempt and the inmate who was going to rape Melissa was just a corrupt prison guard called Mastrone who was part of the warden's scheme to set Leone up.Dallas agreed with the warden to lead Leone into a trap only if the warden would give Dallas an early release from prison. But the warden betrays Dallas telling him he doesn't make deals with escaped prisoners. He then tells Dallas he'll be sent back to the prison's general population, and since they now know he's a snitch the inmates will kill him. Dallas tries to attack the warden but the corrupt sadistic prison guards beat him up and push him into a pool of water. The warden then leaves the sadistic guards to physically abuse Leone by pushing his face into a cloud of hot steam from the pipes. Leone breaks free burning Wiley, one of the guards, in the steam and knocking out Mastrone he then fights the sadistic guard Manly and beats him up and pushes him into the same pool of water Dallas fell into. Dallas badly beat up apologizes to Leone and as Leone tries to help him Manly attacks Leone from the water and Dallas then rips an electric cable off the railing and electrocutes Manly in the water taking his own life as well. Leone who wasn't in the water survives.Enraged, Leone breaks into Drumgoole's office and takes him to the execution chamber and straps him to the electric chair. Leone activates the generator and secures his hand to the switch. The guards organize into a response team and secure heavy weaponry. The prison guards break into the execution chamber and point their Heckler & Koch HK33 and Winchester Model 70 rifles and Ithaca 37 shotguns at Leone, but if he is shot he will trip the switch and kill Drumgoole. The warden finally confesses to his plot to increase Leone's jail time. Leone pulls the switch but nothing happens; he then reveals he took one of the fuses out to trick the warden into confessing. Captain Meissner (John Amos) and his men cuff Frank whom the warden order's to be taken to the hole; however, Meissner and his men don't. They take Drumgoole into custody for the confession though the warden insists that he merely played along to save his life.A judicial inquiry is made into the matter about the warden's corrupt behavior and Leone serves only the jail time required of him in the first place. A few weeks later Frank leaves prison to the cheers of his fellow inmates. He meets up with Eclipse one last time, and receives a Cuban cigar which supposedly was given to Eclipse by Fidel Castro. He tells the captain who walks him to the exit that he'll miss his incredible smile and Captain Meissner shakes his hand and says his farewell. Frank then exits Gateway and embraces the waiting Melissa.
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comedy, cruelty, murder, neo noir, violence, flashback, melodrama, revenge, sadist
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train
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imdb
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Oh, what a rare treat!The best acting is not Stallone's (no surprise there) but that of Donald Sutherland's portrayal of the sadistic and bloodthirsty prison warden.
Have to say right off that I can't believe the low rating for this one here, because it delivers everything that a Stallone fan would want, if one is loading this into the player then surely they know what to expect?Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) only has a few weeks to go before being released from prison, he is no hard core offender, he is a loving man and is ready for a new life with his gorgeous girlfriend Melissa (Darlanne Fluegel).
During the night he is whisked away to a maximum security prison on the orders of a sadistic warden out for revenge because Leone was the only man to have ever escaped from his prison, thus setting in motion the wheels of revenge.We then follow Leone as he is pushed to the limits by crazy warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland) and all the sadistic guards under his command.
There certainly is nothing here that hasn't been done before in the prison film genre, and only an idiot would expect anything other than the ending we get, but this is a Stallone movie and it's full of guts, testo macho action, and it should be noted that Sly here puts some depth to the character of Leone.
Donald Sutherland does overplay it to the point that he goes beyond pantomime villain, it's a real teeth itching performance that he would only outdo with the dreadful Jamie Lee Curtis starrer, Virus, 10 years later, but in a film with such primal fun/action intentions, it doesn't ruin the film and leaves it all told as a fine genre piece.No awards here for sure, but when I watch a film about a man played by Sly Stallone in prison then I think I know what to expect, and it delivers all that I hoped for, so hooray for the beefcake I say.
There are superb performances from the main man and his supporting characters like Donald Sutherland(the assignment), Tom Sizemore(enemy of the state), John Amos, Sonny Landham(predator) and Danny Trejo(desperado).
I really enjoy watching this movie.Although the movie isn't much famous as Rambo or Rocky series it's a real masterpiece.Stallone gives an excellent performance as Frank Leone- a convict that is pushed too much and not fairily from the prison warden (D.Sutherland) who has a personal vendetta with him.Frank finally achieves in an astonishing way to prove that the warden has set him up in order to escape.There is where his personal drama ends.It's a drama-action-romance movie that it's worth to see it not only for the good performances(S.Stallone,T.Sizemore,L.Romano,F.McRay) but for the suspense especially in the end.For me it's just a Stallone's classic one, so take a seat and enjoy this really entertaining movie.
Now the warden is seeking revenge and will do anything to keep Leone behind bars."Lock up" is an entertaining prison drama full of action with Sylvester Stallone after the successful Rambo trilogy.
Sylvester Stallone plays the ideal prisoner - a rock, Tom Sizemore an edgy inmate, Larry Romano the naïve kid, Frank McRae the friendly man mountain, Sonny Landham dominates with a snake-like turn, John Amos a hardened prison officer captain and finally Donald Sutherland looking down on them as the menacing prison warden using his inmates like chess pieces "That's no game man.
The story follows that of Frank Leone having only 6 months of his sentence to serve, but then one night he's whisked away and he finds himself in a high security penitentiary with a warden Drumgoole (who he shares a past with) that tends to break his spirit within that time by using brutality, intimidation and humiliation.
This is probably Sylvester Stallone's best performance that wasn't in Copland or a Rocky / Rambo film.While the muscle dudes of the 80s did a lot of character-free action, this one is an action film with some character and drama.I was surprised that the average rating was only 5.8.
Donald Sutherland is solid as always, and you get easily the best performance of Sonny Landham's career and Tom Sizemore showing why he became a bigger star about 5 years down the road.This is the only big movie where Larry Romano got more than a few lines and he does a good job as "First Base." I was a little surprised he didn't go much further and generally only appeared in the future when the casting director needed someone to "look and sound Italian." I recommend this one even if you aren't a big Stallone fan.
Stallone (leone) plays the role of an an escaped convict who is in a good low-security prison having just 6 weeks to finish his term.
This film is a good entertaining Stallone film.Donald Sutherland,Sonny Landham,and Tom Sizemore were all good.It is entertaining and its a good jail fighting film.I wouldn't say it is Stallone's best film but if like Stallone, the above mentioned actors,and action its worth a watch!.
(Tom Sizemore, Frank McRae,Sonny Landham and the effortlessly likable John Amos) In other words this is a decent movie and well worth watching for fans of Sylvester Stallone.
Lock Up will not be the most memorable film, but Stallone did a much better job than he usually does, and the film had a good depiction of the jail as a real hell.It could have been a very good movie, but it was just way too predictable.
Lock up is the type of action that will make you go "Wow, this is very different, and I love it."the movie is about Frank Leone who is not only a good mechanic, but also has to finish some time.
Drumgoole intends to make Leone serve very, very hard time, pushing him to his limits in hope that he might lash out and thus extend his sentence.It goes through a lot of prison movie clichés, and I guess it doesn't really stand out against the better or more exciting movies in the genre.
Lock Up is a pretty good movie for Stallone fans, although it could easily have been much better had he not been basically a saint behind bars.
There's nothing realistic about it, but for good Stallone entertainment, this is not a bad way to follow up the massive success of the Rambo and Rocky films.
Chuck Wepner, the real-life inspiration for Rocky Balboa, was an inmate at the prison where the film was shot.The supporting cast is pretty strong with Tom Sizemore ("Passenger 57") , Frank McRae ("48 ours") , Sonny Landham ("Predator") , Darlanne Fluegal ("To live and die in LA") and Danny Trejo ("Desperado")."Lock up" is a bad movie , but somewhat entertaining , especially if you don't take it seriously.
The plot is pretty much stolen from all those 70s hot-chicks-battle-sadistic-warden flicks, but given a male reversal in a pretty watchable way.The first thing required of the viewer is just to go with the implausible set-up, wherein Stallone is SOMEHOW given clearance to transfer to another prison despite nearing his release date.
Though Sutherland is a howl during the final confrontation while being subjected to a certain prison device staple."Lock Up" was the other good-guy-against-the-odds-while-incarcerated film of 1989 along with Tom Selleck's "An Innocent Man", but in terms of what you'd expect of a Stallone popcorn muncher, it should deliver for you..
This one's not written by him, and like me, you'll see why he can act on emotional levels, as a low security prisoner, put away for a minor offence, whose last six months are upgraded to ones of hell, when he's transferred to a s..thole of a prison, run by a vengefully vindictive warden (Sutherland) really good, who's really got one hell of a score to settle with Stallone, which involves his standing of work place.
This is not your typical shoot em' up Stallone film, and there are some Rocky moments int his, but it does make a change of pace with an interesting structured story and really good performances from really capable actors, Sutherland's, you won't forget easy.
But not every actioner he churned out was a high-point, as films such as Cobra and this dreary prison thriller showed.Frank Leone (Stallone) was a successful mechanic.
His endurance and sanity pushed to their very limits, Frank comes to realize he must find a way to stop it or die.The prison movie is quite a popular theme for the action genre, so it's only fitting that Stallone would want to try and make his contribution.
If you have experienced undeserved pain, or injustice in your life, you can absolutely relate to Stallone's Frank Leone character.Donald Sutherland's performance as the soul-crushing Warden is superlative.
Its from 89, so you immediately have to excuse some of the cheese that comes from movies out of that era but the plot is strong (if unoriginal) and the acting more than decent especially from Donald Sutherland as the sadistic and bloodthirsty prison warden and a(very thin) Tom Sizemore in an early role.
The story is entertaining and pretty much delivers what you'd expect from a prison film including here football games in the mud, and a montage while the guys work on a muscle car in the garage -strangely reminding me of 'Grease'.I liked Stallone's character in this, he plays Frank Leone; a minimum security nice guy just trying to finish his time and go home to his girlfriend.
When Frank won't break (despite time in the hole, getting shanked and encounters with fellow prisoner Chink Weber) Drumgoole arranges for him to learn that his girlfriend is about to be raped on the outside, causing Frank to plot his escape once more.Stallone seems to have a penchant for doing movies where his character goes to prison.
Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to 1989's Lock Up. Plot In A Paragraph: With only 6 months left of his prison sentence inmate Frank Leone (Stallone) is transferred from minimum security to maximum security by a vindictive warden (Donald Sutherland) who has a score to settle.Not dramatic or brutal enough to be considered a serious drama, without enough action to call it an action flick, it's somewhere inbetween the two, but if you can ignore the implausibility of the plot, 'Lock Up' is very enjoyable.
Lock Up (1989) is underrated Stallone Action prison Drama film.
Lock Up (1989) is underrated Stallone Action prison Drama film.
Lock Up is fight for survival in this movie and I simply loved it I don't care what anyone else is saying about this underrated prison drama style film.
The film was released in the United States on August 4, 1989.With only 6 months left of his prison sentence inmate Frank Leone is transferred from minimum security to maximum security by a vindictive warden.Sylvester Stallone as inmate Frank Leone did a wonderful job, he acted like he was Rambo and Rocky two in one.
I also love the football game in this film and Eclipse was helping to defeat Chink and his gang.Lock Up did poorly at the American box office, making $22,099,847 on a budget of $24 million10/10 Grade: A Studio: Carolco Pictures Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sylvester Stallone,Donald Sutherland,John Amos, Darlanne Fluegel, Frank McRae and Sonny Landham Director: John Flynn Producers: Charles Gordon,Lawrence Gordon Writers: Richard Smith,Jeb Stuart and Henry Rosenbaum Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 49 Mins.
Great prison drama with an friendship theme if you want to know it is about a man who gets put into prison when a bully gives him crap that involves a great ending , dialouge is good but the acting gets cheesy in places but it is a fun film that you can enjoy like i say great sound and visceral, this is a better Stallone film.
It is definitely one of the strongest action movies with Sylvester Stallone's participation: the plot has twists and unexpected outcomes, the cast is evenly strong and there are interesting characters both "good" and "bad".
"Lock Up" is basically a good, solid vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, a prison picture with a decent enough, if predictable, story and enough gritty atmosphere, brutal violence, melodrama, and excellent supporting performances to keep it moving along nicely.
"Lock Up" certainly does have its good ingredients: a score by Bill Conti who'd composed that iconic "Rocky" music, an incredible look to it - the prison used was the East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, New Jersey (and actual inmates are used as extras), and the director was the accomplished John Flynn, a man who'd specialized in action fare and whose resume also included "Out for Justice", "Best Seller", "Defiance", and "Rolling Thunder".
I had wanted to see Lock Up for quite some time but I could not find the DVD version of the film anywhere.I eventually did find it and watched it.While it is not Stallone's best movie, it's still fairly good and better than a lot of his other movies.It also features Donald Sutherland as an evil prison warden.Sutherland can play evil characters very well, watch the movie "1900" and you'll know what I am talking about.Apparently he is a very nice person in real life though.Anyway the film is about a man who gets transfered to a maximum security prison run by a warden who he wronged a while back.The warden tries to make his life a living hell but Stallone keeps it in until eventually.This is a fairly good Stallone film and is recommended for fans..
Silvester Stallone( Frank Leone)"First Blood", gave one of his greatest performance as a beaten down innocent man accused and blackmailed by a demon like Warden, Donald Sutherland(Warden Drumgoole)"Eye of the Needle", who made you hate him with all your heart and soul because his acting was outstanding and his eyes showed great hatred and evil against Frank Leone right to be bitter end.
Cool action movie with a lot of good twists and turns, and probably one of the best prison flicks out there.
Sylvester Stallone stars as Leone, a prisoner who only has a short time left to serve before he can go home and live a happy life as a free man with his old lady.
A late night transfer has Leone shipped to a maximum prison run by a warden (Donald Sutherland) who has an ax to grind with the star.
It's just a routine thing in where brains must be at zero (unless you believe that you really can escape with a Ford Mustang out of prison...) and Stallone isn't that bad, it's one of his mediocre movies that are enjoyable even if you are sure he just wants to have another Rockything (the musical score from Bill Conti is like a copy from the Rockyscore) but it is just some actionmovie you can watch on a sleepless night..
Lock Up starts as model prisoner Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) is transfered from the nice minimum security prison Norwood to the maximum security hell-hole that is Gateway run by sadistic bent warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland) who has a personal axe to grind against Leone.
The acting is alright, Sutherland makes for a suitably sadistic bad guy & John Amos makes for a good hard as nails prison guard with a heart.Lock Up is a decent film which I actually quite liked although thinking about it now it's difficult for me to explain why, it's just one of those films that you like but deep down know that you shouldn't & you don't know why..
The supporting cast is unusually good for a film like this, a fact which makes Stallone's movie more enjoyable than Van Damme's prison offering, DEATH WARRANT.
LOCK UP is a film for Stallone fans, prison movie fans, or just casual viewers who want to switch their brains off after a hard day at work..
Sutherland's still nursing a years-old grudge, and has made it his life's ambition to break Stallone's indomitable spirit."Lock Up" is your standard prison movie, albeit charged by John Flynn's macho direction (sentimentalized by Conti's score).
Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland, Darlanne Fluegel and John Amos star in this 1989 drama.
Stallone (Rocky) plays Frank Leone, a mild-mannered guy who just wants to finish serving his short prison sentence for assault and then get out to spend the rest of his life with his girlfriend, Melissa (Fluegel).
Added to this is a psychological edge, as Stallone's Frank Leone is manipulated and tortured throughout under the watchful eye of Donald Sutherland's sadistic warden.
Somewhere within all the corny, bombastic fare lies a cool little prison flick starring Sylvester Stallone as a furloughed convict with six months to go – suddenly thrust from a nice location to a really nasty one thanks to villainous warden Donald Sutherland, seeming out of an overboard science-fiction film.
Worse still not even the great Donald Sutherland seems able to do anything with his role and despite using real life inmates for crowd scenes they come across as just a bunch of extras from a central casting agency which shows you how bad a film LOCK UP really is.
This film won't break that trend, but it just barely squeaks by in the task.For a basic plot summary, Lock Up sees Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), a minimum-security prisoner, transported to a "hard time" type facility by Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland), who is intent on torturing Leone for a past transgression.
The movie surrounds the character Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) who is forced into another prison against his will and then bizarre and crazy things starts to happen and he need to help his friends and himself from trouble.
It's another great Stallone movie and it's very entertaining and enjoyable to watch.In this movie, Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison sentence for a relatively minor crime.
Lock Up is an prison action melodrama that features Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland.
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Looper
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In 2044, the United States has suffered economic collapse, causing severe social decay and growth in organized crime. In addition, a strange mutation has occurred in 10% of the population, giving them minor telekinetic powers, manifested by their ability to float small objects. They are referred to as TKs. Thirty years into the future in 2074, time travel is invented, but is immediately outlawed. However, because by that point tracking technology has rendered it nearly impossible to dispose of bodies secretly, crime bosses turn to time travel to send their targets to the past (the movie's present) to be killed by "loopers": hired guns paid in silver to kill whoever is sent to them. The victims have bags over their heads, and silver bars strapped to their backs. This comes at a price: The severe sanctions on time travel mean that crime bosses eventually need to end a looper's contract, and also eliminate any traces of their working relationship, so they send his older version back to be killed by his younger self, referred to as "closing the loop", which each looper must do himself. They're paid in gold for this, to live the rest of their lives in comfort.Joseph "Joe" Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), 25, works for a mafia company in Kansas City as a looper. Joe's boss, Abe (Jeff Daniels), was sent back in time to manage the loopers and also owns a club where Joe frequents and spends time with Suzie (Piper Perabo), a showgirl. Abe also controls the "Gat Men," his muscle, led by Kid Blue (Noah Segan). Gat men are so named for their magnum revolvers, which have greater range and accuracy than a looper's 'blunderbuss' shotgun; a weapon designed strictly for close quarters.While at the club one evening, another looper announces that he has just closed his loop. The big payoff in gold is reason to party. As Joe continues his work, he and the other loopers begin to notice that loops are being closed at an increasing pace.One night, Seth (Paul Dano), Joe's friend and a fellow looper, visits him in a panic telling him that he was supposed to close his own loop but couldn't do it. Seth reports that his victim appeared, singing a song his mother had sung to him when he was a baby. Knowing it was his future self, Seth couldn't kill him. Old Seth tells Seth about a new crime boss called the Rainmaker, who has commenced a reign of terror in the future. The Gat Men then knock on Joe's door, so he hides Seth in his apartment floor safe. The Gat Men suspect Joe is shielding Seth, so they take him in to Abe.Abe makes a deal with Joe. If he gives up Seth, he will walk free. If he doesn't, he can't be killed, as it will upset things in the future, but they can definitely make things difficult for him by taking half of the silver he has been hoarding for his retirement in France. Joe immediately gives up Seth. Abe suggests Joe go to China instead of France. "Don't go to France. Go to China. I'm from the future. I know these things."Old Seth attempts to climb a barb-wire fence, but notices old scars appearing on his arm, spelling out words telling him to go to an address. He ignores this, and one of his fingers disappears. Shortly after, another finger is gone. The stubs are not bloody - as if the digits were removed many years earlier. Then the tip of his nose is cut off. Old Seth returns to his car, and heads for the address he was given. Running toward it, he loses a foot, then apparently both feet, and he falls to the ground and crawls to the door. He bangs on the door, and it is opened by Kid Blue, who immediately shoots him. Behind the shooter, we can see Young Seth, alive on a table where they were chopping off his body parts, and we hear the sound of a ventilator.Joe continues to do killings. After each killing, he visits a diner, and works on his French lessons. He is served by a waitress named Beatrix (Tracie Thoms). While waiting to do one killing, he is puzzled when the victim is late. When the person does appear, he has no bag over his head. Joe recognizes Old Joe (Bruce Willis) as his older self, and tries to shoot him. Old Joe spins around, and uses the gold on his back to deflect the bullet. He grabs a gold bar and throws it at Joe, then knocks him out with a punch.Joe comes to, and finds a note, telling him to get out of town. Instead, Joe returns to his apartment, where he finds the Gat Men searching it and removing his silver. He traps Kid Blue in his floor safe, but is winged by another Gat Man, falls from his fire escape and blacks out.Flashbacks explain this chain of events: Joe closes his loop, and moves to Shanghai per Abe's advice. We step quickly through the next 30 years, and see Joe has a good retirement. However, his continued drug use eats through his funds quickly, and he must continue working with local crime gangs to make ends meet. Until he meets a beautiful, caring woman who helps him get sober. He marries her and settles down. Life is good until the end of the 30 years, when he is grabbed, and prepared to be sent back to be killed. He manages to slip his wrist restraints, get his hood off, and kill his attackers. He then jumps into the time machine. We see the previous events unfold, and watch Old Joe escape in Joe's truck. He buys all the first aid supplies he can find, and heads to Joe's apartment. Old Joe sees Young Joe fall from the balcony and land on a car. He rescues him, and disappears again.Old Joe looks up some cryptic numbers at the library, when letters begin to form on his hand and arm spelling out "Beatrix." Old Joe meets Young Joe at the diner. They order identical meals. Old Joe asks Joe how his French lessons are going, then says in French: "I know you have a gun under the table pointed at me." When Young Joe doesn't understand, Old Joe says "It's okay that you didn't get all that. You will." As Old Joe says, he's glad he learned the language. Old Joe tells Joe more about the Rainmaker: he appeared out of nowhere, and single-handedly took control of all the major crime syndicates within six months. He's responsible for mass executions and vagrant purgings, and he ordered the closing of all loops. The syndicate men killed Old Joe's wife by accident when Old Joe was captured. Shortly before this, Old Dale (one of Joe's looper colleagues) gave Old Joe a numerical sequence that hints at finding the rainmaker. Old Joe knows that in Joe's present, the child who will grow up to become the Rainmaker is living in the same county. If Old Joe can kill the Rainmaker, then he never would be captured, and his wife would still be alive. All that is known about the Rainmaker is that he has a synthetic jaw, and he watched his mother being killed.They tussle when Old Joe realizes that Young Joe still plans to kill him. Both Joes notice that the diner has cleared out. Staff and customers have disappeared. Suddenly, Gat Men burst in. Old Joe gives Joe a piece of a map with an address marked and a string of digits, and tells him that the Rainmaker may live there. Young Joe and the Gat Men shoot at Old Joe as he runs off. Then the Gat Men start shooting at Young Joe, who also runs off.Young Joe follows the coordinates to a farmhouse owned by Sara (Emily Blunt), who lives with her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). When Joe shows Sara the map, Sara recognizes the digits as Cid's birthday and the serial number of the hospital where he was born, prompting Young Joe to explain the situation about the Rainmaker. Sara proves to know a lot about loopers and how they work. The database Old Joe used with the string of digits produced three possible children born on the same day in the same hospital, and he is intent on killing them.Sara tells Cid to stay away from Joe, but Cid is curious. He befriends Joe, and shows him some of the electronics gear he is playing with. Cid builds transmitters so Joe and Sara can signal each other. Joe is very impressed with the advanced work the five-year-old is doing.Old Joe tracks down one of the potential Rainmaker children heading to a birthday party. He kills him, but when he realizes he is still existing in his past, he breaks down crying. He has killed the wrong child. He then heads to the other child's place, but is hesitant when he realizes it is where his girlfriend, Suzie, from 30 years earlier is living with her son. Instead of killing the child right away, he watches their apartment.As Young Joe and Sara become close, he learns that she is a telekinetic with slightly more power than the other TKs, and that Cid was raised by Sara's sister for two years until she was somehow killed. Cid thinks Sara's sister was his mother, and does not believe that Sara is his real mother. Sara is shown to be frightened of Cid, running to her room and hiding in a safe when Cid gets angry at her in his belief that she's lying about being his mother.The next day, one of the Gat Men, Jesse (Garret Dillahunt), comes looking for Joe. Cid helps him escape, and Jesse leaves. While Cid and Joe are alone hiding from Jesse, Joe tells him how his own mother gave him to The Panhandlers, so that he grew up without her, a moment later saying that she sold him and that she used drugs. We see how being motherless led Joe to become a killer and a drug user. Jesse is suspicious of Sara, and returns, holding Sara at gunpoint when Joe comes down the stairs. As Joe tries to reason with Jesse, Cid starts to come down the stairs. Startled by Jesse, Cid falls down the stairs and goes into a rage. He lets out a massive telekinetic blast, killing Jesse. Jesse's blood "rains" out of his chest, implying how the Rainmaker's name was coined. Cid's extraordinary telekinetic abilities confirm to Joe that Cid is the Rainmaker, and that Sara's sister was killed by Cid when he lost control of his powers. Joe finds Cid in the sugarcane fields, crying, and comforts him. Sara helps Joe realize that this boy needs love, and may not turn into the Rainmaker if he is raised in a loving home.Meanwhile, Kid Blue has tracked Old Joe to Suzie's apartment, and captures him when he breaks inside to kill the child.Young Joe tells Sara and Cid to flee, surmising that his employers and/or Old Joe will target the farm. Old Joe breaks free, killing Abe and all the Gat Men except for Kid Blue, who is shot in the foot. As the two Joes confront each other near Sara's house, Kid Blue attacks and is killed by Young Joe.Sara and Cid attempt to drive away, but Old Joe starts shooting at their truck. Cid wants Sara to stop the truck so they don't come closer, but instead, Sara steps on the gas, hoping to run Old Joe over. Getting scared, Cid uses his TK powers to cause the truck to flip. He and Sara attempt to run to the sugar cane field to hide. Old Joe attempts to shoot them and the bullet grazes Cid's cheek. Cid goes into another rage and uses a blast of his TK powers to suspend Sara and Old Joe in the air. Joe has been following after Old Joe in his truck, which is knocked over by the TK blast. Sara calms Cid, telling him repeatedly that she loves him and he'll be okay. Cid calms down and ends his TK storm. Sara hugs Cid, and he calls her 'Mom' for the first time, showing Joe that Cid can be controlled. Recovering, Old Joe grabs his gun, ready to shoot Cid. Sara sends Cid into the cane fields and uses her body as a shield, preventing Old Joe from shooting. Finally, Old Joe shoots Sara through the heart. Cid sees his mother die, then escapes through the sugar cane fields and onto a slowly passing freight train. Flashback to a moment before the shot was fired: Young Joe understands that by shooting Sara and wounding Cid, Old Joe creates the embittered child who will become the Rainmaker without his mother's love, and also realizes that even by killing Old Joe, the loop will not be closed and Old Joe will keep coming back. So Young Joe turns his gun on himself. He pulls the trigger and dies, thus closing the loop circuit from his end. Almost instantly, Old Joe disappears.Sara lovingly puts Cid to bed after bandaging up the cut on his face caused by Old Joe's shot. Sara then goes back out to the sugar field and notices that the ground around the overturned truck is strewn with gold bars, which Old Joe looted from Abe's headquarters. She and Cid will now be well provided for. She walks over to Young Joe's body lying in the field, and takes a moment to stroke his hair, something that he had confided to Suzie that his own mother used to do for him.
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boring, neo noir, murder, suspenseful, psychological, paranormal, mystery, violence, alternate reality, flashback, clever, tragedy, revenge, sci-fi
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train
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imdb
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I think its fair to say that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well on his way to being "one to watch", Bruce Willis pops back to life here, clearly enjoying himself again, (although i wouldn't say this is solely a Bruce Willis movie in that definition).This is a brilliant movie experience, its an wholly original and entertaining idea, that the writer/director has managed to successfully transpose to film without, it would appear to a layman, pressure or interference from external sources.No matter how much of a good time you will have watching this film (and you will), Hollywood could stand to learn much more from it..
Standing out amongst this years crop of mostly underwhelming sequels and comic book adaptations, Looper thunders onto the screen, showing, much like Inception did two years ago, that there is a place in 2012 for fresh material and just how good it can be when it's done right.The film tells the story of Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a hit-man for an organised crime syndicate tasked with assassinating targets sent from the future.
However there is much more to the story than the basic premise, and Johnson isn't afraid to keep details close to his chest until later in the film than most movies of this type, so I won't spoil them here.While certainly paying subtle homage to its predecessors, Looper is a stunningly original sci-fi masterpiece, vastly superior to any of the higher profile action releases this year.
Delivering excitement sprinkled with thoughtful themes of personal sacrifice, he offers us much to chew on.Johnson understands that a successful action film doesn't need an explosion every ten minutes, and allows ample time for developing character and story, something which will likely divide audiences.
Looper is very deliberately constructed, and after the highly charged opening establishing the intricate time-travel premise and direction of the plot, Johnson scales back the action almost too much as he ambitiously juggles the many and varied story elements he has created.
Looper is a film that goes to extraordinary lengths to leave every base covered in its quest to avoid plot holes and inconsistencies and in my mind it deals with the problems associated with time travel very well.
It is a dense plot which explores several different ideas and concepts both personal and scientific.As well as confidently dealing with a complex script which would have been very easy to either make too complicated or too full of holes, Writer/Director Rian Johnson (Brick) also creates a very believable future and fills it with people and events which feel plausible.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears heavy makeup and prosthetics to make him look more like Bruce Willis and although this is occasionally a little distracting, it looks unnervingly good at times, especially closer up which is odd.
He and Gordon-Levitt have some funny and tense scenes together which work very well.Overall there was little I didn't like about Looper and it has gone straight into my Top 10 films of the year so far as well as being probably my favourite Sci-Fi since 2009's Moon.
And as a huge fan I can see how since you're doing a movie/story about something that doesn't exist, or something we don't understand, of course there will be some plot holes and always ask, "why didn't he do this" or, "why couldn't they do that" or "he could've just done this" but being a film with only so much time to tell this unique story I think it did a great job with it.
How the director makes Joseph Levitt's character act like Bruce Willis and either Rian or Joseph does a great job depicting it, it's as if I was listening and watching Bruce Willis most of the film.
the film goes to extra length to make the story plausible and solid and the actors, including the 'rainmaker' child, did a marvelous job of pulling it off.i've always believed that the soul of any film, even as i appreciate great plot twists and great special fx and great acting and direction (yeah, i said great too many times!), is the message and/or portrait it intends to get across.
Except when looper Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) stares down the barrel at a version of himself that is thirty years older, Old Joe (Bruce Willis) outsmarts him and so begins a cat and mouse chase where there are multiples of each species and most of them aren't called Joe.Confused?
No, it's not as intelligent a film as Inception, but it kicks the ass of Wanted and Gordon-Levitt is potentially a bigger star in the making than either Leonardo DiCaprio or James McAvoy.I'm not sure that I buy Gordon-Levitt as a young Willis but the transition is simple and effectively executed and it needn't stand in the way of a couple of hours of great entertainment.
Maybe you'll absolutely hate the confusion it causes you, but if you don't mind giving a film some real thought and you enjoyed the possibilities of Inception, then Looper is for you.Just don't think too hard.
When the young Joe saw the Old Joe standing there, he hesitated and the plot clashed.The story was very confusing at first, but the movie does a good job to explain to us as it goes along.
Time travel sci-fi movies are inherently intriguing to me, so when I first saw the trailer with THIS cast, I knew I wanted to see it.As in the trailer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a specialized assassin, in an outfit called the Loopers.
That is, until one did, and that target happens to be his older self, in the form of Bruce Willis.Now, before the action begins in full throttle, Director Rian Johnson sets up the story by introducing the Looper doing their jobs and how these junkies hit-men spend their lives in a dystopian future (is there any other kind in the movies??).
"Loopers are well paid, they lead a good life..." Joe said in his narration, but what he means by 'good' doesn't mean a happy one and it's clear that Joe is disillusioned with his life.Let me just say the less you know about the plot the better as I went in pretty much 'blind,' other than seeing the trailer weeks ago, and it's fun to see the story unravel in ways I didn't really expect.
There's really a lot to chew on here, as do most time-travel movies, and I have to admit it was a bit mind-boggling to digest it all as I'm watching it, but now that I've processed the movie more, Johnson actually told the story well enough without an overly drawn-out exposition.The strengths are in the performances, especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who seems to only get better and better as he grows to be a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.
The climax scene at the end of the film is a good example of how people do not know how to end a film and then come up with some "smart twist" which of course destroyed the whole logic of the story...It has been a while since I watched a decent science fiction, Looper is another mess, similar to Prometheus.
Unfortunately, neither of these plots are well executed and so it ruins the whole movie.The climax defies all logics and the time travel has big a goof up and you end up thinking, how can the director can be so stupid!
Time travel is always a risky subject, there have been some fantastic ones and there have been some very bad ones, this is one of those.It has all the pretense of being an edge of the seat sci-fi thriller, but then proceeds to bore you to death, and continually tries to pull on heart strings without having earned the right.The acting is OK Emily and Jason are fine (but did they not read the script?), Bruce is just there to drive the plot and hold a machine gun, possibly they should have cast someone else for the role, we want more from him, but we don't get it.
I realize now that maybe that was the whole trick.All I knew was, Joseph Gordon-Lewitt turned down a role in Tarantino's upcoming feature 'Django Unchained' to play the younger version of Bruce Willis in this action-packed time- travel flick that has them facing each other.
There are two different plots and the plot is weak, the acting performance is good, and the film is well realized but please the story not make any sense at all, is just a bad story about time travel mixed with some action and super powers.If you think a little bit the movie shouldn't even exist hahaha, because the broke all the physics law and is not logical at all.Please writers next time study a little more about common sense..
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the writer/director of the under-appreciated "Brick", and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt, "Looper" tells the story of a dystopian year 2044, where 10 percent of the population has developed laughable "super powers" that don't seem to go beyond levitating quarters and time travel has not yet been invented.
OK, I'll stop here only because I have undoubtedly confused you all by this point, even though there is so much more to this story I could get into, such as the aspect of futuristic drug use, important terminology such as "closing your loop" and how much makeup one would have to apply if their future self came back in time and looked like Bruce Willis.Levitt's notable transformation: The fact that Levitt and Willis' face look nothing alike, even with a heavy coat of makeup and prosthetics, isn't as distracting (or intriguing) as one would think.
And while the unavoidably over-dramatized and unintentionally funny scenes of this child having a fit, in slow motion, doesn't take away anything from this massively intriguing storyline, "Looper" is a perfect example of a film that would have been much more impactful as a book (if you know what I mean).Final Thought: Is "Looper" the greatest Sci-Fi movie of the year?
And so begins a sometimes interesting, though occasionally confusing chase/hunt as the younger Joe tries to zero in on his older self.On the plus side, this has lots of really good ideas and interesting concepts in it: the younger version of Joe can send messages to his older self by cutting his instructions in his flesh; memories are simultaneously created and rendered vague by the actions of the younger iteration; and in one scene another older Looper - who escaped death earlier - starts to literally fall apart as his younger version systematically loses limbs though surgery performed by the bad guys who are financing all the Loopers.
About half way through
For a movie with such an intriguing premise, promising every manner of head spinning older assassin against his younger self interactions, along with the customary shootouts and all the ensuing paradoxes resulting from traveling through time, this takes an abrupt turn that is so left-field you'll feel you stumbled into a different movie
It's almost like writer-director Rian Johnson ran out of plot after breezing through the first half and said: "Where else can I take this
I know: a farm where
etc" This sudden turn is so out of sync, as to feel it doesn't belong in this movie.
Again, you wonder: why wasn't somebody standing at Johnson's typewriter with a cattle prod, telling him to come up with something better?There's a lot of inconsistencies too: without being overly specific, stuff is done in this movie that makes no sense when you think about it after wards (heck, even the central premise makes no sense – surely the criminals would be using time travel for something more ambitious than to just bump people off?).
Plot holes everywhere, story couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to be, the future world was incredibly poorly realised and practically not even visible apart from insignificant, out-of-place elements such as hoverbikes and tiny, transparent cellphones.The worst of it all, however, is the complete idiocy of how time travel worked.
In 2044 Kansas, with time travel possible but illegal, former orphan-turned-assassin Joseph Gordon-Levitt inadvertently allows his time-jumping target to escape, only to learn the 'looper' is himself as a middle-aged man, back from the future to stop a notorious, telekinetic killer before he comes into power--and murders his beloved wife.
There was a good balance of action and drama and it was unpredictable enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.However, now I am home I am thinking more about what nonsense the end actually was, (yes, a time paradox) and worse than that I also realize there is not one character in the film I liked.
I find it hard to remember the last time I saw a movie with such mediocre wooden acting, boring plot (let's not talk about plot holes, shall we), artificial direction, such blunt plot devices (Bruce Willis character:"let's not talk about time travel because it will give us headache" - REALLY?!), such clichéd execution, and such a huge pretense.
After the disappointment that was "Prometheus" I was hoping the Sci-fi action genre would redeem itself with something more entertaining and intelligent.I'm not going to get into the faults in plot, as they've been recognized and pointed out by other reviewers in this forum: Like the idea of sending the bodies back to prehistoric times where the Rainmaker and his goons don't have to rely on, and pay hit men to dispose of the bodies.
It may have added some emotional meat to the story, but instead, a vacuous montage is served up, as director, Rian Johnson, deems the image of the wife extending her middle figure (flipping the bird), as enough characterization.Bruce Willis dueling submachine guns near the finale was trite, Piper Perabo's bare torso was nice (not sure what else her character was doing there), and the casting against type with Jeff Daniels as the bad guy was original, albeit a total miscast.
The catch is, the villains must knock off these loopers in 30 years to "close the loop".I found all of this rather confusing, and if most viewers are like me, they'll spend most of their time figuring out what's going on instead of enjoying the movie.Young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt in swept-back hair, a fake nose and darkened eyebrows) is immensely rich because of his unusual profession.
While Joseph Gordon-Levitt is pretty enjoyable in any role, I felt like Bruce Willis was phoning it in and expected something more for such a highly-rated movie.
I love SF and time travel movies and I like Bruce Willis so I thought this might be a good movie to catch.
The story is so well written and put together and the whole time travel thing is very complicated as to make you think really hard and intrigue you, but not too much as to make you not understand the movie or plot.
and only very few exception actually worked and i can only think of "Terminator" the rest is just dull and rather silly than interesting, and in all of time travel movies the character has to meet his younger / older self and this should be the peak of the "drama" and this movie just falls into it exactly, i mean they just mention that 10% of the population can move things telepathically and they move along...just like that and we are suppose to buy it !!and you can't help not getting any sense of the future, i mean what did we see of that future ?
I think it does mostly makes rational sense (there are some things that will never make sense with time travel, so don't think too hard) and it will help a viewer to know that the whole movie is set in 2044 (as far as I could tell—not including brief flashbacks for backstory).You'll wonder about whether Bruce Willis really looks like an older Joseph Gordon-Levitt (even with a prosthetic nose).
It's not giving anything away to say that Looper involves time travel.The first 40 minutes of this movie are excellent with a convoluted story-line that makes you think whilst enjoying the swirling action.And then the lead characters come together in a diner.From here out the movie drops a couple of levels and becomes a generic action movie where one person is trying to get another person whilst another wants to stop him, along with the usual array of involved parties (mothers, mobsters, etc).
Young Joe (Gorden-Levitt) is a Looper and because Time Travel is as complicated as it is, a now Older Joe (same guy) (Bruce Willis) comes back from 2074.
I know that movies dealing with time travel CAN get confusing, but Looper just jumps around far too much, and if you're not paying attention to it right from the start you will get lost very easily, very quickly.The performances, however, are good, and Jeff Daniels actually plays a pretty decent mob boss.
I know that movies - especially ones like this - need wee "breaks" in them so you can catch your breath so to speak, but there were just far too many times where you thought "finally, it's picking up" for it to only just slow right down to a crawl again.Overall Looper is worth a watch - just - but in all honesty don't expect anything brilliant..
Also it's brutal just in the right way.Of course if you're serious about the time travel aspect, sometimes the time travel paradox doesn't seem to make awful lot of sense, but if you're just in it for an action thriller then you're going to be fine.One of the weirdest things in this movie is to see Joseph Gordon Levitt look like Bruce Willis.
The thing about Looper is that while it's a good action movie, watching it too many times doesn't make it good, unfortunately.
It is certainly a unique plot that differentiates itself from any other Sci-Fi movie, I found the scenes between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis particularly interesting.
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tt1328634
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New York
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In the United States in 2008, the FBI arrest Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh) after finding guns in the trunk of a taxi cab he owned. Omar, a young Muslim man originally from Delhi, is then taken into custody and interrogated by FBI Agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan), also a Muslim man originally from South Asia who has been living in the United States for twenty years. Omar then discovers that he was set up by the FBI in order to force him to spy on a former college friend, Sameer Shaikh (John Abraham), whom he has not seen in seven years and who the FBI believes is a terrorist. In the process, Omar discovers that Sam has married Maya (Katrina Kaif), a mutual friend whom Omar had a crush on in university and finds out that Sameer and Maya have a young son, Danyal (Aidan Wagner).
Roshan orders Omar to tell him everything he knows about Sameer. The film then flashes back to September 1999, when Omar begins his studies at the New York State University. He is befriended by his international student counselor Maya and learns that though she was born and raised in New York, she is fluent in Hindi because of her mother's interest in Bollywood films. Omar also meets Sam, another Indian American who is also Muslim and fluent in Hindi due to the fact that his father is a professor of Indian studies. Over the next two years, all three become inseparable friends and gradually Omar falls in love with Maya. When Omar realises that she loves Sam, however, he distances himself from them both. Their carefree days finally end with the onset of 9/11.
After finishing his story, Omar agrees to help Roshan (rather reluctantly), if only to prove that both he and Sam are innocent. He reunites with Maya and Sam and stays in their house, all the while spying for the FBI. Omar learns that Maya is a civil rights activist who is helping one of Sam's employees, Zilgai (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) overcome his experience as a former 9/11 detainee. Zilgai was eventually released due to lack of evidence and has been having difficulty adjusting back to "normal" life.
As time progresses, Omar feels satisfied that he can find nothing to warrant the FBI's suspicions and is ready to leave when a series of events forces him to reconsider. In the process, Omar learns from Sam that ten days after 9/11, Sam was arrested and detained for a period of nine months as a suspected terrorist, a charge which everyone, including the FBI and Roshan, now agree was incorrect. Though he was eventually released due to lack of evidence, the impact of being detained and tortured permanently changed Sam in ways which are difficult for those surrounding him to understand, leaving him with feelings of deep resentment towards the FBI. Omar thus finds that Sam ultimately resorted to plans for terrorism as a means of revenge.
In addition, Maya is unable to help Zilgai resolve the trauma of being a detainee. After a routine traffic stop escalates and an NYPD police officer gives Maya a very rough full-body search, Zilgai becomes agitated. He drops Maya at her home and eventually kills the police officer the same night. After being declared a fugitive, Zilgai leads the police on a long chase ultimately ending in his suicide.
The climax of the film rests upon the attempts of Maya, Omar, and Roshan to prevent Sam from committing an act of terrorism by telling him that if he perpetuates towards terrorism, others will suffer as he has. Finally convinced, Sam surrenders and aborts his attempt to bomb the FBI building. However, the moment he drops his cell-phone (which was originally intended as a detonator for the bomb) he is shot and killed by FBI snipers. The cell phone falls benign to the ground without activating anything. Maya, who was running toward Sam, is also killed by stray gunfire and Omar, bereft of speech, breaks down. Six months later, he is later comforted by Roshan who explains to him that; everybody was right in their place, but the timing was wrong. As for Sam, the path he chose killed him. Everybody has moved on after 9/11, as its high time. Omar has adopted Danyal, and Roshan has received commendation for aiding in the anti-terrorism cause. They reconcile each other. The film ends with all three of them going out for pasta and a side note describing the after effects of 9/11.
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revenge, mystery
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train
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wikipedia
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Another thing which i noticed in this movie , which was not something bad to do but the part when Omar goes As under cover agent seemed like a scene from the departed.As far as the performances go i was very impressed by Neil Nitin Mukesh , you just can't believe it's his third movie and proves himself a scene stealer.
A bravo performance.The next person that really proves himself a great actor in this movie is John Abraham, Before this movie everybody considered him body but after this movie proved that he is an excellent actor.Well irfan khan as always could never disappoint you he is probably the Naseeruddin Shah of his generation.
She proves that besides being a beautiful girl she is also a good actress.I enjoyed this movie very much and didn't wanted to end because it was very fast paced and very entertaining.It is a must watch.
This spat between the Bollywood producers and exhibitors have finally come to an end for now, and this Aditya Chopra produced film becomes the first off the blocks locally, and what more than a summer film that had its promotional trailer playing since late last year finally being able to see some light, starring some of my favourite Bollywood stars like John Abraham and Irrfan Khan.I had been impressed by director Kabir Khan's debut feature Kabul Express, which also starred Abraham, and Khan has a knack for drawing the audience into contemporary social issues, given his journalist background.
If Bollywood constantly draws inspiration from Hollywood, then the film that had dealt with similar themes would be Rendition, and a smattering of Crash thrown in as well.The film spent its first act very much closely resembling that in the trailer, which dwells on the lives of three good friends who met at the New York State University, Americans of Indian origin Sam(ir) Sheik (Abrahan), Maya (Katrina Kaif) and an Indian student on a scholarship Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh).
Having two guys and a girl translates to a romantic triangle brewing, where Maya drifts toward the more down-to-earth Omar, but having her heart already firmly set for the arrogantly confident Sam. It's like a teenage college romance with a lengthy musical montage just to cement their fast and strong relationship, until declarations from the heart, and 9/11 come play a part to separate them all.To tell you any more would be to spoil the fun, because the story takes an interesting narrative structure in keeping you guessing who's turned to the dark side, and who's not; who's lying and who's telling the truth.
Neil Nitin Mukesh had more of a dramatic challenge with his role as the freshie Omar compared to his action role as a photographer in Aa Dekhen Zara, while John Abraham looked very much comfortable with his self-assured character given his alpha-male persona.
Despite being one of the most photographed actresses/models in India, this film would mark my first watching Katrina Kaif in action, and I guess beautiful women get no love from female audiences who are there to root for the two male leads.New York struck a fine balance between drama and action, devoting time to each primarily before and after the intermission.
Between Kabir Khan's two films, I still prefer the former, but that doesn't mean that New York isn't worth a shout out..
I'd like the way how the team worked to make it what I call "Not Sappy".I'm really happy that the Indian Film Industry is making these bullshit free movies.
There were continuous scenes with Irrfan Khan interrogating Neil Nitin Mukesh about something I did not even understand, and the film was going into numerous flashbacks which did not really make sense.
Many other filmmakers would make it look overly banal and unconvincing, and though New York is not without its clichés and consistency is not the right word to describe it with, Khan succeeds in making an impressive film with a poor script which manages to move you at certain points..
Kabir Khan's 'New York' is nothing but a masterpiece.'New York' has truly delighted me.I don't know why i'm even giving this comment.This movie cannot be described by mere words.People always criticize Bollywood movies because of the lack in realism in them, but 'New York' is so realistic that everything in the movie feels like 'real'.The acting of every actor in the movie is commendable.Songs are used only when they are required.Everything about the movie was just perfect.I have always liked John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Irrfan Khan but I had a feeling that Katrina might spoil the movie, but her performance left me speechless.After a series of dull and boring movies in 2009, New York came and changed everything.I must say that this is the movie we were waiting for..
However, by the end of the film you wonder whether New York has been sponsored by the American tourism department as a PR campaign to keep Indians coming to America.
This is New York Kabir Khan – half the stewards and bartenders across the city of Manhattan are wannabe stars, and very, very good actors.
5)The man that was interviewed by Maya Shaikh should have talked about the more R rated topics in "terrorist" interrogations, to show the cruelty of the US 6)The planning of the new bombing should have been mentioned more after the intermission, to show Samir's dedication 7)Omar Ehzaz's character is great, but I think if the film show a gradual hatred for the FBI by witnessing Samir, that would be better.
Katrina is as usual hopeless & casted just to look good!overall the movie is indeed worth watching.....
It is said that the Yash Raj Films juggernaut is hugely responsible for bringing in stagnation in Bollywood and it is easy to see in New York why this is so.First a perfectly reasonable basis for a hard hitting script is handled with kid gloves, bringing in performers who are more stars than actors, Secondly the basics of film making is systematically abandoned by assuming that the average Multiplex viewer in India is stupid enough to digest whatever crap is dished out before them if there are enough pretty clothes, beautiful faces and cheesy songs.
There is no attempt at characterization, the dialogs are laughable, the writing is so poor that it makes you cringe in your seats with the use of triangular love story plot devices.It reduces a sentimental and powerful subject as that of post -9/11 events to a mere circus.The only saving grace in the movie was perhaps Irrfan Khan as an FBI officer but his role too turned out to be leaning more on entertainment value than anything else..
But then comes 11 September 2001 and their lives change.Starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irffan Khan, this is directed by Kabir Khan, written by Sandeep Srivastava and Produced by Yash and Aditya Chopra.The movie captures the atmosphere that surrounded everyone at the time of 9 /11 and the after affects that some faced and especially those who were innocent.
She has shown that she does not need to do those raunchy dances that she did in "Race." Neil Nitin Mukesh also suited the role well and again, has proved his talent and with each film that he has worked in so far, this is one of his best performances.
John Abraham, who worked with Kabir Khan before in "Kabul Express," has shown his versatility and is good and has shown that he is capable of doing serious roles as well as comedy – "Garam Masala" and "Dostana." Irrfan Khan is, as usual good and is able to play the role of an Indian officer who works for the FBI.Kabir Khan has handled this subject very well and the movie is worth watching at least once..
New York has it heart in right place but horrible script and pathetic acting makes sure that every time you see a protagonist uttering dialogs you wonder how can someone making movie so pathetic.Movie starts off decently but soon everything turns sore.
Coming to the point, YRF tried to amalgamate Hollywood into bollywood by shooting this movie in New York.
I have gone for this movie because of its rave reviews but felt extremely cheated when i finished the movie.This was basically fanna meets khuda ke liye (a masterpiece).the idea may be right but the film has too much dramatic sequences which are totally not tolerable and digestible.moreover kabir khan,the director looses his tempo which he created a bit in Kaabul Express.The huge starcast have wasted by him.
In my point of view when a filmmaker is making film on serious issues he/she must be cautious about the story line that it shouldn't look like superficial but every scene in this movie is as same as other Bollywood movies and very predictable.So, i think you may avoid it and wait till the yashraj have really come with better story line such as Chak De India but i don't feel it in near future by their seeing upcoming promos..
this is first time an Indian bollywood movie have been released with great story and theme and very good acting by stars specially by John Abraham.the movie revolves around 3 close friends but everything changes in their lie after 9 11 blast in new york ....the movie tells about about the detention of people after 9 11 attack and the change in their life.......Neil Nitin Mukesh plays a great role with superb acting.and same by Katrina Kaif and hands off to John Abraham doing superb acting.the movies ends with a truth which very few are aware of ....................
New York was very much awaited movie from Yash Raj Films starring John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif.
"Terrorism can never be justified", says FBI officer Roshan played by ever dependable Irrfan Khan to Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) an undercover agent who is planted in his friend Sam's (John) house.
He is fighting for protecting that freedom.New York Kabir Khan's second feature film (after fairly good topical entertainment Kabul Express) this potent moment in the entire film..
Some very good performances by John Abraham as well as Neil Nitin Mukesh but probably the performance that will take you by surprise is by Katrina Kaif!
It has a young and fresh cast comprising of John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif, a good story and very able hands of the director Kabir Khan.The story is set in New York (duh!) and chronicles the impact of 9/11 on the lives of 3 people of Indian origin living in the city.
Not surprising then that Irfan gets some of the most poignant lines of the whole film.Kabir Khan follows up his last film 'Kabul Express' well with New York.
I've not watched Kabir Khan's Kabul Express but I've already bracketed him as one of my fav Bollywood directors now after New York.
It's the same story of three friends, Neil, Katrina & John, who had a good time in college, but had to part with each other, after their studies.
Taking a clue from their college days, Neil is spotted by an FBI officer, Irfan Khan, and sent to live with John & Katrina as an undercover agent in order to know their future targets.Now how many times we have already seen the similar subject of an infiltrator being sent in a terrorist gang to know about their game plans.
On the other hand, background score by Julius Peckam, having a rock feel, does grab your attention in a few thrilling scenes.The director, Kabir Khan, who showed great capabilities in his first venture, "Kabul Express", stumbles this time with an ineffective script written on an old story plot.
Otherwise, Kabir is not able to meet his own set standards of excellence in "New York".Moreover, I couldn't understand the need of lifting an entire sequence from the 2006 Oscar winner movie "Crash" and using it in his most prestigious project having great expectations.
The scene where Katrina is searched all over her body by a male cop, is straight away taken from the movie "Crash", where the same sequence was used to show racism being practiced by the cops with the black.In few words, "New York" is like an old wine presented in a glossy Yash Raj bottle.
It is just an OK movie with nothing new or exceptional from a brilliant director, Kabir Khan.
The movie new york came as a pleasant surprise and at the same time I have to say that I was not blown away completely by some awe-inspiring spectacle, thanks mainly to the below par acting display from Neil.
This movie was so totally entertaining and outstanding and really interesting This movie was a wonderful story about 9/11 happening in New York City John was superb Katrina was brilliant movie songs are impressive Nice storyline and entertaining screenplay good editing good direction Everyone should have to watch this movie Rating is 10/10.
movie was fantastic must watch by every person in this world .......After being apprehended, detained, humiliated, and denied legal counsel by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Omar Ehzaz, originally from Delhi's Lajpatnagar, relates to the investigator, Roshan, assigned to his case, how he arrived in New York during 1999; his friendship with Samir Shaikh and Student Counselor, Maya; the events of September 11, 2001; the subsequent paranoia, fear, racial profiling, generated and aggravated by the tyrannical right-winged regime of George W.
I was shocked to know that a movie like New York and a director like Kabir Khan were not nominated in any of the Awards?Anyways New York is must watch.Direction by Kabir Khan is excellent.Kabir Khan and Sandeep Srivastava rock!For writing a script like this.The music is good.Performance wise-John and Neil are excellent.They are dynamites.Irrfan Khan is absolute surprise.He is superb!Katrina Kaif for the first time acts very well!Overall New York gets Two Thumbs Up. Sugarcoated York Joke.
John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif are laughably bad.
After reading all the comments posted on this board, I feel a little guilty about saying what I am going to say next.1.Most viewers who are fed up of the formulaic masala films that are churned out unceasingly from Bollywood, are applauding the movie and its plot/story etc.
Other viewers are giving back handed compliments to Katrina and John and completely forgetting that this movie fell not one, not two but several notches BECAUSE of the poor acting of that very good looking bloke, Neil Nitin.
After Kabul Express, I was very eager to check out Kabir Khan's New York.
Although Kabul Express was a totally "no-masala" movie, I absolutely liked the story, performances and the direction of the movie.Although New York has some songs, but over-all the movie stuck to its original storyline and good message.
Pick of the actors was Irrfan Khan who looked great in his role of FBI Agent.I loved the acoustic song "Hai Junoon".
NEW YORK IS AN Indian FILM WHICH WANTS TO BE A Hollywood MOVIE.
TO the director of "New York" next time make an Indian film not American.
Director Kabir Khan's New York, based on extensive research conducted by the filmmaker himself, brazenly accuses the FBI of illegally detaining hundreds of Muslims suspected to have terrorist links post 9/11 and of putting them through extreme forms of torture, only to release months later when no evidence against them could be gathered that many of them were innocent.
Omar, an Indian immigrant in the Big Apple (played by Neil Nitin Mukesh), is picked up by the FBI and threatened to be detained as a terror suspect unless he agrees to help them investigate an old college buddy of his, Sam (played by John Abraham).
Omar soon discovers that he has to spy upon his best friend from college, Sam (John Abraham), but does so in order to prove his friends innocence.The 9/11 wave of films have more or less past and New York happens to be one of the first Bollywood films to tackle the subject.
He is a far more the more capable actor and he brings a pedigree to a film which deserves to better then it ends up being.Considering its subject matter New York is not quite as violent as expected.
John "One Expression Fits All" Abraham (Sam),is the leader of this pack which also includes Katrina Kaif (Maya) and the new find Neil Nitin Mukesh (Omar).
it showed us what hell was(kudos to Obama for shutting it down)...The movie truly deserved an applause...U might shed some tears near the end...The acting well...John has improved a lot and is being more than just a good-face...Katrina just keeps getting better and better physically and talent-wise...Niel has done a great job too...Irrfan Khan as usual does a great job...the direction is beautiful...production value is high...and it is a great movie...what more could u ask for?.
New York explores the effect of 9/11 upon three individuals, all Indian college graduates from a faux American university located in NYC (although I'm not entirely sure if Katrina Kaif's character is Indian...); two of them have grown up in the United States from their childhood (including John Abraham) and the other came to the USA for schooling.
Omar's character is played well and is a strong counterpoint to Sam. The film's main weaknesses lie in its completely absurd depictions of American college and suburban life, but this is more or less a function of it being a Bollywood movie...
To start off, I congratulate the whole team behind the "New york" project.The director Mr.Kabir Khan has already shown his talent in last movies but this time the young actors need appreciation.
Katrina's dialogs were just fine but her expressions were great.Irfan Khan was best as ever.The American actors were really pathetic especially the FBI agent who didn't look like one.The soundtrack is really moving and that does most of the talking in half the movie,But that is great!!Now the Plot and storyline.A recent Pakistani movie by Shoaib Mansoor "Khuda ke liye" already shown what "New york" has to offer.
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tt0052279
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Teenage Cave Man
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The movie opens with black and white images of prehistoric cave art. A narrator tells us, "In the beginning there was chaos and eternal night. And a voice said, 'let there be light' and the dark was separated from the night. There was created the waters and the land and there were made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, and the stars to give light to the darkness. The Earth was made to bear growing green things and fruit. The animals were created and they were fruitful and multiplied. And then there came man." A torch burns on a cave wall. Title and credits follow.The Curly-Haired Boy (Jonathan Haze) calls to the other tribe members carrying a dead elk back to the village (Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA). The Symbol Maker's wife (June Jocelyn) talks to her husband, the Symbol Maker (Leslie Bradley). He asks, "Where is the boy?" The wife mimes, beyond the river. The Symbol Maker's Teenage Son (Robert Vaughn) leans against a tree holding a spear. His father approaches. The father reminds his son of the law. The son admits he did go beyond the river, but only a little way. He argues that the area is plentiful with game, but his father tells him it is forbidden. The Symbol Maker tells his son it is a place of sickness and death. The Symbol Maker admits that he once visited the forbidden area, but only once. He warns of a creature known as The God that Gives Death with its Touch. The Symbol Maker tells his son it is time to return to the village.The Black-Bearded One (Frank DeKova) tells the Blond Maiden (Darah Marshall) that the Symbol Maker's Son will not reach the rights of manhood. There is a growing antagonism between The Black-Beaded One and the Symbol Maker's Son. Three men sit in the center of the village. The Symbol Maker's Son asks the first, "Why do you do what you do?" The Tender of Fire (Robert Shayne) answers, "It's the first of the three great gifts of man." The Symbol Maker's Son asks the second man, "What good is it to worship a thing that turns?" The Turner of Wheel (Joseph Hamilton) replies, "It is the second of the great gifts of man." The Black-Bearded Man asks the Symbol Maker's Son if he questions the keepers of the gifts often. The Symbol Maker's Son asks the third why he builds and then breaks. Breaker and Builder (Marshall Bradford) replies, "It's the third gift to man and the first great lesson." The Black-Bearded One has an agenda, and it involves taunting then tempting the Symbol Maker's Son to violate the law.That evening the Elder Keeper of the Law (Charles P. Thompson) announces that before the hunt two symbol makers are the glory and the life. Their power is to insure a good hunt. They have the power to see visions. The Symbol Maker reminds his son that it is against the law to question the signs and gifts of the gods. The son asks his father what the God that Gives Death with its Touch looks like. After the signs are made, the male tribe members venture off to hunt. The Symbol Maker is attacked and injured by a bear. The hunters return to camp carrying the bear, and the Symbol Maker on a stretcher. The Elder Keeper of the Law tends the Symbol Maker's wounds. The Black-Bearded One again tells the Symbol Maker's Son that one brave man could supply enough food for many days. He then limps over to the Tender of Fire. He asks, "What is the punishment for questioning the law?" The reply is that he be shunned for a time, but if evil comes to the village, then death is the prescribed penalty.The Curly-Haired Boy practices his fighting skills with the Fair-Haired Boy (Beach Dickerson) and wins. He hands the spear to the Symbol Maker's Son. The Symbol Maker's Son tells his clan members that the meat won't last long so another hunt must be arranged. He tells them that just beyond the river there is plenty of meat. The tribe members are horrified by the concept of breaking the law and walk away. They remind the Symbol Maker's Son of the dangers. At first light, the Symbol Maker's Son and three young clan members venture to the river, then beyond. They encounter two large lizards and watch them battle each other. The Fair-Haired Boy falls into quicksand, and despite the others' best efforts, he sinks to his death. Two boys return to the village but the Symbol Maker's Son continues the hunt alone. He sees more strange animals. He builds a fire and cooks a small game animal for dinner. A large, hairy, ape-like creature approaches the Symbol Maker's Son and his fire. It has large hemispherical eyes and a trunk like an elephant. The Symbol Maker's Son runs away from the creature, and hits his head on a tree and is knocked unconscious.In the village, the Elder Keeper of the Law announces, "The blood is clean. The Symbol Maker wakes. He asks after his son." The Symbol Maker asks his wife to fetch his son, but she informs him the boy is not in the village, but beyond the river. The Black-Bearded One confronts the Symbol Maker. He warns him that death will be visited upon the tribe. The Symbol Maker vows to go retrieve his sun in three days.The Symbol Maker's Son finally wakes and gets an idea. He fashions a primitive bow and arrow. With it he kills a deer. The Symbol Maker leaves camp. The Symbol Maker's Son carries the deer back to camp. A pack of dogs follows him. They get his deer and attack him. The Symbol Maker sees the attack and assists his son, killing the dog. Symbol Maker and son return to the village. The Black-Bearded One talks to the clan. He demands the Symbol Maker's Son be punished with death. The Symbol Maker, speaking for the defense, reminds the clan that everyone has questioned the law. He stipulates the law was broken, but since no evil has presented itself, he recommends shunning. Over strong objections by the Black-Bearded One, the Elder Keeper of the Law decrees the punishment of shunning. The Black-Bearded One is incensed and tries to take the law into his own hands and attacks the boy. The Elder Keeper of the Law breaks up the fight with a strong word.The Blond Maiden goes for a bath. The Symbol Makers Son entertains her with his pan pipes. She is amused, and contrary to the law, she speaks to him. She reminds him to abide by the law. A man on horseback wanders into the village. The Black-Bearded One wants it killed. The Symbol Makers Son proclaims the creature is just a man on an animal. The Man from the Burning Plains falls off and the horse rides away. The Symbol Makers son tries to protect the bearded stranger, but BB kills the stranger after he utters but one word, Peace.A tribal elder meeting is called. The Symbol Maker speaks of other clans and the need for contact. The Black-Bearded One argues against such contact. In addition he demands the position of Symbol Maker. The Symbol Maker is removed from his position and the Black-Bearded One is made the new symbol maker. A ceremony is held for the Symbol Maker's Son--entrance into manhood. The Symbol Maker's Son agrees to hold to the word and to the law. Part of the ceremony is the revealing of ancient symbols left by the gods. One is a meteor. The Black-Bearded One again antagonizes the Symbol Maker's Son. The Symbol Maker's Son warns the Black-Bearded One to stay in front of him when they go to the cave to make symbols. He foresees one dead by the other's hand. The Symbol Maker's Son and the Blond Maiden engage in conversation. She suggests a place of their own higher up on the mountain. He tells his woman he still dreams of the forbidden area. He reveals his goal is to seek the God that Gives Death with its Touch. He prepares for the journey. The Blond Maiden goes to see the former Symbol Maker and tells him his son has gone beyond the river. Father intends to go after his son. As he departs, the Black-Bearded one stirs up trouble with the clan. The men of the clan go after father and son. They want to prevent evil from coming to their village.The Black-Bearded One tells the men to cross the river, but the Blond Tribe Member (Ed Nelson) questions the orders. The Black-Bearded One crosses the river and promises that the journey is righteous and that no harm will come to the clan. The men do follow. The dogs catch the scent of the men. The Symbol Maker's Son finds the God he seeks and aims his bow and arrow at the creature. The clan reaches the former Symbol Maker and his son just as the dogs attack. Both the Blond Tribe Member and the Curly-Haired Boy are attacked. The Black-Bearded One climbs to a higher vantage and throws a rock on the hairy creature. Incensed, the Symbol Maker's Son shoots his arrow and kills the Black-Bearded One. The Symbol Maker's Son cautiously approaches the creature and pulls the head off. Underneath is a very old man with white hair and a white beard. He searches the body and finds a book. He opens the book and shows his father pictures: two men shaking hands, pictures of the New York skyline, and the explosion of the atomic bomb. The clan leaves the body and returns to their village. A narrator, the dead creature, tells us, "I and a party of 23 others were on a scientific expedition when the bombs began to fall. The terrible power of nuclear weapons was unleashed all over the world. Retaliation added to retaliation until all traces of man's works had been wiped from the face of the Earth. Of the few living things that escaped the blast, some grew huge beyond all reason and formed as the dinosaurs of pre-history, or took on new shapes all together: Mad in shape and purpose. My comrades and I, half-protected by our radiation suits, found ourselves given an age far beyond the span allowed. Out of all the sprawling millions of the Earth, a handful escaped all harm, through fortune or design. After the holocaust the wisest of them set down a long list of taboos, the laws are in the form of a religion now. It is strange to see them living life of Cro-Magnon man and not knowing why. On occasion we tried to contact them, but they feared us and our radiation killed those who came too close. Now only I'm left and the radiation is worn away these long, long years. Now a new one thinks and wonders about the proof of the law. Perhaps man will dare try again. I am very lonely, very, very tired. This happened a long time ago and as you know men did meet other men. And fire smelted metal, made explosives, the wheel turned machines and made gun barrels. The towers were built and flattened. How many times? Will it happen again? And if it does, will any at all survive the next time? Or will it be the end?" We close with a scene of the clan walking single file out of the canyon and a torch burning in the cave.
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murder
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Okay: low budget, bad acting, cheesy spliced-in scenes from other "dinosaur" movies.
Conceived in the era of the 1950's nuclear holocaust scare, TEENAGE CAVEMAN is an inspired (albeit low-budget) reflection of this period's fears and a worthy attempt by producer/director Roger Corman to present more serious subject matter in the sci-fi genre.On the plus side is the noteworthy script by R.
Mr. Campbell's association with Roger Corman includes scripts for FIVE GUNS WEST, MACHINE GUN KELLY, THE YOUNG RACERS, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (in which he re-wrote "Twilight Zone" fantasist Charles Beaumont's submitted script for this film) and THE SECRET INVASION.
Borrowing heavily the plot and ideas from Stephen Vincent Benet's short story, "By the Waters of Babylon," Campbell presents the intelligent, inquisitive and introspective son of the "symbol maker" (earnestly played by a 26 year old Robert Vaughn), who attempts to extend the boundaries of knowledge and existence well beyond the immediate environs.
Glasser is one of the unsung maestros of film scoring in the sci-fi "B" genre (along with his contemporaries such as Ronald Stein, Paul Dunlap, Raoul Krausher, Marlin Skiles and Walter Greene) and many a low-budget feature has benefited considerably from his skilled and gifted contribution.TEENAGE CAVEMAN quietly presents its message to the viewer with sincerity and dignity.
It stands as an honourable effort to enlighten as well as to entertain and exemplifies that in good film-making with the constraints of time and budget, the necessity of more creativity, ingenuity and talent to fill the gap..
Teenage Caveman is an enjoyable Prehistoric adventure from Roger Corman and I taped this when BBC2 screened it during the early hours some years ago.A young caveman goes against warnings and decides to explore the land beyond the river where his tribe live.
There are plenty of dangers our there, including stock footage dinosaurs from One Million BC and Unknown Island, a pack of wild dogs and, best of all, a very strange looking "monster" that turns out to be a man in a radiation suit.
We then learn that after a nuclear war, this part of the World went back to Prehistoric times.Being made in the Atomic Age, this movie show was yet another theory what people thought could have happened in the event of any nuclear war.
At the end, we also get to briefly see clips from other AIP movies including The She Creature.The cast includes a young Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE, The Magnificent Severn, Hustle) and sci-fi B movie regulars Jonathan Haze (Little Shop of Horrors, It Conquered the World), Ed Nelson (The Brain Eaters) and Robert Shayne (The Neanderthal Man, The Giant Claw).Teenage Caveman is a good way to spend just over an hour one afternoon or evening.
Although its obviously low budget and cheesy special effects prevent this early Roger Corman film from a higher rating, Teenage Cave Man actually turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would.
It shows that in every generation teens rebel, even back in prehistory.Robert Vaughn who later turned in performances as rather sophisticated people be they good guys or bad guys, is a rather erudite teen Cro Magnon who does not think the tribal religion has all the answers.
His tribe is restricted in its turf by the Word which gives them only certain parameters to live.Frank DeKova is our villain, a hidebound sort of caveman, a fundamentalist in his beliefs who says death should happen to those who wander out of the tribal area.
And the film has a surprise ending, very similar to Planet Of The Apes which many critics have compared Teenage Cave Man with.Or for me this could easily have been a good Twilight Zone episode, as directed by Roger Corman..
It stars THE MAN FROM UNCLE's Robert Vaughn as a 26-year-old "boy" who defies his tribe's law by daring to venture forth "beyond the river" to the other side, where he is met by quicksand and a few silly creatures.
The acting is atrocious, the effects are dire, and as for the dialogue...Let's just say that this must be watched, just so you know how not to make a caveman film..
Corman shows promise in this early directoral effort, and the story does have a neat twist at the end (if you make it that far), All that said, the slow, dragging plot and the non-existent production values make it a chore to watch.
Is actually somewhat better than most B-movies(and most Roger Corman movies, not that there really is a difference), mainly due to parts of the plot.
That said, by any other standard, it is still a pretty clumsy looking film with a number of silly scenes, which earned it a place on MST3K.
The film dragged on and on, its action scenes were lazy, and the writing was pretty bad.
And don't worry, they speak perfectly good English without a bunch of distracting grunts & pronoun misuse.Robert Vaughn plays the teen coming of age in the film on his way to becoming a man...
'Teenage Cave Man' is officially declared as 'one of the worst movies ever made'.
Even Roger Corman himself has famously said, "I never directed a film called Teenage Cave Man".
And Teenage Cave Man Robert Vaughn himself stated that he considers it worst film ever made.
The themes Corman played with 'Teenage Cave Man' are actually pretty intriguing (following some abstract rule with no explanation, standing by the dogmas, hunger for power, should father be punished for the crimes of his son - yes, it sounds like quite messy soap opera, but like I said - well developed screenplay).
In 2002, Larry Clarke directed a film with same title and loosely based its premise on Corman's film, but never fully used the potential of the material in hand, but the original 'Teenage Cave Man' is worthy enough to give it a shot.
Roger Corman has directed over fifty films (and at age ninety is still active as of this writing as a producer,) some of them, recognized classics of the B-movie genre, such as The Little Shop of Horrors, Bloody Mama, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and the series of Poe-inspired horror movies featuring Vincent Price, but many others so quickly and cheaply made that they are esteemed as classics of the "so-bad-it's good" genre.This film is firmly in the latter category.
Teenage Caveman, obviously made to take advantage of the 1950s brief fad for "I was a teen-age ..." films, is notable mostly for starring Robert Vaughn in what he said was the worst film he ever made.
Production values are minimal -- I've seen worse, but not often -- the cast members look more like they belong in a 1950s TV ad for vacuum cleaners than in the Upper Paleolithic, and the acting, if it is no worse than you would expect in a high school play, is not any better.
The way the cave people talk is extremely lame.They can't figure out the concept of naming people but can call people things like "the fair haired boy".Of course,the teenagers look to be about 40.There obviously weren't any real teenagers in the 50s.
This movie, done by Roger Corman, and marketed strictly to the drive-in set of the fifties, is pretty bad, and I am very patient with the B-movies of this time.
As a Roger Corman fan this one was a must see.Robert Vaughn who was later to star on TVs man from u.n.c.l.e.plays the title role of a rebellious youth who dares questions the laws of the tribe.there's plenty of stock footage from; one million bc(1940)with the big lizards with fins glued on their backs.but there's a surprise ending.the more recent movie; the village(2004)seems to borrow from this.teenage caveman was originally titled;prehistoric world,but American international wanted to cash in on their other 2 movies teenage werewolf and teenage franken- stein which were both hits.f-troop star frank DeKova also stars.this is on a double feature DVD with viking women and the sea serpent,another corman flick.Roger Corman had a way of making entertaining movies on low budgets.I'm giving it 6 out of 10..
I thought this film was actually pretty good.
I actually liked the plot and I think that most of the filmÕs flaws were caused by low budget, and hence problems with the cost of reshooting scenes or being able to get better caveman costumes.
Sure it's bad but it's an early Roger Corman film!.
Robert Vaughn (hair perfectly styled and all) plays a teenage caveman (duh) who questions why his tribe can't go in a certain part of the wilderness.
Fun. Teenage Caveman (1958) ** (out of 4) Roger Corman/AIP cheapie about a young caveman (Robert Vaughn) who travels across the evil even after being warned that evil will fall upon him.
This ultra low budget film, like the above one, is cheaply made but it provides enough entertainment in its short 66-minute running time.
(sound of snapping fingers)Starring a young Robert Vaughn as a cave man, every hair slicked down and combed into place, looking like the "Man From UNCLE" in a fur dress and booties.
Also features one of the worst monsters ever seen on screen.Go see the original "Little Shop of Horrors" again to prove that a movie made in two days can actually be good!.
Kind of like that other film that MST3K did, I think the name was Teenagers From Space, the one with the killer lobster.
The closest thing to a teenager in this one is the young maiden and Robert Vaughn who is the title character, but he was like 25 when this was made and not a young looking 25 either.
He is quite stubborn in his ways and will stop at nothing to learn the truth.This film, made for a pretty good episode of MST3K.
Many of the riffs were directed at Robert Vaughn's age as he clearly is no teen, and also to the many uses of footage from other films in certain areas.
The most notable thing about the film is that it does have a young Robert Vaughn as its star, after that it has a bit of a twist at the end that is kind of like one found in an M.
The commentary is hilarious but the story also manages to be somewhat intriguing.There are what seem to be obvious flaws in the plot and even the wardrobe and outfitting of the cavemen that make the whole film seem silly until you get a surprise ending that you wouldn't be able to predict.
The acting is bad and the cavemen are far too clad, but you don't seem to care entirely I wouldn't recommend actually trying to watch this on it's own, you need MST to make it enjoyable but at least it was a serious film which didn't entirely fail to entertain you and get it's point across.As a side note, I saw quite a few ideas here that have been used by Jean M Auel in her Clan of the Cave Bear portrayal of the Clan, even down to the name of the people.
The much older b/w flick "Teenage Caveman" was a real surprise therefore, remarkably ambitious for a B movie.
Young Robert Vaughn, a few years before "The Magnificent Seven", stars as a caveman who is challenging the elders of the tribe by trespassing the forbidden lands beyond the river.
(oh, it's hard sometimes to write a spoiler-free review and don't tell too much!) "Teenage Caveman" has an unusual philosophical edge to it, asking questions like "why are we here" and "what is beyond our world", and it makes clear that curiosity and restlessness are the driving forces for mankind's progress.
"Teenage Cavemen" was obviously intended to be a cheapo "exploitation" film (in the manner of "I was A Teenage Werewolf" and "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein") and indeed, its origins as a Corman "3 Day Wonder" are obvious - it's so shabbily made and so obviously hacked out that it barely holds together as a movie at all.
But still, there is just a bit of an edge to this one, a little more depth and interest.I've always liked Robert ("Man From UNCLE") Vaughn.
***SPOILER FOLLOWS*** By this I mean that the post-apocalyptic denouement actually does play fair with the viewer within the limits of the film, and the ending does give me a little shudder, even now.Like most Corman movies, this one is mostly of historical interest, but it does pack a bit more punch than most of his output, even if only by accident..
Viewed entirely on its own merits, this little film has a lot to offer, even beyond some of the obvious camp humor.There is some intriguing sci-fi here, most of which I won't give away for fear of *****SPOILERS***** giving away too much, but some of which definately predate and prefigure "Planet of the Apes" as Corman himself points out in his autobio.
Teenage cavemen fight to find their next meet, as do the 20 something year old actors who play them..
It's obvious from the start that the actors playing the youthful spear throwing cavemen are far past voting age, and in this clean shaven ancient world that there's a barber shop in one of those caves.
So for me, it becomes a guilty pleasure that I won't soon forget with an epilogue that has to be seen to be believed and must have been added on when they realized that without it, there would be no way the young hunks in this film would be believable as "teenage cave men"..
Early Roger Corman movies can be very good ("The Little Shop of Horrors", "Not of This Earth"), very bad ("The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent"), or somewhere in between ("It Conquered the World", Attack of the Crab Monsters").
"Teenage Cave Man" falls somewhere in the middle, with an impoverished budget but a good cast and intelligent story.A restless teenage cave man (Robert Vaughn) has an urge to travel to the forbidden land "beyond the river", where a fabled monster can kill with just a touch.
The beast is nothing but an old man in a radiation suit who represents the last survivor of a long-ago nuclear war.Beach Dickerson used to tell hilarious stories about this movie, including a description of his four roles (he dies in three of them, and attends his own funeral).
***SPOILERS*** Roger Corman film about prehistoric man and what obstacles he faced back in prehistoric times and how he eventually overcame them.It took the rebellious and searching for the truth symbol makers-Leslie Bradley-son played by the young and energetic Robert Vaughan to finally find what it's really all about in what's beyond the great river where the monster who kills with one touch rules.
Denied to go beyond the great river by caveman leader the black bearded one, Frank DeKova, the intuitive son of the symbol maker together with his fellow teenage cavemen travel there anyway with one of the the cave people the blond boy who can't float, Beach Dickerson, ending up dead by drowning in a nearby stream.
After his dad, the symbol man, convinced the black-bearded one to give his son a second chance he despite risking his life for a second time goes beyond the land of the great river to find out what all these BS stories about the monster who kills with one touch is all about.
Imaginative and interesting low budget film better than you'd expect.
It made me want to see the whole movie, and though it does show its budgetary shortcomings, this picture is actually quite well made, and is definitely worth seeing once.Leslie Bradley is excellent as the Symbol Maker, the father of the young hero, and Frank De Kova is very good as the jealous older warrior trying to get his younger rival in trouble all the time.It's true that there is a temptation to laugh now and then, as one recognizes members of Roger Corman's stock company in cave people outfits, or some obvious stock footage is used from other movies, but the overall effect is surprisingly good.
The film may look kind of rushed and amateurish, but the actors play their roles with sincerity, and the whole story has an oddly convincing feel about it.I recommend this for viewers who enjoy cave people movies and imaginative story telling on a limited budget..
This is a strange caveman movie, as the men are mostly clean-shaven or sport very well-trimmed beards and look nothing like we'd assume cave people would look like.
The worst example is young Robert Vaughn, who looks almost exactly like Napoleon Solo from his "Man from UNCLE" show!
Even though most of them return and the forbidden land isn't bad, Frank DeKova demands that Vaughn be killed because "it is the law".
For example, a scene from an earlier crappy film, KING DINOSAUR , is spliced into TEENAGE CAVE MAN.
Corman and crew deserve credit for beating Planet of the Apes and other better made films to this thought provoking conclusion.
Watch out for Robert Vaughn as a teenage (though he was 26 at the time) caveman.Worth the watch..
*Spoiler/plot- Teenage Caveman, 1956, A young man fights tribal laws and goes beyond the sacred river in search of his tribe's future, more animals for food, and 'the God whose touch kills'.
Early role for Robert Vaughn(Man from UNCLE) Beach Dickerson was a familiar face and name in many Corman's films.
GOOFS: Cavemen have 'farmer tans' lines and some are clean with hair combed.*Emotion- Essentially a coming of age film about a young man trying to find his place in his society.
The final plot points contain a nice surprise twist ending dealing with modern society and 'the God whose touch kills'.
It's thought provoking, interesting and deep for normal B-movie films.
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tt1074929
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Adoration
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Simon is a young orphan being raised under the care of his uncle Tom. The early scenes of the film show him filming his conversation in the hospital with his dying grandfather. Through the eyes of Simon we see the grandfather as a caring, wise man, while through the perspective of his uncle we see the racist, backwards side. Simon's grandfather hated Simon's father and claims that he intended to kill Simon's mother in the car crash when, as Simon finds out at the film's conclusion, he had an eye condition. This condition prevented him from being able to drive at night, as the glare from oncoming headlights would blind him. The evening of the car crash reveals a different side of the story, causing the memories of each character to meet head on, connecting disparate stories of each character to unite in an Egoyanesque conclusion.Simon's family narrative is cleverly knit into a news story presented to Simon by his high school French teacher as a translation exercise. An article is read by the teacher about an attempted bombing of an aircraft by a man who put explosives in his pregnant wife's luggage. Simon gets the idea to translate the story and write it from the perspective of the child in the woman's womb. The teacher encourages Simon to develop his story as a drama exercise, however Simon presents it to the class and to the world via the Internet as if he really was that child. The teacher's silence, as we find out later, is owing to her relationship with Simon's late father who died, with his mother, in a car crash when he was still a child. The narrative of the car crash and the attempted bombing of the plane become intertwined as a way for the characters to deal with their past experiences, which they have all been trying to deny.The film is about a search for identity in a digital age where the truth is oftentimes irrelevant. Simon's story of his suicide bomber father is met on the Internet with sympathy, anger, and even support as we see a skinhead on webcam telling Simon that his father was a hero. The alienation experienced by Simon in relation to the world-wide response he receives to this made-up story ultimately serves as a mechanism that forces him to turn away from his computer and video screen to face the actual issues he experienced as a child. Simon's story takes a twist that involves all the other characters in his life, everyone's narrative culminating in the piecing together of a fragmented past that needed to be re-examined in order for those in the present to be healed and re-connect with the people in their lives.
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storytelling, flashback
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train
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imdb
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Simon (Devon Bostick), a young high school student, tells his class that his Lebanese father Sami (Noam Jenkins) was a terrorist who attempted to blow up a plane with a bomb carried by his pregnant wife, Rachel (Rachel Blanchard), a talented violinist.
He (Simon) imagines having a father who is a demon; he wants to go as far as possible into what that might mean." Adoration begins with an indelible image – a young woman standing at the end of a pier overlooking a river playing the violin while her husband and young son watch in awe.
Sabine reads an article to the class about an incident that occurred in 1986 in which a Jordanian man, Nezar Hindawi, sent his pregnant Irish girlfriend on an El Al flight with a bomb in her handbag, of which she had no knowledge until it was discovered by Israeli airport security.Heavily influenced by his bigoted grandfather Morris (Kenneth Walsh) to believe that his father intentionally caused his mother's death in a car crash, the vulnerable Simon constructs a parallel between the article read by his French teacher and the death of his parents.
Simon's uncle, Tom (Scott Speedman), who raised the boy after his parents' death, acts as a mediator between his nephew and the teacher who encourages Simon to tell his fake story in the school auditorium.Tom is a tow truck operator with a short fuse who harbors a deep resentment against his father for the way he was treated as a child and his encounters with Sabine contain some of the film's most intense moments.
Though it contains a great deal of ambiguity and character motivations tend to be somewhat mystifying, Adoration is a very involving film with performances that are uniformly excellent, particularly Arsinee Khanjian as the emotionally-damaged teacher and Speedman and Bostock who provide enough tension to keep us riveted throughout..
Similarly, I won't reveal much about the story here.After losing his parents under questionable circumstances, Simon (Devon Bostick) is reluctantly being raised by his Uncle Tom (Scott Speedman).
Bostick is one of Canada's most prolific young actors (he co-starred in Citizen Duane, one of my Top Picks from the 2006 festival) and will hopefully be introduced to a wider audience if this film gets the distribution it deserves.The moment the credits began to roll I wanted to see "Adoration" again.
Having now seen "Adoration" at CIFF I'm not going to pretend I can't see where they're coming from- the film is a little preachy, there's bits of acting which are poor, there's a weakness to Egoyan's writing in that he seems to want to touch on every possible viewpoint on the issues being explored here within this running time, and occasionally it comes off as a little desperate.None of that keeps "Adoration" from being an intensely involving film, and a powerful one as well; a film about prejudices, loss, the power of technology, and the effect of fiction on reality and vice versa will always be topical, but given the actual plot of the film it is particularly relevant to today's world.
"Adoration" revolves around Simon (played by Devon Bostick), an orphaned teenager born to a Palestinian father and a white, North American mother, who both died in a car accident when he was a child, and was raised afterwards by his uncle Tom (played brilliantly by Scott Speedman).
When Simon writes a story about a terrorist who conceals a bomb inside his pregnant girlfriend's luggage before she boards a plane to Israel and imagines himself as the unborn child that is almost killed by the terrorist bomb (a story which has parallels to his racist and intolerant grandfather's version of the story of how Simon's parents died), his drama and French teacher encourages him to share it with his class, passing it off as truth.
"Adoration" is an effective and intelligent look at topical and relevant issues, but really shines as an examination of the nature of human thought, the results of the sort of environment which surrounds us, where hatred and prejudice is born, and ultimately as a character study of three individuals who all need to overcome events in their past by embracing and fully understanding them.8/10.
A teenager (Devon Bostick) who was orphaned after the tragic deaths of his parents is prompted by his teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) to deliver a fictional monologue about his father's failed terrorist act as fact in an elaborate "dramatic exercise" in Armenian-Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan's latest thought-provoking piece of abstraction "Adoration".
Like the young man's monologue that marries a true story to a false one about his parents, "Adoration" itself is an interesting dramatic experiment designed to provoke.
Though I always question Egoyan's motive in casting his wife Arsinee Khanjian in his films, in many ways, she gives her most understated and powerful performance here.
Scott Speedman as the uncle is really good, he's hiding behind a beard, giving curt responses to Arsinée Khanjian's questions.A problem: lots of use of internet chat rooms to flesh out the story; disembodied, undramatic characters for Simon to interact with (watch for the great Maury Chaykin to heat things up somewhat).
i'm gonna try and keep this review short, Basically i found this film pretty terrible, it tries too hard to be arty and symbolic but only comes off as pretentious and feels fake, who burns their phone to forget a video on it, there's a delete button hahaha.But in all seriousness, the music suited the film but was pretentious along with the film, the acting was really the only redeeming feature for me, i thought they did the best they could with the material they had at their disposal, however the story was poorly written and tried to be very symbolic which it pulled off to some extent, but a lot of the symbolism was unnecessary and as i said earlier tried too hard.Overall i think the acting was OK the rest was pretty terrible, and as i've stated before i believe that the attempt to be arty and meaningful just resulted in a cheesy, melodramatic and pretentious film..
I saw "The Sweet Hereafter" and loved it and I guess I expected "Adoration to be somehow in the same class of film.It was not.Adoration is a lot more like a student film, it was kind of embarrassing to watch in many parts and even more embarrassing to hear the cast and director talk about it as though it was a really thoughtful, well-made film.
Don't get me wrong, I know they were trying very hard with this movie and it was intended to tackle all sorts of tough topics in a latter-period Godard sort of way, but it just didn't work.I don't know why there are so many good reviews coming out for this film, I'm fairly certain that most of the people who it will be unhappy about their experience.
The film deals with a teenager called Simon (Devon Bostick) who's written a fictional monologue where his father left his pregnant mother on a plane and hid a bomb on her carry-on bag, which is discovered by the authorities and which foils his plans of terrorism.
So he decides to make a video diary where he films the bloggers who heatedly comment on his story, and who provide him with the necessary 'mind fuel' to deduct whether his father actually WAS an assassin, whether his mother was his victim, whether his grandfather (Kenneth Welsh) polluted their memory and whether his uncle (Scott Speedman) is hiding something.I know, it sounds like a complicated storyline...and it is.
But what about the...", then you start making so any questions, and you start coming up with so many answers, all of them giving birth to more questions...until you have no idea what you're even coming up with.Perhaps this was Egoyan's point, to keep us thinking and thinking until our thoughts seem to have detached from the film itself; it's a good thing to do- to have your public ponder so much- but it's bad when it affects the movie.
His parents died in an automobile accident years ago and he has been raised by his uncle Tom (Scott Speedman), a angry young man who has never married and whose only other family member living is his father Nick (Thomas Hauff) for whom he has little affection.
At school Simon takes French from teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) who encourages Simon's penchant for drama by encouraging a story Simon has created: he postulates that Sami placed explosives in Rachel's bag while pregnant Rachel flew to Israel with the intention of exploding the airplane killing 400 people.
There is a surprise twist to the true background of Simon's parents, Sabine, Tom, and the grandfather and Simon's fictional 'play' opens doors of emotional reaction from Simon's internet chatroom experience and from all of the people involved in the story.
I'm going to resist the temptation of asking the obvious question: If Egoyan's wife can't act, why does he put her in all of his films?Let's get back to the movie.
So all we get is fragments of philosophized thought and process that has meaning only to Egoyan.To compensate for not knowing a human speaker from a college textbook, Egoyan writes gaudy, overblown, and contrived plots which he populates with trendy but stock characters, whose past isn't personal, it's ceremonial.The hero is a young Canadian daubed in both Christian and Muslim colors; this makes him colorful, but it does not make him real, compelling, grounded, believable, interesting, or worth spending 90 minutes with.
Despite the background music occasionally distracting from what's in front of you, Adoration is a compelling film, not just as a character study, but as an experience many will be familiar with.People like me have come to expect thoughtful pieces of celluloid from filmmakers like Egoyan and he delivers once again, even with the film's minor technical flaws..
Simon (Devon Bostick) tells a story in his french class about his mother (Rachel Blanchard) and terrorism.
Religious, the openness of the Internet, teacher-student relations, truth-and-lies, peer relationships and the way a story can gather unexpected momentum in many forms.p.s. earlier posters, please don't confuse racism with cultural and ideological differences.I enjoyed 'Adoration' a lot, and was not let down by the almost-always perfect production style that comes out of Canada..
Atom Egoyan's "Adoration", following in his tradition as of late of religion and culture, stars Devon Bostick as Simon, a student who tells his classmates that his father was a terroristic bomber and that the only reason he's still alive is the bag with the bomb was confiscated by customers officers (which seems to be another theme in Egoyan films).
Like almost all of Atom Egoyan's movies, 'Adoration' is self-consciously exploratory, gently tracing the boundaries and pressure points that exist between characters in a manner that asks resonant, sometimes troubling questions about wider political issues without needing to generalise from the specifics.
For instance, the entire encounter between Arsinee Khanjian and Scott Speedman's characters, in which painful confession and angry confrontation are tempered by the awkward farce of the taxi-ride and invitation to lunch, the unsettling comedy of the confrontation with the taxi-driver, and, most opaquely, the utterly meaningless and consequence-free coincidence of Simon passing his uncle in a bus, and them failing to see each other.Most impressive of all, I think, is the balance this film strikes between intellectual engagement and emotional detachment.
Atom Egoyan's film "Adoration" is a complex and emotional story about how little lies can be dangerous and how the truth always will triumph at the end but with a little bit of pain.
In this thrilling story almost like an emotional and frantic time bomb waiting to explode Egoyan present us conflicted characters trying to figure out how to deal with their emotions, losses, their concepts of truth and lies, understanding and love.
To the audience it is a spider's web not very easy to follow where you always keep asking more and more questions about how this story is gonna end.In the story Simon (Devon Bostick) is a teenage boy who during a school task is asked by his French and Drama teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) to add intensity to its Drama exercise and present to the class as if all the things he was reading was true.
He lives with his uncle Tom (Scott Speedman) a hard working guy with many financial problems; and Simon's parents died in a car crash and he not knows too many things about them.
The new drama, Adoration is a confusing drama/thriller about a high school student named Simon (Devon Bostick) who tells his class his mother's husband, and his father put her on a plane with a bomb.
They never answered important questions like Is Simon telling the truth or making up a story?, and What is with these chatroom people?
Sabine, the teacher, played by Egoyan's muse and wife Arsinée Khanjian, reads the class an account in French of how Israeli security discovered a pregnant woman who arrived on a plane from the West with plastic explosives and a detonator in her handbag.
The focus shifts to Simon's actual family situation, in which Sabine appears to be more and more involved.Simon's parents died a decade or so ago in a car crash and he has been raised by his uncle Tom (Scott Speedman), who drives a city tow truck and is strapped for money.
There is a lot to admire in Atom Egoyan's "Adoration", a film we just got to see recently.
Working on his own screenplay, rather than adapting a novel, as he did with "Felicia's Journey", or in his masterpiece, "The Sweet Hereafter", Mr. Egoyan keeps involving the viewer in provocative issues, as it is the case with this entry.We are taken to a French class at a Toronto high school, where the teacher, Sabine, reads to the students, in French, a real story from a magazine.
Her encounter with Tom makes him realize the truth about this woman and her indirect connection to the events that molded Simon's and his own life after the fatal accident that took his sister's life.The excellent Arsinee Khanjian is perhaps the best reason for watching this engrossing film.
Simon, a high school student, reads an essay in English about his parents - his mother, a good and naive young woman; his father, a would-be-terrorist.
The only really striking aspect for me in this film was in the character of the teacher Sabine (Egoyan's muse, wife, longtime lead actress Arsinée Khanjian) who is so confused and messed up that she hangs just a thread away from being a parody - but is roped into reality by the fierceness and intensity of Khanjian's performance, possibly the best I've seen from her.
Khanjian as I said is terrific, and she and Scott Speedman as Tom really hold the film together - they're solid nearly all the way through so I really have to blame writer/director Egoyan for some of the stupider scenes, like one in which a taxi driver and Tom get into a ridiculously escalating argument seemingly just to make a plot point that has nothing to do with the scene.
If you've seen a lot of Egoyan like I have you'll certainly be familiar with much of what you see - whether you think it's more interesting or carried off better than I did is another story.
Atom Egoyan has not made many films over the years,BUT the ones he does create are always first rate & above all interesting.Adoration is a complex but yet simple tale of a dysfunctional family which in other hands would have been lurid sensational & dull.Here we have an intelligent & very creative High School student who in class tells a tale of how his parents died,at the beginning we think it may be all true,then we realize it may not have happened that way, we have a hateful grandfather, a conflicted Uncle who is now raising the lad, a teacher who is much more involved in the lads life than we suspect & of course his parents.The cast are mostly little known performers,however all give very fine performances.
Adoration is a Canadian film directed by Atom Egoyan that features Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman and Devon Bostick.
The movie explores the concept of cyberspace as a place for redemption in this drama about an adolescent boy named Simon,who reinvents his life on the Internet.Egoyan based the story partly on the 1986 Hindawi affair.High school French teacher Sabine reads to her class as a translation exercise a French newspaper report of a terrorist who planted a bomb in the airline luggage of his pregnant girlfriend.
In the course of translating, Simon, who lives with his uncle Tom, imagines that the news item is his own family's story: that his Palestinian father Sami was the terrorist, the woman was his mother Rachel, an accomplished violinist, and he was her unborn child.
Influenced by his grandfather, who disliked Sami (the audience sees Simon filming him with his mobile phone when he talks to him), Simon has always feared that the crash was not an accident but intentional.Sabine asks him to develop the story as a drama exercise, to read it to the class, and for dramatic effect to pretend that it really happened.
If you don't believe this, just think how many times you've described some real event as being 'just like a movie'." - Brad Holland By now we're familiar with the Atom Egoyan formula.
The film then progresses along two narrative streams – the first being the real story of the boy, whose parents were actually killed in a car accident, the second being the invented story about the planted bomb.Like Egoyan's "Ararat" (it also strongly resembles his 1987 film, "Family Viewing"), "Adoration" slowly turns into a kaleidoscopic rumination, this time of voyeurism, the totems of history, the ethics of terrorism, the obfuscation caused by technology, and various post 9/11 questions of racism, fear, paranoia etc.
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tt6075386
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Lobo
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"Sunny Jim Story Arc":
Lobo made a bet with an escaped con named Sunny Jim to which one could have sex with a human waitress first. Lobo carved up Sunny Jim's face badly so Sunny can lose the bet. However, he took Darlene from Dooley-7 so he can sell her for 2,000 credits at Tubo's Swap Meet. Lobo followed the con to the Interstellar Managers Planet, home to the ravenous MBA. Lobo destroyed all the MBA and killed Sunny Jim in a bloody pulp. Lobo took Darlene to Big Ahmet's for some sex but Darlene took Lobo's bike and left off."Oblivion Story Arc":
Lobo met an alien named Sniff who hired Lobo to free Sniff's little brother Slaz from jail in exchange for Cuban cigars. The prison is known as Obilvion Intergalactic Correctional Facility. Lobo arrived at Slaz' cell and saw his favorite and now retired rock star: Major Snake. Snake is a gay lover of Slaz. Slaz told Lobo that they should not leave since Snake's birthday is happening. Lobo hurried the two up to his bike and eventually killed Snake since only two people can ride on Lobo's bike. Lobo returned Slaz to Sniff, but as the two brothers gave each other a hug, they were impaled by their spikes."Lobo For President":
Lobo was appointed as a candidate for Intergalactic President but he was sick of the false marketing as he was seen killing aliens and Intergalactic Congressmen."Mudboy Story Arc":
At Fat Whutzat's shop, Lobo cannot get his bike back since he did not pay his dues. Lobo decided to find a Porkan criminal known as Mudboy. Lobo used six Space Penguins to get to where Mudboy was. So, he found Stumpy's Arms and bought a tracking device from Stumpy. Lobo encountered a giant Snake who ate Mudboy. He made the Snake vomit his quarry and eat the penguins. At Whutzat's shop, Lobo paid the credits but he had none left. Lobo took off with his bike and the Nutcracker Sisters.
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violence, humor, satire, murder
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train
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imdb
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A Second look. Well I decided to watch the rest of the show today and it's not really that bad as I thought it was.Lobo this show is definitely not for kids as due to the over excessive violence and strong language.Overall it's not a bad mini series but they could learn to animated and draw better because that seems to be the only downfall here. Also some of the voice acting good do some improvement.. The best DC related series ever!. After sixteen years, the relatively unknown Lobo series had got its act not found in other DC animation. Unlike most of the DCAU, it is notable for using graphic violence, profanity and not safe for work jokes. Lobo is an amazing, violent and hilarious bounty hunter who cannot be destroyed. Somehow, the web series made an influence on the aesthetics of the Deadpool film with its similar sensitive matter and graphic violence. The voice-acting and writing was top notch with the detailed Easter eggs found on the flash files before the website was shut down since 2002. The website and Gotham Girls were the first successful web cartoons but Lobo deserves more appreciation with the retrospective predictions found in the cartoons.
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tt0091969
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Slaughter High
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At Doddsville County High School, Carol (Caroline Munro) leaves the geek Marty (Simon Scuddamore) down the hallway, both laughing about doing it. She leads Marty to the girls locker room as, unbeknownst to Marty, a group of people follow. Marty goes into a shower stall and undressed, and Carol lets the people inside the room. The curtain is thrown aside and they yell "April Fools!" The crowed mocks the half-naked Marty. The coach appears and tells all of them, except Marty, to go to the gym and "suit up". While they are working out, one of the students, Stella (Donna Yeager) is angry and blames Marty for this collective punishment they are now receiving. Carl (John Segal) and Ted (Michael Saffran) stop by Marty's locker and to show him that there are no hard feelings toward him, give him a joint to smoke.Working alone in chemistry class, Marty decides to light up and smoke the joint. He immediately gets sick and goes to the locker room to throw up. In the gym, Skip (Carmine Iannaccone) throws a brick through a window and feigns that it came from the outside to get away from the coach still punishing them. Skip goes to the deserted chemistry room, adds some white powder to a container, and walks away back to the gym. Marty returns when the liquid in the container pops and a fire starts. He tries to turn off the gas, and a bottle of nitric acid falls and splashes on his face. Marty is taken away on a stretcher into an ambulance. As Carol approaches Marty on the stretcher to apologize, he grabs her by the neck. She screams and wakes up in bed.It is suddenly 10 years later, Carol, now a rich and successful actress, gets a phone call from Manny her agent who tries to convince her to appear in another movie. Susan (Sally Cross) visits Carol and tells her that the she recently engaged and will try to make it for the class reunion later.It is the day before April 1, and Skip is driving his car through the countryside. He stops for a hitchhiker and it is Nancy (Kelly Baker) one of his old classmates also on her way to the reunion. When Skip tries to start his car again, it refuses to start. But two other former classmates, Joe (Gary Martin) and Stella, pass by and Joe tows Skips broken down car to the school. Everyone arrives at the closed down school, with Frank arriving last on his motorbike. Night falls, and it is only this small group of friends whom have arrived at their closed-down school. Joe and Skip walk around to the back to get inside the boarded up building. As it begins to rain, the rest of the group forces their way in through the front door. The find Skip and Joe inside and the group looks around the school, eventually coming to a classroom with a 'Welcome Back' sign, school photographs, alcohol and their old lockers. Shriley points out Martys old locker, and they find a rat inside. They also find Martys old yearbook and look though it. Skip talks about Marty's six months of plastic surgery for the accident and the fact that he flipped out.Meanwhile, someone wearing a jesters mask (the same one that Skip wore during the shower prank) is lurking in the halls. The group begins to smoke some marijuana, and Carol shows off her more expensive cocaine. Nancy decides to go to the bathroom and Carol joins her. They are both scared by Skip and Frank who scare them for kicks. The two guys run out and have a run-in with Digby, the old janitor, who asks them what are they doing here. When Skip mentions the reunion, Digby tells them that he hasn't heard of any reunion, and tells them that the building will be knocked down soon, but allows them to take a last look around if they want. After Digby walks on, the jester mask wearing person jumps out and shoves Digbys head into a hook and nails his hand to a door.Nancy plays a joke on Skip and pours a drink down his pants. Carl tells Ted to show everyone how to "sink a beer" and Ted demonstrates. Suddenly, Ted gets sick, his stomach pops wide open and some of his innards are exposed. The "beer" is actually a lethal acid. Everyone screams and runs away except Shirley who stands in shock with some of Teds blood splashed onto her face.When the group sees that the door will not open and one of the windows gives Nancy a shock, Carl kicks the fencing, takes Carols car keys, and crawls out telling them that he will go for help. Carl gets to Carols car and when he tries to start it, the jester-masked killer rises from the back seat and shoves a steel pole through the seat and out of Carls chest. Back in the school building, Shirley goes to the locker room and gets in a tub to wash off the blood she has on her. When she turns on the fauset for water, acid fills the tub instead and she screams. Several people run in and find Shirley's skeleton in the tub. Carol realizes and screams out "Marty's come back!"Susan arrives at the school, and Skip fruitless tries to get her to leave. She walks in through the front door which is unlocked and sees a life-size picture of Marty at the end of the hallway. Hands punch through and grab her. The survivors convene, and Frank says that he saw a tractor earlier. Frank, Skip, and Joe begin to work on getting the tractor started with the hope of plowing through the doors.While Frank and Skip leave Joe alone to work on the tractor, Stells flirts with Frank and says she wished she was with him instead of Joe. The killer visits Joe while he is under the tracker and kicks the jack away. Joe holds the tractor up and the killer starts the machine and cuts Joes arm with a pocket knife , letting the running blades do the rest. The killer then goes to Stella and Frank during their time of intimacy, hooks up cables to the bed they are on, and electrocutes both of them. Nancy goes to check on Joe and finding him dead, and runs off to tell Skip and Carol. They also find Stella and Frank dead and Skip screams out into the hallways for Marty to show himself. Nancy becomes upset, blaming Skip and Carol for everything that has led to Marty's accident, and Carol calms her down.Morning comes, a sleeping Skip awakes, goes into the hallway and is grabbed. Carol asks Nancy where Skip is. Carol explains that if Marty is behind all this, they just have to wait until April 1 which ends at noon which is the time Marty is disfigured and they only need one hour. The two women leave the room.Skip wakes up and find himself hanging from a rope. He tries to shake himself free until the rope comes loose and he falls. Carol and Nancy look around and realize that all the dead bodies are gone. The hear a noise and walk into a room with a video playing of the shower prank. Nancy sees her photograph marked out in a nearby yearbook and she runs. She manages to get through a window and outside only to fall into a pit of dirty water. Unable to swim, Nancy tries to use a metal pipe to pull herself up, and the killer knocks her back in and leaves. Back in the building, Carol finds Digby dead and hides in the girls locker room and hears a noise. She finds blood in one of the toilets and she flushes it, only to have it overflow. She picks up a baseball bat and hits the killer when he enters the locker room.Carol runs into the auditorium and hides onstage. A javelin is shoved through the curtain, nearly missing her. From hiding she hears footsteps and swings a hatchet, hitting Skip in the face, accidentally killing him. The killer then punches through the glass, grabbing her. Carol pushes the killer back through the glass and he lands on the gym floor. Carol relaxes and sees that it is noon. But Marty stands up, picks up the javelin and chases Carol back into the girls locker room. He sees Carol hiding in the same shower stall where this all happened and pulls aside the curtain. Marty then, reveals his horribly scared face for the first time. Marty laughs and impales Carol through the stomach to the wall with the Javelin, killing her. Marty yells, "I showed ya!"With his revenge against all those who caused his disfigurement over, Marty relaxes until he begins to hear voices calling his name. Marty sees all of the dead people he killed rising up and coming after him chanting his name over and over again as they chase and corner him in the auditorium.Marty screams and wakes up in his hospital bed, with bandages all over his face. A nurse comes into his room and tells him to relax for he's had a serious accident just the other day. Apparently the whole reunion event was nothing but a bad dream that Marty had out of wishing revenge against all those who caused his disfigurement. A little later, a doctor responds to an alarm and runs into Marty's hospital room where the nurse stands over him with a syringe. The nurse turns around and it is actually Marty wearing the nurse's uniform while the dead nurse is lying in his bed. Marty shoves the syringe into the doctor's eye killing him too. Marty then pulls off his bandages from his face, and some of his face with it, and escapes from the hospital, vowing to find and kill those who caused his disfigurement.
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dark, cruelty, murder, adult comedy, cult, violence, revenge, sadist
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train
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imdb
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Disfigured and back for revenge, sporting a Joker/Jester mask (pretty creepy looking, might i add), Marty begins to kill off those teens one by one many years later, after he manages to make them believe that their old abandoned high school is having a reunion.
That being said, it also relies heavily on the standard slasher formula: A group of young men and women get killed one by one gruesomely until the final showdown.The reason why "Slaughter High" stands above most movies in its genre is that it goes more over-the-top.
Harry Manfredini hasn't so much mimicked his score from Friday the 13th as simply cut and pasted it, which is no real mean feat, but at times it felt as if we were watching a (less competent) sequel instead of a completely different movie.The most macabre thing about Slaughter High, is the fact that actor Simon Scuddamore tragically took his own life soon after it was released.
It turns fatal when he really gets hurt from one of their little pranks.So, its like 10 years later, and the group of friends who hurt Marty start getting High School reunion letters.
How can you honestly hate on a movie where one of the characters finds a beer in an abandoned school, like, 10 or 15 years later and thinks it would be a good idea to drink it?
This film is the epitome of bad 80's slasher films: a decent idea that comes out really bad and rips off good slasher films in the process.Marty, the stereotypical high-school nerd, is horribly disfigured in an accident caused by a prank gone too far.
Now, years later, the pranksters are gathering for a high school reunion where it seems that bloody revenge is about to go down.Slaughter High, as you can tell from its title, isn't a horror film that's meant to be taken seriously.
However, in its own way, the film is sort of funny and enjoyable, and if you can suspend any high expectations, you will enjoy this one, from it's hilarious opening scenes, to the overly familiar Friday the 13th-esque score by Harry Manfredini, it's a fun, goofy, gory and demented horror flick worthy of your rental dollars..
I loved this movie.It is about Marty(Simon Scuddamore)a nerd that all the girls and jocks pick on.Things go too far when a prank backfires and disfigure's Marty's face for life!It's five years later and Marty is back,killing them one by one at an abandoned mansion.I have heard many rumors about Simon Scuddamore,like he committed suicide shortly after SLAUGHTER HIGH was released,he lived in Dayton,Ohio,he was 29 years old when he committed suicide,his stepfather abused him when he was a child(part of why he killed himself)and he was in an asylum.I enjoyed this movie very much,the only thing I don't like about it is when they tricked Marty into getting naked at the beginning of the movie.JACOB YOUNG.
Saw this film years ago on video and found a cheap copy of it recently.Yeah i know they're not exactly the right age for the parts they're playing and of course most of the cast can't disguise their British accents but i still like it for a laugh!Some of the murder scenes are inventive though how did he know they'd end up on the bed or taking a bath???!!!!Ending is a bit strange and sorry to hear about the suicide of the guy who played Marty.Otherwise an enjoyable film not to be taken seriously!.
Henry Manfredini's score is pretty terrible but his fans will probably enjoy it.Ultimately contributing to "Slaughter High's" atmosphere of nastiness is that Simon Scuddamore, the actor playing Marty, committed suicide from a drug overdose not long after filming wrapped.
This all goes well with a theme song that is a hilariously pose of heavy metal thrash accompanied by maniacal laughter and a voice shrieking "I'll get you." With that being said, Slaughter High really isn't a very good slasher flick, but it does have a bad cheesy entertainment value to it.
After attending their high-school reunion, a group of friends learn the entire evening was planned as a ruse by a former classmate to seek revenge on them for a prank gone wrong and must find a way to stop the deadly rampage.This here turned out to be quite the enjoyable and fun cheesy slasher effort.
Still, there's still plenty of worthwhile elements throughout this with their being a lot of rather impressive horror sequences including the initial motivation for the rampage being a disastrous experiment gone wrong complete with the exploding school equipment and scarring acid that provides the motivations for one of the greatest ever masks in the genre with the old-man/jester-hat combo that works deliciously well in evoking the type of atmosphere warranted for the film and help highlight the finale wonderfully as the madly-ringing jester bells and held-aloft javelin through the school's hallways rival the best chase scenes in any classic slasher.
An old gang of highschool bullies- responsible for a humiliating series of pranks-gone-wrong that saw the school nerd get horribly disfigured in a fire- are invited back to town for their ten year highschool reunion.However, it seems like they are the ones getting pranked this time...because when they show up, the whole place is locked down, and there is no one to be seen.They manage to break in, but can't break their way back out...and now they're dropping one by one...What starts off like a low budget Breakfast Club ripoff...quickly takes a twisted turn in the direction of American Horror Story: Cult.There are some great kills in this!
Slaughter High will never win points for originality, characterization, acting, or really anything that makes a so-called "great film", but if you turn off your brain for 90 minutes, you'll find a lot to like.The plot is your typical "abused teenager stages fake high school reunion to lure his classmates into a death trap" kinda thing, but the death scenes are surprisingly creative and delivered with a certain amount of panache.
These have to be some of the oldest looking high schoolers I've ever seen.Despite its goofy premise and performances, there's an aura of mean spiritedness that hangs over the film like a dark cloud, which helps give birth to some spooky and haunting moments here and there.Slasher and b-movie fans will find a lot to love..
Slaughter High is my favorate horror movie.My quest to find out why Simon Scuddamore commited suicide shortly after Slaughter High's release may never be succesful,but I thought he did a great job and if it were'nt for him the movie would not have been as good.The movie stars Caroline Munro and has three directors,and is shot in London.It opens up with Carol,a sexy high school girl leading nerdy Marty Rantzen into the girl's locker room having him thinking they are about to have sex.It is a prank to trick Marty into taking all of his clothes off and being photographed.After he is terribly humiliated being seeing naked,there's more to the cruel prank.He gets his hands electricuted and is dumped head first into a toilet.Eventually the coach saves Marty,and the students have to stay after school and do push ups(like that's punishment enough)while Marty is in his lab about to smoke pot,another cruel prank!To make a long story short a nerd gets picked on and comes back from the dead for revenge.I think that covers it pretty well.The ending is weird.Joe Bob Briggs announced Simon's suicide on Monstervision a few years ago,another person that had seen him had written it in his review,that's where I found out about it.
Opening with a routine prologue to establish the killer's motive, and ending with a particularly stupid twist, the film is just about as dumb and predictable as the genre gets, but still manages to be craptabulous fun at times thanks to its cheesy, tongue-in-cheek approach, a handful of inventive deaths involving half-decent gore effects, a smidgeon of gratuitous nudity, and some truly cringe-worthy performances (no, Caroline, you don't look 18 and you can't do a convincing US accent).Munro plays Carol Manning, one of a group of friends invited to a reunion at their now-closed high school, where psychotic nerd Marty Rantzen stalks the corridors plotting revenge for the cruel prank that that left him hideously disfigured.Unaware of the vengeful, jester mask-wearing maniac waiting silently within, the group decide to enter the seemingly deserted school to shelter from an approaching storm.
Regardless of if the awful acting and jovial tone is actually meant to be of parody nature, the film is just dull from start to finish, even repugnant in its tacky simplicity.Plot basically finds a group of unlikable high schoolers, led by Caroline Munro who is in reality in her mid 30s and older than some of the teachers at the school, prank bullying the school nerd Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) on April fools Day, to the point where he inevitably ends up in a horrific accident.
Other kills make zero sense, such as one that befalls a latecomer, in which the entire set-up is dependent on us believing that when Marty was preparing his cycle of revenge, he had the forethought to enlarge one of his high-school photos (a full body shot, mind you) to poster size and cover a door with it.The silly jester mask Marty wears throughout is by far one of the lamest articles of killer garb you'll find in the genre, and when the film-makers try to use the sound of the jingling aluminum balls on the tips of his crown to summon suspense, this is invariably a lost cause.Much of the music in the film is brazenly lifted from the Friday The 13th franchise (I don't mean it SOUNDS like it, I mean they literally re-used that same music), but the song that adorns the opening credits and repeats several times during the film is an original beast all its own, and it must be heard to be believed.Further supporting my assumption that all of the characters in Slaughter High actually want to be killed, the lone survivor's final showdown with Marty reaches a new high point of idiocy.
In an ill-fated chemistry experiment, the jocks and bullies decided to play a little nasty trick on him...Ten years later, disfigured nerd Marty has set up a pseudo high school reunion party, attracting several of his former tormentors.
In any event, I found myself paying more attention at this stage in the film, possibly because it finally seemed like something interesting was happening-and it was, though I'm not quite sure what, or why.Overall, "Slaughter High" is a bit of a bricolage slasher flick that, though amusing at times, doesn't seem to know what it wants or what it's doing.
This really isn't worth a look except for maybe big slasher movie fans who can see past 27 year old men and women playing high school students, terrible lighting, bad writing, and awful performances..
It stars Caroline Munro, from both Dr. Phibes films (she was his wife that died!), Dracula A.D. 1972, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter, The Spy Who Loved Me, Maniac, and Faceless.Brought to you by the people behind Don't Open Til Christmas and Pieces, Heres my thoughts on this...It opens on April Fools Day, where a bunch of kids play an elaborate prank on the school nerd- promising him sex in the shower, and giving him public humiliation and a face in the toilet (all while hes naked!).
The movie opens with a flashback to Doddsville County High School on April Fool's Day. A group of students play a prank on class nerd Marty.
Scream queen Caroline Munro gives yet another explanation why she never managed to upstage her Bond Girl outing, whilst the rest of the cast seem content in the knowledge that movie obscurity was waiting behind the curtains invitingly.Perhaps the most macabre thing about Slaughter High, is the fact that actor Simon Scuddamore tragically took his own life soon before the film hit the shelves for release.
Slaughter High starts like any other day at Doddsville County High School where little minx Carol Manning (Caroline Munro) has tricked resident nerd Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) into the girls locker rooms where she tells him to get undressed in the shower, while doing so Carol's gang of friends come in & give the now naked Marty a big surprise as they film him as they stick his head down the girls toilet in an April fool's day joke.
They all venture inside where they quickly learn they aren't the only ones there as Marty is back & has revenge on his mind...Originally shot under the title April Fool's Day which they changed probably because of another slasher film named April Fool's Day (1986) made the same year this American English co-production is unusual in that it has three credited writers & directors, George Dugdale, Mark Ezra & Peter Litten (after never seeing a film with three credited director's I've now seen two in a week the other being the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Kickboxer (1989)) & I have to say I really rather liked Slaughter High even though it seems to have a pretty bad reputation.
Five years later Marty invites all the people who hurt him to a high school reunion where he takes his revenge by killing them off one by one.Slaughter High is entertaining and very funny, but does have some flaws, like the people in this are very stupid even for a horror movie, like the part when they realise they're trapped in the school then later on one of the girls runs straight outside and falls into a muddy ditch.
Another part when the girl gets blood on her face and decides to take a bath despite there being a killer on the loose, and another error if the school's been closed down for five years how can it have running water.The acting is actually not that bad it's just a shame that none of the characters are likable.All in all it's a very entertaining and a great time waster..
Years later, the same group of classmates are invited to a high school reunion and they discover that the joke is on them and that Marty is their host who intends on getting the last laugh with deadly revenge.
Aside from some minor things like the actors in the beginning looking way too old to be in high school, throughout the film I kept wondering why no one tried to leave when the murders first started.
**SPOILERS** From the makers of Friday the 13th, Slaughter High starts off with Marty, the school nerd, being lured into the girls locker room by Carol (played seductively by scream great Caroline Munro).
To his horror it turns out that a group of her friends are waiting to play a April fools day joke on him (and on his birthday!!) He eventually gets splattered in the face by a bottle of nitric acid and disfigures his face (still think thats a shocking scene!) Fastforward to five years later, the same group of friends are invited to a high school reunion, where each one gets killed during the night by someone wearing a court jester mask.
"Slaughter High" is a totally ridiculous slasher flick about a high school nerd Marty,who gets pick on all the time by some pranksters.The prank goes wrong and he ends up getting savagely burned.Five years later his tormentors all attend a reunion-just the ten of them of course,and low and behold Marty murders them one after another.British actress Caroline Munro("Maniac")leads the cast as the heroine(who dies anyway!).The acting is completely awful,there's also no suspense at all.Plenty of grotesque death scenes to satisfy the gore-freaks:a guy's stomach explodes,another female victim literally gets an acid bath,a couple having sex in bed get electrocuted,a guy is crushed by a tractor,one girl is drowned,and a doctor gets a hyperdermic needle in the eye.The killer wears a decent and rather creepy jester's mask and the setting(a beautiful old English castle)is really nice.However the dream finale is utterly pathetic.All in all it's true that "Slaughter High" is a piece of garbage,but I enjoyed it.Only for fans of truly bad slasher flicks..
Some aspects of this production are downright ridiculous, like casting the 36-year-old horror starlet Caroline Munro to play a high school prom queen, and the twisted dream-finale will leave even the most undemanding 80's slasher fan nodding his/her head with disapproval.
As you might read, high school nerd Marty takes revenge on his classmates five years after they played a cruel prank on him; they splashed acid on his face.
On a high school reunion Marty makes sure to kill the people responsible for his disfigured face.
Years later they go to their 10th high school reunion and soon discover what it feels like to be on the other end of a bad joke gone wrong--and Marty has no sense of humor.
Another high-school-prank-gone-wrong-disfigured-victim-seeks-revenge slasher movie from the 1980s.
Happens all the time, I think I am going to watch a horror film that is going to be pretty good, but then it goes in a wrong direction or something.The story starts with a bunch of high school kids pulling a very cruel series of pranks on a nerdy guy.
A nice couple of kills just cannot save this one as Marty roams the halls of his old high school to get his revenge as they just do not seem to know how to end a horror film from a certain point in time up till now.
In recent years, I've become more interested in horror movies, so when I came across a good copy of Slaughter High, I decided it was time to revisit it to see how it held up.The story is about a nerd who gets painfully disfigured when a group of popular kids keep picking on him.
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tt0050414
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From Hell It Came
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The movie opens with title and credits running over a long shot of a tropical Pacific Island village of huts.The opening scene is of a palm covered beach and cuts to an assembly of natives performing a ceremony. The seated Witch Doctor, Tano (Robert Swan), stabs a voodoo doll in the heart with a knife. Tano pronounces sentence on Kimo (Gregg Palmer), "Kimo you have committed the greatest crime of all. You have betrayed your own people. You have caused the death of your own father, our mighty chief. For these sins you must die." Kimo is staked to the ground. He proclaims his innocence. His real crime is consorting with the American Scientists and favoring their modern medicine over Tano's primitive cures. Chief Maranka (Baynes Barron) concurs with Tano. Kimo blames Tano and Maranka in a conspiracy to kill the old chief and take over the tribe. Unfortunately Kimo relies on testimony of his unfaithful wife, Korey (Suzanne Ridgeway). She makes him look even more guilty, sealing his fate. Kimo proclaims, "Korey, why have you betrayed me? I will come back from the grave to revenge for myself. Tano, you can kill my body but my spirit will never die. Tano, your days are numbered." A stake is driven into his heart. Chickens peck around for food next to his dead body. A ritual dance is performed. It appears to be a hula dance. Mrs. Mae Kilgore (Linda Watkins) was walking by the village and witnessed the proceedings. This is a taboo and punishable by death. Four natives carry a coffin and place it next to Kimo.At the American Field lab, Dr. William Arnold (Tod Andrews) and Prof. Clark (John McNamara) complain of the noise of the tribal drums, the malaria, jungle rot, fever, heat and the ignorance of the natives. Arnold explains he tried his best to save the chief, but he was too far gone to be saved. They grow concerned for their own safety. Professor Clark is a seasoned field researcher, but he would like to return to the states also. His ideal job would be as a chemist at a distillery. Needless to say he likes his distilled spirits. An atom bomb was dropped about 1,500 miles away, but because of a freak typhoon the fallout was carried to this little island. But it isn't fallout killing the natives but plague. Geiger counter readings indicate only slightly above normal background. Dr. Arnold wants to go home but his girlfriend wants to continue with her career. Eddie (Mark Sheeler) is a Sergeant. He enters the lab after fixing the camp generator. He helps himself to a cup of coffee. The three are enjoying their coffee when they hear Mrs. Kilgore scream. She is being chased by a native who tries to kill her. The three chase the native away and carry Mrs. Kilgore into the lab. Fortunately she was just frightened, not seriously injured.The native ceremony continues. Kimo's body is placed in the wooden casket vertically. He still has the ceremonial dagger in his chest. Four men carry him to the cemetery and bury him. The village members follow the casket. Mrs. Kilgore wakes babbling, and then tells Dr. Arnold, Professor Clark, and Eddie they killed Kimo. Mrs. Kilgore resumes her composure and her old self--now she is concerned about her appearance. The twice married and widowed woman is on the prowl for another husband. At the graveyard, Tano throws the voodoo doll of Kimo, some bones, and dirt into the open grave. The natives fill the remainder with dirt. Dr. Arnold reminds Mrs. Kilgore that she passed the cemetery during a native ceremony and that is why she was attacked. She tells Dr. Arnold she was just coming to get some more "Nerve Medicine." She runs the local trading post and is a frequent guest at the American Compound.A helicopter departs a Navy ship offshore. On board is Dr. Terry Mason (Tina Carver). They land and are met by Dr. Arnold and Eddie in a Jeep. They pass the cemetery on the way over and we see the ground over Kimo's grave begin to erupt slowly. Eddie loads Terry's bags and equipment into the Jeep. Arnold warns Terry that the natives are getting dangerous. They drive past the cemetery again and this time the crack in the ground has widened. They arrive back at the compound. Terry meets Mrs. Kilgore and the two strike-up an instant friendship. Mae takes Terry to her quarters to freshen up. She is introduced to an outcast native girl, Orchid (Grace Mathews). Mae asks Eddie to take her home. Terry enjoys a shower. Dr. Arnold comes to collect Terry, but she isn't quite dressed yet. Two natives arrive for medical treatment. Norgu (Lee Rhodes) accompanies his wife Dori (Lenmana Guerin) for another round of skin treatments. Her face is scarred. It is a side effect of the plague and mild radiation burning. Terry arrives at the lab and is introduced to Dori. Terry examines her and concurs that Dr. Arnold's treatment is working, but she may have something else that may work better. Arnold tells Dori and Norgu to return tomorrow for her first new treatment.Korey, freshly widowed, goes to visit her lover, Tano. He rebuffs her advances now. She states, "It was for you that I helped kill Kimo, my husband. And since he died the fire of your love as grown cold." He coldly replies, "I could never have a traitor like you as my wife. Get out of here." His new interest, Naomi (Tani Marsh) returns from the jungle with poison berries to help Tano make poison darts. Tano and Naomi depart after Tano tells Korey he could just as easily kill her as the Americans. Korey departs in a jealous huff.Terry and Arnold finish lunch and go for a walk. Arnold is trying to woo Terry into a marriage in which she isn't interested. Terry notices a stake and skull topple over in the cemetery. She wants to investigate. They notice a strange plant or tree stump growing out of the ground over Kimo's grave. Arnold suggests Prof. Clark look at it. They walk back. The next day they show Clark a drawing. Norgu and Dori arrive and Norgu is shocked when he sees the drawing. "Kimo's curse has come true. His spirit returns from the grave," a frightened Norgu mutters. He goes on to describe a tree monster, a Tabanga--a creature of revenge. Orchid comes into the lab. She reports the strange growth from Kimo's grave. She adds that it has a ceremonial dagger in its heart. Norgu accompanies Terry, Arnold and Clark back to the cemetery to examine the stump. It is now more exposed and seems to have a face. It is highly radioactive and has a heartbeat. Norgu tells them, "The Tabanga will soon remove itself from the ground." Terry observes, "You know what, I have an eerie feeling that this thing knows what were saying." They receive a radio message from the foundation headquarters in Washington asking them to remove and study the tree growth. This pleases Terry.Tano and Chief Maranka decide that Norgu has disobeyed the taboo and must die with the Americans. Tano advises caution. Tano plans to poison the Tabanga into becoming his slave to kill at his command. The chief reminds Tano that Korey must also die. They don't realize Korey was eavesdropping outside the hut. Korey runs to the American compound. She tells the Americans, "Tano and Maranka are planning to kill all of you." Norgu questions her intentions and veracity. She finally admits she is on the death list also, and asks for sanctuary. Norgu vouches for her. Clark, Arnold and Terry return to the cemetery to remove the Tabanga. It is now seven feet tall and the roots are now fairly shallow and exposed. Its beating heart is visibly pulsating. They return it to the lab and place it on a gurney. The pulse weakens and Terry is convinced it is dying. She wants to try something radical. Dr. Arnold just wants to pack it in and throw it in the quicksand. Formula 447 is an experimental medicine used to restore heart action after radiation exposure. It works very slowly. They give the Tabanga an IV of the formula. The time is 10:00 p.m. They agree to check it in the morning after a good night's sleep. Just before 6:00 a.m. the lab is shown to be a shambles. Arnold, Clark and Terry arrive only to discover their "patient" is gone. The Tabanga (Chester Hayes) is out wandering the island, but the scientists don't know that yet. Clark postulates that the natives came in, took the Tabanga and trashed the lab. Eddie is the first to notice the radio room was also destroyed.Naomi is out in the lake swimming. A very jealous Korey is out for a walk and spots her. She pulls her knife and approaches Naomi. Korey confronts her rival, "You've been hiding from me a long time. I've been waiting for this chance." They struggle and Naomi is getting the worst of it. Neither is aware they are being watched by the Tabanga. Korey strikes out at Naomi with her knife, but misses the mark, and drives the blade into a tree. Naomi retrieves a stick and knocks Korey out right into the waiting "arms" of the Tabanga. Naomi backs away in horror. Korey wakes, becomes aware of her predicament, and screams. She faints. Naomi runs back to the village to warn the others. The Tabanga carries Korey to the quicksand and tosses her in. He gets his revenge--one down and two to go. "I just saw the Tabanga," Naomi tells Chief Maranka. Tano and Naomi go to the cemetery to confirm her report. Sure enough the Tabanga is gone leaving only severed roots. Tano's plan is now to kill the Tabanga first, then the Americans. They return to the site of the girl fight. They find Korey's knife still in the tree and a piece of fabric from her dress.Chief Maranka is sharpening a spear when the Tabanga approaches his hut. He throws his spear and misses from five feet away! The Tabanga presses him against a tree crushing the life from his body. Orchid comes to the lab from the village to report that the Tabanga is not dead. It killed Maranka. Terry is pleased and excited to hear her "patient" is alive. She dials back her enthusiasm when she hears it's on a killing spree.The natives dig a pit and cover it with brush. They intend to trap and burn the Tabanga. Tano proclaims, "I am the bait that must lead him to the trap." He tells Maku (Chester Hayes in a dual role) to climb a tree and signal when the Tabanga approaches. Maku alerts Tano of the approach of the Tabanga. Tano leads it into the trap. The village men toss torches into the pit starting a fire. A short time later, a smoldering Tabanga emerges from the pit and continues his search for Tano. Maku and another native see it and run to the American compound for help. The Americans respond cautiously to the two men pounding on their door. Maku pleads, "Come quick, please help us. We cannot kill the Tabanga. We burn Tabanga with a mighty fire, but it didn't help. It came out alive, please come before it kills us all."Tano is walking and spots the Tabanga. He backs away. Mrs. Kilgore arrives for the safety of the lab. Eddie, Clark and Arnold intend to help and the women join the men, all are well armed. The Tabanga chases Tano. He falls over a log and hits his head on a rock. He is stunned. This gives the Tabanga the chance it wants to seek revenge on the last of the three. It carries Tano to a cliff and throws him over. He is impaled on a stake and dies. Maku, another villager, and the Americans walk single file through the jungle. Mrs. Kilgore jabbers non-stop. Terry is bringing up the rear. Terry stops to rest and remove something from her shoe. Mrs. Kilgore continues to talk. She is unaware Terry is not with them. Terry gets her shoe back on and leans against the Tabanga. It grabs her and she screams and then faints. They run back as the Tabanga carries her away. She drops a shoe. They find her shoe, but Terry and the Tabanga are gone. She screams again and they follow the sound. She struggles. Eddie takes a couple of shots at the creature. He hits it but it has no effect. A few more shots just annoy it into dropping Terry and turning to face its tormentors. Dr. Arnold, Clark, and Eddie start firing. They are aiming for the ceremonial dagger. After a few dozen rounds, Dr. Arnold scores a direct hit on the knife's butt or pommel of the handle driving it into the heart. The Tabanga drops backwards into the quicksand. Terry runs into Dr. Arnold's arms. The Tabanga sinks into the quicksand. Maku thanks the Americans for their help and departs. Dr. Arnold and Terry kiss. We close with Mrs. Kilgore shamelessly trolling for husband number three. She asks Professor Clark, "By the way Professor. I never asked you. Are you married?"
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revenge
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train
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imdb
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tt0488906
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Zinda
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The film is about a rich, successful business man named Balajeet "Bala" Roy (Sanjay Dutt), who lives a blissful life with his beautiful wife, Nisha Roy (Celina Jaitley). Nisha is expecting their first child together. Bala is suddenly captured for an unknown reason and kept alive in a cell without knowing who his captives are and the reason behind it. While in captivity, he practices martial arts which he learns from watching T.V., with the intention of using it against the people who captured him. When he is released, 14 years later, he sets out for revenge. As the film moves on, he is helped by a taxi driver Jenny (Lara Dutta) to track his kidnapper. Bala tracks down the restaurant that had served his food, during his entire captivity and follows a delivery moped to his captors. Discovering he was held in a private prison where people can pay to have others incarcerated, Bala tortures the owner Wong Foo (Rajendranath Zutshi) for answers by plucking out his teeth with a clawhammer; he then finds out he was imprisoned for "talking too much", and fights his way out of the building. Injured Bala is helped out by a hooded man who takes him to a taxi. The hooded man turns out to be Rohit Chopra (John Abraham). Soon Wong Foo kidnaps Jenny and tortures her. He threatens Bala to remove his teeth with his clawhammer by himself, but is interrupted by Rohit. Bala grows intimate with Jenny and has sex with her. Bala is informed that her daughter is alive. During tracking, he encounters his kidnapper which is none other than Rohit. In his flashback, Rohit reveals his reason of kidnapping Bala that during their childhood, Bala's lustful eyes falls on Rohit's elder sister Reema Chopra. After she slaps Bala for gifting a panty, Bala spreads a false rumour that his sister is a whore. And he fools little Rohit by sticking a message on his back. She becomes a laughing stock for all school. She commits suicide by burning herself. This left Rohit broken and deciding to seek revenge. Back to the present it is also revealed that his daughter is safe and she is now a 14 year old girl. Rohit helped Nisha during her pregnancy and delivery timsecale. When her daughter was 1 year old Rohit killed Nisha. Rohit helped and cared his daughter for 14 years. But Rohit sells his daughter to a brothel and bids her. Rohit is beaten up by Bala & he pleads him to tell where is his daughter. Rohit leaves Bala's hand & falls from the balcony and dies. Bala kills all of the goons and Wong Foo with a sword. At the end his daughter is safe and found sitting near a lake. Rohit just want to show the damage of Bala's action.
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revenge, neo noir, violence, flashback
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train
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imdb
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I found myself in tears of laughter at how bad this really was in every way possible.I think the most tickling moment is when they tried to re enact the "hammer" fight scene with a hugely inflated Sanjay Dutt - it was like seeing a hippo on speed - the original was one of the most memorable fight scenes ever choreographed but this was like a terrible outtake.I hope the actors and director of this nonsense look back at it and cringe with embarrassment because I certainly did.Hollywood have their crack at Oldboy released some time this year, I hope and pray it's not as bad as Zinda - one thing this film is not is Zinda for sure - its DEAD from the opening scene !!!.
It is to me like a bonus track of a beloved album, no more no less.So i got no hesitation in checking Zinda as well (i was even excited actually) 'cause the original must be in my all-time best 10, but, oh my..I won't say any more about this XEROX COPY crap.
As far as i've read on internet articles, Sanjay and his people haven't even paid a penny to the original Oldboy makers for doing this, which means Zinda is not an official remake of Oldboy.
Instead, Sanjay's kept saying he's got a bit INSPIRED ONLY and Zinda is totally different from Oldboy or something like that.
To them I ask one question: "What kind of filmmakers make remakes of a movie when the original came out two years ago and has been selling DVDs very well internationally?" It seems that this particular brand of Indian cinema has decided that it is quite content making money off of other people idea for free.
I'm sure the good voting only were given by people who didn't see the original movie.Please watch Oldboy - you will not waste your time.
I trust I need do no more than that to make my point:"It is unfortunate that bollywood ripped off OLDBOY, but if that is the only way that the Indian audiences would get a glimpse of what the original was like, so be it" (Huh?
But I should say that it is a great experiment by Indian cinema" (Yeah, a repeat experiment -- like where somebody else first came up with the ideas and took the risks before you came along and decided to do the exact same thing)"The legendary action-scene with the hammer looks as hard as it was in Korean version".
Do the police come to you for psychic impressions when they run out of clues?)(And what does this mean): "There is no doubt that 'ZINDA' is a complete rip-off of Korean movie 'OLDBOY' but I must add that it is an excellent adaptation of 'OLDBOY'".--And I won't spoil the pristine effect of these following remarks by adding my own commentaries:"Hollywood is also planning a rip of this one, so what's the fuss all about""People tell me that this movie is inspired/copied or total remake of a Korean masterpiece "OldBoy"; but I don't mind it""Yes agreed that he copies other films scene by scene, but who doesn't?
At least Sanjay Gupta makes a good replica of a film""Copy of old boy backed up with Sanjay direction makes it truly a ride you will never forget"."The story may be inspired from a Korean film, or so we are told, but is doesn't matter because no one's really seen it"..
OK, first off, this movie should be renamed to MURDA (dead).Seeing this film's previews earlier on, and with Sanjay Dutt's comments that he plays a very complicated character, it had everything going for it until it suddenly became clear that its a ripoff of a recent Korean movie, Oldboy.
I believe there is no credit in copying a movie like the way Sanjay Gupta does.It is unethical on his part, and by seeing the movie I also feel a part of this crime.But in this part of the world ( i.e India) people hardly care,even songs are copied by the likes of Pritam and credit is never given.So, to comment on how the movie was , would be a way to validate what Sanjay Gupta has done.I can only say that Old Boy is a wonderful movie and is better than Zinda in every possible way.There are lots of goof ups in the movie,the fight scenes are not synchronized, the acting is below standard (particularly John Abraham).I feel except the title track nothing is good..
Having seen the Korean movie that Zinda is based on, and realizing how difficult a job Sanjay Gupta had on his hands, I went into this screening giving Zinda all the chance I could.
What I eventually ended up watching got me thinking: Since Gupta has seen the original, what did he see at all in his version that he let it be released in cinemas?
At his aid are a Female Punjabi Cab Driver (Lara Dutta) and his childhood friend (Mahesh Manjrekar).Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt as White Feather Films make a formidable team.
To give credit where due, Sanjay Gupta does make an attempt towards a movie like nothing we have 'seen' before.
Although i must admit, both Sanjay Dutt and John Abhraham tried their best and it can be seen.Surprisingly, for an Indian movie, there were couple of occasions where they used very offensive language!
I do not know if this is a remake or not since I have not seen the Korean movie.But I did see shades of - Fight Club, American History and Quentin Tarantino.This movie is really dark, some scenes are brutally gruesome with a not needed love making scene and with no unwanted song and dance.
Sanjay Dutt has done excellent justice to his role.I liked the movie for being very straight in the face story rather than showing the story in a convoluted lovey-dovey way.
Lets get to the point:- This is movie is highly flawed.This movie could have been much better.It can take days describing the bad parts about the movie for example how again SG wasted to much time making the film stylish and cool and forgot that there is a script.But lets forget that, lets also forget that this movie is a remake (By the way we made this remake before Hollywood hahahahah hell i gave one star extra just for that ), the point is this movie is Bold and different.And boy do we need different.
that and the fact that the movie is only 115 minutes long make the movie watchable.please watch this film because i don't know how many more flops Sanjay Gupta can bear (cause the music is good but not as good as musafir) we need more directors to make different films..
I really enjoyed the movie and the cinematography was excellent it's like aqua blue I think its to suite the mood for the film and I wanted to watch it because Sanjay Dutt & John Abraham are in it and they are my most favourite actors & they both did a terrific job.
It is quite violent it has drilling arms and teeth extraction with a hammer definitely not for the squeamish but the story is brilliant with a surprise ending.My favourite songs are:Zinda Hoon Main (Dance Mix), Yeh Hai Meri Kahani & Chal Rahi Hai Saanse It is a remake of Oldboy I have not seen it and I don't think I ever can because I don't know Korean & I'm not keen in Korean films and it's annoying watching a film of a different language you can with subtitles but yours eyes will be on the bottom of the screen the whole time.
Bala, by chance, meets up with an Indian cab driver Jenny (Dutta) and the rest of the film is about how he goes about finding out who his captor was, why and how his captivity took place.If you have seen Oldboy and think this is an exact copy, think again.
The camera work the dialogues and especially the song Zinda Hoon with Sanjay Dutt starring in it are mind blowing.
I know many people love the original OldBoy so they will despise this movie for ripping it off and changing things (incest is a BIG no-no in Bollywood), but if you're really a fan of the OldBoy story, you will probably be intrigued by this movie and I highly recommend that you take some time out to watch it and enjoy it instead of just being critical of it.A great movie, with great acting, amazing music, and great cinematography.
'Zinda' is different in two respects.first it is a copy of a Korean movie 'oldboy' which is refutes anyhow and second it is a clear example of how gifted he actually is.
it seems that a bunch of school kids were given the DVD of the Korean movie and asked to make its Indian remake in shortest time possible and they came with 'zinda'.
'zinda' is a good flick only if you have not seen the 'oldboy'.his earlier works are also copies like 'kante' whose first half is taken from 'usual suspects' while the later half is borrowed from ' reservoir dogs'.
what is the use of watching it in theater if you know how it will start and end.Mumbai film industry has a long history of copying from the Hollywood but there is very few examples like 'zinda'.
It is known that Zinda is rip-off of Korean flick "Oldboy" but as they say that "Nakal ke liye bhi akal chahiye"(U need brains even to copy something) and i'm sure that the majority of people in India had not even heard of the movie(including me).
Zinda provides a fresh air to Bollywood and keeps Alive the thriller theme.Sanjay Dutt steals the whole show this time and it was good to see him not in his usual punk role but a role of great maturity.
I am a big fan of the Sanjay Dutt-Gupta duo and was waiting for this movie and i was not disappointed.
You will cringe when you look at hammer after watching the movie.Sanjay Dutt attempted hard but a couple of things did not fall into place.
People tell me that this movie is inspired/copied or total remake of a Korean masterpiece "OldBoy"; but I don't mind it, till the time outcome is good.
But, the strong point of the movie is it never wavers from its storyline - they have tried to make it as sleek as possible.Sanjay Dutt once again stands tall with his superb performance - his desperation depicted both through his eyes and body language is a treat to watch.
If you think about it, Zinda is a usual revenge film - but the only difference is the audience is not aware of the reason behind Sanjay Dutt's imprisonment until the climax, unlike other revenge films.
He is a guy that knows which films to sign for (especially the Sanjay Gupta ones) and acts to perfection.John Abraham is another actor to look out for.
Mahesh Manjrekar has a small role which he does an OK job, while Celina Jaitley is hardly there.Overall, if you like Sanjay Gupta films, this one is for you.
This film is also a must for Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham fans..
"Well the movie would be something different ".......dats what I thought while watching the trailers and when you are a John Abraham fan........then you cant miss dis........well....the story starts like this Balajeet ROY(SANJAY) is a cool dude who meets his friend(Mahesh) and shifts out from his home turf.....India......ready to *beep* wife Celina.........but things go bad......when all of a sudden Bala is kidnapped and put in a "well furnished" room for god damn 15 years.....without any explanation he is released.....and then is asked by a stranger to find out how is he related to him..............within 4 days...............all he will die.....................The movie moves on ......on a pace......that one desires......the action sequences however do not fulfill to the need of the script......but still the movie is what I call good.........And considering John's exquisite power-packed performance......this movie rocks...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First time post Aatish he has attained a proper mix of content & style, Kaante was good but it was too high on split screens & techno wizardy , not that Zinda isn't slick....in fact it's Gupta's slickest film to date without getting carried away with those exquisite camera angles,back ground score & color filters.Every1 knows about the story , so nothing new to be revealed here.
He provides Zinda that much needed extra edge, surely amongst his best(if not the best).Sanjay Gupta is a hack but this is a good remake(although i haven't seen OldBoy), in fact its a good film by any possible standard, good to see him getting it right finally(well almost!?!).All in all a must see for any1 & evrey1 who wants some relief from regular hackeneyed bollywood offerings.9/10 I'LL BE Surprised IF SANJAY DUTT DOESN'T PICK SOME AWARDS FOR THIS PERFOMENCE!.
But I should say that it is a great experiment by Indian cinema and successful up to an extent.Though this movie is great, in terms of direction, acting (hats off to Sanjay Dutt), but still I personally not advice people of weak heart and children should not watch this movie.
Zinda is bold, violent & does not hold back any punches.Balajeet Roy (Sanjay Dutt) is your regular man seeking a good life, a great future and a beautiful life partner.
After the visually enticing, yet story-wise shallow Musafir, Gupta is back with Zinda.A tale of Balajit Roy (Sanjay Dutt), imprisoned for 14 years in a secluded Bangkok prison, without knowing the person or motive behind his suffering, unfolds in Zinda over almost three hours.
To add a dash of spice, there's Jenny (Lara Dutta), the taxi driver who takes Balajit around town, enmeshing herself in his story in the process.Just like good music is a package deal with any Yashraj movie, westernised treatment and visual panache comes with every Sanjay Gupta project The monotones in the film (mostly blacks and blues) give it a rich, classy feel, and emphasises the dark theme.
If Kaante was his first brush with avant garde (read modern), new millennium movie lore, then with Zinda, director Sanjay Gupta gifts Bollywood its first full-blown art- marries- masala flick.
Those Indians have seen Oldboy and those who haven't will be equally surprised with the ending as Sanjay deviates from the original and, at the same time, tries to make it hard-hitting.
So, take that whole baloney of Sanjay Gupta being an original director and stuff and put it in the garbage because we have an other copy here.This is the official story of Oldboy in IMDb...
Sanjay Dutt an John Abraham did a very mediocre job at acting their respective roles.Personally, I feel that Oldboy shouldn't have been remade in the first place (I don't have too high hopes for the 2013 Hollywood remake either) but Bollywood screwed up big time by making this laughable attempt at a remake..
Sanjay Dutt is a fabulous actor and gave his absolute all to breathe some life into this corpse of a film called Zinda but alas, he couldn't manage it.
A good movie, definitely doesn't compare to the original but goes a long way in introducing new themes to bollywood.
And although Zinda is a rip off, it needs to be argued that movies like these go a long way to introduce the Indian audiences to a higher level of acceptance of mature themes.
People have started appreciating good cinema, and bold themes like Zinda will go a long way,encouraging directors to make movies that bold story lines.
It is unfortunate that bollywood ripped off OLDBOY, but if that is the only way that the Indian audiences would get a glimpse of what the original was like, so be it.This movie is worth a watch, if not for the action, then for the classic its inspired by, if not for the new themes in bollywood, then for Sanjay Dutt's acting..
There is no way Sanjay Gupta could have matched up to the original, given not just the fact that he just isn't as good as Chan Wook Park, but also that quite a few of the film's themes cannot be digested by the Indian audience.
The writing fails again when we get to the end, where it seems like the writers just looked at their watches and decided that it was time the movie ended.In essence, yes, the film is a complete ripoff of Oldboy, and the nothing, not the acting, not the direction, nothing at all, matches up to Oldboy, but if you must have a bad analogy, think of this as something similar to what 'The Departed' did to 'Infernal Affairs' (and if anyone thought Departed was a good film, make sure you never run into me or I will morph into a finger wielding, hateful comment writing SOB sooner than you can say 'plagiaristic, over-hyped crap'!) Coming back to the point, Zinda exposes the common Indian audience to a kind of cinema that they have never seen before.
All in all, I would day Sanjay Gupta has made a remake which is definitely better than the original!.
I would expect better from Sanjay Dutt when I consider his past but I think John Abraham did a very good job in this movie.
By the way, the hammer fight scene in the corridor was lame, especially the knife on Sanjay Dutt's back looked as if it was added later on but still I wouldn't call it that bad, it was more than an average movie...
Acting by Sanjay Dutt and the rest of the cast was amazing and i hope to see more films from India like this one soon..
Zinda can be praised for being ahead of it's times, the film has a different plot, for people who have not watched Oldboy.
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tt1398426
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Straight Outta Compton
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Compton, South-Central Los Angeles, California. 1986Easy-E (Jason Mitchell) is in the middle of a drug deal that's breaking bad. Guns are pulled. Threats are made. The police appears and raids the block and E barely makes it out of the house and escapes to freedom across the rooftops.Meanwhile, Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) is listening to records in his room. His mom (Lisa Renee Pitts) is mad that he missed a job interview. He says he has a job working as a D.J. at a local club. She points out that making $50 a night isn't a real job. She wants the best for him. He says he does too. He moves out. His little brother T (Keith Powers) is sad to see him go.Elsewhere, Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) is writing rhymes on the school bus. Other kids on the bus horse around by flashing gang signs at a car driving next to the bus. The car cuts them off and the guys inside board the bus and pull guns. They tell the kids they better start "gang banging their books" or the Crenshaw Mafia might just get them.Cube goes to the house where Dre is staying. He and Jinx (Cleavon McClendon) are making beats. Cube tells them what happened on the bus and lets them know that he wrote some new rhymes. As Cube goes to head back home, the LAPD stops him and violently searches him.Later at Doo-Tos Club, Dre and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) are spinning. The club owners Lonzo (Corey Reynolds) tells them he doesn't want any "rap shit" on stage, but as soon as he steps out, Cube takes the mic and raps about his day. Lonzo hates it. But MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and E are at the club and they like what they hear. Dre asks E to think about putting his money into the music.There's a fight in the parking lot after and the LAPD locks up Dre. E bails him out. Outside the police station, Dre tells E that if he can sling dope, he can sling records. Together, they form Ruthless Records. They invited a group from New York called HBO to record "Boyz in the Hood", one of the raps Cube wrote, but they hate it. Its suggested that Cube just record it, but he cant because hes already in a group with Jinx. So E does it. After much coaching from Dre, hes able to hit the beat.Boyz n the Hood by Eazy-E and NWA becomes the #1 song for six weeks. Music manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamati) meets with E and tells him that he wants to make him legit and together they can build something big.Skateland, 1988E tells the group he wants them all wearing black clothing because its professional. Jerry has invited other record executives to the show to check it out. They all pass with the exception of Bryan Turner (Tate Ellington) from Priority Records. Priority currently has the California Raisins on their roster. NWA thinks that's a joke until Turner points out that the Raisins went gold. Bobby Brown bodyguard Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor) is also at the show. He gives them props.The band records 'Straight Outta Compton' at a recording studio in Torrance, California. During a break in the recording, the guys go outside and are harassed by the LAPD. Jerry witnesses police brutality first hand. After the event, Cube writes "Fuck tha Police".Jerry has given E his contract, but no one else has gotten theirs. Jerry says that's normal. The lawyers take forever. Meanwhile, Dre and his lady are sleeping with a baby at his aunts house.NWA Tour, 1989; The Summit in HoustonThe band plays inside the packed arena. Afterwards, Dre tells his brother over the phone that he can come out and meet up with them in Florida. Two guys show up with guns to find their girl at a hotel party. NWA chase them out with guns of their own.Riverfront Colosseum in OhioThe FBI issues a warning about playing 'Fuck tha Police'. Jerry recommends putting the song on hold for a little while. E sees this as free publicity.Spectrum in PennsylvaniaThe rest of NWA still doesn't have contracts. Cube mentions that to Dre, but Dre says he doesnt want Cube jumping to any conclusions that anything shady is going on.Dre gets a 911 page. His mom tells him that T was killed in a fight. Dre breaks down crying, and the rest of the group consoles him. E tells him that they will always stay brothers. They go back home so Dre can go to the funeral. He tells his mom this would have never happened if he had just let his brother come on the road like he wanted. His mom says that isn't true and that she's proud of Dre.Joe Louis Arena Detroit, MichiganThe Detroit Police show up and tell them they cant play Fuck tha Police due to the vulgar language of the song. Cube tells the crowd what's going on and they play it anyway. The crowd goes crazy. The police make their way to the stage. Gun shots are fired and everyone flees. In the ensuing riot, NWA is arrested.NWA holds a press conference. Cube says that their art reflects their reality. A reporter asks the band what a guy from Compton does when he starts making money like that. Everyone looks to E for an awkward moment. He answers, "Buy Raider gear!"Jerry finally gives Cube a contract to sign and offers him a check for $75,000 once he signs it. Cube wants to get a lawyer to look it over because he knows something is wrong. Jerry doesn't want him to do that, so Cube walks away. He says he'd rather be broke than be fucked. Dre doesn't leave because "we gotta do what we gotta do." He has his mom, a girl and a child to think about. Suge is there when the tour ends and announces that hes decided to get into managing talent.Priority Records 1990Ice Cube is now with his wife Kim (Alexandra Shipp). They meet with Turner who tells Cube that there isnt a lot of money in going solo, but if his first records is a hit, they'll make it up to him on the second. His first album is a hit.Eazy-E Wet & Wild PartySix months later, Jerry has E signing contracts. There's a whole Ruthless roster now. Jerry advises E that its important to keep Dre happy. Suge tries to recruit Dre.Cube wants an advance for his second album, but Bryan says its complicated, so Cube smashes up his office. E is jealous of Cube's success.The DOC (Marlon Yates Jr) is in an accident and his throat is crushed. Dre visits him at the hospital. Suge is there and points out that E and Jerry aren't. He makes another attempts at recruiting Dre and offers to have his people look at Dre's contract.Bryan plays the newest NWA record, "Real Niggaz", for Cube where they call him a Benedict Arnold. Cube answers it by dissing NWA and Jerry on his next album. He calls Jerry a Jew. Out of everyone, Jerry is most upset and wants to sue Cube for defamation of character and for being anti-Semitic. He tells E to take care of it.At a New Music Expo, people from Ruthless Records get into a fight with Cube's people (Lench Mob). Meanwhile, the Rodney King beating is televised.A mysterious man shows up at Jerry's house one night and freaks him out.Dre tells E to get rid of Jerry, but E is loyal. Dre points out that they didn't make it because of Jerry but because their shit is dope. Dre reminds E that when T died, E promised him that they'd all stay brothers, and replies sadly, "I guess you forgot about that." Dre leaves to form his own company (Death Row) with Suge, who in a later scene, beats the shit out of E to get him to release Dre and DOC from their Ruthless contracts. Death Row starts signing new up-and-coming artists like Snoop Dogg.E tells Jerry that they have to kill Suge. Jerry says they fight with lawyers. Dre and Snoop collaborate, but all is not well. Dre is put off by Suges over the top violent nature.On April 29, 1992, the verdict in the Rodney King case comes down. The LAPD is found not guilty and the LA Riots begin.One year later, 1993.E begins having money problems. Cube is reading the script for Friday. Dr. Dre's album, "The Chronic", has sold five million copies. But despite the success of Dre's album, he finally decides to leave Suge.E sees Cube at a club and they patch things up and show respect to each others careers. Cube agrees to do an NWA reunion as long as there's no Jerry. E is starting to cough.E's girl Tomica (Carra Patterson) looks over the contracts and tells him that Jerry took advantage of him and now he's broke.E meets with Jerry, who points out that he isn't looking too good. But eventually E fires him. Then he calls Dre and they patch things up as well too. They talk about collaborating again.Ren and Yella are ready to start recording a new NWA album. They're just waiting for Cube and Dre to show when E faints and is sent to the hospital. The doctor tells him that he's HIV-positive and all they can do is try to keep him comfortable for up to six months.In 1994, E goes public with the announcement that he's dying of AIDS.Another few months later, Dre visits him in the hospital when he's in a coma. Cube shows up, but doesn't go in the room because he doesn't want to see E like that.A few days later, on March 26, 1995, Eazy-E dies from AIDS at 31-years-old.The film closes on a montage of the real life surviving members of NWA and their careers up to the present. Ice Cube continues to make music and is a big-name movie star. Dre has become a hugely successful business man. He makes Eminem a star and sells his Beats by Dre brand to Apple for $3 billion.
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violence
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train
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imdb
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tt0100814
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Tremors
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Valentine "Val" McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are two good-for-nothing odd-job workers. They usually mend fences and railings, help farmers in a sleepy town called Perfection, and take care of cows. They have the use of a down-trodden truck, and not much money to their names. The live near a dry dusty town, and are friends with most of the villagers. Perfection occupies a small part of dried-out Perfection Valley, surrounded by small mountains, except for a county road.Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), is a university student which investigates earthquakes. She tells them that she's getting weird signs from their seismographs, but there were no earthquakes around. Val likes her, but prefers daydreaming about some playmate, so he doesn't ask the seismologist out .The two friends Earl and Val are attacked by a kind of snake which appears from below the dusty soil. Also, they find the town drunkyard on the top of a electricity post, dead. They start wondering whether he was so afraid of something that he preferred dying up there of thirst. They try to warn some of their isolated neighbours, and they find an earthed car with its lights on and music from the radio still blasting.The two friends go to the town drugstore to tell everyone. First, they try to leave by truck. However, the road is blocked because the snakes attacked some road building workers (John Goodwin & John Pappas). Val and Earl come back, after their car gets stuck but they managed to release it. Back in Perfection, they find a huge snake grabbing at the lows of their truck. The shopkeeper, mean Walter Chang (Victor Wong), lends them two horses so they can go and tell the county police, because all phone lines are cut, and there are no mobile phone network coverage on the area. Several people are not worried at all: dumb teenager Melvin Plug (Robert Jayne) mocks them, Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) have built themselves a nuclear refuge, and crammed it with heavy weaponry, so they don't feel they need to have fear of nothing.Val and Earl ride for dear life. But their horses are bitten by some of the snakes. They run away on foot, but the creature runs after them. They would have been caught but for the creature hitting itself agains a huge concrete wall to death. At that moment, the seismologist appears again. They discover that the creature stinks horribly, is several metres long, and that the snakes were a kind of tentacles protuding from its mouth. Rhonda checks her seismographs, learning that there must be at least three more of those snakes.When the three are going back, another of the creatures tries to capture them. They see dust flying, a sign that a critter is moving underground. They run and end up up to some tall rocks where the creatures cannot climb. They stay there, but the creatures are very patient. They manage to climb from one rock to the other, and jumping into their van, being closely followed by the meat-hunger monsters. The creatures feel them because they can make sense of the noise humans make in the form of vibrations.Back to the drugstore, Walter decides to call the monsters graboids. Melvin is still mocking Earl and Val stupidly, but Val has to risk her life to save Mindy Sterngood (Ariana Richards), who had been hopping around with her headphones on, not listening to her mother Nancy (Charlotte Stewart)'s cries. When they think they have outwitted the graboids by taking refuge atop the roofs of buildings, the graboids destroy the buildings' foundations. The buildings are simple and fragile, completely made of planks of wood. A graboid manages to eat Walter, emerging from under the cheap wooden shopfloor. Another graboid eats Nestor, and one of them manages to destroy one of the underground walls of the Gummers, but they fight back with all their weaponry, finally killing the vicious creature.The survivors pick up a bulldozer and they try to run on it. They also go to pick up the Gummers, which have prepared many weapons. The graboids are highly intelligent, and they prepare a trap for the humans, which succeeds. They all have to run to some rocks. They wait there, surrounded by the graboids.They think of another plan. They throw dynamite to the animals, who swallow everything but are afraid of strong noises, which hurt their sensitive sense. The dynamite explodes within one of the critters, killing them. They try the same trick with the other graboid, but the remaing critter spits the dynamite, and they have to run away from their safe hidingplace. Val is on the open earth, so he is going to be detected and eaten by the surviving graboid. He decides to run, but the graboid is very fast. When Val is about to jump from a high cliff, he steps aside, but the graboid can't stop, and falls from it.They are happily alive, and Earl coaxes Val into asking Rhonda out.The final scene shows some loose dirt moving on the dry soil of the valley, proving that there is at least one more ravenous creature alive.
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cult, comedy, psychedelic, humor, prank
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train
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imdb
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Since then, I have seen the movie about ten more times (at least), and still get a kick out of it.Tremors is basically a landlocked variation on 'Jaws' and those 1950s giant bug movies: the isolated town of Perfection, Nevada (population 16), finds itself under seige by four monstrous, subterranean wormlike creatures, that hunt by sensing vibrations in the ground.
The film-makers are aware of their far-fetched premise (a couple of key questions go unanswered), but they treat it with respect and a certain amount of affection.Tremors didn't have much life in theaters, but has become something of a 'Midnight Movie' on home video, with definite cult possibilities.
The movies real strength is the perfect casting of Kevin Bacon ('Diner') and Fred Ward ('Henry And June') as the small town handymen turned reluctant heroes.
Since the movie is PG-13, there are still a couple of moments of semi-graphic violence, but nothing objectionable to someone 10 years or older.The special effects are fun, with the worms as the film's showpiece.
We have unique and rather intimidating monsters,as well as a very unique cast of characters to battle them.While Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward may be listed as the leads,I think that Michael Gross practically steals the entire show.While it isn't flawless,it certainly is entertaining enough.I would recommend it to any fan of 1950's B horror films.It is well worth the rental and would be a good addition to anyone's library..
They went back to the basics and came out with one of my all-time favorite flicks.There are two ways to make a good monster movie: slow-paced and suspenseful, or fast-paced and surprising.
One of the aspects I enjoy most about showing this film to first-time viewers - aside from the the pride I take in indoctrinating new members to the Cult of the Graboid - is how the movie fools them about things like who gets eaten and who doesn't, and how the worms actually operated.My one bullsh*t call is the Cat loader.
Nevada desert ,around village named Perfection are happening mysterious deeds.There live a small misfit group(Michael Gross,McEntire,Tony Genaro,Charlotte Stewart,Victor Wong,among others).A pair handyman(Kevin Bacon ,Fred Ward)find a university graduate(Finn Carter) and appear spontaneously a fearsome wormlike burrow surrounding of them.The Perfection inhabitants are besieged by the giant killers predators with several tongues.Then they battle against the West's more creepy beasts that savagely stalking its prey ,the human bunch and developing a bloodthirsty hunger for men eating.The trio protagonist comes out through desolate plateu where are roaming while must to save them.This is an enjoyable and amusing juvenile romp,campy fun,quite entertaining and slickly shot.Bemusing old-fashioned, fantasy-adventure from updating adaptation of 50s and 60s monster movies.The film relies heavily about sympathetic relationship both protagonists: Bacon and Ward.An ambitious production,interesting as movie and hokey FX .Graboids deliver the goods with hair-rising suspense and grisly chills when the weird creatures emerge from underground.It's remarkable for special effects -made by Animatronics,no computer generator like the sequels- recreating the carnivorous and ferocious monsters .It's followed by inferior movies aimed to video rental market: ¨Aftershock¨(S.S.Wilson)again with Fred Ward; ¨III Back to Perfection¨with Charlotte Stewart and Ariana Richards and TV series with Gladys Jimenez,Victor Browne,Marcia Strassman and as always Michael Gross.The essential particularities from the sequels are : A remote and desert location named Perfection ,a solitary small village with a small group pitting horrible Graboids and of course the usual presence of Michael Gross as Burt Gummer,besides all are produced by Brent Maddock,Ron Underwood and S.S Wilson.The motion picture is recommended for horror-action enthusiastic that will find pretty spectacular scenes and some humor and their appetite for gruesome shots will be satisfied.Rating : Better than average and entertaining..
Since then, I have seen the movie about ten more times (at least), and still get a kick out of it.Tremors is basically a landlocked variation on 'Jaws' and those 1950s giant bug movies: the isolated town of Perfection, Nevada (population 16), finds itself under siege by four monstrous, subterranean worm like creatures, that hunt by sensing vibrations in the ground.
The plot revolves around the townspeople trying to outwit and escape the creatures (dubbed 'Graboids'), which are tearing the town out from under them.What really makes the movie work is the characters: all of them come across as real people trapped in an insane situation, and all have a lot of charisma, even though the film doesn't have tons of character development.
The plot revolves around the townspeople trying to outwit and escape the creatures (dubbed 'Graboids'), which are tearing the town out from under them.What really makes the movie work is the characters: all of them come across as real people trapped in an insane situation, and all have a lot of charisma, even though the film doesn't have tons of character development.
The creatures too are also fairly smart, and are not just mindless eating machines with no brains.Given its premise, Tremors is not a gory or violent film (although it has a couple of minor gross bits), and has a very good sense of humor.
The creatures too are also fairly smart, and are not just mindless eating machines with no brains.Given its premise, Tremors is not a gory or violent film (although it has a couple of minor gross bits), and has a very good sense of humor.
Much of the delight in watching Tremors derives from the rib poking guy fun that Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward have when working their scenes.
If you're a late comer to Tremors, break out a couple of cold ones and watch it for more of the acting which isn't acting that makes this film so damned good and so much more than monster eats man.
The cast of the movie are great: Kevin Bacon(aka "Mr. Kyra Sedgwick" movies like "Footloose", "Murder in The First", "Friday the 13th" and several others to name a few) Fred Ward, Michaal Gross of "Family Ties" fame, Reba McIntyre(Country sensation and actress) and many others as well.
Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon's characters have a lot of fun as a pair of working buddies who josh and joke around but who prove a winning team, still retaining their ways, in the fold.
Maybe closer to "Galaxy Quest" actually.) Whatever, they sure make it exactly right.It's simply supposed to be 90 mins of "sit back and enjoy fun", and it sure manages that real good.As the foundation, you've got a really great script with lots of witty and "mean" dialouge, and simply great moments, as findig that original up in a power-line mast, having starved to death rather than go down or finding a car buried in the sand (with the lights still on).
Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon, along with all the rest of the actors, seems to have a really great time doing it and it shows on the screen.This is a movie that's..
Tremors does what a movie about "giant underground worms that feed on the inhabitants of a small mid-western town" seems like it could never do: it lets its creativity charm you, making you smile, laugh, jump out of your seat, and root for perhaps the most satisfying ending in an action movie (a rarity in an industry that can never come up with something more creative than blowing up a monster).
Tremors was the kind of monster movie that seemed to find its way into my childhood video library - was it meant for kids, I have no idea (it's not not meant for them, if that makes sense) - and it was something that got repeat viewing.
There's enough character in the set-ups with these people first though, with Bacon and Ward as laborers, and with the townspeople (Michael Gross and Victor Wong get some ample screen-time), and it helps that the filmmakers spend just enough time in the first ten-fifteen minutes so that we can care enough about them while also making them fairly comic characters.This is a fun movie.
Sure there are some chills, but there is enough action and comedy to combat the horror elements of the film.Ron Underwood's film is about these two men named Val and Earl who are out working in a isolated town called Perfection located in Nevada.
Despite being in moments of horror, I like how they try to be funny and most of the time it works.Overall, Tremors is a solid, B-movie that delivers on its promise of a good time.
Its 90 minutes are neatly divided into a half-hour for establishing the characters and setting (director Ron Underwood nicely sets up the desolate boredom of his scrubby desert terrain), a half-hour for presenting the menace of the monsters, and a half-hour for the thrill-packed resolution, which involves elephant guns, homemade bombs, and a bulldozer.Throughout, the film keeps you laughing, with Earl and Val's one-liners ("Who died and made you Einstein?"), the Gummers' exaggerated bunker mentality, how various wormy "graboids" are dispatched, and a sly sense of what is expected from a film like this.
With the likes of Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, Finn Carter, Ariana Richards and more, Tremors is one of the best movies ive seen and IS the best horror/comedy/sci-fi movie to ever grace the screen.
I'll keep it short: Tremors is one of the best films I have ever seen, and I consider myself something of a movie obsessive.The plot: Reminiscent of 1950's Horror movies, two handymen decide to leave their dead-end life in the town of Perfection, Nevada (Population: 14) and head off into the wilderness in search of a better life.
Tremors is a very good horror-movie with great actors and some really exciting scenes.
This is a scary movie with good suspense-horror and excellent special-effects as huge worm-like creatures go after humans in the desert.
Once you get hooked, you can't put this film down.Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McIntyre fight off the gruesome underground invaders.One thing for sure: you will not be bored..
It's genius attention to detail like this that make Tremors such an enjoyable experience.I'll never understand why this film doesn't get more love, even among 80's/90's nostalgia fanboys and monster movie lovers.
Leading the charge against the beasts are amiable handymen Val and Earl (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, who share a marvelous chemistry), two guys who had been planning to leave for the big city - or the nearest town of any size.The movie is by turns suspenseful, action packed, and humorous, with an enjoyably quirky bunch of characters for whom we can easily root.
The movie is cast to Perfection: country & western darling Reba McEntire (making an unlikely but endearing movie debut) and 'Family Ties' dad Michael Gross make for a highly amusing survivalist couple, Victor Wong ("Big Trouble in Little China", "Prince of Darkness") lends his appealing, eccentric presence to the role of the local shop keeper, cute & likable Finn Carter, who could easily have had a bigger career in film after this, is shapely seismology student Rhonda, and Charlotte Stewart ("Eraserhead") and Ariana Richards ("Jurassic Park") are a local mom & daughter.The music (by Ernest Troost) is fun, the photography has an appropriately sun baked look to it, and the creatures themselves are convincingly created by the talented effects team of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. They're big, ugly, smelly, slimy things with mouths that open up like flowers, and can move through the dirt like nobody's business.
It's Mr. Underwood fortune to have been able to get an intelligent script that scares our wits, and at the same time, it gives the viewer ninety minutes of wonderful escape.One can't think of another pair playing the leading roles in "Tremors", but Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward.
Watched Tremors Featuring Kevin Bacon(Footloose) as Valentine McKee, Fred Ward(Miami Blues) as Earl Bassett , Finn Carter(Monsters) as Rhonda LeBeck,Michael Gross(A Connecticut Yankee In Kings Arthurs Court) as Burt Gummer ,Reba McEntire(Hee Haw) as Heather Gummer, Charlotte Stewart(Twin Peaks) as Nancy Sterngood .
Review: 'Tremors' Directed by Ron Underwood, 'Tremors' starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and Finn Carter is a fun, sci-fi, horror/comedy film set in a rural, isolated town in America where residents have to defend themselves against strange, underground creatures.
The characters are really crazy fools but Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon do a really good job of playing into the circumstances and being just funny as can be.I think one of the elements that makes this movie work so well is that all the different characters come across as very real people all living their regular lives that just happen to be stuck in this two-bit town.
I love the humor, action, and sci-fi elements mixed in, and of course the star of the movie is the Graboids, the huge worms that terrorize the humans in the film.
Set in the fictional town of Perfection, Nevada, the film follows a day in the life of two handy men (Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon) riding out an existence in the bad lands of America, until they decide they have had enough and head for the nearest city, only to find that something horrible is eating its way through every one they've known, and is eyeing up the residence of Perfection valley for afters, their only hope is to make a stand with the help of Burt Gummer, a gun crazed militaristic fanatic and the owner of the local shop, played by John Carpenter staple Victor Wong.The perfectly cast Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward lead the cast as the handy-men Val and Earl, who become entangled in the feeding antics of the giant 'graboids', the film goes on from there.
What we got here is a action-adventure-monster-comedy-horror piece that actually manages to get EVERYTHING right!Actors: 10/10 (the chemistry between Bacon and Ward kills it!) Script: 10/10 (great dialog, great pacing, splendid finale) Camera: 10/10 (very fitting, can't describe, go and watch it) SFX: 10/10 (unmatched at the time, still a solid 8/10 today)I love this movie.
The story is just so outlandishly stupid, you will almost die yourself of laughter as you see citizens of the town of Perfection, Nevada slowly get churned up by giant underground worms.The cast of characters is what really makes Tremors a winner.
At the same time, Val and Earl have just decided they really are moving out of Perfection, but unfortunately, they just can't get away as bodies start piling up.The movie segues nicely to the battle between the monsters and the town, but not before Michael Gross and Reba McIntyre get introduced as the survivalists who are preparing for World War 3 with every weapon imaginable in their basement.
The movie stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire.
Kevin is great in a lot of movies, and it did make a change to see him as a good guy
his acting was hilarious in this.I have never seen any of the Tremors sequels and in a way I don't want to ruin the fun of this film.
I get the feeling that the sequels will not be anywhere near as good as this
but I will try them one day.I think this is a perfect film if you don't want to think about anything and just enjoy an action packed, fun film.I will give this film 7 out of 10."We plan ahead, that way, we don't do anything right now."For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl.
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward play two handymen in a remote desert town, who yearn to get out and into the big city, but it turns out they waited too long, as a mysterious underground monster appears, killing many townspeople and livestock, until our two reluctant heroes team up with Militarist couple Bert Gummer(Amusingly played by Michael Gross) and his wife, played by Reba McEntire.
Giant underground worms with snake tongues that "shoot out of its mouth, hook ya, and pull ya right in." As dumb and corny as this sounds, it somehow comes together and works perfectly, with most of the credit going to Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as the handyman duo, assisted by a strong supporting cast including Michael Gross and Reba McEntire.
"Val" (Kevin Bacon) & "Earl" ( the very underrated Fred Ward) make for the buddy part of the film, & have great chemistry playing off one another, with funny lines, bickering, & superior acting, you'd think these two had been friends for years.
Especially good are Michael Gross & Rebecca McEntire, as a married couple that are survivalists, armed to the ears waiting to wage war, but not the kind they think.All in all, "Tremors" is a classic up date of giant mutated monster movies of the 50's.
Geographic isolation".Central characters Val an Earl also enjoy an effortless back and forth banter throughout the film, almost every aside, quip and remark provides amusement.1 point.Cast – Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are note perfect as the good natured local dogsbodies, their characters never get too clever or perform superhuman feats and they react as you probably would when faced with killing machines from beneath your feet.The minor bit parts aren't called upon to do much but look like they're frightened and/or dinner, but unlike many B movies no-one is obviously the guy replacing the real actor who called in sick.1 point.Creatures – Another massive + 1.
After watching it again after all these years, I love it as much now as I did then.If you're looking for a good 'monster movie', Tremors is a good one.
Like the way Kevin bacon and Fred Ward joke about the Tremors as if they were a sort of pet and the methods they use to destroy them!!!good funny, horror movie.8/10..
It is an SF-comedy-action-horror film, and it is one of the most entertaining and fun movies ever made.
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward make a great duo to follow along on what is glorious, pure B-movie cheese: Oversized, underground, carnivorous worms preying on a small town with a population of about a dozen people.
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tt0116213
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Eraser
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During the opening credits, a man (later identified as John Kruger) (Arnold Schwarzenegger) gets dressed in ninja clothing, and then loads his gun. There are scattered images of Social Security papers, a passport, a birth certificate, etc. The man burns the means of ID; one of the pictures burning is of a woman (later identified as Lee Cullen) (Vanessa Williams). John is a U.S. Marshal for the Witness Protection Program (Witness Security Program, or WitSec).Nighttime: A mobster is punching a man (later identified as Johnny Casteleone) (Robert Pastorelli), gagged with duct tape in a chair. The mobster tells him, "You can't hide, Johnny. Nobody hides from us." His accomplice is pouring gasoline on Johnny's wife on the floor, also gagged. Another hoodlum sees the front door drift open. When he goes outside to check it out, a garrote grabs him by the neck and pulls him up. Back in the house, the thug is telling Johnny that Mr. Cannelli wants a "souvenir." He brandishes a knife, removes the tape from Johnny's mouth, and slams him onto the floor, holding his mouth open, while another thug pulls out some pliers. The first thug tells the man that he'll forward his tongue to witness protection.One of thugs gets some food from the fridge. When he turns around, he sees John Kruger in ninja gear. He tries to shoot, but John kicks him, and then slams the freezer door on his neck, killing him. The first thug calls for the two dead guys with no response. John enters the living room, and shoots and kills two of the thugs. He finally kicks the first one, knocking him through the glass of a coffee table, then chokes him and breaks his neck, killing him. John removes his mask and tells Johnny to shut up when he tries to talk. He pours red liquid on Johnny and his wife, then tells them not to move, that they're "dead", while he takes photos of them. He tells them he needs their clothes, rings, watches, and all IDs. He frees them, and has Johnny help take two corpses in morgue body bags from his station wagon to the house. When he opens the body bags in the house, the corpses are dead ringers for Johnny and his wife. He tells them to put the clothes on the corpses. John drags two of the dead thugs to the front yard and puts the Polaroid photos in one of the thug's coat pockets. He shoots one thug and puts the gun in the hand of the other thug. He calls 911 on his cell phone, telling them that there's been a murder at Johnny's address. When Johnny comes outside John tells him that he's staging it to appear that they killed him then turned on each other. Inside the house, John pours some more gasoline on the floor and hears sirens. He tells Johnny not to worry because they need an audience. He lights a flare and tosses it onto the floor next to the corpses from the morgue, then carries the other two dead thugs in the body bags to his station wagon. They drive away as the house explodes in flames, just before the police arrive.John tells Johnny that he endangered himself and the lives of U.S. Marshals assigned to protect him when he went to a restaurant at his old neighborhood. He tells Johnny that next time he'll be dead, because a rescue like this one only happens once. They stop by a lake and get out. John rigs the gas pedal, sending the car into the lake, where it sinks. He takes them to an SUV where government agents are waiting to take them away. He tells them he'll never see them again, but he'll know every move they make, that if they skip out on their testimony he'll deliver them to the Cannelli family himself. John walks away, and Johnny shouts to him that John can ask anything of him in the future. As Johnny and his wife get in, an agent tells them, "Smile, you've just been erased."The next day, John goes to the offices of the United States Marshal Witness Security Protection Program. A coworker tells him to look at some driver's licenses; one is from their shop and the other two are real. John runs his fingers over them and correctly chooses the fake.John logs into the computer and creates new IDs for Johnny Casteleone and his wife. His coworker and mentor Robert Deguerin (James Caan) congratulates John then asks him about last night. John tells him that a couple of witnesses got careless and he had to diffuse the situation. Robert tells him that improvisation is the old days, because congress is on their backs. As John leaves to talk to WitSec Chief Beller, Robert tells him that he's the best.Beller (James Coburn) tells John that in all the cases under WitSec protection, there's not one like this -- Lee Cullen is an honest person. He says that she is a senior executive of Cyrez Corporation, a top secret weapons research company, and that someone there is selling out the U.S.; Lee is the key witness for the government's case, and will participate in a sting operation tomorrow. Beller says that John will take over after the sting; the sealed file is for John's eyes only, and only John and Beller will know her exact location. Beller tells John that important people in Washington could be burned by the sting. John tells Beller that so could she.Lee walks into the Cyrez building and takes an elevator upstairs to her office. Two FBI agents in another building across the street watch her through cameras with telescopic lenses and binoculars. She puts a small speaker into her left ear. A brooch on the lapel of her business suit is the microphone/camera. Finally she does a sound and visual check with the FBI.Lee passes through security before reaching the vault, and punches the combination the FBI provided her. After she enters the vault the FBI's reception disappears and an agent says that they lose transmission in the vault; she only has 5 minutes until the security shift change. She inserts a mini CD from her purse into the computer, enters an access code and starts copying a file. The display shows the file she's copying: a weapon called a hypervelocity mag pulse (rifle). The agents wonder what's taking her so long, that she only has two minutes left. When the copying is complete, she takes the disk and starts to leave, but she grabs another mini CD from the desk and copies the file again. Lee takes the 2 disks and the vault code, then leaves. Outside the vault, her audio/video transmission resumes. The security guard tells Lee that Mr. Donohue (her boss) wants to see her now, and escorts her to his office. The agents wonder where Donohue's office is, and Lee says, "25th floor," so the FBI agents get backup ready. Inside the office, William Donohue (James Cromwell) shows her a video of her on the way to the vault, saying he trusted her for 5 years, someone he told others could be trusted. He asks who she is working for, and she says she should ask him that question. Donohue tells her that this isn't the Red Cross; they make weapons. He tells her that if the government isn't willing to pay the price for them, it's his job to find someone who will. Lee accuses him of treason. Donohue grabs her and finds the microphone/camera. Lee tells Donohue that the FBI heard everything he said and are watching them now. Donohue pulls a gun out of his desk drawer and points it at her, asking her how she could do that to him, then puts it in his mouth and shoots and kills himself. The blast blows out the window behind him. The guard and other people come in, and Lee runs out in the pandemonium. When she reaches the lobby, security guards chase her, but she runs outside into a van with the FBI agents inside and it drives away.At the FBI offices, Lee gives one of the disks to agent Corman (John Slattery), who gives it to two other agents. Agent Leiman (Michael Gregory) tells her that if Cyrez is selling weapons technology, it's treason. He tells her that the disk and her testimony will put the conspirators behind bars, then tells her that they are now concerned for her safety. John steps out of the elevator. Another agent tells her that it's U.S. Marshal John Kruger with the Witness Protection Program, and will handle her personal protection because more people are involved in the conspiracy. John tells her that he will give her a new identity. Lee refuses WitSec help, and tells them that she will keep up her end of the bargain and testify, then leaves. John criticizes the agents because they told her it would be easy. Leiman insists that they didn't have a case without her. John tells him that it was easier to put her life on the line instead of theirs, and then leaves.The two agents with the disk sign the disk over to agent Sully at the evidence locker. When Sully is alone, he swaps the disk with another one. He calls an unknown person on the phone and says, "It's me. Your music has arrived."Lee gets home at night and inserts the disk into her computer. A warning comes onto the screen: "Unable To Run Program. USE RESTRICTED TO DEDICATED SYSTEMS". A technician (Denis Forest) at Cyrez sees the same warning on his computer and alerts Morehart. When Lee tries to decrypt the files, another warning comes on the screen: "Decryption Problem. USE RESTRICTED TO DEDICATED SYSTEMS. HARDWARE DECRYPTION REQUIRED". Lee removes the disk from the computer and calls Claire Isaacs (Roma Maffia) on the phone.Lee agrees with Claire that she shouldn't have trusted the Feds, and that they are watching her. Claire calls them idiots, and then tells Lee that if Lee lets her write the story, Cyrez will be on the front page. Lee tells her that it's probably not safe to talk on the phone. The camera shows that both agents at the car are dead and the windows are smashed, and men are gathering outside Lee's house. Lee tells Claire that she made a copy of the disk. Claire tells her that it's her insurance.Lee hears noises and nervously tells Claire she has to go, and hangs up the phone. Lee's ex-boyfriend Darryl (Cylk Cozart) comes downstairs. She asks him why he let himself into her house. He replies that he has been worried about her, but she tells him that it's over and there's nothing else to talk about. Outside, a man charges up a rifle and looks through the x-ray scope, peering through the walls of her house. He finds Lee and Darryl in the kitchen, their skeletons and organs visible, and aims for Darryl's heart, but stops when a van approaches the house. Darryl accuses Lee of seeing someone else. A man with a "LET'S PARTY!" logo on his back and carrying party balloons comes to the door and rings the bell. Darryl opens the door, assuming that it's Lee's new boyfriend. The man with balloons hands Darryl a card, then tells them to get down and pulls Lee to the floor. It's John! The man with the rifle shoots Darryl, knocking him across the room into a wall. John and Lee run through the house while shots from the rifle pour in, destroying everything they hit but missing John and Lee. John overturns the fridge and they hide behind it. The gunman tells his leader that he doesn't have a shot, so the leader launches a grenade into the kitchen. John raises the fridge door for shielding just before drill bits fly out of the grenade all throughout the kitchen; one of them hits his hand. The assassins' leader sends them into the house. John pulls his bloody hand off the drill bit, and then rips off the gas line from the stove. He tells Lee that he's lighting a fuse. He aims the gas line at the thermostat then they sneak away. The assassins meet in the kitchen and see the gas line and thermostat just as the thermostat sparks. John and Lee sneak past the men and escape through the front door safely just before the gas explodes, destroying the house.John and Lee drive away in the van as the assassins' leader shoots at them. She's not hurt but worries because Darryl is dead and they could come after her. John reassures her that he will protect her. Lee sees John's hand, and then gets a first aid kit from under the seat and bandages his hand. John asks her if the weapon was from their company. She tells him that it's a secret electromagnetic pulse rifle (later called an EM gun in the movie), which doesn't use gunpowder or bullets, but fires aluminum rounds at extremely high speed. John says he knows about rail guns, another name for it, but the smallest one is on a battleship. Lee tells him that Cyrez was contracted to scale it down to make an assault rifle, the most powerful assault rifle on Earth, but took the money and told the U.S. that it was impossible. John says that Cyrez might have found a higher bidder. Lee tells him that Cyrez is connected everywhere, perhaps even with John's people, so John asks Lee if she wants to put them away. She agrees, and John tells her that he will hide her until the hearings, that no one else will know where she is -- not even his boss. He tells her that the Feds knew she could die but used her anyway. Lee says that she was stupid. John tells her that she trusted them, but now should trust him.Meanwhile, Morehart (Gerry Becker) from Cyrez calls Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper (Andy Romano) on the phone, saying that they have a problem. He tells Harper that Lee Cullen is still alive and has a disk and tried to access their program with it. Harper says that he took a lot of risks to retrieve the disk. Morehart replies that she must have made a duplicate. Harper orders him to do whatever it takes to get the disk back. Morehart also tells Harper that Lee called a woman named Isaacs, who is a reporter for The Washington Herald. Harper tells him to do what is necessary. Before leaving for his meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Harper snaps the disk in half.At a safe house, John and Lee are burning her driver's license, credit cards, and all her photos and IDs in the fireplace. She tells John, "That's it, it's everything I am." John replies that it's just a few numbers and plastic, what you are is inside you; no one can take that from you. Lee tells him that they will try, and John replies he and she will stop them. John says that he needs everything, and makes her remove her pendant. She tells John that it's St. George, and she wore it because she had nightmares about dragons when she was a kid. John tells her that it's his job to watch over her now. He tells her to sleep because they leave at dawn.The next day, John drives Lee to Chinatown in New York to stay with a woman he helped before. Her new name is Mei-Ling, and she testified against the Yakuza in San Francisco. He tells Lee that she will be safe there until the hearings, and gives Lee a new driver's license and credit card under her new name -- Deborah Elliot. He tells her to keep a low profile. As they look at a map of the New York City Zoo he gives her a pager. The signal is 911, upon which she should get out of the apartment and go to the zoo, and wait for his call at the pay phone; she should go to an exit in an emergency. John gives her a snub-nosed revolver and tells her that if anyone claims that John sent them to use it because John works alone. John hopes it will go well so she won't have to see him again until the trial, then he leaves.Lee watches the news on TV as she makes dinner. Undersecretary Harper is seen talking to reporters after testifying before Congress about the Cyrez scandal and said that the use of private contractors is within the limits of the Defense Department spending. He is confident they will be vindicated in the hearings about mismanagement of funds.Meanwhile, John meets with Deguerin at a café. Two other WitSec agents sit at another table. Deguerin tells John that someone's been murdering their witnesses, 3 in the last 48 hours. Deguerin tells John that no one could know the location of all three witnesses. John realizes that there is a mole inside WitSec. Deguerin tells John that they were all witnesses in high-profile federal cases with international ties. He adds that three more witnesses that fit the profile have to be moved; one is John's and one is Deguerin's. John tells him that he works alone, but Deguerin says that Beller ordered it. John tells Deguerin to move his witness first.At the airport, Deguerin introduces John to the two WitSec agents: Schiffer (Michael Papajohn) and Calderon (Nick Chinlund). Calderon shows a picture of Claire Isaacs to John. He tells John that she could be connected to his witness, but John says he doesn't know her. Calderon says that Isaacs was doing a report on Cyrez, but someone tortured and killed her to make her talk. Deguerin introduces John to WitSec Deputy Monroe (Danny Nucci), and tells Monroe that John is a legend. When they board the WitSec jet, Calderon asks John if he ever gets tired of babysitting scum. John replies that he will make an exception in Calderon's case. Calderon gets indignant, but Deguerin tells him that John is the best, and not to make him angry.Somewhere in the woods, John and the others load their weapons (equipped with silencers) and put on bulletproof vests. Deguerin sends them to surround a cabin by a stream. Deguerin shows them a picture of his witness, Allison. John and Deguerin go to the front door, but find the glass broken and enter the house. Deguerin shoots a man who is about to shoot John, and then John goes upstairs. Deguerin stays downstairs, goes to the bedroom where an armed man is holding Allison, and bursts through the door. The man tells Deguerin that he's early. Deguerin replies that he's late and shoots him in the head. John reaches a bedroom upstairs where a man is hiding behind a door, but John kicks it in his face. The man shoots but John stabs him through the door then shoots another man shooting at him in the hallway. Another man runs up the stairs shooting at John but John fires back and runs into a room. The man checks out the broken window there, but John swings from the overhead and kicks him out the window. Deguerin grabs the gun of the man he just killed and shoots Allison in the lung. Monroe comes in and finds Deguerin pretending to resuscitate her on the floor. Deguerin tells Monroe to get an ambulance. When Monroe leaves, Deguerin smothers her with his mouth, killing her. John comes in just as she dies. He asks why five men were sent to kill her, but Deguerin says that they were set up. Calderon secretly puts a photo of Lee in the man's vest pocket, then pulls it out and hands it to John, asking if she's his witness. John nods yes, so Deguerin tells him to call her now. John becomes suspicious and replies that she doesn't have a phone, so they have to contact her in person, and that she's in Atlanta.Back in the jet, John grabs a water bottle from a bowl. Calderon tries to take one too, but Deguerin gives him a Pepsi from the fridge then hides the bowl. Monroe is shook up, but Deguerin tells him it's nothing to be ashamed of. John agrees and continues to drink the water, but suddenly feels dizzy and looks at the bottle and staggers into a seat. As Deguerin lectures Monroe, John calls Lee's pager.Lee hears the pager and looks at it. She quickly packs a few items, including the gun, into her purse and then leaves the house. Deguerin sits across from John and Monroe asks John why he joined WitSec. John can't answer because he's zoning out. He tells Deguerin, "It's you," then passes out. Deguerin removes John's gun with a handkerchief, bewildering Monroe. Deguerin grabs John's phone, but he cleared the phone number. Deguerin tells Monroe to be quiet, and then asks Schiffer if he captured the call. Schiffer replies that it's a New York prefix.Lee takes a cab to the zoo. Deguerin makes the pilot change course for New York. Monroe tries to call WitSec, but Deguerin stops him and makes him sit down. He gives Monroe his "evaluation" by shooting him with John's gun. Deguerin tells Calderon to get their guys in New York ready, then tells Schiffer to clean up the mess (Monroe).Lee goes to the zoo. John wakes up and looks out the window, then tells Deguerin that they are off course. Deguerin replies that John will take them to Lee. John reaches for his gun, but Deguerin has it in a plastic bag, and tells John that John killed Monroe. Deguerin tosses it to Schiffer and says that John is the mole. John says that Deguerin is a murderer and goes toward him, but everyone draws their guns on John. Deguerin explains that he's a businessman, doing it to get rich, and offers to make John a part of it if he reveals Lee's location. John tells Deguerin that if he drops the gun, John won't have to kill him. Deguerin refuses, so John throws a knife from his belt buckle at him and punches Calderon. Deguerin blocks the knife with his arm and John runs to the emergency exit and opens the door. Schiffer gets sucked towards the exit, so John grabs his gun and throws him out. As John exchanges gunfire with them, he grabs an emergency parachute. Deguerin pulls the knife out of his arm and tells John that he will get sucked into the engine. John grabs a chair and throws it into the engine, setting it on fire. Deguerin shoots at John's hand when he reaches for the parachute, making him fall outside. John hangs on at the doorway and reaches for the parachute again, but Deguerin shoots at him again so John throws it out and lets go. John falls past the engine, points himself at the parachute, and reaches it. He is able to pull the chute, but Deguerin makes the pilot turn the jet around and aim for John. John pulls out the gun and shoots out the cockpit glass, causing the pilot to miss him. The backwash scrambles John's parachute and he falls with it wrapped around him. He untangles and removes it, then pulls the emergency chute shortly before reaching the ground. He lands hard on the roof of a car in a junkyard. A boy and girl rush to him. He trades the parachute plus $50 for their father's tow truck. The father runs out of the office as John drives away.Fire crews put out the WitSec jet engine fire at the airport. One of Deguerin's men traced the call to Mei-Ling's apartment, but Lee was gone. Deguerin replies that it was a signal for her to run. Another man tells Deguerin that three cabs picked a woman by herself near the apartment within 15 minutes of the call. Deguerin says that the one going to the New York City Zoo is the correct one because it's a public place.Lee waits by a pay phone at the zoo while John races through traffic. A man approaches her and tells her he is a U.S. Marshal, and shows her a badge. Lee asks where John Kruger is, and the man tells her that John sent him to be sure Lee is safe until he arrives. Lee asks for the "secret handshake" then shoots him in the leg and runs away. The man calls Deguerin on the phone. He tells the man that he can shoot her but not to kill her. Deguerin and his men reach the zoo. Deguerin shows his badge to an employee, and orders the man to get everyone out and close the exits. Deguerin and his men find Lee and start to chase after her, but John arrives and crashes the truck through a gate and into a tree. The men shoot up the truck, but John is not in it when they check. Lee runs into the reptile house and locks the doors, but men break in and shoot at her. Lee fires back but runs out of bullets. John bursts in through another door and shoots a man, then tells Lee that he's late because of traffic. John asks Lee about her ammunition, and then tells her that he only has two rounds left and to run for the door when he tells her. John doesn't shoot at the approaching men but instead shoots the glass of the alligator tank. Water and alligators rush towards the men. When the alligators start eating the men, John and Lee run to an exit, but other armed men are running toward them. An alligator attacks John and Lee, knocking John's gun away. Lee runs up the stairs. John throws a small stand at the alligator, but it chews it apart. John retrieves his gun and shoots the alligator in the mouth, killing it and then saying, "You're luggage." Deguerin and his men come in and shoot at John and Lee, but they jump through a window and escape.Beller arrives at the zoo in a helicopter. Deguerin tells him that John shot and killed three of his men, and his fingerprints on the gun prove it. Beller is surprised that he ran prints already, but Deguerin replies that he saw it. Beller can't believe it because he's known John for years. Deguerin adds that Lee is in with John and shot one of Deguerin's men. Beller orders Deguerin to bring John in alive, then gets back in the helicopter. Deguerin orders the police captain to put an APB on John.On the roof of a church somewhere in New York, John calls Beller. He tells Beller that Deguerin is the mole, is after his witness, and has killed the others. Beller asks John where he is and tells him to turn himself in, and that witnesses say he is the shooter. John tells Beller he will call him back when he has proof and hangs up. John tells Lee that they need hard evidence and she shows him the copy of the disk she made. She says she was supposed to give it to a friend who is a reporter at The Washington Herald. John asks if it was Claire Isaacs, which surprises Lee. John tells Lee that Claire is dead. Lee says she didn't tell anyone, and fears that they will be next, but John says they probably tapped her phone. John tells her that the disk is keeping them alive. Lee says that the disk has to be run inside Cyrez, which has high security. John replies that they will go there anyway. Just then, the church catholic priest, Father Rodriguez (Ismael 'East' Carlo), (his new identity) comes onto the roof, and John introduces him to Lee. John tells her that some of his Columbian "associates" tried to kill him. Father Rodriguez lets them borrow his car.Later that night, John and Lee arrive at a gay nightclub for men in Washington D.C. While Lee waits in the car, John goes inside to talk to "Johnny C", working there as a bartender (and the only straight person there). John tells him that he needs his help, so Johnny has the other bartender Kevin (Rick Batalla) cover for him while he goes out for a while.While Johnny drives the car, John tells him that he needs his help to break into Cyrez. Johnny thinks that they need large weapons, but John hands him three packs of "Ultra-Seltzer" tablets, telling him that it's all they need. Johnny drops John off at a hospital, and John says he will meet them at Johnny's place. John runs to an ambulance while Johnny drives to his apartment with Lee.The next day, Deguerin gets into a limousine where he tells Harper that he'll have the situation under control in 24 hours. The hot-tempered and wicked Harper is not satisfied, because they have 10 tons of secret assault weaponry that they already sold on the black market. Deguerin suggests canceling the arms shipment for a while because of all the commotion, but Harper orders Deguerin to get the guns out of the country tonight or he will be killed tomorrow. Deguerin informs him that John will take Lee into Cyrez to read the disk. Harper orders Deguerin to get rid of her, the disk, and the guns by dawn.That afternoon, reporters are gathered out the Cyrez building because of the House Armed Services Committee investigation of the company. Deguerin is inside Cyrez talking to security chief James Haggerty (Patrick Kilpatrick) about John, who is expected to show up to run the disk there. Haggerty tells Deguerin that the vault is the only place he can run it, so he waits by the video monitor.Johnny poses as a pizza deliveryman and sneaks into Cyrez, insisting that he has a pizza delivery for Blevins. Two of Deguerin's men search Johnny, but they find pizza in the boxes. Unseen to them, Johnny puts the tablets in his mouth and pretends to have a seizure, rolling his eyes and foaming at the mouth. Security takes him to the infirmary and calls an ambulance. Deguerin calls Schiffer, who informs him they will move the weapons within an hour. Disguised as paramedics and driving the ambulance that John took from the hospital the previous night, John and Lee arrive at the Cyrez security gate then go to the infirmary and load supposed medical equipment onto a gurney, but Deguerin doesn't see them on the video monitor. Johnny removes the heart monitor leads, but the nurse thinks his heat stopped and shocks him with a defibrillator. John and Lee burst in, and John points his gun at them and makes her stop. Johnny grabs the guard's gun and then ties the guard and the nurses up with medical tape while John and Lee leave.In the security office, the technician reports that someone is accessing the disk, but no one entered the vault through the door. Deguerin goes with security guards to the vault. John's not inside, and the technician reports that he must be using a remote terminal somewhere in the building. He tells Deguerin that he can locate John by scanning all the terminals for activity. Meanwhile, John and Lee are in Donohue's office accessing the disk. They find offshore banking deposits for $52 million, which John determines is for an arms sale. The buyer is Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky (Olek Krupa). John informs Lee that Petrofsky heads a Russian mafia cartel that sells guns and drugs. At the same time, the technician narrows the search to the wing where Donohue's office is located, so Deguerin takes his men there. John finds the delivery date is tonight at midnight, for 1,000 EM guns, at Baltimore Harbor. The technician locates John and Lee in Donohue's office and begins erasing the disk, and a message appears on the screen: "YOU'VE JUST BEEN ERASED", so John smashes open the disk drive and removes the disk, but its too late as the disk (and the evidence) is erased. Suddenly, security men bursts into the room, and shoot at John and Lee. John throws Lee to the floor and shoots back, then throws the chair at them. More security men arrive in the elevator, so John blocks their fire with a security guy, then pulls the pins on the guy's grenades and kicks him into the elevator (blowing up the men). John and Lee run out of the office, and then John tells her to meet him at the ambulance on the ground floor so they can get away. Lee runs down the hallway, and a bulletproof glass wall lowers behind her while an alarm sounds. Deguerin grabs her, and then he and John shoot at each other but can't break the glass. Deguerin threatens to kill Lee if John interferes, then takes her away. John shoots a fire sprinkler, causing the sprinklers turn on, the fire alarm to sound, and the glass wall to rise. John reaches the roof as Deguerin leaves with Lee in a helicopter.A short while later, John and Johnny take the ambulance back to the car. John tells Johnny that he is going to Baltimore alone, but Johnny tells him that his cousin Tony (head of the local mafia union) runs the docks at Baltimore and will find the shipment. John lets Johnny take him there.That evening, John and Johnny arrive at the docks find Tony -- nicknamed Tony Two-Toes (Joe Viterelli), and he is surprised that Johnny is alive. Johnny tells him that John saved his life. Johnny introduces Tony's right hand men; Sal -- nicknamed Sally Boy (John Snyder) and Little Mike (Tony Longo) to John. Johnny tells the mob union guys that they have bigger worries than Cannelli. John informs them that a major arms deal is happening tonight on Tony's docks.A Russian cargo ship is moored at the dock. Deguerin meets Petrofsky there and assures him that he has things under control. Lee is tied up on a chair, and Deguerin tells him that she is an "insurance policy", but he shouldn't worry. Deguerin tells Petrofsky that he can do what he wants with her when they reach international waters, then leaves.John calls Beller and informs that he has proof that Cyrez is selling weapons on the black market, and that Harper is involved and Deguerin is the facilitator. John tells him that it's happening tonight at Baltimore docks, Pier 57, and then throws the phone aside without hanging up, knowing that Beller will trace the call.Deguerin drives to his command van to coordinate the shipment, and tells his men to watch for John. Johnny and the union guys, Tony, Sal, and Mike, approach a guard at the gate. Tony and his men ask the guard why no union people are loading the ship. The security chief comes over where he orders them to leave, and they ask him the same thing. Meanwhile, John jumps down from a warehouse and takes out two gunmen. Their gunfire distracts the security guards, allowing Tony and the others to knock them out and take their guns. John breaks into a building, but Calderon locates him with an EM gun and tries to shoot him. John sees the light from the scope and jumps aside in time. Calderon and Schiffer fire several rounds into the building, destroying the interior. Deguerin sends men in to check that John is dead.Meanwhile, John is trying to remove a sharp piece of metal that pierced his leg. John's shotgun is jammed, so he throws it across the building and one of the men picks it up. Calderon mistakes the man for John and shoots him. John removes the piece of metal from his leg just as the other man reaches him, and then stabs and kills him with it and takes his pistols. Schiffer and Calderon enter the building, so John breaks through the floorboards and crawls underneath them. He shoots them, breaks through the floorboards again, and then takes their EM guns and shoots two more men who came in. Deguerin orders all the other men to shoot at the building.On the docked ship, Lee uses the distraction to untie one hand and hit Petrofsky in the head with the coffee pot, unties her other hand, then kicks him and runs out. John comes out of the building, shooting and destroying everything in his path. Meanwhile, Sal shoots the sniper in the crane before he can shoot Sal, causing the operator to drop the container. Lee escapes from the ship and runs away. Deguerin, up on a container, has captured Lee; he holds her hostage with a pistol and makes John drop his EM guns. He then shoots John in the shoulder and makes the crane operator raise the container. Petrofsky and his men shoot at John, but he safely jumps onto the end of the container. Johnny, Tony, Sal, and Little Mike come up in a front loader and shoot the Russians. John climbs to the top of the container and punches Deguerin in the face, causing him to drop the pistol. Deguerin hits John with a crowbar, but John gains the upper hand. As John and Deguerin fight, Lee reaches for the pistol, but the container tilts to one side and she falls over the edge. John grabs her and pulls her back up, then puts her up on the ladder. Deguerin recovers the pistol and prepares to shoot John, but John removes the chain with the crowbar and the container falls to the ground. The container shatters, spilling the EM guns, and throwing John and Deguerin off.A short while later, the police and Beller arrive on the dock as John is trying to pull the container door off Deguerin. Deguerin tries to shoot John so John takes the pistol away. Beller's men take the door off Deguerin and take him away on a stretcher, and Beller thanks John. Lee runs over and thanks John, and they hug.A few days later, Deguerin and Harper leave a courthouse after being indicted for treason over the arms shipment. Deguerin tells the press that he was being patriotic and their actions have exposed a secret alliance the administration had with the nation's enemies. Deguerin insists that they will be vindicated at the trial. After John and Lee observe this, John tells her that Deguerin and the others could get away with it if they are able to blame it on Morehart. John asks her if she's ready, and they walk to a van. Deguerin tells Harper that the case won't go to trial without Lee's testimony. John and Lee get into the van, and it explodes a few seconds later; pandemonium erupts. Deguerin and Harper get into a limousine as if the explosion were expected. No one sees a hand close a grating under the van. Deguerin then tells Harper that now that Lee is dead, they can begin clearing themselves of responsibility, including killing Lee's friends and family if necessary. Deguerin and Harper think each other arranged the van explosion. The limousine stops abruptly and the doors lock, and then the driver's security window rises. Johnny, the chauffer, gets out and runs away from the limousine, leaving it stopped on some train tracks. John calls Deguerin on the limousine phone and tells him, "You've just been erased." Deguerin looks out the window and sees John. The railroad crossing gates lower and a train sounds the horn as it approaches the limousine. All the men inside the limousine struggle futilely to unlock the doors and break the windows, but the train slams into the limousine and destroys it. Johnny drives by in the car and waves to John. John gets into an SUV where Lee is waiting, and Lee asks him what happened. He replies, "They caught a train," then they drive away.Synopsis written by Mu_Ve_Watchr_89.
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violence, action, neo noir, murder
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train
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imdb
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A decade ago, this Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick was fairly hot stuff but I wonder if it would have the impact today since special effects are so much better and we've seen so many of these type of action stories in the past 10 years.One of Arnold's keys to his successful career in films was simply that his movies were entertaining, and that's why people come to the theaters.
It's also fun to hear if you have a nice surround system.This movie has one of the most outrageous action scenes I've ever seen on film, even to this day: one in which Arnold hangs from the outside of a jet airplane, finally lets go, free-falls to catch his parachute that had been ripped off, and then has to worry about the jet plane which had circled around and was going to smash him!!The audio came into play nicely each time the super rifle that was featured in the movie was shot.
This isn't a movie you go see if you're seeking a two hour thinking experience.Casting Schwarzenegger for the lead instantly gives the main character, John Kruger, a personality of his own.
Dialogue is used mainly for two purposes: to explain the unfolding saga of the federal scandal in the movie, and for the ever-composed and ever-cool Schwarzenegger to calm Dr. Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), a key witness in the scandal saga.
Instead, what drives the movie is the action sequences and Schwarzenegger's resourcefulness in a myriad of combat situations where he always finds himself outmanned, outgunned, and beaten to the first punch, yet always manages to gain the upper hand.Williams does an excellent job, and in many ways, is forced to be more of an "actor," per se, than Schwarzenegger.
Chuck Russel's Eraser is exploding and intense action film starring Arnold Scwarzenegger as secret government officer, who "erases" people i.e. destroys their past in order to save their future.
There are too many action films with weak acting, but people like Williams, Caan, Coburn and Pastorelli ensure that "Eraser" is the opposite.
the story goes as follows Lee Cullen a worker for Cyrez Corporation which develops top secret weapons stumbles upon illegal arms deals and acquires the information and barley escapes with help from the F.B.I and is then placed under the protection of U.S Marshell John Kruger who erases the past of witnesses under Witness Protection to give them a future Lee however has been targeted by terrorists to cover up the scam and John Kruger is being targeted by some of his fellow US Marshells and is framed for murder now he has to protect Lee prove his innocence and exposes the illegal arms deal before it happens.
"The Eraser" (The big man himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a ferocious U.S. Federal Marshal working as a member for the Witness Protection Agency.
Cullen's life is in jeopardy...she has been targeted for murder...and only John Kruger can save and protect her from imminent threats...by "erasing" Cullen's old identity and implanting a new one...Robert Deguerin (James Caan), Kruger's superior, has to make sure that everything in this operation is running smoothly and that Kruger does a decent job keeping his eye on Cullen.
Yes, ERASER is a definite high testosterone thriller with state of the art effects and a wonderful sense of humor thanks to Arnold's crafty one-liners.As a chef who owes a "debt of gratitude" to "The Eraser," Robert Pastorelli ( Striking Distance, TV's Murphy Brown ) shines with some spotlight stealing moments also.ERASER is fun-filled and exhilarating, with a pace that moves lightning fast.
ERASER is a standard, "kill or be killed" thriller, nothing more.Considering Arnold's earlier blockbuster achievements which actually included three dimensional characters such as TOTAL RECALL (1990), TERMINATOR 2, JUDGMENT DAY, (1991) and TRUE LIES (1994), this film is somewhat rudimentary in characterization.
For many people though, this quality may not exactly be a setback.ERASER is a film that is always fun to sit back, watch, and enjoy the action!
ERASER is a cool, better than expected action film with great special effects, two appealing leads, and a package full of car explosions and other assortments of surprises and tricks.
Lots of baddies are killed and shot by Schwarzenegger, and it's great to see him return to a solid action role after the rather nauseating comedies like JUNIOR and JINGLE ALL THE WAY.
There are also a number of outrageous stunts and action sequences, set pieces including Arnie jumping out of a plane to get his parachute and a fight in a zoo, where crocodiles eat a number of bad guys in a hilarious moment: just a shame about the extremely dodgy nature of the CGI effects.
She stole every scene she was in, and it would be nice to see more singers-turned-actor take a performance like this.Schwarzenegger stars as John Kruger whose job is to, well, "erase" the lives of people set up for witness protection by faking their deaths and setting up anonymous new identities.
And he attempts to clear his name and save the dame at the same time.Sure the movie's as predictable as most Schwarzenegger movies are, but due to a lot of great action sequences, Williams' performance and a real ode to The Terminator (Terminator 3, a few years down he road, doesn't count as it sucked bad) this movie is highly recommended for die-hard Schwarzenegger fans.Suffice to say, it's hard to go further into this without giving away so-called "surprises." Skip everything since this 1996 gem and enjoy the real Schwarzenegger..
You may think that Eraser is just another special-effects filled, common killing-spree, Schwarzenegger action-fest....you'd be right except for one other simple attribute....original story.
I'm a great Schwarzenegger fan, and I like a good action bonanza, but this movie gave more than just that....a story that no other Hollywood flick has used before.
Average action movie that could have been better if it had a better screenplay and better CGI special effects.The movie was probably rushed during it's filming.Too bad because the acting,story and cast was good.Some ill adviced scene sequences that should have been reshot like the first few scenes showing Arnie doing the ERASURE procedures (very sloppy) and later on the very cartoonish hungry reptiles at the city Zoo (cheap CGI).The seriousness of the storyline also degrades toward the last 30 minutes of the movie.Only for big action movie fans and fans of the lead actors.......
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a witness protection agent who protects Vanessa Williams from James Caan and the usual goons who are looking to do her in due to what she has uncovered on the computer and such.
Eraser is more Last Action Hero than Commando and it becomes quite obvious that we are watching a movie that thinks it is far more intelligent and interesting than it ever is.
Eraser is sadly not in the same league as The Terminator films or True Lies, but it's still good Arnie style action.John Kruger (Arnie) erases people who are entering the witness protection program, but now he has to protect Vanessa Williams who plays an executive that has uncovered a deal to place a new super-weapon in the wrong hands.Eraser has some great special effects, some cool weapons and of course plenty of action.
The film makers including, director Chuck Russell, do a good job in building the story naturally to well shot action scenes.
Now, in conclusion, if you like Arnold Schwarzenegger films or the music of Vanessa Williams, I highly recommend this movie.
Some people called Eraser 'Arnie's last great action film' (not including Terminator 3).
Here, Arnold plays U.S. marshal John Kruger who is assigned to protect Cyrez Corporation employee Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams).
And, this film is also full of Arnold's famous one-liners and sometimes over-the-top action scenes.The writing credits did a great job on the screenplay, providing us with an intriguing story that grabs your attention.
It capped-off an awesome summer season (or so my 15-year-old self thought), and put to rest any fears that Big Arn was slowing down (although he has only made 5 action movies, to date, since then).Arn is John Kruger (an amusing choice of name since director Chuck Russell also made the 3rd Nightmare on Elm Street Movie), a Witness Protection Program Agent who is tasked with 'erasing' and protecting a high-level informant who can prove that there are traitors within the US government who are selling weapons to Russian terrorists.
James Caan and the always great James Coburn provide respectable support as Kruger's antagonist and mentor, but the best support is no doubt Robert Pastorelli (an actor who I really liked who died of a heroin overdose in 2004), who plays a previous witness who is eager to please Kruger in his latest, impossible quest.Overall, it's hardly revolutionary, but what makes Eraser stand out from the crowd is the utterly breathtaking (literally) scene in which Kruger escapes a jet, mid-flight, without the comfort of a parachute on his shoulders.
This movie was made when he was in his prime, and is one of the best movie he's done to this date.John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a US marshal who's task is to "erase" the identity of government witnesses under witness protection program.
Arnold plays John Kruger, a U.S. Marshal who works for the witness protection program in the capacity of erasing peoples' pasts in order to give them a safe future.
Arnold sustains pretty serious injuries throughout the film which later have no effect on his ability to wrestle alligators or hold Vanessa Williams with one hand, keeping her from falling, and there's really no reason to go into the logistics of a hand-held weapon that can launch any kind of projectiles at "just below the speed of light." There are a lot of movies where these kind of logistical liberties cause a real problem for the movie, but I think Eraser stands well enough on it's own as pure popcorn fun.
They never worked for James Bond and they rarely worked for Arnold either (I can think of a few that were good though, like "I let him go"), so I could have certainly done without "You're luggage," or, even worse, "They caught a train." But hey, a few x-ray super-weapon shooting scenes will help you forget about all that.....
Then again, plot twists and character development take time away from the gun-fights and explosions...'Eraser' seems to be the last of a dying breed of 'Commando' style action flicks, where Arnie - or any other action-hero - can perform one man invasions of whole countries, and whatnot.
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenager, James Caan, Vanessa Williams Since this is my first action movie review, I'd like to take this moment to note that in real life, when you punch someone, it makes a dull thud noise.
Henceforth, Arnold is called onto the scene to protect her.Like I said, this is an action movie.
The major failing of this is you can tell that the film was designed, and scripted, around these big pulse rifles in the movie, for the sole reason of having some cool scenes with a very large gun, much like Lundgren's Silent Trigger was.
Take every action movie made by Arnold, put them in a blender, set for chop, put the pieces together when you're done and you have Eraser.
It's the typical good vs bad who is going to win and what is going to happen along the way sort of deals (like just about every other Arnie action movie).This one is just a smidged above average for me with End of Days being near a 5 and Conan being near a 10 (for me anyway).
In "Eraser", Arnold Schwarzenegger is a U.S. Marshall who specializes in helping government witnesses disappear.
The late Robert Pastorelli rounds out the main cast as the comic relief/buddy support character playing up the Italian stereotype all the way.This is probably the last movie of Arnold's prime and features much of the same tropes and clichés as his earlier work, but succeeds in having some fairly entertaining scenes and good spots.
Before things got serious after 2001, the 90s produced tons of fun action movies that had you laughing along with the good guys as they served up gun-blazing justice to bad guys.
For all of his outlandish stunts, this is a surprisingly long movie.It's the supporting cast (James Caan, Robert Pastorelli, and the stunning Vanessa Williams) that make it as good as it is.Although more CGI crocs couldn't have hurt.6/10.
There's plenty of plot holes and Schwarzenegger is at his corny best, but it's still an enjoyable action movie..
Eraser was Arnold Schwarzenegger's last decent movie before his string of box office flops including Batman and Robin (1997), End of Days (1999), The Sixth Day (2000), and Collateral Damage (2002).
Despite several flaws here and there as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger at his corny best dispensing his vintage one liners as well as the bad guys, Eraser is still an entertaining action movie.Arnold Schwarzenegger is U.S. Marshall John Kruger, also known as the Eraser.
Unfortunately there are plot holes aplenty and Arnold Schwarzenegger's corny humour seems forced, but is certainly an enjoyable action movie that can pass the time.7/10..
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays U.S. Marshal John 'The Eraser' Kruger, a specialist in the witness protection program who is assigned to protect Lee Cullen(Vanessa Williams) who had uncovered shady dealings at a military weapons manufacturer that she had worked for.
The company now wants her dead, so John takes Lee to New York City with the help of his friend, fellow U.S. Marshal Robert Guerin(played by James Caan) Unfortunately, someone in the program has betrayed them, and now John and Lee must go on the run from both forces in order to expose the true villains, and save their lives.Pretty good Arnold S.
The ummm
barbarian.And believe it or not, as IMDb is my witness, he played ALL of those characters more than once by this time, the only difference sometimes being the Eastern European country he was supposed to have come from.So by this stage Schwarzenegger was sorta grasping at straws, the result often being awful and often recycled projects that played with his image and in desperation introduced more and more illogical and ridiculous hooks and sequences.Take Eraser, where the bad guys have heat detecting scopes on their RAY GUNS(!) that go bing-bing-bing and cut through anything in their path, and Arnie gets to kill a 90s style CGI alligator and after consigning it to its fate declares it 'luggage'.
This time however the case is a young employee who is a key witness against a Big (evil) Corporation that is illegally making the naughty bing-bing-bing weapons.Eraser actually sports a fairly string cast of mainly James'; Coburn, Caan and Cromwell all get turns at being bad guys or Arnie's superiors
or both.
And Vanessa Williams is the damsel in distress in need of the protection only Arnie's big gun could give.The rest of the film is a series of carefully conceived yet palpably ridiculous action setpieces that are technically proficient but lack any sense of true action goodness.
So much for opinions.Anyway, this movie is about a agent working for the witness protection program, whose job is to erase people's identities and set them up with new ones.
ERASER is yet another Arnold Schwarzenegger action film that's loaded with shootouts, explosions, and exciting stunt scene's.
He stars as a witness protection program man who gets caught up protecting the beautiful Vanessa Williams who has some information about some new high-tech weapons that interest some really bad guys.
Slick, stylish action flick stars Schwarzenegger as a U.S. Marshal who protects witnesses by erasing their pasts and giving them a new future in the Witness Protection Program.
Fans may be disappointed by the video game-like special effects, but the film provides enough memorable, energetic action set pieces, colorful lines, and sophisticated, high-tech weaponry to be entertaining; score another one for Arnold.
I think as always, that schwarzenegger always do good action movies.
This is an ok but not perfect action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This time around, Arnold plays Kruger, a tough-assed U.S. Marshal protecting beautiful government operative Lee (Vanessa Williams) from bad guys who're trying to waste them left to right.
Eraser has all the essential elements that make a hugely enjoyable Arnie movie, outrageous scenes {an aeroplane bail out sequence is a riot}, a dastardly villain {James Caan hamming for all he's worth}, weapons aplenty {a gun here is as good as it gets} and a pretty girl for Arnie to posture around {Vanessa Williams gorgeous and effective}.
John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a U.S. Marshall, who works for the Witness Relocation Program.
I think that this is the best movie Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever made.
Erasing bad moments in action movies.
The main interest (in my opinion) of this movie lies in watching James Caan, Vanessa Williams, Pastorelli and some comedy and action scenes.
His latest assignment has him protecting a woman who "knows too much." And the bad guys are actually on both sides of the playing field.With a decent beginning and some good ideas for a balls out action movie with big guy like Schwarzenegger, the film starts promisingly.
There are some nice set pieces and action scenes, like Arnold bailing out of a plane to get his parachute, but by then end the film seems tired and clichéd.
Arnold is the same as he is in every film and the action scenes are exciting, but not that surprising.
Continuing my plan to watch ever movie in Arnold Schwarzenegger's filmography in order, I come to Eraser.Plot In A Paragraph: A Witness Protection specialist (Arnie) becomes suspicious of his co- workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.Rewatching this for the first time in years, I found it very underwhelming, and it hasn't held up that well if I'm honest.
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tt0218839
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Best in Show
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Best in Show is presented as a documentary of five dogs and their owners destined to show in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, held in Philadelphia. Segments of the documentary continuously cycle among owners and handlers as each prepares to leave for the show, arrives at the hotel, prepares backstage, handles their dog's performance, and appears in a post-show follow-up. The owners and their dogs include:
Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara), with their Norwich Terrier Winky -
A middle-class couple from Florida, who run into monetary problems and are forced to sleep in the hotel's storage room when they finally arrive. Throughout the film, they encounter men Cookie has slept with during her youth.
Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock), with their Weimaraner Beatrice -
An upper-class, stereotypical yuppie couple from Chicago, they think they are taking great care of Beatrice (although really they are just confusing and upsetting her with their neurotic behavior), going as far as taking her to a therapist after she sees Meg and Hamilton have sex. At the show, the Swans believe that Beatrice will become unnerved without her favorite toy, the "Busy Bee", and frantically search for a replacement for it before the show.
Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) and his Bloodhound Hubert -
Harlan is the owner of a fishing goods store, and prides himself on being able to name nuts. Pepper's family has raised a variety of hounds for generations, and Harlan continues the tradition by raising bloodhounds (though he has aspirations of becoming a ventriloquist; the dummy known as "Lil Buddy" was carved by Tim Selberg).
Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Cranshaw) with their Standard Poodle Rhapsody in White (a.k.a. Butch) -
A two-time past winner of the show. Sherri Ann is a trophy wife to the elderly Leslie, her sugar daddy. They are assisted by trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) who makes sure the dog is truly ready for the show, while Sherri Ann fixates on giving Christy a makeover and Leslie remains utterly oblivious. Over the course of the film, Sherri Ann and Leslie's sham marriage and Sherri Ann and Christy's romantic involvement becomes apparent.
Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean) and their Shih Tzu Miss Agnes -
A campy gay couple, they take great pride in their dog, and are confident that she will win the competition. They have a love of old movies, and enjoy making fun of Christy Cummings, but are friendly to the other competitors, especially the Flecks. In fact, when Winky wins Best in Show, Scott is the first to walk up and congratulate Gerry.
The owners and their dogs all arrive in time for the show, which is hosted by dog expert Trevor Beckwith (Jim Piddock), and oblivious "color" commentator Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard). During the first round, Beatrice is disqualified when Hamilton cannot control her, but the other four dogs advance to the final round. Just before the finals, Cookie dislocates her knee and insists that Gerry take over for her. Though the audience is initially awed by seeing Gerry's "two left feet" (the result of a birth defect), ultimately Winky takes Best in Show.
Afterwards, the film explores what each character is doing after the competition. Gerry and Cookie return home to Florida and are overcome with attention after the victory. They go on to record, in amusingly bad style, songs about terriers but discover to Gerry's frustration that the recording engineer is yet another of Cookie's ex-boyfriends (Steven Porter). Sherri Ann and Christy have entered into a partnership (It is unknown if either Leslie has died or if he has gotten divorced from Sherri Ann.) and publish a magazine for lesbian owners of purebred dogs, called American Bitch. Harlan fulfills his dreams and becomes a ventriloquist, entertaining sparse crowds with a honky tonk song and dance number. Stefan and Scott are in the process of designing a calendar featuring Shih Tzu dogs appearing in scenes, with appropriate costume, from famous classic films, such as Gone with the Wind and Casablanca (and McMillan and Wife, for some reason.) Hamilton and Meg Swan have given Beatrice away, allowing them to enjoy a calmer, more loving partnership as well as a new dog (a pug) named Kipper, that they claim enjoys watching them make love. The closing shot is of the Pug attempting to have sex with the therapist's leg.
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comedy, boring, psychedelic, absurd, humor, satire, entertaining
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train
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wikipedia
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When the advertising for Best in Show had the tagline "From the Team That Brought You Waiting for Guffman", a fair number of critics out there implied in their reviews that only people that are familiar with the film or its filmmakers and cast would have a good time seeing this film.
We have the loveable and gullable Harry Pepper (Guest) with his bloodhound, the simple Gerry & Cookie Fleck (Levy & O'Hara) with their terriors, nut-case yuppies Hamilton & Meg Swan (Hitchcock & Posey), the gay dog groomers Scott Dolan & Stefan Vanderhoof (Higgins & McKean), and the airheaded millionare Sheri Ann Ward Cabot (Coolidge) along with her trainer Christy Cummings (Lynch).
And...do I have to tell you the rest?Director/writer/star Guest's idea of humor is one that assures me that there are comedies out there that are worth laughing at, and that the idiocy of films like "American Pie" or other pointless "teenage" flicks won't take over the world after all.
(Guest practically invented the "mockumentary" with his 1984 rock band send-up, "This is Spinal Tap.")In the days leading up to the Mayfair Kennel Club Dog Show, several sets of contestants make their way to Philadelphia to realize a dream of being "Best in Show." There's a pair of New York yuppies (Posey and Hitchcock) who are even higher strung than their willful weimaraner.
Once at the show, the odd assortment of owners conduct their canines toward a "best in show" showdown, where brilliantly inept color commentary is provided by Buck Laughlin (Willard).Even though fairly well known actors play the primary roles, Guest achieves a documentary feel, mainly because much of the dialogue seems improvised.
As writer-director, he deserves credit, either for writing sharp dialogue, or for directing in a way that inspires creativity in his actors.Some of the best lines come from Posey and Hitchcock, the yuppie couple who met when their eyes locked as they sipped coffee at separate but close-by Starbucks, and whose pooch becomes paranoid whenever they get intimate in its presence.
Even the background extras, probably real-life dog handlers, are fascinating to watch, and seem to inhabit their own documentaries, waiting for their own close-ups.The last third of the film brings the entire cast together for the "Best in Show" competition.
Spinal Tap was non-stop hilarity, joke after joke whereas Best in Show was had a few more lulls (and by that I mean say 3 minute at MOST where something riotously funny doesn't happen), but the big laughs are even bigger.The casting in this one is great and even the typically out of place in, uh movies in general Parker Posey does a fine job.
In fact, her tirade directed at Ed Begley Jr. and a pet store owner over a lost dog toy is probably the funniest running gag of the film.What's amazing about this movie to me is how the writers somehow managed to weave a plot, simple as it was, around these great jokes so that it actually felt like it had direction.
'We like the same things - soup, snow peas, talking - and not talking.' I thought to myself 'what is this - some kind of weird porn movie?' And I continued ignoring it for a while longer until I heard the voices of Levy and Begley Jr. It was then I remembered what the girlfriend had said.I looked the movie up at the IMDb quickly and was surprised to see who was behind it: Christopher Guest aka Nigel Tufnel, the man with the extra loud guitar amplifier.
As the lead guitarist in the aforementioned This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and the director, writer and star of Waiting for Guffman (1997), he is perhaps the master of the field, exploring a common theme, as reflected in the Guffman tag line: "There's a good reason some talent remains undiscovered." Guest explores this theme further in Best in Show, looking at ordinary people not mockingly but almost tenderly.
Christopher Guest's Best of Show follows his great tradition of fake-documentaries which includes This is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman.
Other contenders include Michael McKean, Michael Hitchcock, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey and in a exceptional effort as a man with 2 left feet, Eugene Levy (he also co-wrote the script with Guest).
After watching the movie about 75 times I have come to the conclusion that there is no weak character or actor in this film.
Guess and Levy apparently said, let's make a comedy with lots of funny people and sight gags, let's use improvisation, and use a dog show in Philadelphia as a reason for following the lives of all these "fringe" personalities.
From the amusing and quirky "Waiting for Guffman", to the surprisingly heartfelt "A Might Wind", Guest's films have been consistently hilarious and have maintained a frankly shocking degree of freshness through the years.While individual tastes vary between fans, and while everyone has their own personal favorite Guest film, I know I'm certainly in no minority to feel that the greatest achievement of his career is the incredible and frankly brilliant 2000 release "Best in Show." A film I feel is amongst the most underrated and under-appreciated comedies of all time.
Among them are Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara), a friendly and seemingly average middle- class couple who hope their terrier has what it takes; Harlan Pepper (director Guest), a southern man with a pronounced drawl who raises bloodhounds and has some interesting aspirations; Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock)- the most stereotypical upper-class yuppie- hipsters you could ever imagine; camp gay couple Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean) and their Shih Tzu and Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge), a wealthy trophy-wife and two- time winner of the competition.A film made heavily through improvisational comedy and a clever, high-concept hook, "Best in Show" is such a wild success thanks to the incredible cast of performers assembled, and the delightfully bizarre characters they cultivate.
Director Guest skillfully pulls out non-stop moments of charm and laughs from the amazing cast, and puts together one heck of a show.Though the film's appeal may be lost on those looking for a more general joke-a-minute-riot, "Best in Show" encapsulates many of the best instances of clever comedy to emerge in recent memory.
The great fun of the film is seeing people who feel like they could very well exist, even if they are exaggerated for comedy, in a situation that's just odd enough that the average person would find it fascinating.
Considered by many who have watched all three of Christopher Guest's "mockumentary" films as his funniest, "Best In Show" is guaranteed to evoke a number of laughs and offend someone.This is a typical modern-day comedy meaning that sex jokes dominate and there is both a gay and lesbian "couple." So, if you've heard this is about dog shows, don't rush out and rent this and watch it with the kiddies.
Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, and Bob Balaban also do great jobs (I can't imagine them not doing great jobs, at least not in a Christopher Guest movie).
After watching the film itself, I was left wondering why some weren't spliced into the finished product, since "Best" isn't nearly as good as "Guffman" or Christopher Guest's previous foray into 'mockumentaries,' "This is Spinal Tap." What we're left with is a fitfully funny, faux behind-the-scenes look at dog competitions with characters that lack the authenticity of the small-town performers in "Guffman" and the washed-up metalheads of "Tap"--these people (down to Eugene Levy's 2 left feet and Parker Posey's braces) smack of artificiality.
While the film is funny and ultimately satisfying for fans of Guest's observational brand of humor, I found myself smiling more than laughing at "Best in Show.".
BEST IN SHOW (2000) ***1/2 Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Eugene Levy, Catherine O' Hara, John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Patrick Crenshaw, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Bob Balaban, Don Lake, Jim Piddock, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Larry Miller.
Christopher Guest is fast becoming one of the best mockumentary filmmakers with his latest triumph, a pointed take at dog show contestants and their addled owners.The setting is the annual Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in Philadelphia which brings together some very memorable characters for competition.
Included are in no particular order, all equally funny: Meg and Hamilton Swan (Posey and Hitchcock), the most obnoxious WASPs ever satirized on the big screen, whose `baby' Beatrice, is a purebred Weimaraner they dote on including extensive psychotherapy thanks to their dog witnessing their sexual antics; Gerry and Cookie Fleck (co-writer Levy and O'Hara, `SCTV' alums) who have unique characteristics as well: he literally has two left feet and she an apparent sexual history to rival Wilt Chamberlain, and their prized Norwich terrier Winky; gay couple Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (Higgins - best known as David Letterman in HBO's telepic `The Late Show', and Guest's fellow `Spinal Tap'per partner in crime McKean), NYC hair salon stylists and their Shih Tzu they adore if not more than themselves; Leslie Ward Cabot and his decades younger trophy wife Sherri Ann (veteran character actor Crenshaw best remembered for his recurring appearances on tv's sitcom `Alice' and Coolidge, the sexy mom in `American Pie'), a buxom Anna Nicole Smith manque, whose standard poodle is represented byaward-winning handler Christy Cummings (Lynch eerily echoing Anne Heche), as a competitive not-so-secret lesbian lover of the bodacious and vacuous Sherri Ann; and finally Guest himself as the drawling North Carolina bred good ol' boy and fly fishing shop proprietor Harlan Pepper, sporting the most unusual shade of burnt sienna hair not unlike a Crayola and his beloved bloodhound, Hubert, who also shares a predelection for ventriloquism.
Along the way Guest allows his very talented cast of actors to improvise their way into uncharted hilarity skillfully skewering the vacant, pompous and ridiculous extents people will take to preen over their pets (like his previous films, Guest outlines a script rather than provide extensive dialogue and it clearly is his forte) oblivious to their grotesqueries.There are so many side-splitting scenes from cuckolded Levy constantly being bombarded by frank sexual talk about his betrothed (particularly in a stop over to O' Hara's numerous exes, memorably played by a horny Miller); the anal retentive hotel manager portrayed by Begley (who accomodates from one extreme to the other but ultimately on the hygenic ways his staff will go to at lengths whenever the dog show is in town); to the flamboyant double entendres tossed by Higgins and his flashy clothing (8 count 'em 8 silk komonos for a 48 hour stint!).
But hats off to Willard who steals the show as the event's color commentator Buck Laughlin whose inept improvisatory will have you laughing out loud and reveling on the nice riff he does of all those doofus sports announcers who think they know everything and kudos to his straight-man Piddock as Trevor Beckwith, who manages to implode with dignity.Easily one of the funniest films of this year or in any year and it's always a pleasure to have a most welcome Guest as the host to showcasing limited talent so eloquently..
This is the best out of the three Guest films, the other two being 'Spinal Tap' and 'Waiting For Guffman.' My only complaint is that it should have been longer, for it is only 90 minutes.
While not as brilliant or as quotable as This Is Spinal Tap, writer/actor/director Christopher Guest's character driven mockumentary Best In Show-which is centred on the world of dog shows-still has plenty of wonderful, well-observed moments of dry wit, and is one of those films that I believe can only improve with repeat viewings.The film owes much of its success to its superb cast: Guest plays Harlan Pepper, redneck owner of a prize bloodhound; Eugene Levy is superb as buck-toothed Gerry Fleck, husband to Terrier owner Cookie (Catherine O'Hara), who has been around the block a lot more times than her dog; Michael Hitchcock and Parker Posey are the neurotic yuppie owners of a pampered Weimaraner; Jennifer 'Stifler's Mom' Coolidge plays Sherri, rich owner of a champion poodle, while Jane Lynch plays her lesbian dog trainer; and Michael McKean and John Michael Higgins play a camp gay couple who are showing their Shih Tzu. Meanwhile, Fred Willard shines as the hilariously un-PC co-host of the dog show, whose every remark is a howler.7/10, but this rating may well go up in the future..
Best in Show, while on the surface a Christopher Guest mockumentary about competitive dog owners and over-the-top prestigious dog pageants, makes a particular comment on humans in comparison to animals.
The humans make stupid decisions, overreact at things that don't matter, argue, scream and fight tooth and claw to win the blue ribbon, while the Dogs sit peacefully, seemingly unaware, or totally aware and choosing to ignore it.Best in Show is a hilarious movie.
This movie is incredibly hilarious, the eccentric people and their dogs competing for the best in show is a great example of intelligent humor.
If you want good comedy and a chance to see the funny interaction of people and their dogs, you must watch this.
There are quite a few amusing moments, but the film never inspired in me much beyond a modest chuckle.Mostly to blame, I think, is the fact that Guest enlarges his ensemble too much, with the result that no one really has enough screen time to create full characters with personalities of their own.
(The best of them is Eugene Levy's Fleck - a gauche yet humane man who isn't so much jealous of his wife's former lovers, as sick to death of running into them.)I suppose the jokes could have been zinged up a bit, too - making a film out of improvised humour is probably a mistake, even when the improvisations are this good.It's still funny.
Not just because it is a wickedly funny movie, well written, well acted, and well produced, but because it makes fun of one of the most idiotic aspect of our culture, dog shows.
The story basically follows several different owners as they enter a dog show, through to it being won, and then briefly what happens to them after.The problem is, every character is supremely annoying or dull and that was pretty much the only joke in the film.
I think it got about one laugh, and a couple of smiles throughout, and the rest of the time i was in pain.If you think the idea of someone reciting a line, sometimes saying something ever so slightly odd, in a matter of fact and totally deadpan way is enough for a supposed comedy, well, you may like it, but i wouldn't class it as humorous in the slightest when done repeatedly for an entire movie.
The film benefits from a brilliant cast of comedic veterans such as Guest, Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr. and Larry Miller.
So it's not really much of a criticism in pointing out that Best in Show is not as good as Spinal Tap. It is a satire on the kind of people who participate in championship dog breeding.
It works because the actors in the ensemble cast are all adept at improvised comedy, so it's a film full of little moments rather than a major story arc.Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest directs as well as acts in this one.
There are a few laugh-out-loud funny moments though, such as the scene revealing the man with two left feet; while virtually every line uttered by the TV commentator played by the excellent Fred Willard is comedy gold.
The wildly inventive and talented crew (Eugene Levy, Maureen O'Hara, Michael McKeon, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, etc.) of Guest directed films take control of their characters and bring them to places that are somewhat predictable but awkwardly funny none the less.
He also does all of those things in this movie by the way and then some more as well.It's obvious director and writer Christopher Guest let his actors do a whole lot of improvisation and gave them lots of room to play.
Man, some of the stuff he says is absolute great and hilarious.The characters and the sort of not everyday and sort of odd background story of a dog-show is what makes this movie work and fun to watch.
If you have seen any other Christopher Guest movies - this is typical of his style.Basically, the story is about the behind the scenes activities and personalities of a group of dog show competitors.
Best In Show, directed by This Is Spinal Tap star Christopher Guest, who also directed Waiting for Guffman, is an exercise in improve comedy, and that allows for drier wit and more genuine sounding humor.
Take the Eugene Levy character (Levy by the way is a co-writer with Guest, which means he either thought of the dog show premise, or the movie's title), Jerry Fleck.
`Best in Show', Christopher Guest's mockumentary about the dog show industry is, in my opinion, not quite as clever as `A Mighty Wind', but it is still hilarious nonetheless.
Christopher Guest's 'Best in Show' may not be an all-time champion, but it is funny, the most important attribute for a comedy.
Christopher Guest brings a funny and sometime scary look into the hilarious world of professional dog shows and their contestants.
Christopher Guest outdoes his Waiting For Guffman with this absolutely hysterical film about dog competitions and the people who compete in them with their pets.
This is my best effort: In standard movies, we know that the people on the screen are actors playing characters.
While not quite as hilarious as "Waiting for Guffman," Christopher Guest's follow-up is a heavily-improvised, gut-busting look at dog shows.
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tt0427944
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Thank You for Smoking
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The film opens with Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) appearing on Joan Lunden's daytime talk show, along a doctor, a senator's aide, and a teenage boy with cancer. As he's introduced, the audience spits at him. The screen freezes, spittle in midair, while Naylor explains what he does for a living in a voice over. He works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, and he represents Big Tobacco. The Academy is supposed to research links between disease and smoking, and has never been able to find anything conclusive.On the show and throughout the film, he takes the offensive position (in both senses). On Joan Lunden's show, he protests that in no way would he want a potential customer to die, and accuses the doctor of profiting off cancer patients.His immediate nemesis is Senator Ortolan Finisterre (William H. Macy), a Birkenstock-wearing Vermonter whose office is decorated with cheese and bottles of maple syrup. Senator Finisterre wants to plaster a graphic skull-and-crossbones picture on every pack of cigarettes.Through all of this, Naylor is also trying to maintain a relationship with his son Joey (Cameron Bright). Naylor's boss BR (J.K. Simmons) wants ideas on how to make smoking sell. "We don't sell Tic Tacs, we sell cigarettes. And they're cool, available, and addictive. The job is almost done for us." Naylor has the idea of product placement in movies.He takes Joey on the trip to Los Angeles to meet with an agent about putting more smoking in movies. Naylor is divorced, and shares custody of his son. His son is rather uncomfortable with his father's profession, but Naylor is as great arguing with his son as he is with the press and starts to win him over. Naylor portrays himself as being on the side of freedom and personal choice.On a side trip, Naylor takes a briefcase full of cash to the original Marlboro Man Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott) who is dying of cancer. There's no strings attached; Lutch can just keep the money. A suspicious Lutch asks why he can't just go to the press. Naylor suggests he do exactly that, and recommends which reporter to talk to. Lutch can go on TV, denounce the tobacco industry, and donate the money to a worthy cause. Donate? Well, if he denounces them he can't keep any of the blood money. Naylor leaves, confident that Lutch will keep quiet.Back in DC, he debates Senator Finisterre on Dennis Miller's show. A caller threatens Naylor with death for being responsible for millions of deaths. Naylor brushes the threat off, but he's kidnapped. The kidnapper (Jeff Witzke) covers Naylor in nicotine patches and leaves him naked in the lap of the Lincoln Memorial. Ironically, his smoking gave him a resistance to the nicotine, otherwise he would have died.Naylor is interviewed by a reporter for a Washington paper, but ends up seducing her. He's confident of some positive press, but is shocked when she gives away all of his secrets. She was having sex with him to get the story. She tells about the hush money to Lutch, the movie deal, and his weekly meeting with the MOD Squad: the Merchants of Death, gun and liquor lobbyists (there's a funny bit where he one-ups them on how many people his industry kills).The Academy distances itself from Naylor, who is shattered for a while. Some supportive words from his son inspire him to fight back. He reveals that the reporter was having sex with him to ruin her career, and agrees to appear in front of Senator Finisterre's committee. He comes out swinging again, accusing Vermont's cheese of clogging arteries and causing heart disease. When asked if he would let his own son smoke, he points out that his son is under 18 and that would be illegal. Pressed for what he would do on his son's 18th birthday, he says that if his son wants a cigarette, he'll buy him one.Outside the hearing, BR offers him his job back but Naylor turns him down. Good timing: shortly thereafter, the tobacco industry settles for billions and the Academy is shut down. Joey wins the school's debating contest, and Naylor finds new clients: "Look into the mirror and repeat: 'There is no conclusive scientific evidence linking cell phone usage and brain cancer.'"Apart from the plot, the film is filled with absurd little cutaways. Naylor has a weird fantasy where's he's starring in a hotel safety video. The gun lobbyist has some trouble with the Senate metal detector. Naylor imagines other industries that can use help, like seal clubbers.
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comedy, boring, dark, murder, clever, satire, romantic, entertaining
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train
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imdb
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The film is basically about his profession as he spins the news, pitches a movie idea, dodges a subpoena, has an affair with a reporter (Katie Holmes), tries to spend time with his son (Cameron Bright), and has lunch with an alcohol lobbyist (Maria Bello) and a firearms rep (David Koechner) - where they literally compare body counts.
Even Adam Brody is enjoyable as Lowe's hyperactive assistant whose in-joke with a co-worker earned one of the biggest laughs of the movie.The majority of the credit, however, needs to go to first-time feature director Jason (son of Ivan) Reitman.
So as Big Tobacco (for whom he is a lobbyist) launches a campaign to reinstate the "cool smoking" image into mainstream Hollywood, and sends Nick to work a producer for the proper product-placement, Nick decides to bring his son along for the ride, to see "how daddy works" in hopes to bond with him.Good satires are hard to come by, but Reitman's "Thank You For Smoking" is so wet with sarcasm and dripping with humour that it is impossible not to enjoy.
Only once does it fall prey to predictable moral messages, as when Nick starts reevaluating his work and has moral qualms following his kidnapping by an anti-smoking group, only to swoop down into tongue-and-cheek mode again and return twice as biting and twice as funny.Although the film is evenly peppered with fun one-liners and perfect delivery from its cast, the best scene is when the M.O.D. squad are at their usual restaurant hang-out at the end of the day and brag to each other and argue over whose business kills the most people per year.
Macy) towards the end of the film -it's basically good actors doing what they do well - and it's very funny.The movie's also a little bit touchy-feely, focusing for a bit on the relationship b/w Naylor & his son, Joey (Cameron Bright) - the kid's good & some of the lines written for him are priceless.There was one odd, stupid thing - and my wife agrees w/ me on this, so I'm not just being a guy; there are 2 'sex' scenes w/ Eckhart & Katie Holmes, but zero nudity.
The story of a lobbyist for the tobacco industry who's job is to put a spin on cigarettes, improve their image, make them cool again, and prevent one senator from getting legislature to mandate that cigarette companies place a large graphic skull and cross bones on each pack sold.Nick Naylors character is brilliant.
I saw this at Sundance last night (actually it was a Salt Lake screening, and thus the filmmakers didn't bother to drive 30 miles to talk to us...not that I am bitter...) At first I was a bit worried that this was going to be the old hat anti smoking movie that makes all smokers victims of the eeeeevil tobacco companies, but then I saw that it was based on a Christopher Buckley novel and I relaxed a bit!
This pokes fun at all sides of the issue, from the tobacco lobbyist's insistence that there has been "no conclusive proof" that tobacco is harmful, to the legislator's thinking that putting a warning label on cigarettes will actually make someone pick up a cigarette package, read the label, and decide not to smoke...as if ANYONE with half a brain doesn't know that inhaling smoke into your lungs will harm you.Aaron Eckhart did a fine job in his role, as did Sam Elliot, Rob Lowe, Katie Holmes...I could go on and on.
A clever satire of the spin-world (thanks largely to its cast and a witty script by Jason Reitman), Thank You For Smoking comes on like Wag the Dog via The Insider it's a painfully honest insight into the tobacco industry, led by the narration of Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the Big Tobacco corporation's chief spokesman.
Macy), his boss, his ex-wife, fanatical groups on homicidal missions, a double-crossing reporter (Katie Holmes) and a Hollywood producer (Rob Lowe) trying to cast the perfect Hollywood glamorization of smoking (Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones are offered as the leads).The movie, directed by the son of Ivan Reitman (the "Ghosbusters" director/producer extraordinaire), balances absurdity with realism; moments of the film come across as poignant reflection while following scenes are completely the opposite.
He knows what he is doing is wrong, but he's not a stereotypical Hollywood motion picture "good guy" even the closing of the picture, without spoiling it, isn't the moralistic cop-out I had expected; the movie isn't a black-and-white painting of the smoking controversy; it doesn't take sides on either side of the debate.This is really being marketed incorrectly as the next "40-Year-Old Virgin" right now, but the film for the most part, anyway really isn't as hilarious as it is thought-provoking and engaging.
But Aaron Eckhart, who plays the lead role of Tobacco industry spokesperson Nick Naylor, and is playing a character who himself smokes, doesn't actually light up a cigarette on camera.Nick Naylor's job is spin, and he's damn good at it.
You also have Robert Duvall as The Captain: the guy BR has to run policy through and who is idolized by anyone working in Big Tobacco; Sam Elliott as a former Marlboro Man who is dead-set against not shutting up in anger until Naylor spins a few things; Katie Holmes as a reporter Naylor falls for; Rob Lowe as a movie producer who'll take funding from anyone and can spin as well as Naylor, and Dennis Miller as (thankfully) himself.So then, I don't think this movie takes sides at all on tobacco.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is damn good at his job but that doesn't stop him being any less detested for it- he's a spokesperson for the tobacco companies, cleverly putting slants on 'proven' medical facts and observations.
But a double crossing reporter (Katie Holmes) and a group threatening to bump off Nick for the 'lives he's ruined', his own life is starting to look pretty bumpy on it's own.Always leave it to the small independent films to produce the best comedies, because they generally do a much better job of it than big over-blown Hollywood productions.
TYFS has received a large number of generally glowing reviews up to this point...and I'm glad to say this will be another one.With a title and premise that was guaranteed to spark controversy (or maybe outrage would be a better word?) rather than go for shock value in any other way, this manages to be a consistently clever and sharp stab at the hypocrisy and over-reaction that can cloud those who make it their lives to poo poo tobacco and those who try and defend it, with one of the greatest cinematic characters in a while in Nick.
There is no legal industry more unpopular than Big Tobacco and in this film Aaron Eckhart plays with great relish, Nick Naylor, a superb operator with absolutely no shame who prosecutes Big Tobacco's cause at venues ranging from grade school classes to congressional committees.First time director Reitman derived his screenplay from Christopher Buckley's 1994 book, and in the book there is a deeper motivation than the "must pay the mortgage" defence.
William H Macy, however, as the anti-tobacco Senator for Vermont (home to cheese-created cholesterol), manages to avoid farce and produce a believable character.Christopher Buckley was reportedly pleased with this film though I think his message was obscured somewhat by the pyrotechnics of Aaron Eckhart's performance.
But Nick is good in what he does for the mortgage."Thank you for Smoking" is a great politically incorrect movie, that satirizes the phobia against smokers and cigarette industry.
This film was clearly made as a comedy and in that department it succeeds, with clever writing, great dialog and each role cast to perfection.Aaron Eckhardt is Nick Naylor, a spokesman for Big Tobacco on a mission to defend the rights of smokers and the tobacco industry.
Summoned to meet with The General (one of the last great tobacco barons), Nick is put in charge of pushing through new ways of promoting smoking while also defeating a push by Senator Finistirre to put a skull and crossbones on the front of every cigarette packet sold in the country.If the plot summary sounds like this film has a definite narrative flow to it then I'm sorry for misleading you because, although it moves in a certain direction, it isn't that tight a story.
His turn as the senator leading an anti-smoking crusade is great contrast to Aaron Eckhart's spin wizard needs to be watched.Once upon a time I used to enjoy Jim Carey's comedy - I still think he is one of the best comic talents but his movies try to teach you a lesson.
Thank You For Smoking does two things in particular- it shows it's writer/director, Jason Reitman (son of Ivan), should have a good career ahead of him, with this being a promising debut; it also shows how casting decisions do make up then crucial framework for a film like this, where its ensemble form needs the right people.
The satire comes in the form of it's lead character, a lobbyist for Tobacco (Aaron Eckhardt, one of his better performances), who has a crises in the midst of a reporter's investigation (Katie Holmes), his own son, and in dealings with a super movie agent (Rob Lowe, one of his very best roles), and even the old Marlboro man (Sam Elliot).
For all the talk and spin, Naylor never really says, "Smoke cigarettes", he says, "Make your own decisions." The unfortunate thing is that in order to make a living saying that, he has to do it under the name of Big Tobacco.I, personally, love any movie that's willing to tackle issues of media and able to do it without being condescending or terribly misinformed.
A little gallows humor is necessary when you peddle mortality.Anyway, the idea is that Nick must spin Smoking Is Good, from deriding "questionable" scientific studies that disagree with his premise to lobbying Hollywood for more product placement (that is, no more would cigarettes be held in movies only by Bad Guys or Europeans - the heroes would get them, too).
Almost everybody I know who has read the book remembers the nicotine patch episode, but they only allude to the campaign to reduce teen smoking, which was "everything your parents told you about smoking is right." I suppose the truth.com ads about blah blah smoking isn't stupid hit too close to life imitating art.Aaron Eckhart was fantastic as the smarmy spokesman for Big Tobacco, and William Macy outdid himself as the dim-witted Birkenstock wearing liberal senator who decorates his desk with jars of maple syrup, and who is on a crusade to expand the nanny state and make life safe for everybody -- even if that meant changing history.My only complaint was that I had to drive to God-forsaken Bethesda to see it in the white hot core of liberal lawyer hell.
So when Pathe was running these special PAC movies re-run, I grabbed the opportunity to see the movie with my colleague's son Felix who had come for a flying visit from Zurich to meet his Dad.The story is about Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) who is lobbyist for the smoking industry in US.
But writer/director Jason Reitman takes the tough road by weaving a straight story with a sane, rational, human protagonist.Yes, this is a satire, so there are plenty of absurdly comical scenes like when Nick shows up at his son's career day and essentially convinces a bunch of 12-year-old kids to smoke.
They like to sit around over dinner and compare the number of people their products have killed.Robert Duvall has a modest part as the "Captain" of tobacco and Rob Lowe gets to play Jeff Megall, a big time, Machiavellian Hollywood money man, who is lining up Catherine Zeta-Jones and I forget who, to play a naked in a space movie with some serious smoking scenes--for a price to be paid for by Big Tobacco.
Jason Reitman's "Thank You For Smoking" would make an interesting companion piece to "Lord of War," since both are sharp, acerbic satires about industries - one tobacco, the other small arms - whose practitioners are often referred to as "merchants of death."Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, "Thank You For Smoking" centers on Nick Naylor, a smooth-talking lobbyist for Big Tobacco whose job it is to counter all the medical charges leveled against cigarettes so that people will go right on using the product despite the fact that Americans are dropping dead from heart disease, cancer and emphysema, caused primarily by smoking, at the rate of well over 430,000 people a year.
In this age of spin and with a relentless supply of public relations that could make Hitler look like a diplomat in this day and age, 'Thank You for Smoking' has a protagonist (Aaron Eckhart) who speaks on behalf of the tobacco industry and tries to lessen the public's perception of the damaging effects of a lethal product that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans each year.
However, as a sex symbol she leaves much to be desired...Maria (Duets, Payback & Coyote Ugly) Bello is cool in her usual tough-gal pastiche, like a 21st century Lauren Bacall.The real SPIN of this movie is a number of intertwined plot lines - how most modern situations require a way to justify their jobs they may or may not hate to keep family and roof intact (marketing, public relations or "spin"); the key to being a successful debater by not winning but making sure the other party looks more at fault (altering viewpoints with willing participation) and how does even a so-called "villain" look their children in the eye and convince them not to make the same mistakes they made while earning respect and gaining favour (for that one, watch the movie and see how Eckhart's character shows his love for his son)?
Well, to put that last sentence to rest, Thank You For Smoking was one of the wittiest and funnest(not funniest...well that too) movies I've seen in a little bit.You have Nick Naylor, he's the spokesman for Tobacco Study.
Yes, this movie is sometimes funny and Aaron Eckhart is as good as you expect in his role as Nick Naylor.
Since then, he has been waffling in leading man roles, but luckily, he comes back to form as the appropriately named Nick Naylor, tobacco industry lobbyist extraordinaire, in first-time director/writer Jason Reitman's wonderfully acerbic comedy about the power of media spin around the availability of cigarettes despite inescapable evidence that smoking kills.
I think the guy has talent and as long as he keeps making good movies he will be just as big as his dad is someday.So in conclusion, I like the message behind "Thank You For Smoking" but not the overall subject matter of the film.
Wickedly hilarious black comedy/satire based on the novel by Christopher Buckley about a quick-witted, scruples-lacking spokesman for Big Tobacco in the form of Nick Naylor (a never-been better Eckhart) whose penchant for spinning the truth only equals his duplicity until he faces trying to make the right impression for his young son (Bright).
Based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley Thank You For Smoking stars Aaron Eckhart as cigarette lobbyist Nick Naylor.
Before the first commercial break, he hasn't so much as turned the audience over to his way of thinking, but he has them thinking in a different direction and that, my friends, is what he gets paid to do.Thank You For Smoking is interesting in that although it makes its argument, the film uses the tobacco industry as a backdrop to tell the story of the struggles that Nick endures with family, with friends and with those that find him the most despicable person on the earth this side of Hitler.His family of note is an ex-wife to which still speaks cordially, but otherwise has split with amicably and his young son, Joey (Cameron Bright).
"Thank You for Smoking" isn't especially meaty, and it likely won't give you much to chew on after viewing it, but as a funny, clever 90-minute diversion, you could do much worse.The chameleon actor Aaron Eckhart is perfect casting as a gifted spin doctor working on behalf of big tobacco companies.
Thank You For Smoking play a smart comedy on the topic of smoking and people behind the scene who want to eradicate the whole smoking issue by terrorizing people of it's ill effects.Great satirical movie, Aaron Eckhart a real good guy playing a character that some what is a bad guy type..
Macy as a Senator from the fine state of Vermont who always finds himself defending cheese rather than bringing down cigarettes; Rob Lowe as a Hollywood agent who's better at his job than Nick is at his; Adam Brody also seems to talk for a living but in a much different way than our "hero".One of the main reasons "Thank You for Smoking" is a success is because of the screenplay by Jason Reitman, based on the novel by Christopher Buckley.
Thank You For Smoking provides thought provoking content delivered through a network of great acting performances that make this film so thought provokingly hilarious.This comedy, unlike many that grace the screen these days, is clean enough to take your parents to, and funny enough that you will forget you are at the movies with your mom.
Thank You For Smoking provides thought provoking content delivered through a network of great acting performances that make this film so thought provokingly hilarious.This comedy, unlike many that grace the screen these days, is clean enough to take your parents to, and funny enough that you will forget you are at the movies with your mom.
Aaron Eckhart us simply amazing as lead character Nick Naylor: he is perfectly cast as the handsome, well-spoken lead lobbyist for the tobacco industry, and he gives a great performance.
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tt0421994
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Imagine Me & You
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Rachel (Piper Perabo) is a young woman living in North London, England who is getting married to Heck (Matthew Goode), a local stockbroker. Rachel is getting ready by trying on her wedding dress while her bossy mother Tess (Celia Imrie) and adorably dazed father Ned (Anthony Head) are overjoyed at their eldest daughter's upcoming marriage, but only make things more complicated for Rachel. Across town, Luce (Lena Headey) (short for 'Lucy'), is introduced as a young woman who manages a flower shop, and happens to be the wedding florist. Luce realizes she has to make a final delivery and drives off to the church where Rachel and Heck's wedding is. At the church, Rachel's younger 12-year-old sister, Henrietta, adds to the hectic scene by asking why the alphabet list for the guest is in that order and an assortment of other thought provoking questions. Complete chaos is close when all of them finally arrive at the church. When Rachel and her father are walking down the aisle, she catches a glimpse of Luce.At the reception, Heck's best man Coop (Darren Boyd) has eyes for Luce, not knowing she is gay. When Rachel accidentally drops her wedding ring into the punch bowl, she asks Luce to help fish it out before anyone can see, and the two women again make eye contact as if clicking with each other right away.A day or so later, Rachel goes to the flower shop to thank Luce for the flowers and the help at the wedding and invites her to supper at her flat on Friday night. Rachel does not realize Luce is gay and invites Cooper thinking the two would make a nice couple. Luce and Heck are talking while Rachel fixes the flowers Luce brought when Heck asks Luce if she is married or ever has been or ever will be. Luce then tells him that no, she is not married but might marry one day since the laws have changed. Heck asks what she means and Luce then reveals that she is a lesbian. Rachel is still in the kitchen while Heck and Luce are talking so she is still in the dark about Luce, and Coop has not arrived yet. Heck takes this news in his stride. Coop is undeterred in his good-natured attempts to sleep with her, even though Heck has now told him about Luce.The following day, Rachel and Heck are grocery shopping when they bump into Luce and her lesbian friend Edie. At one point, Heck asks Edie if she is gay. She replies that she is and she tells Heck that she is not only gay, but ecstatic. Edie then makes it clear that she and Luce are not a couple, but not for Edie's lack of trying. It is here Rachel learns that Luce is a lesbian, or as Heck puts it, "gay as a tennis player". With this new found knowledge, Rachel has a look about her that tells us she will be seeing more of Luce.With Rachel working all day at her secretarial job, she asks her co-workers about love at first sight and asks if any of them believe in it. Heck continues working long hours at his office job and feels frustrated about not coming home on time to be with Rachel.Rachel and Luce continue to grow closer when Rachel takes Luce in tow, along with Rachel's parents, to Henrietta's school to watch her put on a presentation to her science class. Both women grow attracted to each other despite the circumstances surrounding them.As Rachel continues to grow more confused about whether she may in fact be a lesbian in denial, she goes to a local video store and out of the blue, rents a few lesbian porn DVD's, and takes them home to watch. She hides them from Heck and anyone else who might see them laying around.Some time later, during a public gathering at Hyde Park for a holiday celebration, Heck confides in Rachel's father, Ned, about him and Rachel growing more apart over his long hours, while Rachel confides in her mother, Tess, about her uncertainty with her marriage. The group runs into Luce who is there with her mother to watch the fireworks and festivities. Henrietta is there and Luce takes the time to further bond with her. Henrietta tells Luce that she got her nickname of 'H' by her own parents when her mother, Tess, became pregnant with her after nearly 15 years and both her parents exclaimed 'Jesus H Christ!' when Tess discovered she was pregnant again. So, the nickname stuck. When Henrietta asks Luce why she is not married, Luce, not wanting to expose her sexual orientation to the youngster, replies that she just hasn't found the right person and that her job of managing her flower shop comes first. Henrietta sort of understands, but replies "That's okay. It's not like you're a lesbian or something."That same night, Rachel and Heck return to their flat where Rachel works up the nerve to call Luce on her mobile phone, but does not have the nerve to say anything. Luce returns the call on her message ID and Heck answers the phone instead. Feeling that Rachel may be bored with his work schedule, he asks Luce if she wouldn't mind taking out Rachel on evenings while he is busy at work.A few nights later, Rachel and Luce go to a soccer game where Rachel is yelling and screaming at the players. Luce tells her that she sounds shrill. She then teaches her how to yell and project more from the diaphragm. When they are leaving the stadium, Rachel asks Luce what she would like to do and the two go dancing. They go to a local video arcade and dance to a Kelly Marie song to the Dance Dance Revolution. Later, they are walking down a dark street and Rachel asks Luce what the meaning of flowers are. Luce tells her the azalea means "I wish you wealth". Rachel wants to know the meaning of the Lily. Finally Luce tells her it means "I dare you to love me". At the door to Rachel's apartment, when they are saying good bye, Rachel leans in as if to kiss Luce, but backs away when a car passes. The two back away and say good night.Over the next few days, Rachel continues to deny her growing attraction to Luce in an effort to remain loyal to Heck. For her part, Luce has no wish to break up a committed couple. Unable to deny what she is feeling, Rachel eventually confronts Luce directly about at the flower shop. She tells Luce that a romance between them cannot happen, and that her marriage to Heck is her sole goal to keep things in her life in line. Rachel leaves, and abruptly returns seconds later to passionately kiss Luce in the back of the shop. Their foreplay gets interrupted by Heck, who has stopped by to pick up flowers for Rachel. While Rachel hides in the back room, she overhears him talking to Luce where he tells her that he has sensed the distance growing between him and Rachel and partially blames himself for not being there for her. Hearing this, Rachel runs off. When Luce returns to the room, Rachel has gone out the window. Luce runs after her and tells her that she can stop it by telling her to leave. Rachel asks Luce if this is what she wants and Luce tells her that she wants her. The two part as they both know the marriage is the driving force for Rachel. Luce tells Rachel not to forget her, Rachel tells her that she will remember nothing else.As weeks pass by, Rachel gets more and more guilt ridden about her fascination with Luce, and goes so far as to rashly confess all to a drunken Heck, who feigns sleeping, without saying who her lover is. Heck later turns to Coop for support, and Coop angrily confronts Luce after figuring out it was her Rachel fell in love with. Luce decides that being near Rachel without being with her is too hard. She makes plans to go on an extended trip out of the country, leaving care of her flower shop to her mother.When Rachel and Heck are celebrating her birthday at her parents' house, Henrietta tells them about Luce's trip. Heck then figures out that it was Luce who Rachel fell in love with after noticing her reaction to the news. Heck does not want to be her second choice or to live a lie so he leaves. Rachel then confesses to her parents that she is in love with a woman and with their help, Rachel tracks down Luce as she takes a taxi to the airport. After getting stuck in traffic and Luce brushing her off on her mobile phone, all seems lost. However, Rachel realises Luce is in the same traffic jam and uses the lessons Luce taught her about yelling loudly to call to her. The two women reunite and kiss each other in the middle of the crowded London street.In a post credits coda, we see the characters some time later. Heck is on the plane to some far flung destination, all set to write his travel book. Henrietta and her young boyfriend are playing in a playground, and Luce and Rachel are still happy together.
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romantic, cute, queer, feel-good
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train
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imdb
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tt0364725
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Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
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The movie opens with an infomercial for Globo Gym America Corp. We are introduced to White Goodman (Ben Stiller) - who talks about how Globo Gym is a beacon of human physical fitnes extremes, and then he is talking about how he's the company's first customer and the creator of the Globo Gym lifestyle. Then it's revealed that Peter La Fluer (Vince Vaughn) is watching the infomercial on his TV from his house. Peter is the owner and operator of Average Joe's Gymnasium. He wakes up and begins getting ready for another day at Average Joe's Gymnasium.His car barely makes it to the building where Average Joe's is, and it's being pushed by some of the people who make up the membership of the gym. We are then introduced to the members of the gym - including former airport employee Dwight (Chris Williams), teenage cheerleader wannabe Justin (Justin Long), obscure sports fan Gordon (Stephen Root), and Steve The Pirate (Alan Tudyk), and then it's learned that Peter hasn't collected membership fees in several months. Justin tells Peter about his humiliation competing in his high school's cheerleading auditions. And then there's Owen who tells Peter about his dating troubles. And then Peter reassures Owen that there's somebody out there for everybody, and in the rare circumstance, there's two somebodies for everybody, which Peter calls the jackpot. Peter then enters his office where he's being greeted by an attractive auditor named Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor), who's there to sort out Average Joe's financial woes (but was secretly hired by White Goodman to gut Average Joe's of all remaining assets).As Peter and Kate get acquainted, Kate informs them that his gym is being taken over by White Goodman, the owner and operator of Globo Gym America Corp. Peter goes over to Globo Gym to meet White, who appears more hostile than he seems on television. White informs Peter that he's $50K in the hole and that he plans on bulldozing Average Joe's and turning the place into a parking lot for his membership. It's then learned that White has an extremely bizarre lust for junk food and employes some really unusual methods for helping him ignore the temptation.Back at Average Joe's, Peter informs the members about the gym's financial difficulties and has a go round Q&A session to figure out the best course of action to take. Owen suggests that they hold a car wash. Peter agrees to do so, but unfortunately bad timing and no planning means that they're out matched by a group of very attractive women in bikinis who happen to be holding a car wash across the street. The only customer they have successfully managed to attract is a creepy guy with a monster truck and an angry bull dog who keeps paying Justin to wash his car.The car wash was a failure and actually wound up costing Average Joe's some money, in addition to the $50K in the hole that they are already in. Peter decides that they've already been defeated even though they haven't done anything to make the money that they're required. Member Gordon Pibb - who's a fan of obscure sports and reads the magazine Obscure Sports Quarterly, decides that they've got a shot at the $50K by playing Dodgeball. Peter agrees, and Justin finds the training tape that they need. The tape is hosted by the American Dodgeball Association Of America (ADAA) and features legend Patches O'Houlihan explaining the rules of Dodgeball.After watching the video and a couple of practice rounds, they feel they are ready for the tournament. Unfortunately they're paired with Girl Scout Troop #417, who humiliates them after a very one-sided game and they lose. But Average Joe's is saved when one of the members of Troop #417 tests positive for a number of performance enhancing steroids and a low grade beaver tranquilizer. That means that Average Joe's is qualified for the Las Vegas open.That night, while celebrating their victory, they're confronted by White Goodman, who's announced that he's also formed his own Dodgeball team with some seriously competitive players including his fitness counsel Meshell Jones (Jamal Duff) and an extremely strong and lethal Romanian player - who Average Joe's member Owen is strangely attracted to. Gordon tells White that they failed to win a regional qualifying match, but White tells Gordon that he helped the ADAA president shed some unwanted poundage and was therefore owed a favor. White then humiliates them by knocking a tray full of Mexican food on them.Going home, while in the parking lot, Peter is confronted by a strange man in a motorized wheelchair who tells him the regional qualifying game between Average Joe's and Troop #417 was the absolute worst display of Dodgeball that he's seen in over 40 years. The strange man then reveals himself to be none other than ADAA legend Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn). He agrees to become their new coach and begins training them under a variety of unusual methods including throwing wrenches and making them dodge traffic.While practicing, White Goodman presents them with a cardboard cutout of himself with a hidden camera that records their every move. It's attached with 30 day trial memberships to Globo Gym, meant to be an insult. During a practice round, Kate picks up a ball and throws it, decapitating the cut out of Goodman. Impressed, Peter and White both try to woo Kate into joining their respective sides. Kate ultimately agrees to join Average Joe's because she finds White as creepy as they do, and she would want nothing more than to see him on the losing end of the final match.It's now time for the Vegas open Dodgeball championships. It's held every year at the Las Vegas Learning Annex, and this year it's being broadcast on ESPN 8: The Ocho (motto: "If it's almost a sport, it's on The Ocho"). The announcers for the tournament are Cotton McKnight (Gary Cole) and Pepper Brooks (Jason Bateman). Average Joe's makes a rather bizarre first impression from the ADAA community when Owen throws out their old uniforms and has them replaced with new ones. Thanks to a shipping error, they're forced to play the first round in S&M garb, while the people who were supposed to receive the S&M garb accidentally receive the Average Joe's uniforms instead.Average Joe's takes on a variety of teams - including the German Blitzkrieg, the Lumberjacks and inner city champions Skillz That Killz while the Globo Gym Purple Cobras take on their own various teams including the Japanese Kamikaze, the MilFs, and the Las Vegas Police Department. Average Joe's finds themselves in a pickle when they're on the last end in the semi finals facing The Cougars with Gordon as the sole remaining member of a four on one game. Patches instructs Gordon to get really mean. He does and eliminates the opposition without fail. Meanwhile, Globo Gym has absolutely no problem eliminating the opponents they face. That leaves the two teams without competition and they ultimately find themselves facing each other in the final round. After a well-earned victory celebration that clinches Joe's a spot in the final round, Patches and Peter decide to celebrate, and Patches gives Peter his workout towel, and invites him to his hotel room where he has some Vegas hookers waiting.On the last day before the final round, the team separates. Patches is killed when a giant neon sign falls on his head. While mourning Patches, Peter goes crazy and tells Steve that he's not a real pirate, and Steve, while walking down the Vegas strip, decides that maybe Peter's right. Justin is met by his love interest - fellow high school cheerleader Amber, who's in town for the National Cheerleading Championship finals. Amber tells Justin that their team captain has suffered a horrendous accident, rendering him unable to compete, and that Justin is the only one in Vegas who knows their whole routine. Justin helps his high school team - the Donkeys - perform their routine with rousing success. Peter is confronted by White Goodman, who offers him a $100,000 bribe if Average Joe's forfeits.Peter takes the bribe, and that day while at the airport, he's met by Lance Armstrong (Lance Armstrong), who tells Peter that he should never give up. Peter then has a change of heart and joins Average Joe's in the finals. Just as it looks like Average Joe's is four players short, Peter rejoins the group and he tells ADAA president William Shatner (William Shatner) that the team is here and ready to play. Shatner is ready to hand the trophy over to White, but thanks to an ADAA by law, if they get approval from two of the three judges, they can play the final match. Shatner then has the other judges confer and give their approval or disapproval. The final judge - Chuck Norris (Chuck Norris)- gives the thumbs up and allows them to play the finals.After a rousing match, the only member left is Justin, who catches a ball, then Kate catches a ball, to allow Average Joe's to get the upper hand against Globo Gym. They finally eliminate everyone except for White - who's nearly thrown out of the game after hitting Kate, who's already been eliminated, bringing it down to White and Peter. White then eliminates Peter and effectively ends the game. But thanks to a technicality, White has accidentally stepped over the line and has caused a penalty against Globo Gym. That means that it goes into something unheard of in Dodgeball history - sudden death elimination.Peter decides to blindfold himself with the towel that Patches had given him prior to Patches' death. The announcers comment that he's unable to see. He tells White that he looks awful fat in those pants, leaving White feeling insecure. The match resume, and White is intimidated by Peter. He throws the dodgeball first, and it passes by Peter. Peter throws the ball at White and eliminates him. That ends the game and makes Average Joe's champions.But the victory is short lived as White tells Peter that he sold Average Joe's to him the night before, and while Peter can't argue with that, Peter informs him that he took the $100K that White had given him and bet it on Average Joe's to win, and with 50:1 odds, that nets him a profit of $5,000,000. He then tells White that he plans to take his advice that he had given Peter the night before and invest the money in something - and that something happens to be the controlling stake of Globo Gym. Globo Gym is a publicly traded company and there's nothing that White can do about it. White, now having been completely defeated, goes back to his overeating ways that he had before he founded Globo Gym, and starts stuffing the face with junk food as he's walking off the court. Kate's girlfriend returns from Guam and meets up with her during the victory celebration, and Peter has hit the proverbial dating jackpot in addition to hitting an actual jackpot. Steve returns having completely cut off his pirate dreads and gone with a more conservative look. He tells Peter that Peter was right about the fact that Steve should stop being a pirate, but then Peter wonders who he's going to split all this newly acquired "buried treasure" with. We see Average Joe's on the cover of Obscure Sports Quarterly, followed by a commercial for the new and improved Average Joe's.The film ends with a morbidly obese White Goodman sitting on the couch surrounded by junk food, explaining why they're happy that Average Joe's won and Globo Gym lost, and the reason why is that Hollywood doesn't like anything that deviates from the norm - good guy wins, bad guy loses, and then blames Chuck Norris for his defeat. And then later during a post credits scene, he does the dance from the "Milkshake" video.
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comedy, humor, entertaining, flashback
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train
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imdb
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She takes a liking to the 'underdog' owner of the Average Joe gym though, and helps them in their plan to win a Dodgeball contest in order to get the money they owe.
Dodgeball is an 'obscure' sport that mostly consists of throwing a ball to hit your opponent (look it up on the Net - Dodgeball fans take it quite seriously!) Even when I describe the film, I think 'it sounds awful' - I probably would have avoided it if it hadn't been recommended so highly - and I recommend you stay till the *very end* of the credits for one of the best scenes (which also takes a swipe at the US film-making industry!).
I just watched Dodgeball last night and I can't remember laughing so hard at a movie in years, from Vince Vaughn finally being cast as a person you can like to Rip Torn who is always at his best as the sarcastic coach who is full of colorful one-liners, and I didn't start out as a Ben Stiller Fan, but his movies have seriously picked up in quality latelyFrom the supporting cast and the cameo's everyone does a top notch job, Gary Cole is especially amusing as the sports announcer and his always missing the point sidekick, The Dim bulb Chris Klein type Dimwit on Vince Vaughns team adds to the hilarity, and Missy Pyle(What A Babe!!)Forget what all the Negativity from the other reviewers state, this is a comedy, a comedy is meant to entertain, it is not Casablanca or the Producers, but it is not meant to be(****) Out Of (****).
The film has the same plot that all these sorts of sports movies have and you pretty much know where it is going from the very start but, to be honest, how many people have come here for the engaging story?
Cameos from Hasselhoff, Norris, Shatner and Lance Armstrong are all briefly amusing and, just like Best in Show, commentators Gary Cole and Jason Bateman do spot on spoofs of low-grade sports commentators and have lots of great lines between them.Overall this is not the funniest film EVER, as some critics have absurdly claimed it simply isn't consistent enough for that accolade but it is still a pretty funny film if you are in the mood for silly humour and some pretty basic jokes.
When average Joe's gym, run by Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) is under threat of take over by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), La Fleur and his gym members must raise $50,000 to save it.
The only way to do it is Dodge Ball, and with the help of a seasoned professional, maybe they have a chance.Great characters, and a hilarious script make dodge ball a Hit, Ben Stiller's and Rip Torn's characters are particularly well written, but none of the characters fail to get a laugh, and there is a good blend of them on show.Definitely worth a look for anyone who fancies a laugh.
Ben Stiller as the "evil" White Goodman -- it's a classic character that should go down in the annals of comedy greatness.
Stiller plays White Goodman and he is the snobbish owner of his up-to-the-style Globo Gym whereas Vaughn plays Peter La Fleur and he is the owner of Average Joe's.
This film is not intended to be a great work of art and no one will win an Oscar for it because it is just a film packed full of laughs that leaves you smiling afterwards - that is, with the exception of the few posters here bereft of any sense of humour.I am not a great Ben Stiller fan - generally, I find him rather unfunny but he scores highly in this film and Vince Vaughn also deserves recognition among others for fine comedic timing.The guest appearances also add to the general fun and the wheelchair-bound coach, played by Rip Torn is just a hoot.This is definitely one to hire from your local rental shop - me, I'm going to buy the DVD!.
Prior to the typically-dumb ending are some very funny moments, mostly provided by Ben Stiller's over-the-top fitness guru, "White Goodman," a man who runs an ultra high-tech fitness center.
Vince Vaughan plays the likable good guy small-gym owner who is in competition with Stiller, sort of like David against Goliath, the nerds against the jocks.....another formula that is so often used these days in comedies because it's always fun to see the little guy knock off the arrogant big jerk.
"Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" provides just enough good-natured low brow humor to make up for the fact that the film is not always as funny as it intends to be.Vince Vaughn takes on the role of straight man as Peter La Fleur, the owner of a third rate gym called "Average Joe's" that caters to the
.um
how shall we say it?
Rip Torn plays the part of a former Dodgeball champion and, for those of you who like physical humour, had me in pain from laughing so hard.The story has been well thought out and put across to the audience in a way that everyone will relate to at least one of the characters.
I loved it!This movie is about a group of "weird" (I hate to see that word in a sentence next to the word "people") guys who work out at a small gym owned by Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), which isn't getting any income b/c it's going to be taken by the bank, task handed to Kate Votch(Christine Taylor).
But that isn't all, the gym wants to be owned by the annoying/gross and long time rival of Peter, owner of Globo gym, White Goodman (Ben Stiller in I think one of his best roles ever).
Vince Vaughn was great too, funny and the classic good guy/hero of the movie, I liked him.
Christine Taylor was good too :)I'd watch this movie again anytime, one of the best comedy movies I've seen in a long time :) ****1/2 out of ***** (the half point taken away by David Hasselhoof's came, I have no idea what he was doing or why he was there, but it was stupid and not fun)..
I call them the frat pack because they appeal more to those guys.I always enjoy a good comedy, but if the next 10 years is going to be comedy movies like this then i might just watch reruns of 'The Simpsons' or 'Family Guy' for comedy.The game of dodgeball is humorous but it doesn't mean you should make a movie out of it.
The brat is played to absolute hilarity by Ben Stiller who has his own unique way of impressing the ladies.(Hint: puff puff the magic dragon).By sheer coincidence there is dodgeball tournament at Las Vegas that will pay-yep you got it, $50,000 to the 1st place team.
Peter LaFleur {Vince Vaughn} is the owner of Average Joe's Gym, barely making any cash, LaFleur looks like losing his Gym to corporate big hitters, Globo Gym. Globo Gym, run by sleazy White Goodman {Ben Stiller}, is the complete opposite to Joe's, big money, big clientèle and big ego's.
So when the few hardy members of Joe's decide to enter the Vegas Dodgeball Tournament, in the vain hope of winning the cash prize to save the gym, it's no surprise that Goodman enters his own team to hopefully thwart their plan.A joyous, crude and eminently quotable underdog story that demands repeat viewings to fully catch all that is going on.
Boasting smart use of cameos from such luminaries like William Shatner and Chuck Norris, Dodgeball is a testament to how good physical comedy can be, and of course it's always great to shout for the underdog.
Over-the- top comedies like this usually either end up being complete disasters or very funny, and I would definitely place 'Dodgeball' in the latter category.The guy behind this film went on to direct 2013's 'We're the Millers' and the similarities between the two are clear.
Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller have a great chemistry, their stature difference was really funny.The movie has many classic comedic moments like the car wash or their first match with the girl scouts or the suitcase with a million dollars.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a great movie with a well written storyline and a really great comedic cast.The movie is absolutely hilarious from start to finish,it wouldn't be on my list of favourite comedies,but it is a movie that whenever it is on TV I will watch and enjoy,and laugh at the exact same parts.This movie also has some very quotable lines,most of them coming from Ben Stiller's character White Goodman,who is without a doubt my favourite part of the movie,he was a very different character for Stiller and he played him very well.Dodgeball is a great movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good comedy.
White Goodman (Ben Stiller) is a raging douche and owner of Globo Gym. Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) is a slob and the owner of Average Joe's Gymnasium.
The scenes follow on each other seamlessly in a very fluid way, making it almost impossible to get bored or to find that time passes slowly.The gags aren't hilarious but it is pretty fun overall, like the crazy character of Ben Stiller, who, by the way, does very well compared to a monotonous and relatively transparent Vince Vaughn..
Fans of Vaughn and Stiller will have a great time watching this movie.
If you a fan of Ben Stiller then you probably know what to expect from this movie, and if you're not you better go and watch all of his previous works.
Synopsis: After being bully to sell the Average Joe gym by the big co-operation, the group of men tries to raise money to save their sanctuary by entering the competition of Dodge ball.Yea, I know there is absolutely nothing new there in the storyline but the way it was portraying is funny and entertaining.
Dodgeball is a very fun and funny comedy.Ben Stiller is a great actor for comedy.The movie is very predictable but I laughed a lot on this movie and it kept me fun.I liked a lot Stephen Root's and Rip Torn's performances,both in supporting roles.I think that Dodgeball is a parody to sports.While the movie's credits are finishing there's a great and very funny scene,so don't take out the DVD.Dodgeball is a very predictable movie,but very fun and funny and with some great performances.If you wanna have a funny time,don't doubt in watching Dodgeball.Rating:7.5.
Dodgeball/2004/*** Main Stars:Vince VaughnBen Stiller Dodgeball was a good movie because White Goodman's (Ben Stiller's) comments made no sense but they were funny.
The main point for this movie was for the Average Joes to beat the Cobras in the dodgeball tournament and win 50,000 dollars so they can pay for their gym.
- he even turned David Starsky into a neb!).*Dodgeball* is Stiller's welcome return to artery-busting form, as the corporate gym owner, White Goodman - entrepreneurial, avaricious, bombastic Bad Guy to Vince Vaughn's somnolent Pete La Fleur, who mismanages his own failing gym across the way.
White has designs on merging Pete's fringe-dweller gym with his own commercial monster conglomerate and will go to any sweat-tainted lengths to corporately consume it.In this film fantasy where an independent, successful, sexy woman (Christine Taylor, Stiller's real-life wife, playing Kate the auditor, whom everybody wants to examine "under the counter"), can fall for a shiftless itinerant like Pete La Fleur, it is no stretch to discover that the only way La Fleur can raise money to save his gym is to enter a Dodgeball tournament with a cadre of his willing (though untrained) gym patrons.
Due to the movie taking itself about as seriously as the inflated bulge in White Goodman's jockstrap, we go along for the ride.Hank Azaria and Rip Torn camp it up as young and old versions of legendary Dodgeballer, Patches O'Houlihan, whose methods of training La Fleur's dysfunctional, ubergeek squad would give any man pause for scrotal reflection.The tournament itself action-packs the last half hour of film, and climaxes with Pete and White facing off (- how'd you guess?
Easy to watch, and completely enjoyable.Stiller plays the stereotypical American health freak brilliantly, and Rip Torn is ever so funny as the ex-champion dodgeballer, Patches Ohoolighan.
Dodgeball is a riveting and sharp comedy about a sport we all stopped taking seriously after our last elementary school gym class.Vince Vaughn plays Peter LaFluer, owner of a rundown gym called Average Joe's.
You'd think that the love interest Christine Taylor as the lawyer, initially hired by Goodman to shut down Average Joe's but ends up joining the team out of disgust for the villain, but she turns out to have her own weird attributes.In a sense, Dodgeball is sort of a quasi-sports film because it centers around a sport that doesn't actually exist in terms of a spectator base, and uses that to poke fun at some of the sillier aspects of our present-day athletic culture.
Ben Stiller has made a successful film career from being a great comedy character actor.
The only thing else to really stand out from this film was the character of Patches O'Houlihan played by Rip Torn a wheelchair bound ex-dodge-ball all star who coaches the Average Joe's team with such methods and advice as "if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball" and "your playing like a bunch of retards trying to hump a door knob".
However all said about the cheesy storyline, if you want a film where Ben Stiller steals the show, cuts loose and shows what a great comedy actor he is Dodgeball is definitely for you..
A group of misfits challenge the neighboring mega-gym to a dodgeball tournament in order to save their own.A very funny comedy made even more engaging by the performances of the cast.
This film works at times a lot like a great parody of these movies!
Anchorman was unique, bizarre, funny and satirical.Dodgeball tries to sell itself as somewhat of a parody of those typical underdog stories, and is full of talented people like Stiller, Stephen Root, Gary Cole and Vince Vaughn, among others.Its just not funny.
Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn play rival gym owners with rivaling personalities who agree to a playoff in the game called Dodgeball which means, you guessed it- dodging basketballs.
My point is that Hollywood these days is extremely dependable, and there's a scene in the credits that talks about it; stay so you can watch it.So what I mean is that the stars move a lot inside a movie, and I just wanna know what Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn's projects are.
As is almost always the case, though, the trailer had already shown the funny scenes so there were hardly any surprises watching the film.However, you're not supposed to be surprised watching a movie called Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog StoryStarring: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Rip Torn, Stephen Root, Justin Long, Chris Williams, Hank Azaria, Jason Bateman, Joel Moore, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Jamal Duff and Alan TudykGenre: ComedyRated: PG-13Dodgeball is one of my favorite movies of 2004!
In order to save their favorite local gym, a slacker (Vince Vaughn) assembles a motley group of friends into a strong enough dodgeball team to enter into an intensive competition in Vegas against the superstar team assembled by the corporation taking over the gym, led by White Goodman (Ben Stiller).
Maybe the underquote of 'Dodgeball' shouldn't be: 'A true underdog story', but 'how a comedy about the stupidest subject became one of the best of recent years'.So there's your typical group of losers, who all are connected to 'Average Joe's' gym, in desperate need of some money, or else they will be bought up by snotty Globo Gym owner White Goodman (Ben Stiller in yet another great role).
Ben Stiller plays the wonderful role of the owner of Globo gym, White Goodman.
While the underdog theme is common, it's the twisted stupidity of Stiller's character and the involvement of dodgeball that makes the movie good..
Ben Stiller was a laugh a minute as the egotistical White Goodman (I'm sure there's a race related joke in there somewhere; White Good Man) and I also thoroughly enjoyed Steve the pirate, who is one of the most random characters I've seen in a while with no explanation as to why he thinks he is a pirate.
If that was a nail in comedy you just hit it on the head.I am now in a state of limbo waiting to see Anchorman so that I can finally decide who is my favourite comedic actor Vince Vaughn or Will Ferrell and unfortunately at the moment I think I'm leaning towards the Ferrell beast.Overall a good laugh and worth a watch if you like this batch of comedy although I would have enjoyed seeing a few more of the Dodgeball teams.
It's an over-used plot line in movies and an excuse for Ben Stiller ( as the somewhat strange White Goodman, owner of the high tech Globo gym ) to make some one liners and do a bit of slapstick with on screen cohort Vince Vaughn ( as Peter La Fleur , the lax owner and friend of the locals at Average Joe's gym, conveniently located right across the street from Globo ).
Peter and his friends must compete and win this tournament to keep their gym, but of course not without White Goodman, the owner of Globo-Gym, in the same tournament.I'm just gonna say this: Ben Stiller makes this movie.
"Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" was a goofy, but hilarious movie that had me laughing all the way through.
Patches and White Goodman are two of the funniest movie characters to come around in a long time.
Vince Vaughn plays the good guy, Peter LaFleur, who assembles a ragtag dodgeball team to save his little gym from being taken over by Goodman.
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tt0094847
|
The Cat Came Back
|
Old Mr. Johnson is busy practicing his Tuba, when an incessant knocking is heard at his door. Unable to concentrate, he angrily flings the door open, only to find a little yellow cat in a purple bassinet on his doorstep. Intrigued by the cute cat, Mr. Johnson brings him inside. Finding an old baby rattle of his, Mr. Johnson gives it to the cat to play with, but with one swipe of it's paw, the heirloom shatters. Angered by this, Mr. Johnson takes the cat outside, figuring it'll wander off.However, no sooner has he turned his back, then the cat scampers through the mail slot, and begins to slowly wreak his house. This time, Mr. Johnson takes the cat to a nearby forest, and tries to abandon the cat. In the process, Mr. Johnson ends up lost himself, and in finally getting back to the house, finds that the cat has come back, and is continuing to wreck his abode.Mr. Johnson then takes a fish on the wall, and uses it to lure the cat into a bag. Heading out for the nearest body of water, Mr. Johnson intends to drown the cat. However, a mishap with the ship's anchor sends him over the side. Once he returns to his home, he finds the cat has come back, and still is making a shambles of things.Next, placing the cat into a bicycle, Mr. Johnson peddles to the site of a hot-air balloon, hoping to send the cat aloft and out of his life. However, he ends up being sent aloft, and the balloon slowly leaks air, sending him on a spiraling journey. When he returns home again, he finds the cat has once again found it's way back!Now slowly losing his sanity, Mr. Johnson places the cat on a handcar, and speedily heads along the rails for the highest point of the nearest mountain range. However, a mishap with a cow on the tracks causes him to plummet off the top of a high precipice, and into an open mine shaft. Lighting a match, Mr. Johnson finds the mine shaft filled with dozens of rats. Mr. Johnson runs for his life and makes it back to his home, only to find it completely destroyed inside, as the cat has come back yet again to continue it's rampage.At the end of his rope, Mr. Johnson grabs numerous sticks of dynamite, hoping to blow the cat to kingdom come. However, he ends up blowing himself up, as well as his house. As his dead body flies into the air, Mr. Johnson appears in the form of an angel, and then returns to Earth, to mock the cat (who is still intact). As Mr. Johnson laughs at this, his dead body falls to Earth, crushing the cat. As he looks on, his eyes widen in horror, as the cat comes back...in 9 angelic forms! (Cats have 9 lives after all).Finally snapping, Mr. Johnson screams, flying off to heaven with the 9 cats following behind him.
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psychedelic
|
train
|
imdb
| null |
tt0310851
|
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
|
Someone... or something... is killing the monks at the abbey in Whitechapel, and Sherlock Holmes [Matt Frewer] and Dr Watson [Kenneth Welsh] have been called to investigate. Rumor is that it's the work of a vampire brought back from a recent mission in Guiana. In all cases, the victims have been found with two large puncture wounds on their necks. On the wall, written in blood, is usually a message like "As you have sinned against me, so shall I exact my revenge."Brother Marstoke [Shawn Larence] believes that the killings might be retribution from Desmodo, a fiercesome demon from South America who usually appears as a giant vampire bat. He explains that, while in Guiana, he had a falling out with Dr Chagas over the killing of a colony of bats, which Marstoke was led to believe carried a plague. Hector de la Rosa [Danny Blanco Hall] actually saw the killer and confirms that it had the face of Desmodo, just as depicted in a statue of Desmodo in Marstoke's collection of South American gods and demons that he brought back from Guiana.The next morning, Holmes and Watson go right to work. The first thing they do is speak with Sra de la Rosa [Isabel Dos Santos] , who was the one to discover the first body. When they mention the name of Dr Chagas, Sra de la Rosa tightens in fear. She considers Chagas a 'vampiro' because of his work with vampire bats. As Sra de la Rosa, in a whispered voice, tells Holmes about Chagas, the ground suddenly starts to tremble. An omen?Next is to investigate the church premises. Holmes checks out the crypt. Nothing there except for a colony of bats hanging from the ceiling. Upon these discoveries and the knowledge that the abbey doors were locked at the time of the killings, Holmes deduces that the killer may be in the abbey itself. That evening, he calls a meeting of all the brothers and sisters and asks for the names of those who were on the Guiana mission (Marstoke, Brother Caulder, Brother Sinclair (one of the first to die), Brother John, Brother Abel, Sister Helen, and Sister Margaret) as the killings began just after their return. Holmes wonders whether or not there is some connection. He also advises everyone, whether or not they were on the mission, to be extremely careful and to never go anywhere alone.Unfortunately, Abel [Tom Rack] has been left alone to sleep as he has been ill since returning from Guiana. Holmes, Watson and Marstoke rush to Abel's bedroom where they find Hector comforting a terrified Abel, who says that he was awakened by a big, dark thing that tried to bite him but flew out the window when he screamed. Watson looks out the window, but it is too dark to see anything.Next on the list of investigations is for Watson to get an analysis of the blood used in the writing on the wall while Holmes talks with "vampiro" Chagas, who has taken lodging at 4, Renfield Place in Whitechapel. It turns out that Chagas [Neville Edwards] is a naturalist who studies bats. He calls them his "children," which caused many in Guiana to think of him as a "vampiro". Even the Whitechapel locals think Chagas is the vampire,
since he is known to roam the streets at night. Indeed, only a few minutes after speaking with Chagas, Holmes observes him leaving his flat.It is now 9:15 pm, and Sr Helen [Cary Lawrence] and Bro John [Matthew Tiffin] are leaving one of their charities to return to the abbey when Helen (who is blind) hears moaning in an alley. John goes to help and is attacked by Desmodo. Desmodo then turns on Helen, but she is saved when someone enters the alley and chases away her attacker. Unfortunately, John is dead, with two holes in his neck.The next morning, Holmes goes to investigate the alley where the killing took place. When Holmes finds out that Inspector Jones has arrested Chagas as the killer, on the basis that he was seen leaving his flat last night just before the killing and he returned with blood on his gloves, Holmes poopoohs the idea since he was with Chagas until shortly after 9, after which he observed Chagas leaving several minutes later and going north to Whitecastle Road. Since the killing took place on Demeter Street, in the opposite direction, no one could backtrack and cover that distance in 10 minutes... unless he could fly. Jones isn't convinced but does agree to have the blood analyzed. Just then, Jones discovers that Chagas has escaped through an open window.Holmes and Watson go to investigate Bro John's body. Watson notices something peculiar about the two holes on his neck... there are no marks from the lower teeth. Either the wounds were made by someone missing a lower mandible, he deduces, or they were made by some other means.Next is to interview Sr Helen, but first they stop to see how Abel is faring after the fright he received last night. He's quite well and is working on a model of the hermitage and has no further information to offer. Meanwhile, Marstoke is praying in the church when the ground starts to shake again. An earthquake? And Sr Helen doesn't have any idea how anyone in the abbey might have sinned against anyone else, either gods or humans. All she can remember about her attack is hearing a groaning and a sound like something scraping and then smelling a slightly pungent, oily odor as the killer approached her.Now to interview Brother Caulder [Joel Miller] but he has gone to visit his sister, the psychic known as Madame Karavsky [Kathleen Fee]. She is attempting to get
insights about the killings from objects her brother has brought her. Holmes puts no stock in her insights, but he does learn that Caulder considers Chagas to be the devil's disciple and sees Marstoke's collection of artifacts as sacrilegious. Caulder also tells Holmes that it was Brother Abel who pinpointed the bats as the source of the plague and
insisted on their irradication, a contradiction of what Marstoke told Holmes... that it was he (Marstoke) who had insisted on irradicating the bats.On his way back to the abbey, Holmes is pushed into the path of trotting horses but manages to roll away just in time to see a black-cloaked figure running away. Shortly thereafter, Watson, who is walking around the church, sees a hooded figure sneak in through the crypt door. Watson follows and comes upon Caulder just returning from his
sister's house. Watson inquires as to whether he always uses the crypt door, but Caulder claims that he came in through the front door, an alibi that Hector confirms.So many suspects, so little evidence, but Holmes is beginning to see a thread. Still, a little verification is in order. First a visit to Abel who is putting the finishing paint to his model. Then, a visit to Chagas... but not to his flat, rather, to an old house where he nurtures his colony of endangered bats. Just as Holmes says he can clear Chagas' name, however, Inspector Jones raids the house and arrests them both.Back at the abbey, Watson gets a note from Holmes regarding his arrest and the fact that he can do no more while he is incarcerated. Marstoke decides that the only thing left is to leave the abbey in hopes of taking the curse with him. He intends to spend the night in prayer and leave the next morning. As Marstoke prays, Desmodo attacks him. What ho! It is not Marstoke praying; it is Holmes. Just as Inspector Jones shows up, guns drawn, the ground begins to tremble again and a large statue falls on Desmodo, killing him. Holmes removes the Desmodo mask to reveal Brother Abel. He is also wearing a glove with a garden claw in the palm, which Holmes names as the implement used to puncture the necks of his victims.In the epilogue, Watson explains that the earthquake that saved Holmes was actually a subsidence due to an extension of the Underground which is being constructed right under the abbey. Holmes tells how, when Inspector Jones learned that the blood on Chagas' glove was bat blood, not human blood, he agreed to help Holmes in his little deception. With regards to whether Chagas argued with Marstoke or Abel regarding the
irradication of the bats, Chagas says that it was both. First Abel insisted on their irradication. Marstoke took up the argument only after Abel was stricken with the plague.How did Holmes know it was Abel? Holmes explains that he saw Abel drinking tea with his left hand and, because the writing on the wall slanted to the left, Abel became the prime suspect. Also, the pungent, oily smell that Sr Helen smelled was confirmed as the same odor as the paint Abel was using for his model. Finally, the sight of a gardener with
a two-pronged garden tool confirmed Holmes' suspicion that a metal implement made the scratching that Sr Helen heard and was also used to make the holes in his victims' necks. And, thus, the Whitechapel vampire was laid to rest.[Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]
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paranormal, murder
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train
|
imdb
| null |
tt1646958
|
Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu
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Cinemas propagandistic power is in full effect in Andrei Ujicas montage epic, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, a contemporary fresco starring Romanias fallen ruler and his wife, Elena. A radical and chilling project, the film concludes the filmmakers trilogy exploring the end of communism which began with the landmark Videograms for a Revolution, co-directed with German film essayist Harun Farocki. Autobiography defies categorization and functions closest to a Vertovian film-object wherein fragments of reality are edited together from an inventory of images in order to illustrate a higher truth. But what constitutes reality when its images have been stage-managed into baroque pageantry or quasi-Hollywood musicals by a delusional dictator?
Nicolae Ceausescus megalomania and self-aggrandizement are legendary. As Romanias tyrannical President from 1965 to 1989, he created a bizarre and seemingly infectious cult of personality for himself. As Romania plunged into mass poverty under his draconian austerity programme and his banning of contraception (which caused widespread child abandonment, botched clandestine abortions and countless AIDS/HIV-infected orphans), Ceausescu continued to be fêted the world over. He was knighted by the Queen of England, visited by President Nixon (during the Cold War, no less) and was received warmly by Charles de Gaulle, Mao Tse-tung and most auspiciously by the North Koreans, whose welcoming ceremonies for him rivaled those of the Beijing Olympics.
Autobiography begins with the infamous television footage of the frail-looking Ceausescus in captivity undergoing a mock trial prior to their execution on Christmas Day. The film opens onto scenes of pomp and circumstance, chronicling Ceausescus twenty-five-year reign. Eschewing voice-over commentary, the films brilliant montage and subtle sound reconstruction create a sui generis film, lying somewhere between Godards Histoire(s) du cinéma and Vertovs Man With a Movie Camera.
Four years in the making and culled from one thousand hours of archival footage both state sanctioned and private this spellbinding adventure unfolds as if from the nostalgic, solipsistic memory of Ceausescu himself.Official description, Toronto International Film Festival 2010, by Andrea Picard
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cult, historical
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train
|
imdb
| null |
tt0087597
|
The Last Starfighter
|
Alex Rogan is a teenager living in a trailer park with his mother and younger brother, Louis. Alex often plays Starfighter, an arcade game in which the player defends "the Frontier" from Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada in a space battle. He becomes the game's highest-scoring player, and is approached by the game's inventor, Centauri, who invites him to take a ride. Alex does so, discovering the car is a spacecraft. Centauri is an alien who takes him to the planet Rylos. An android duplicate named Beta takes Alex's place during his absence.
Alex learns that the characters and ships in the Starfighter arcade game represent a conflict between the Rylan Star League and the Ko-Dan Empire; the latter is led by Xur, a traitor to whom the Ko-Dan Emperor has promised control of Rylos. The game was designed as a test to find those "with the gift"; Alex is expected to be the gunner for a Starfighter spacecraft called the Gunstar. He also learns that the Frontier is an array of satellites creating a forcefield protecting Rylos and its surrounding planets from invasion. Xur has given the Ko-Dan the means to breach the forcefield.
A holographic projection of Xur reveals he has discovered an infiltrator in his ranks. The spy's execution is broadcast. Xur proclaims that once Rylos's moon is in eclipse the Ko-Dan Armada will begin their invasion. Scared by everything he has seen, Alex asks to be taken home. On Earth, Centauri gives Alex a communications device to contact him should Alex change his mind. A saboteur eliminates the Starfighter base's defenses, causing heavy damage and killing the Starfighters save for a reptilian navigator named Grig whom Alex befriended. The Gunstars are destroyed except for an advanced prototype that Grig was servicing in a different hangar.
Alex discovers Beta and contacts Centauri to retrieve him. As Centauri arrives, Alex and Beta are attacked by an alien assassin, a Zando-Zan, in Xur's service. Centauri shoots off its right arm. Centauri and Beta explain to Alex that the only way to protect his family (and Earth) is to embrace his ability as a Starfighter. Centauri also explains that there will be more Zando-Zan dispatched. Before Alex can reply, the assassin, mentally controlling its severed arm, attempts to shoot Alex, but Centauri jumps in the way and returns fire, incinerating the alien. Alex and Centauri fly back to the Starfighter base. Alex finds Grig, but Centauri dies from his injuries. Alex and Grig prepare the Gunstar to battle the Ko-Dan Armada.
As Grig trains Alex, Beta has difficulties maintaining his impersonation of Alex, particularly with Maggie, Alex's girlfriend. Beta discovers that a small group of Zando-Zan have set up a communication center from their spaceship outside the trailer park and are relaying information back to Xur. Beta is forced to reveal everything to Maggie, who does not believe him. The Zando-Zan discover the pair and Beta is shot, exposing damaged circuitry, causing Maggie to realize the truth. The pair steal a friend's pickup truck and charge it at the Zando-Zan ship. After telling Maggie to jump, Beta crashes the truck into the ship, destroying it and sacrificing himself.
Alex and Grig attack the Ko-Dan mothership, crippling its communications. Once Alex's weapons are depleted, he desperately activates a secret weapon on the Gunstar, the "Death Blossom", that destroys the remaining Ko-Dan fighters. Lord Kril blames Xur for failing to ensure victory and for his arrogance. After relieving Xur of command, Kril orders him executed, but Xur escapes the ship just before Alex cripples its guidance controls, causing it to fall into the gravitational pull of Rylos' moon and be destroyed.
Alex is proclaimed the savior of Rylos and hailed by its people. Alex learns that the Star League is still vulnerable: The Frontier has collapsed and Xur escaped. Alex is invited to help rebuild the League. An unknown alien approaches, revealing himself as Centauri, who explains he was in a healing stasis. Alex agrees to stay. He returns to Earth, landing his Gunstar in the trailer park. Grig tells Alex's mother and the people of the trailer park of Alex's heroism. Alex asks Maggie to come with him, and she agrees. Louis is inspired to join Alex and begins playing the Starfighter game.
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good versus evil, cult
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train
|
wikipedia
| null |
tt0061074
|
Le colt cantarono la morte e fu... tempo di massacro
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New Mexico, 1866. Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) is a prospector who receives a message from a family friend named Carradine (Janos Bathra), telling him to return immediately to the home where he'd lived with his wealthy widowed mother. Years earlier upon her death, she left the house and land to Tom's brother Jeff, and insisted that Tom be sent away. Money was dispatched to him to support him, but her dying wish was that Tom stay away from Laramie Town. Neverless, Tom says goodbye to his foreman, Murray, and rides off.Upon arrival in Laramie Town, Tom finds the house where he grew up in derelict. Pigs and livestock wonder the wreckage where some people also live and work. Tom is told by two rough-looking thugs to leave because the land belongs to a man called Mr. Scott and warned to beware whenever he sees the Scott sign which is a big letter 'S' stamped onto a big letter 'J'.Riding back into town, Tom sees that the Scott sign is all over town, on the bank, the saloon, everywhere, and soon sees why the owners are feared. Jason Scott (John McDouglas), a wealthy businessman rides into the town square with his sadistic son Junior Scott (Nino Castelnuovo) with a posse of thugs surrounding them. The Scotts apprehend a family moving out of the town because of the low wages the Scotts pay them. Junior suddenly kills the elderly couple's teenage son in cold blood and laughs mechanically.Asking around where Jeff Corbett is, Tom is led to an elderly Chinese blacksmith, named Souko (Aysanoa Runachagwa), where Jeff works. Souko directs Tom to the residence of his employee. Tom finds his brother, Jeff, living in a run-down shack on the outskirts of town along with their old Indian housemaid Mercedes (Rina Franchetti). Jeff (George Hilton) is revealed to be a drunkard, having never gotten over the loss of his mother, as well as the farm. Both Jeff and Mercedes insist that Tom leave immediately and they refuse to discuss why Tom has been summoned. They are also anxious that Tom shouldn't be seen by anyone else in town who might recognize him. Determined to find out what is going on, Tom rides back into town, observed by a few of Scott's men.That evening at the local saloon, a bar-room brawl erupts when Jeff follows Tom and gets roughed up by Scott's men. Jeff handles himself admirably in the fight, despite being rolling drunk. Tom joins the fray after watching his brother's antics, and the two of them stagger out together. However, Jeff continues to insist to Tom that he leave town. Instead, Tom visits the Carradine family to find out why the letter to him was sent. But before Carradine and Tom can discuss anything, a massacre erupts. The Carradines are all killed by shadowy assailants, but Tom escapes unharmed.The next day, Tom learns that talking to the townsfolk about Mr. Scott only leads them to give dire warnings. Tom decides to go out himself to the Scott ranch to resolve what is going on. Jeff offers to come along with him. Despite being drunk, Jeffs shooting skills have not been dulled by his tequila intake. Jeff single handedly shoots six of Scott's men, plus three more at a guard post to help Tom approach the isolated Scott ranch; after gaining Toms promise that he will take the responsibility for having killed them.Tom walks into the Scott ranch to find a high-society party in progress. He confronts Scott, but the wealthy man refuses to talk, claiming he's too busy with the party. But Junior is not so different. He gloatingly demonstrates his dexterity with a whip, giving the struggling Tom a protracted and humiliating beating in front of the assembled guests.Back at Jeff's shack, a battered Tom is tended to by Mercedes. But a shadowy gunman passes the window and kills her. Enraged, Jeff resolves to join his brother's quest for vengeance against the Scotts. He tells Tom that a few mothers earlier, the Scotts had his father killed. But when Tom responds with "our father?" Jeff snarls, "I said MY father."The two men encounter Mr. Scott at a remote, tumble-down shack where Jeff finally reveals his secret: Mr. Scott is really Tom's father. Tom and Jeff are only half-brothers. Mr. Scott reveals that it was he who sent for him for he wants Tom to live at the ranch with him as his heir. Mr. Scott had no part in the killings of Tom's father, the Carradines, or Mercedes. He trembling informs Tom that Junior, Tom's younger half-brother, is insane having been spoiled all his life by wealth and power, and is afraid that Junior has gone too far with it. Before Mr. Scott can go on, Junior appears and shoots him dead. The rest of the Junior Scott party pulls back to the ranch.Jeff is tempted to leave the rest of the matter as a family affair, but relents and accompanies Tom on his mission to bring down Junior and his henchmen. In a long and climatic gunfight, Tom and Jeff assault the Scott ranch and kill all of Junior's henchmen. During the battle, Jeff saves Toms life from Junior when he shoots the gun out of Junior's hand as he's about to shoot Tom in the back. The insane youth retreats from a bare-knuckle fight with Tom, and to a tussle on a narrow wooden walkway between two ranch buildings. There, after a brief fist-fight, the maniac Junior looses his balance as he tries to wrestle Tom over the side and instead falls to his death, landing in a dove-coop. As a several white doves fly into the air, the drunkard Jeff makes as if to shoot at it. Tom's hand gently lowers the muzzle of Jeff's gun and shakes his head meaning that there's no need for anymore shooting. They have won.
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western, cult, murder, violence
|
train
|
imdb
| null |
tt0101410
|
Barton Fink
|
Barton Fink (John Turturro) is a playwright who while he's just released his first play on Broadway garnering good reviews, he doubts his own talent. He gets called to Hollywood to write screenplays, and accepts. He checks in at the Earle, a huge hotel with an eerie atmosphere where Chet (Steve Buscemi), the receptionist and manager, welcomes him and gives him his key.At the Earle, everything seems to disturb Fink: First it's the noise of the neighbouring guest. Then there's the picture of a woman at the beach in his room, and he seems to hear the sound of crashing waves. To add to his disquiet, Fink is blocked, and cannot get past the first few sentences of his work. He takes to correcting the peeling wallpaper, which is constantly falling off because of the heat. A mosquito bites him, which his future boss will notice in his job interview. Fink also complains about the laughter and crazy cries of a male's voice.Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), the boss of Universal Pictures, refuses to define his movies as b-movies. He's loud and pushy, and his timid secretary, Garland Standord (David Warrilow) used to be a big shot but now he's basically a butler to a crazy boss á la Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Lipnick decides that Fink is going to write a film about boxing starring Wallace Beery, but Fink seems paralyzed in the face of his situation. Nevertheless, the Universal deal is all set, and Fink sets out to write. He asks for help from Ben Geisler (Tony Shalhoub), who calls Universal and tells them to offer some images of another movie -- still on the montage board -- to inspire Fink, but it doesn't work.Back at the hotel, the wallpaper is peeling off and the heat is overwhelming. The noisy neighbour Fink complained about, insurance salesman Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), apologizes for the noise, adding that he's quite successful at his work. He advises Fink to look for inspiration to any of the many successful writers residing in Hollywood. There is a weird mishap with their shoes, which are switched after they'd left them outside their rooms. They exchange shoes again.Fink talks to W. P. Mayhew (John Mahoney) -- a writer with a serious aim in mind whom he admires -- who tells Fink that he has been offered every kind of film possible. Mayhew drinks a lot, and invites Fink over. When Fink passes Mayhew's secretary and personal assistant Audrey Taylor (Judy Davis), she tells him to call on Mayhew some other time, as Mayhew is completely drunk, demanding to know where his honey is, and will probably become quite violent.Meadows tells Fink that he's had a terrible day at work, and that he's going to be moving back and forth to and from New York. Fink gives him the address of some relatives of his to visit.As Fink's block continues, he is faced with the fact that he needs to present a first draft the next morning. Unable to write, he calls Audrey in desperation to ask her whether she found an old script of Mayhew's about boxing. Even though he can hear Mayhew rambling on the background, he insists that she call on him. She does, eventually, and they end having sex in Fink's suffocating room.The next morning, Barton wakes to the buzz of the mosquito. When he smashes it against Audrey's skin, he notices more blood than usual: Audrey is dead, and a huge bloodstain spreads on the mattress. Fink panics and asks for help from Meadows, who tells him that he'll take care of everything and that Fink should go to his meeting with Lipnick. Geisler is panicking now, because he doesn't want to have his head cut off if Fink doesn't perform.While Fink knows that he's written nothing so far, he tells Lipnick that he doesn't usually show anything to anybody until he's finished. When Stanford says that Fink is unacceptable, Lipnick tells Stanford to kiss Fink's feet to ask for his forgiveness. When Fink returns to the Earle, it is empty. Charlie says that he's leaving for New York and leaves all his most prized possessions in a box in Fink's hands.Two detectives, Mastrionotti (Richard Portnow) and Deutsch (Christopher Murney) appear asking for Charlie Meadows, whose nickname is Mad Mutt, a psychopath who cuts his victims' heads off. Fink gives them useless data, so they're are really angry with him and leave their card with him.Fink has been talking to the detectives at the entrance of the Earle. He comes back to his room, watches the blood-stained matress, shakes the box to hear the sound of the cut-off head, and suddenly has a burst of inspiration and sets out to write like a maniac, keeping the box unopened on his desk. He writes the entire screenplay of a boxing film and gives it to Lipnick, goes out dancing to celebrate, and gets into a fight with a sailor over his girl. Mayhem ensues and Army and Navy soldiers fight.When Fink comes back to his hotel room, he finds that the detectives are already in and have seen the bloodstain. They ask where the heads of the victims are, but Fink says he doesn't know. They handcuff Fink to the bed because they believe that Charlie is coming back. At that moment, Charlie appears. There is smoke rising from the elevator, and soon everything is burning down. Charlie shoots, killing one of the detectives and wounding the other. He tells Fink that he couldn't stand his complaining about him and that Fink has been a voyeur to the seedy side of life while Charlie lives it all the time. Charlie releases Fink from the cuffs and enters his own room while the hotel burns down.Fink meets Lipnick, who's dressed as a colonel as he's been put on reserves because of the war, and who says that the script is rubbish: he doesn't want any of the psychotrash Fink has written; he just wants just one or two brushstrokes so that the critics give the film good reviews, but ultimately all he wanted was a b-film without much originality but with many long fights. He tells Fink that he's not really special or talented, and that the studio has hundreds of writers on contract that will give its films the Barton Fink touch: a slice of middle-class life. Lipnick tells Fink that he wants Fink to stay in Hollywood. While Fink is forced by contract to give everything he writes to Universal, nothing he'll write will ever see the light of day. He doesn't even try to fight the situation.At the end, Fink is walking along the beach. He meets a girl. She sits and then looks out toward the water, looking exactly like the picture in Fink's hotel room as the credits roll.
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mystery, neo noir, murder, cult, absurd, psychedelic, plot twist
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train
|
imdb
| null |
tt1318025
|
Hierro
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Una madre llamada Julia (Miriam Correa) va conduciendo de noche a toda pastilla. Su hijo Mateo está sentado en el asiento del copiloto y la madre intenta ponerle el cinturón de seguridad con el coche en marcha, por el que el coche acaba saliéndose de la carretera. La madre queda herida, y su hijo Mateo (Hugo Arbues) ha desaparecido.María (Elena Anaya) trabaja en el acuario y empieza hoy sus vacaciones. Su hijo Diego Vara (Kaiet Rodríguez) la espera fuera. Su compañera de trabajo Laura (Bea Segura) está deseando que se vaya.María y Diego cogen el ferry para visitar la isla de El Hierro. Ella insiste en que el se ponga un chaleco salvavidas, pero en un momento en que María se duerme, Diego desaparece. Empiezan los nervios, pregunta a todo el mundo, pero no hay ningún rastro de él, y la única cosa rara en la cubierta es un pájaro muerto.María no es capaz de readaptarse a su vida sin Diego. Le coge fobia al agua. Su compañera de trabajo le dice que se tome las cosas con calma. María ni duerme ni es capaz de concentrarse, por lo que tiene que dejar el trabajo por una temporada. Su compañera de trabajo le dice que se tome las cosas con calma, pero María no mejora, y las pastillas no la ayudan gran cosa. De hecho, le coge fobia al agua, y cuando está a punto de tirarse a la piscina se queda petrificada y no se atreve. Más tarde, en su propia casa, mientras se toma una ducha, empieza a sangrar sin haberse golpeado contra nada; se desmaya y está a punto de ahogarse, aunque en el último segundo se despierta.Llaman a María tres años después para que vaya a identificar a un cadáver, pero María afirma que no es Diego. Laura la acompaña. La policía y el médico forense (Jon Ariño) están tan seguros de que es Diego, que piden a María que espere al lunes para hacerse una prueba de ADN. Laura acompaña a María durante todo el proceso, con su propio bebé a cuestas.María, Laura y el bebé se alojan en un hotel bastante cutre de cuyos grifos no sale agua. El bebé tiene fiebre y María no puede dormir. Oye ruidos en el pasillo y mira por la mirilla. Ve una niña un poco extraña (Miriam Martín).Laura y María deciden alquilar un coche para entretenerse durante ese fin de semana. El propio dueño del hotel les alquila uno, les da un mapa y consejos sobre las playas, las gasolineras en la isla, etc... Por fin María vuelve a atreverse a meterse en el agua y después de titubear, nada e incluso bucea.Una vez fuera, mojada sobre la gravilla negra de la playa, una sombra extraña cubre a María. Extrañada, va a mirar que pasa. Un perro está ladrando a un niño. Ella piensa que ese niño es Diego y se desmaya sin decir nada. Varias horas después, está empezando a anochecer, la marea ha subido y una ola despierta a María. Ella da vueltas por la playa ya vestida, y se siente como cuando acababa de perder a su hijo.Saliendo de la playa llega junto a una autocarabana y se pone a mirar quién o qué hay dentro. En ese momento aparece Laura con una bolsa de la compra, asustándola. Las dos amigas se van juntas. Cuando se van, Laura nota que María está rara, pero ella responde que no es nada, aunque una bandada de cuervos negros - como el que vio muerto en el ferry - la inquietan. María ni siquiera se atreve a ducharse al llegar al hotel.María acompaña a Laura al ferry para que se vaya. Le dice que sola estará mejor. Allí, a María le parece ver a la niña. Ésta está correteando por allí y entra en una autocaravana. Cuando María vuelve al sitio de la autocaravana en la playa, sólo quedan unas sillas viejas y algo de basura de recuerdo. María le pregunta al dueño del hotel dónde hay un camping de autocaravanas en la isla. Va a preguntar al único camping pero el encargado (Pepe González Rubio) le dice que ninguna ha entrado o salido en la última semana, pero que todas las caravanas acaban pasando por allí porque es el único sitio donde se pueden conseguir bombonas de gas.María recorre el sitio, que es un poco inquietante: una está quemada, la poca gente que hay es muy extraña. Allí ve un viejo cartel anunciando la desparición de su hijo. Debajo, encuentra el cartel de Mateo. Llama a la madre, que ahora está en una silla de ruedas. Julia dice que alguien tuvo que secuestrar a su hijo.María intenta hablar con el ex-marido de Julia (Tomás del Estal). Se mete en su terreno y él reacciona violentamente ante la intrusión. El policía le dice que ese hombre había sido investigado, que no se encontró nada contra él, que lo está pasando también fatal y que es él quien podría denunciarla a ella.María se extraña ante otra niña que está jugando con el balón en el hotel, pero enseguida aparece el padre y se la lleva. De vuelta al camping, a María le llama la atención un perro que sale de una furgoneta. Se sube para buscar entre la basura que lleva en la parte de atrás, y la conductora no la ve cuando el perro empieza a ladrarle. Llegan hasta la misma autocaravana.La conductora sólo habla alemán, con lo que no se dan comunicado cuando se ven cara a cara. El perro es esta vez más agresivo contra María. Ésta vaga desorientada por entre las rocas y el bosque. Se pone delante de un jeep y sale corriendo. Se cae, se desmaya, y tiene un exraño sueño con agua, fuego, animales... El hombre que conduce el jeep la lleva hasta un hospital. El policía le pregunta quién la ha traído hasta allí. María le describe a la mujer alemana, diciéndole que le parecía un poco extraña.El gerente del motel le muestra varias fotos. En una de ellas aparece Tania (Mar Sodupe), una antigua maestra que sí sabe hablar castellano, pero que hace años que ha dejado su trabajo porque está completamente loca. María va a verla. Ya es de noche, y ella intenta mirar por los ventanucos de la autocarabana. Al final logra entrar. La comida está haciéndose al fuego y no hay nadie. Abre una puerta con pasador y encuentra a su hijo.Tania reaparece y se pone entre ellos y la puerta. Diego dice que está enfermo. Tania intenta hablar a Diego cariñosamente. María y Tania se pelean. Tania ciega a María con un aerosol. En la pelea, se crea un pequeño fuego. Tania le clava unas tijeras a María. La pelea sigue hasta que María gana.María se lleva a Diego en el coche, pero se queda sin gasolina. Se queda tirada con Diego durmiendo en el asiento de atrás. La pareja de Tania se para y se ofrece a llenarle de gasolina el depósito, lo justo para que dé llegado el hotel. Él le pregunta constantemente si todo va bien. Llega aviso de que hay humo en la playa. Él encuentra rara a María pero la deja irse.María se va al ferry, no sabiendo ya de quién fiarse. El capitán del barco (Juan Lobo) es el mismo. María propone a Diego un juego: esconderse en un camión sin que nadie los vea. María mete a Diego en una taquilla que irá en la bodega. El policía llega buscándola. María sube al ferry. En la zona de pasajeros, cojeando, baja a la zona de carga. Abre la taquilla y Diego no está.Diego se salió de la taquilla, se sentó y afirma que no le gusta ese juego. María lo sienta a su lado en la zona de pasajeros. María sigue sangrando mucho y acaba durmiéndose. Cuando despierta, Diego ha vuelvo a desaparecer. Una azafata recoge a Mateo en el colo y mira a María acusadoramente.María sale corriendo mientras la policía va detrás de ella. María recuerda cosas suyas al lado de Diego, que en realidad es el hijo de Julia, Mateo. Parece que el hijo de María sí fue el que estaba en la morgue que María no quiso reconocer aunque sí lo era. María salta por la borda.Ella es salvada aún con vida. Julia la ve. Julia está abrazada a Mateo.Laura visita a María en el hospital.
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suspenseful, mystery, atmospheric
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train
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imdb
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tt0053946
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Inherit the Wind
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Based on the famous Scopes Monkey trial of 1925 a Tennessee school teacher Bertram Cates (Dick York) is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters (Gene Kelly) arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and athiest Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) to defend Cates. The prosecutor played by Fredric March is a former presidential candidate and famous evangelist. The two are old adversaries and clash throughout the film. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Cates's girlfriend is the daughter of the town's bombastic preacher (Claude Akins). Throughout the movie the sarcastic Kelly mocks the bible toting hostile townsfolk. Tracy eventually calls March to the stand and prods him to explain various biblical stories such as Jonah and the whale. March is so rattled by Tracy's questioning that he collapses under the strain. In the end despite his badgering of March, Tracy is sympathetic to March's beliefs. The judge (Henry Morgan) issues a $100.00 fine much to the dismay of many in the courtroom.
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dramatic, boring, historical
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train
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imdb
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Inherit the Wind is a dramatization of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 when a biology teacher was arrested and challenged a law passed by the Tennessee State legislature making it a crime to teach anything other than the account of creation as set down in the Book of Genesis.
Dick York is the biology teacher here, renamed Bertram Cates for the play and the film version of that play.In fact all the names of the dramatis personae of the Scopes Trial have been changed to allow some creativity by the authors Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March play fictionalizations of Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan named Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady respectively.Of course that is what Inherit the Wind is primarily known for, a duel of double Academy Award winners.
It's my favorite scene in Inherit the Wind.Stanley Kramer lived long enough to see this film become so relevant for today's times.
It's also a film that features some outstanding, larger than life acting, notably from the leads, whether it is Tracy, playing the crusty liberal for whom "an idea is more important than a monument" or the superb March, his performance full of facial tics and movement, and whose fundamentalist character does "not think about what I do not think about." Director Kramer clearly places his sympathies in the former camp, although he does not bludgeon the audience with preconceptions.
In the mid-1970s the director also made three 'judgement' films for TV based on other real trials.Whilst On The Beach offers a verdict of its own on humanity's military foolishness, and Judgement At Nuremberg is a just as sombre account of another judicial milestone of different significance, arguably Inherit The Wind falls neatly between the two in ways other than just the order of production.
Judge Mel also provides one of the trials more memorable, quiet moments when, just as it did in the real case, he finds the increasingly frustrated Drummond in contempt of court - only to see the fine which he levies paid for by the parents of a drowned child condemned by the fundamentalist lobby.In the light of today's religious debates in the US, Inherit The Wind seems braver than ever, and Tracy's character is allowed several hard hitting outbursts which, one wonders, would remain as so powerfully expressed if rewritten for a modern retelling.
Inherit The Wind has been remade thrice more to good, but ultimately less memorable, effect (including once with Kirk Douglas) but the Kramer version remains ahead.Dramatic variances aside, inevitably any presentation of the Scopes trial, and such controversial material as it contains, will never please everyone.
Again, the relationship between Bryan and Darrow was more complicated in real life than the film has time or care to show - although ultimately one is so caught up in the fairground of judicial combat as the case progresses that one forgives such accommodations with the truth.Inherit The Wind stands badly in need of a decent special edition, a golden opportunity perhaps being offered by the widely followed 2005 debate that took place in Pennsylvania.
The way the trial is shot reminded me of the brilliant blocking of another Stanley Kramer film with Acting Giants And Relevant Themes "Judgement At Neuremberg" If you haven' seen "Inherit The Wind" do so, if you have, see it again and share the experience with your kids.
The trial is the very heart of the movie--and yet it is supported by a wealth of early 20th century Americana--the fire-and- brimstone preacher, the look and feel of that hot Tennessee Summer, theboistrous singing of "Gimme that Ole Time Religion" that makes the audiencewant to join right in, these are all terrific details that add to the keen enjoyment of this film.
This film - about the 'Monkey trial' of a teacher who supported the theory of evolution over the teachings of the Bible - has two great reasons for watching it.
So throughout the film, while the issue of evolution vs creationism is brought simmering to a boil, Tracy, a sensational actor, has to try to keep up with March who is so over the top that he cracks the ceiling with a sledgehammer.Best of all is to see their showdown when Drummond puts Brady on the stand, a theatrical gesture but in keeping with the fact of the case (William Jennings Bryant really was called to stand during his own trial), and in having these two actors yell and stare and make big gestures at each other.
Top cast assembled in a dramatized history lesson roughly based on the "Scopes monkey trial." Tracy defends the embattled high school teacher and March tries to stir up the local opposition.
So Spencer Tracy plays Henry Drummond instead of Clarence Darrow, Fredric March plays Matthew Harrison Brady instead of blow-hard populist Williams Jennings Bryant, York plays Bertram Cates instead of John Scopes - an earnest young man who wonders if this is all worth it, and Gene Kelly plays E.
L. Mencken, eating hot dogs and airing satirical pieces and just getting under Tracy's character's skin in general in an early non-musical role.I suppose most observers would say this film leans pretty left, and I'm not going to argue with that, but there's some effort to give the Fredric March character some dignity, like when he intervenes in Claude Aikens' let-'em-all-burn-in-hell diatribe and when he cuts off his own inquisition-like haranguing of Aikens' daughter after his wife calls out his name.
And the movie hedges its bets a bit at the end by having Spencer Tracy revealed as "the atheist who believes in God" and the way he balances the Bible and the Darwin book as if they carry the exact same weight.Also, all that singing about old time religion at both the beginning and end.
I remember reading Inherit the Wind in my high school, we kinda watched most of the film, but since I haven't seen it in almost 5 years, I figured to watch this movie again and give an adult's point of view.
A trial ensues, at which civil rights lawyer Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) represents Cates, while Bible-thumper Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) represents the state.What stuck in my mind as much as (if not more than) the trial was the revolting attitude of the townspeople: in one scene, they march through town carrying a burning effigy of Cates, singing about how they'll hang him.
Once upon a time in 1925 Tennessee, a teacher named Scopes had the audacity to question creation in front of his students and it ended up as "The Monkey Trial"---a war between celebrity barristers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan played by Spencer Tracy and Fredrich March respectively.
Tracy's Drummond is integrity's last, best hope against a world of small-town, Southern, Christian, ignorance and malice.Frederic March as Matthew Harrison Brady, based on William Jennings Bryan, depicts Tracy's opponent as a fat, befuddled, self-deluded old man.Overall, "Inherit the Wind" depicts the battle of light -- Northerners, atheists, and white collar types -- against the forces of darkness -- Southerners, Christians, and too many blue collars or rednecks.Thank God, or H.L. Mencken, I've grown up a lot since I first saw, and loved, this movie.There are two problems here: the movie is a pack of twisted lies.
There is a very good site devoted to debunking this movie; it's called "The Monkey Trial." Point by point, and with quotes and full citations, the site goes through the film's many lies, and history's truths.HL Mencken was a bigot; his real comments about the South, not to mention African Americans and Jews, are atrocious.William Jennings Bryan was one of America's greatest orators, not the befuddled dunce Frederick March portrays in this film.
This biography points out that WJB electrified the masses with his speeches, helped make FDR's New Deal possible, and fought against Social Darwinism, the truly evil application of Darwin's theories to elitist, classist, racist, anti-immigrant, eugenic purposes.The entire plot of the movie is nonsense; the Monkey Trial was a publicity stunt hosted by the town itself.So, given that "Inherit the Wind" is a pack of lies, what *is* its underlying logic?
However, I would like to comment upon a very interesting coincidence involving the role of one of the characters in this film, E.K. Hornbeck, a newspaper reporter covering the "Monkey" trial (played brilliantly by Gene Kelly, the character being, most agree, after H.L. Mencken, the prominent newspaperman, book reviewer and political commentator who covered the actual Scopes trial in 1925.) Kelly plays a cynical newspaperman who is the "bete noire," the gadfly of both Henry Drummond (the Spencer Tracy character) and Matthew Harrison Brady (the Frederic March character.) For Hornbeck everything is false, everything is a "con" in one way or another, including Brady's old-style religion and Drummond's belief that modern science and philosophy belie a literal reading of the Bible.In another fine film - some say also one of the finest ever produced by Hollywood - Elmer Gantry - Arthur Kennedy also plays the role of a newspaperman, covering the religious "revivals" held by the lead characters, played to perfection by Jean Simmons and the incomparable Burt Lancaster.
The attorney paid for by Baltimore journalist E.K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) for the defense was the famed trial lawyer Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) and the prosecutor was the orator and statesman Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March).
Inherit the Wind still takes place in the 1920s and the issue is still evolution, but the extreme right-wing mania is undeniably a reflection of the paranoia andbitter hate of the witch-hunters.Tracy and March make sparks fly in a 15-minute scene where Drummond grills Brady and leaves nothing but a shuddering wreck of a once-great, but stubborn and narrow-minded man.
Inherit the Wind was a harbinger of the sort of movie soon to come,--To Kill a Mockingbird, Fail-Safe, The Best Man, The Birdman Of Alcatraz--and as such isn't even a very good example of its type, as unlike it successor films it has neither wit or even the faux-Bohemianism of these loping dinosaurs of the New Frontier and Great Society..
To view it should be a duty in EVERY school to see how the opression of "right and moral majority" can be worst than the Nazi regime.Spencer Tracy is fantastic performing the Drummond/Darrow lawyer and Gene Kelly has a brilliant and edged speech that cuts like a knife!
A souped-up Hollywood adaptation of the historical Scopes "Monkey" Trial in 1925: a high school science teacher is tried for teaching Darwin's theory of the evolution to his students on account of the violation of a Tennessee's state law.
To a liberal mind, why "the right to think" needs to be pointed up in a legal court is beyond belief, and one's mild contempt cannot be mitigated by Kramer's rip-snorting deployment aiming to heighten religious bigotry and hostility: whether it is that poignant chanting of OLD TIME RELIGION by an uncredited Leslie Uggams opens the film, or a grand pageantry to glad-hand Matthew Harrison Brady (March), a beloved statesman and the standard-bearer of biblical piety, to join the prosecution team; or the appended fictitious story between Rev. Brown (an imposingly conflicted Claude Akins) and his daughter Rachel (an equally conflicted and tormented Donna Anderson), who is the fiancée of the defendant; or the townsfolk's relentless marching demonstration of baying for blood, all of which ultimately render the ending a shade anticlimactic.
Brady sees "God's on trial", but he didn't count on an old friend, civil rights attorney Henry Drummond (an aging yet scrappy Spencer Tracy), a trade for Clarence Darrow, to defend Cates."Wind" is an unusual but heated boxing match.
Prosecution still won the case, however, since Scopes was on trial for teaching evolution - and in the end, the fact was that he did.In the film, which is loosely based on the actual events of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Spencer Tracey plays Darrow in the form of Henry Drummond, an educated man who thinks fundamentalism is a joke.
Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March)is based on William Jennings Bryan.Stanley Kramer's direction is excellent, the b&w photography is superb and the performances are great.
The film pits two acting giants against one another for the only time in their illustrious careers: even if essentially understated, I think that Spencer Tracy delivers perhaps his greatest performance in this film (which deservedly earned him an Academy Award nomination) portraying famed lawyer Clarence Darrow who was played by a burly Orson Welles a year earlier in COMPULSION (1959) - in all but name; Fredric March, who by this time had slipped into supporting roles, countered this with a showy (and necessarily hammy) portrayal of his flamboyant adversary, the true if misguided 'villain' of the piece his flustered death scene is very moving and he managed to capture the character's every nuance perfectly, in my opinion; I would have liked to see the Academy recognize his contribution equally but at least he did win the coveted Best Actor Prize at the Berlin Film Festival!
HYDE movies during shooting
INHERIT THE WIND also features Gene Kelly's most satisfactory non-musical film performance as a cynical reporter, who is also an opportunist and something of a heel; it's interesting, too, that Kramer had just utilized Kelly's dancing 'rival' Fred Astaire in a straight role in his previous film, the excellent if depressing end-of-the-world opus ON THE BEACH (1959).By the way, Joe, I don't feel that Kramer intended to bash Christianity at all with this film: his main concern was freedom-of-speech which the teacher put under trial was prevented from exercising by the bigoted community, which in this case happened to be over-zealous practitioners of the Faith!
Spencer Tracy puts on a prodigious performance, one of the all-time best, as Henry Drummond (effectively Clarence Darrow) in this recreation of the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.
Religion in this instance is used as an example of an avenue toward intolerance whereby mankind takes the fresh and illuminating thoughts of the bible and translates them (or more accurately allows others to translate them) into a rigid set of rules which are thereby man-made whilst assuming the aura of god-given.Directed by Stanley Kramer and starring two hollywood heavyweights, Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, the film benefits from tight dialogue, a claustrophobic courthouse set and a rumbustuous performance by the leads who spend a great deal of time trying to outdo each other.
But that's not the case in reality, and that's not the case in Stanley Kramer's 1960 movie *Inherit the Wind*.This story is loosely based on the Scopes Trial of 1925, where a Tennessee schoolteacher got in trouble for teaching evolution in the classroom, which was against state law at the time.
Here, Tracy plays Henry Drummond (based on Darrow) and March plays Matthew Harrison Brady (based on Jennings.) Dick York has a less central role as Teacher Bertram Cates (based obviously on Scopes.) Why were the names changed?
Tracy was good (although at times he looked a bit grizzled, and he seemed older in this movie than he would some years later, for example, in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.")The movie - which features supporting performances from folks such as Claude Akins as the local minister and Harry Morgan as the judge - remains surprisingly relevant, with the continuing strength of some of the fundamentalist churches in parts of the United States especially and continued debates over the teaching of evolution in schools.
If anyone thinks Evolution is correct, that is only an *opinion.* The way Inherit the Wind serves as pro-Evolution propaganda is a disgrace and slap in the face to film-making, God, Christianity, and mankind as a species.The fact that this movie and play is sometimes served up to unwitting students as a mandatory part of their public education is nothing short of disgusting!
The dialogue is the real star of this film, with so many memorable lines.Though the story is based upon the actual Scopes "Monkey Trial", it is a work of fiction.
One of its best attributes is that the film builds throughout its entirety to a final climax.The primary characters are wonderfully portrayed by Spencer Tracy (as Drummond), Frederic March (as Bryan) and Gene Kelly (as Hornbeck).
Although Fredric March and Spencer Tracy had been acting in films for some time before Inherit the Wind, each turns in such a masterly performance here, it is as if they were inventing acting from scratch.
Seen a lot of films in my time, this is the greatest, mesmeric performances from those great actors Frederic March and Spencer Tracey, with some useful stuff from gene Kelly away from his usual genre.
How much of this is a Stanley Kramer agenda, I don't know; after all, this movie was already a play which itself was based on the actual Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.
I certainly support the sensibilities of allowing all people to think for themselves, but whether or not Darwinism should be taught to students as "science fact" rather than "theory" is another matter.But as far as a rewarding movie-going experience, INHERIT THE WIND is highly recommended and provides much food for thought.
Spencer Tracy plays Henry Drummond (aka Clarence Darrow), the liberal defense attorney for schoolteacher Bert Cates (Dick York) who has been placed on trial by his entire town for daring to teach Darwinism (i.e. evolution theory) in his classroom.
To this effect, the film brings together the considerable acting talents of Spencer Tracy, Fredric March and Gene Kelly.
The trial that ensued would be one of the most memorable in US history.Director Stanley Kramer's Inherit the Wind, based on the real 1925 Scopes Trial, brings to life one of the most controversial court cases of all time.
Stanley Kramer's direction proves he was the right man for the man, and the screenplay engrosses and makes you think.It is the acting though of Spencer Tracy and Fredric March that makes Inherit the Wind so worth watching.
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tt0116583
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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On a street in Paris, during the Middle Ages, a Gypsy named Clopin performs puppet shows for children. Before starting his next show, he draws attention to the bells ringing in the nearby Cathedral of Notre Dame. He offers to tell the tale of the mysterious bell-ringer--who he is, and how he came to the cathedral:Twenty years ago, on a cold winter night, four Gypsies sneaked into Paris on a hired riverboat; the Gypsies were persecuted in Paris (and possibly all over France), so the only way to enter the city without being arrested was to sneak in. These particular Gypsies consisted of two men, one woman, and her child (it is implied that one of the men was the husband and father to the last two mentioned). Upon landing, however, the group was ambushed and arrested.The man leading the arrest was Judge Claude Frollo, the Minister of Justice. He is the primary instigator of the persecution and oppression against the Gypsies in Paris, claiming that their ways will corrupt the other citizens. He arrested the men, but when he ordered his troops to take the bundle in the woman's arms (mistakenly assuming them to be stolen goods), she ran. Though he was on horseback, she outmaneuvered him by using shortcuts too small for his horse. She made it to the doors of the Cathedral of Notre Dame to claim sanctuary, but because it was nighttime the doors were locked. Before they could be opened, Frollo caught up with her. He wrested the bundle from her grasp, kicking her while doing so; she fell back and hit her head on the stone steps, which killed her.The baby started to cry. When Frollo pulled back the cloth surrounding him, he gasped in horror, proclaiming the baby to be a monster (the baby is never shown). He nearly dropped the infant down a well, but he was stopped by the Archdeacon of the cathedral, who condemned his killing of the woman and his attempt to kill the baby. Though Frollo tried to justify his actions, deceiving himself, the Archdeacon reminded him that God, the angels, etc, are fully aware of what he had done--as much as if the statues of the cathedral itself were alive and aware of what they just witnessed. Being fearful for his salvation, Claude Frollo asked what he needed to do, and the Archdeacon told him to raise the child as if he were his own. He reluctantly agreed, but only on the condition that the child lived up in the bell-towers of Notre Dame, away from public view. He wondered to himself if the child might be of use to him in the future.Clopin reveals the child's name given by Frollo: Quasimodo, signifying in Latin "half-formed" [not a literal translation]. (Sometimes he's called "Quasi" for short.) He concludes his tale about "a man and a monster" by saying, " 'Now here is a riddle to guess if you can,' sing the bells of Notre Dame. 'Who is the monster, and who is the man?' "Meanwhile, the now adult Quasimodo walks out onto a balcony at the base of the bell-towers of Notre Dame, and he is shown to be severely deformed, the most prominent feature being his hunched back. After a brief moment where he helps a young bird learn to fly, he envies the bird and goes back in to his home inside one of the bell-towers. It is filled with old statues; a stained-glass mobile; and wooden models (made by Quasi) of the Notre Dame Cathedral, houses, and various citizens of Paris. He speaks with three stone gargoyles named Victor, Hugo, and LaVerne [who are presumed to be real and alive in this synopsis; it can be argued that they are part of Quasi's imagination, but there are certain scenes which imply they are more than that, as well as scenes in the Direct-to-Video sequel]. He laments that Frollo will not allow him to attend the Festival (or Feast) of Fools later that day, or even leave the bell towers on any other day, but the gargoyles convince him to go out in disguise.Before he can enact his plan, Frollo arrives with Quasi's lunch, and the gargoyles revert to inanimate stone (they only come alive when Quasi's alone). While going over his alphabet lessons, Quasimodo accidentally reveals his desire to attend the festival. Frollo insists that the Festival of Fools is an affront to everything good, and that he himself only goes because of his duties as a public official. He lies to Quasi, reminding him how his Gypsy mother supposedly abandoned him as a baby, and Frollo was the only one who took him in. [Ironically, that's what happened in the book.] Using these lies, he describes the world as far too harsh and cruel for someone like Quasimodo, and that the cathedral is his only sanctuary. However, in spite of his warnings, Quasi still decides to attend in secret--reasoning that to spend just one day out among everyone else would be worth it.Elsewhere in the city, a newly arrived man named Phoebus (along with his horse, Achilles) search in vain for the Palace of Justice. He comes across some performing Gypsies, including the beautiful dancer Esmeralda. They catch each others eye, but before they can speak some city guards come along on patrol. The other Gypsies manage to get away, but Esmeralda gets caught and harassed--accused of stealing the money given by passers-by for their performances. As she struggles to break free, her goat Djali (pronounced like "jolly") loosens their grips with a few well-placed kicks and headbutts. Phoebus then uses Achilles to keep the guards from pursuing, much to the onlookers' (and Esmeralda's) amusement. Before they can retaliate, Phoebus reveals himself to be the new Captain of the Guard and orders them to take him to the Palace of Justice. Esmeralda watches him from hiding, clearly interested in and intrigued by him.Upon arriving at the Palace, Phoebus meets Minister Frollo in the dungeon (where the former Captain of the Guard is being whipped off-screen, much to Phoebus' discomfort). They go out to a balcony where Frollo tasks Phoebus with the top priority of rooting out the Gypsies by finding and destroying their safe haven, which they call the Court of Miracles. Phoebus appears to be skeptical about the whole thing, and probably about Frollo in general, but he mostly keeps his concerns to himself. Hearing the music for the Feast of Fools begin in the distance, they leave to attend.From the start of the Feast of Fools, Quasimodo (disguised with a cloak) is like a fish out of water, thanks in no small part to Clopin's antics. During the chaos and commotion, he accidentally stumbles into Esmeralda's tent while she's changing for a dance. She checks to see if he's alright, and he tries in vain to hide his face. However, to his surprise, she isn't phased at all when she sees it. She sends him on his way, and ends by saying, "By the way, great mask!" Quasimodo smiles at the irony.Frollo, Phoebus, and the guards arrive at the festival soon afterward, just in time for Esmeralda's dance. She appears on the stage wearing a revealing red silk dress instead of her normal attire. Frollo, Phoebus, and Quasimodo (and basically everybody else) are all captivated by her--though Frollo hides this by voicing his disgust to Phoebus. However, when she approaches him playfully as part of her act, he is speechless. She also notices Quasi during her performance and acknowledges him with a wink, which embarrasses him. The crowd goes wild as she concludes her dance in a glamorous fashion.Clopin announces the next item on the agenda, which comes in stark contrast to Esmeralda: They are to crown the "King of Fools," an award to the one who can make the ugliest face in Paris. The contestants go up on stage wearing masks, and then make a face when the mask is removed. Esmeralda innocently invites Quasimodo up on the stage to take part. After all the other contestants are booed (and booted off the stage by Djali), Esmeralda tries to take off Quasi's "mask." She is shocked and frightened when she discovers he wears no mask. The townspeople are horrified, and one of them realizes he must be the infamous bell-ringer of Notre Dame (he being a "Boo-Radley-esque" urban legend among them). Frollo hadn't noticed Quasi on the stage up to this point, but he is shocked and disappointed once he does.Quasi starts to hide his face and cry, but Clopin asks the crowd not to panic. He points out that they all asked for the ugliest face in Paris, and surely he fits the bill perfectly. Quickly the crowd goes from repulsion to celebration. As they carry him to a platform in front of the cathedral, Quasi waves sheepishly to Frollo, who scowls in response. He's given a jester's crown, as well as a robe and scepter. They begin chanting his name, and he celebrates along with them.Unfortunately, one of the guards who harassed Esmeralda earlier hits Quasimodo in the face with a tomato. Other guards quickly follow suit. Though the rest of the crowd is shocked at first, they soon see the cruel humor of the situation, so they turn on Quasi. When he tries to get away, people begin to lasso him down. With strength born from years of ringing the enormous bells, Quasimodo pulls many of the ropes off, but he is ultimately overpowered and tied to a wheel on the platform. After tying him, the men give the wheel a vigorous turn, and the crowd continues to pelt him with produce. He calls out to Frollo for help, but it's in vain; when Phoebus asks permission to stop the cruelty, Frollo tells him, "In a moment, Captain. A lesson needs to be learned here."However, the shouting and throwing immediately stops when Esmeralda begins to climb the stairs up the platform; she went back to her tent after her last interaction with Quasi in order to change back into her normal clothes, but she quickly returned afterward once she saw what was happening. She approaches slowly, almost hesitantly, and looks at Quasi with pity and sorrow. She asks him not to be afraid as she approaches and wipes the tomato juice from his face, saying, "I'm sorry... This wasn't supposed to happen."Frollo orders her to come down, and she replies she will once she frees Quasi from the ropes. When he forbids her, she cuts them anyway defiantly. She calls him out on his wicked behavior and hypocrisy, saying, "You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of 'justice,' yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!" The crowd stares in awe at her standing up to Frollo. He tells her she'll regret her actions. She, in turn, says he should have been the one crowned King of Fools. Frollo orders Phoebus to arrest her. When he sends his guards for her, however, she manages to evade capture and hide through quick wits, acrobatics, "smoke and mirrors" trickery (which Frollo assumed to be witchcraft), and the favor of the crowd. Frollo is furious, and Phoebus is infatuated. Nevertheless, the guards continue their search.Meanwhile, Frollo approaches Quasimodo, and with only a look expresses his anger and disappointment with him; saying "I told you so" isn't necessary. Quasi, in tears, replies, "I'm sorry, Master. I will never disobey you again..." He stumbles back to the Cathedral of Notre Dame through the fearful and murmuring crowd.Afterward, Esmeralda and Djali sneak into the cathedral disguised as a hunched old man in a hooded cloak (similar to Quasimodo's disguise earlier). Phoebus sees through the disguise, but doesn't alert anyone else; instead, he follows her inside. Despite his attempt to approach her quietly, she detects his presence behind her. She turns quickly, pulls his sword out of his sheath, and throws him to the floor. Soon afterward though he takes the sword back and knocks her down. She nearly swears at him (he stops her--pointing out they're in a church), picks up a large candelabrum, and proceeds to duel with him--accompanied with appropriate banter. He surprises her though when he makes it clear he has no desire or intention of arresting her. Instead, he gives her his name and asks for hers in return. She gives it, remarking that he's nothing like the other soldiers.However, before anything else can be said, Frollo and several of his guards enter; he thanks Phoebus for finding her, and orders him to arrest her. Esmeralda thinks Phoebus tricked her into staying in place for her to get caught. Instead, Phoebus tells Frollo that she claimed sanctuary, so he can't arrest her. Before Frollo can press the issue, the Archdeacon approaches and tells him to leave her be. He reminds Frollo in vague terms of the last time he violated the law of sanctuary, much to his anger. Frollo sends the guards out, but while the Archdeacon (and Djali) escorts Phoebus out, Frollo sneaks around the pillars and pins Esmeralda's arm behind her back. He threatens her, saying that he can out-wait her and that eventually she will have to exit the cathedral, and then she'll be his. During the course of this threat, it's made clear that he is aroused by Esmeralda--much to her disgust (and his, in a sense).After he leaves, she checks and sees that Frollo has guards posted at every door. The Archdeacon warns her not to do anything too rash, that for her safety it would be unwise to anger Frollo more. She justifies her actions by pointing out the injustice and mercilessness of the crowd who abused Quasimodo, and Frollo who let it happen; she had hoped that if one would stand up to Frollo, that this would give people courage to stand up together. Seeing her frustration, the Archdeacon tells her she cannot right all the wrongs in the world, but that even if no one else in the world would help her, perhaps there was "someone" else who would.Taking his words to heart, Esmeralda prays (through song) for God to help all the outcasts of the world. Quasimodo, who had retreated back up to the bell-tower, hears her praying and goes down to the main floor to watch her. He is touched by her prayer. However, one of the parishioners sees him and berates him, saying he's caused enough trouble today. He runs back up the staircase, but Esmeralda follows him, saying she wants to talk to him. The gargoyles see her following him, remarking that perhaps the day wasn't a total loss after all. They congratulate him, and thus detain him to allow Esmeralda to catch up. He makes excuses to continue to run, but as she follows him she apologizes for bringing him up on the stage--that had she known who he was, she would have never taken his privacy so callously. When she reaches his home in the tower though, she is silenced with awe by the things inside. She inspects the models of the city, remarking that if she could make things like them she wouldn't be "dancing in the street for coins." He compliments her dancing though, which she accepts bashfully. When she recognizes the wood carvings of people as specific individuals in Paris, she says, "You're a surprising person, Quasimodo."He offers to give her and Djali a tour of the rest of the tower; she accepts. He shows her the bells, which she enjoys (particularly "Big Marie," the largest one). He then takes her up to the roof of the tower and shows her the sunset. She compliments the tower via hyperbole, saying "I could stay up here forever." When Quasimodo points out she could mean that literally too, she declines--at least not as a prisoner. Through the course of their conversation, Esmeralda learns that Frollo raised him, and that he taught him misconceptions about Gypsies (that they were evil)--and about himself personally; he calls himself a monster. To help him see otherwise, she takes his hand and gives him a palm reading, during which she declares she could find no "monster lines" on his palm. She offers him to see hers and asks, "Do you think I'm evil?" When he declares it isn't so, she replies that perhaps Frollo is wrong about both of them.After a moment of silence, Quasimodo feels inspired to help Esmeralda escape her current predicament as payback for her kindness to him earlier. He proposes they climb down from the outside--with Quasi carrying Esmeralda while she holds Djali. She accepts, despite understandable nervousness. Though there are a few close calls, they manage to succeed. Before she leaves, she offers Quasimodo to come with her to the Court of Miracles. He declines, referring to his awful experience earlier--so she offers to come by the cathedral instead, in spite of the danger she would face. He objects, but she calms his fears with some simple yet powerful persuasion. As she leaves, she gives him a necklace with a woven pendant, saying it is the key to being able to find her if he "ever needs sanctuary."When he climbs back up to the rooftop, he is approached by Phoebus, who asks if he knows where Esmeralda was. Quasimodo makes it known in no uncertain terms that he isn't welcome there, but Phoebus insists that he means her no harm. He asks Quasi to tell her that he's sorry he got her trapped in the cathedral, but that it was the only way to save her life. On his way out, Phoebus also asks him to tell her that she's lucky to have a friend like Quasi (which surprises him).The gargoyles congratulate Quasimodo on kicking Phoebus out for intruding and "trying to steal [his] girl." Quasi is incredulous of their assertions that Esmeralda has any feelings for him other than friendship, reminding them that he has the ugliest face in all of Paris--saying, "I don't think I'm her type." Yet he also wonders (through song) if it might possibly be true, describing the way she makes him feel as "heaven's light" and calling her "an angel." As he muses, he makes a wood carving of her, and places it next to his own.Meanwhile in the Palace of Justice, Claude Frollo feels the opposite towards Esmeralda (and towards himself, though he is slow to admit it). He prays (also through song) about how in spite of his moral strength relative to others, he has fallen for Esmeralda, thus committing the sin of lust. He describes the way she makes him feel as "hell fire" and calls her a "witch" and a "siren." As he stands before the fireplace, he imagines the flames and smoke taking her form in a seductive fashion. He blames everyone but himself for his feelings and sins. He asks, as punishment for her temptations, that she either be destroyed or "be [his] and [his] alone." At this time one of the guards arrives and tells Frollo that Esmeralda has escaped the cathedral. Frollo sends him out and declares that he'll find her even if he has to burn Paris to the ground to do so. He directs his unholy prayer to Esmeralda, saying, "Be mine or you will burn!" He concludes, "God have mercy on her... God have mercy on me."The next morning, though he is sleep deprived, he orders Phoebus and his men to assemble--giving them the order to "find the Gypsy girl." He accompanies them and has them ransack Gypsy wagons and known hiding places--offering silver pieces to any Gypsy who would reveal Esmeralda's location. Nobody accepts the offer. As Frollo orders more and more Gypsies to be arrested, Phoebus' disgust and indignation grows. They eventually arrive at a mill on the outskirts of Paris, where Esmeralda has followed them in disguise (presumably to find out what exactly is going on). Inside, Frollo is interrogating the miller about a Gypsy talisman that was found on their property. (It is unclear whether this talisman was actually found there, or if this was a false accusation by Frollo.) The miller proclaims his innocence and ignorance on the matter, but Frollo tells him and his family that they will be under house arrest until they can verify the claim.However, when Frollo bars the door from the outside, he orders Phoebus to burn the mill--saying that they are traitors and need to be made examples. Phoebus protests, and when Frollo refuses to back down he extinguishes his torch in open insubordination. Fixed in his mind, Frollo lights the mill himself, which burns quickly. Phoebus jumps in through the window and kicks open the door from the inside, carrying the miller's infant and toddler, and leading him and his wife outside--just before the mill collapses. As the family runs for safety, Phoebus is struck in the back of the head by one of the guards. While he is held in place, Frollo sentences him to death on the spot, expressing sorrow for his wasted career. Phoebus retorts, "Consider it my highest honor, sir."Before he is beheaded, Esmeralda saves his life with a well-aimed sling throw that hits Frollo's horse, making it buck. Phoebus uses the distraction to floor the guards, and he escapes on the horse. However, before he can get clear of Frollo's archers, he is struck between his cuirass and pauldron (or torso and shoulder armor) by an arrow. Being on a bridge as it happened, he falls off the horse and into the water below. Frollo and his troops catch up, and he orders them to simply let Phoebus "rot in his watery grave" and continue to search for Esmeralda. Meanwhile, Esmeralda herself sneaks under the bridge, and when the others move a safe distance away she dives into the river. She removes Phoebus' weighty armor and brings him to shore.As fires spread throughout Paris, Frollo puzzles over how Esmeralda could have possibly escaped the cathedral. When he hears the bells ringing, he realizes that only Quasimodo could have managed to get her out unnoticed. The perspective switches to Quasi, who worries about Esmeralda. Two of the gargoyles, Victor and Laverne, share his concerns--but Hugo expresses confidence that she's one step ahead of Frollo as usual; not only this, but he tells Quasi she'll be back for him once the city calms down--a sentiment the other two gargoyles agree upon. They say (through song) that Quasimodo is more unique than any other guy in the city, and that what he views as his flaws are actually the things that would endear him to Esmeralda. Quasi doubts she has feelings for him, but even he begins to believe their assurances.Coincidentally, Esmeralda enters the bell-tower at the end of the song. However, instead of coming just to see Quasimodo, she comes seeking shelter for Phoebus--Quasimodo being one of the only people she can trust to keep him safe outside of the Court of Miracles itself (if not the only person). She also needs to tend his wounds more thoroughly, which could only be done in a safe place. Quasi shows them to a relatively comfortable spot in the tower (probably where he sleeps). Esmeralda and Phoebus talk while Quasimodo watches and listens nearby. She disinfects his arrow-wound with wine and sews it shut, and he expresses his discomfort with witty remarks. She reveals her admiration at his bravery and compassion, saying he was lucky the arrow didn't pierce his heart. He puts his hands over hers and says, "I'm not so sure it didn't." As they look into each others' eyes and see their mutual feelings, they kiss. They don't notice Quasimodo hiding his weeping face while his heart breaks.Immediately afterward, Djali warns them about Frollo, whose carriage just arrived in front of the cathedral. Quasi tells them the way to go to avoid Frollo. Esmeralda tells him to be careful, and asks him to promise not to let anything happen to Phoebus. He promises, in spite of his feelings. He hides Phoebus (who fell asleep from exhaustion) under the table when they leave, finishing up just as Frollo walks in. Frollo acts relatively cheerful and brings a large cluster of grapes with him as a treat, to hide his intentions. As Quasi gets the table ready, Frollo observes that he seems nervous, asking if anything's wrong. When Quasi denies this, Frollo responds, "Oh but there is. I know there is." As they eat, he accuses Quasimodo of hiding something. Phoebus nearly gives himself away as he wakes up again, but Quasi covers it up by coughing (and giving Phoebus a swift kick in the face).Frollo notices the carving Quasimodo made of Esmeralda, and tells him he recognizes her. Here he makes his intentions for coming clear; he angrily accuses Quasi of helping her escape, slamming the figure down on the table. He blames him for the fires ravaging Paris. Quasimodo simply says quietly, "She was kind to me, Master." Frollo destroys the wooden models of Notre Dame Cathedral and the houses in a fit of rage, crying, "YOU IDIOT! That wasn't kindness; it was cunning! She's a Gypsy! Gypsies aren't capable of real love! Think, boy! Think of your mother!" By this point he was grasping a terrified Quasimodo, holding his face next to his by his shirt collar. But Frollo quickly checks himself and regains his composure. Saying he doesn't blame Quasi for falling for her enchantments, he tells him not to worry since she'll soon be gone. As he says this, he draws a long dagger from his sleeve and skewers the carving of Esmeralda, burning it over a nearby candle. As he leaves, he tells Quasi that he's found the Court of Miracles, and that he'll attack it at dawn. He descends the stairs with a smile unseen by Quasimodo.Phoebus stands up, having heard the conversation, and says he's going to warn Esmeralda (though he doesn't know where to find her). Seeing that Quasi isn't moving, he asks him if he's coming too. He declines. Phoebus asks, "I thought you were Esmeralda's friend?" He replies by saying he can't disobey Frollo again. He retorts, "She stood up for you! You have a funny way of showing gratitude..." He leaves, despite having an injured shoulder.Quasimodo turns and sees the gargoyles giving him a disappointed and questioning look. He responds, "What? What am I supposed to do? Go out there and rescue 'the girl' from the jaws of death, then the whole town will cheer like I'm some kind of a hero!? She already has her 'knight in shining armor,' and it's not me! [He sighs] Frollo was right. Frollo was right about everything. And I'm tired of being something I'm not."When Quasi says this, he looks down at the palm of his hand that Esmeralda had earlier proclaimed was free of "monster lines." He also looks down at her smoldering carving. He slowly pulls out the woven pendant she gave him, and it is evident that his friendship and care for her has won over his doubt and heartache. Laverne gives him his cloak, and he leaves, saying, "I must be out of my mind."Quasi intercepts Phoebus at the cathedral entrance (having climbed down the outside again). Glad that he changed his mind, Phoebus asks him if he knows where to find her. He holds out the pendant and tells Phoebus what Esmeralda said when she gave it to him. As Phoebus attempts to decipher it, Quasi realizes that it's a map. Phoebus disagrees and they argue, but he concedes--saying that if they are going to find her, they'll have to work together. Quasi agrees enthusiastically.They reach a graveyard, and find a tomb with a cross matching the one on the pendant. Phoebus checks for writing and clues, but Quasi simply pushes off the heavy stone covering--revealing stairs. It leads to the old catacombs of Paris, filled with skeletons and sewage. They don't notice several Gypsies disguised as skeletons watching them. They are soon ambushed by Clopin and about 20 Gypsies guarding the way. They tie and gag them, accusing them to be spies (understandable given their connections to Frollo, and few knew of Phoebus' betrayal). They arrive at the Court of Miracles, where they are nearly hanged. Fortunately, Esmeralda was able to stop that from happening, vouching for them.Phoebus, being freed, delivers the warning that Frollo would attack at dawn. Everyone starts to evacuate. Esmeralda hugs Phoebus, saying they're all grateful. He smiles, but notices Quasimodo standing to the side awkwardly. He brings him forward, saying, "Without his help, I would never have found my way here.""Nor would I," announced Frollo, standing at the entrance with dozens of soldiers running in. They surround and capture the fleeing Gypsies. Frollo callously tells Quasi that he always knew he would be of use to him someday. He tells Esmeralda that Quasi led them right to her; she calls him a liar. He's amused to see Phoebus still alive, saying, "Another 'miracle' no doubt. I shall remedy that." He announces a bonfire to take place the next day, implying Esmeralda's execution, and orders his men to lock them up. Quasimodo gets on his knees before Frollo and begs for him to stop, but it is all in vain.The next evening, Esmeralda is tied to a stake on the wooden platform in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame; soldiers place large bundles of sticks by her feet. Phoebus and the Gypsies are forced to watch, being confined to thick metal cages. Frollo reads from a parchment, declaring Esmeralda's crime to be that of witchcraft, and that death is her punishment. A large crowd of Parisians protest, declaring her innocence, but they are held back by soldiers. The Archdeacon too is prevented from interfering.Claude Frollo approaches Esmeralda under the guise of seeking a confession. However, he says to her quietly, "Even now it is not too late. I can save you from the flames of this world and the next. Choose me, or the fire." She answers by spitting in his face, glaring at him with hatred and disgust.Meanwhile, Quasimodo stands trapped on the cathedral balcony, tied up with heavy chains between two pillars. The gargoyles feebly attempt to break one of the chains, but Quasi only hangs limply; he'd already tried to break them to no avail. Frollo had already won in his mind. When the gargoyles try to talk him out of this mindset, he curtly tells them to leave. With sadness, they leave one by one, reverting back into inanimate stone. As they go, they say (Hugo, Victor, and Laverne respectively), "Okay. Okay, Quasi. We'll leave you alone." "After all, we're only made out of stone." "We just thought maybe you were made of somethin' stronger..."However, as Frollo's judgment and sentencing echo up towards him, a fire lights within him. He looks over the balcony down to the scene below and sees Claude Frollo light the fuel himself. Indignant, Quasimodo pulls the chains taut with such force that the stone pillars crack; even the bells resonate--as if the cathedral itself were crying out at the injustice below. Esmeralda suffers from the smoke as Frollo looks on with an evil grin. Within several seconds, Quasimodo breaks the stone pillars to which he was tied.Freed from the chains, he grabs a nearby rope, lassos it to one of the overhanging gargoyles used for drainage, and rappels down the side of the cathedral. With a running start along the wall, he swings over the heads of the crowd and lands next to Esmeralda--who is unconscious due to smoke suffocation; the flames are but seconds away from reaching her. He breaks her ropes with his hands. As the guards move in to stop him, he rips the giant stake out with one arm and uses it to knock them off the platform with one swing. Taking the rope again, he holds Esmeralda over his shoulder as he swings back over the rest of the soldiers and climbs up the cathedral wall. The crowd is in a frenzy. When he makes it back up on the balcony, he holds Esmeralda above his head, yelling "Sanctuary" as loudly as his lungs can permit. He then takes her to a nearby room, lays her carefully on the bed, and runs back out to prepare to defend the cathedral.Intent on claiming his desire, Frollo orders his men to break down the doors of the cathedral. Quasi drops a large beam down on them to stop them, crushing Frollo's carriage. They take the beam and use it as a battering ram. Meanwhile, Phoebus found an opportunity to knock his guard out, taking his keys and freeing himself. He stands on his cage with a spear in hand, giving this rousing speech to the crowd: "Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people, ransacked our city--and now, he has declared war on Notre Dame herself! Will we allow it?" The crowd shouts "No" in return, overpowering the soldiers holding them back. The Gypsies are freed, and a battle ensues before the doors of Notre Dame. Meanwhile, both Quasimodo and the gargoyles employ various methods to keep the soldiers from climbing the walls. Finally, in one last drastic effort, Quasimodo heats some metal (probably copper or lead) to its melting point and pours it into the drainage system. The molten metal spews out of the mouths of the gargoyles (not Victor, Hugo, and Laverne), and rains down upon the invaders. They run before the metal hits them, but Frollo managed to stay behind the molten "waterfall." He breaks the rest of the way through the doors.The Archdeacon confronts Frollo, asking, "Have you gone mad?!" But Frollo throws him down the stairs and goes to the stairway leading to the bell-towers, locking the door behind him. Quasimodo enters Esmeralda's room in celebration, but his cheer ends abruptly when he sees she isn't moving. He tries to get her to drink some water, but it only spills out of her mouth. Realizing what has happened, he holds her in his arms, weeping bitterly.Frollo enters the room quietly, hiding his dagger behind his back. He puts his hand on Quasi's hunched back. Though he didn't look up, he knew who it was, simply whispering, "You killed her." Frollo claims he was only doing his duty, expressing his hope that he can forgive him. Quasimodo says nothing. Frollo then acknowledges that Quasimodo has had a hard life, but that the time to end his suffering had come. Sensing something wrong, Quasi looks up and sees the shadow of Claude Frollo holding the dagger above his head. He turns in time to grab Frollo's arm before it can reach him. He hesitates for a few seconds, but then he throws Frollo against the wall, taking the dagger from him. He approaches him while holding the dagger, shaking with anger. Frollo attempts to calm him down, asking him to listen, but Quasimodo yells, "No, you listen! All my life you have told me that the world is a dark, cruel place--but now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you!"A voice faintly calls out for Quasimodo. It's Esmeralda, who had not died, but was almost killed from the smoke; she only just regained consciousness. Determined to finish the job, Frollo draws his sword, but Quasimodo takes her in his arms and runs out the door as fast as he can move. Frollo pursues, and eventually finds them hanging onto a gargoyle under the guardrail. He strikes at them with his sword several times (nicking Quasi's arm at least once) as he swings among the gargoyles--with Esmeralda holding on to him for dear life. They're able to get back up onto the guardrail, and Quasi pushes Esmeralda to safety as Frollo nearly hits them again. With malicious intent, Frollo tells him, "I should have known you'd risk your life to save that Gypsy witch... just as your own mother died trying to save you." Shocked by this revelation, Quasimodo nearly falls when Frollo smothers him with his cape. However, he grabs the bottom of the railing in time, pulling Frollo down after him--but he doesn't let him go. As Frollo swings and grabs an adjacent gargoyle, all of the events of the past day (both physical and emotional) finally catch up with Quasimodo, and he loses consciousness.Fortunately, Esmeralda had regained enough strength to grab Quasi's hand before he let go; however, she wasn't strong enough to pull him up, and she was losing her grip. Frollo stands up on the gargoyle, laughing quietly but maniacally--and he lifts his sword above his head to kill Esmeralda. She looks on in horror, but she doesn't let Quasi go to save herself. Frollo smiles evilly and says, "And He shall smite the wicked, and plunge them into the fiery pit." As if in answer to his proclamation, the gargoyle begins to break beneath his feet. He grabs hold underneath it as he falls, and from his perspective it appears to come alive--it's eyes and mouth glowing with heat and roaring at him with fury. He screams in fear and anguish as the gargoyle breaks off completely, and he falls to his death into the fiery lake of molten metal--as if he were taken straight to hell itself.Unfortunately, Esmeralda loses her grip on Quasi, and she cries out as he falls. But with perfect timing, Phoebus (who had entered the cathedral unnoticed after the metal stopped pouring) reaches out from a lower floor and grabs him, pulling him in. Seeing this, Esmeralda runs to the stairwell. The fall and sudden stop had awoken Quasimodo, and seeing Phoebus, he gives him a big hug in gratitude. Esmeralda enters, and when she sees Quasi alive and well, she runs and embraces him tenderly. They turn to look at Phoebus. Quasimodo takes their hands and clasps them together. Phoebus and Esmeralda embrace each other and kiss--and Quasimodo smiles, being at peace with their love for each other.In the morning, Phoebus and Esmeralda exit the Cathedral of Notre Dame and are greeted by a cheering crowd. The two raise their hands together in triumph. But instead of going to them, Esmeralda goes back to the doorway of the cathedral and holds her hand out for Quasimodo. He takes it and hesitantly walks out into the light with her. With Frollo dead, his need for sanctuary--claimed by his loving mother so many years ago--is lifted. The people are uncertain how to react. Quasimodo looks worried that he might get rejected again.However, a child leaves her mother's side and approaches him. (It is one of the children who watched Clopin's puppet show at the beginning.) Though she's a little nervous (so is Quasi), she reaches for his neck to give him a hug; seeing what she's trying to do, he smiles and lowers himself to her reaching distance. Smiling too as she hugs him, she takes his hand and leads him to the rest of the people--who begin to warm up to him. Clopin shouts, "Three cheers for Quasimodo!" The crowd cheers, and they pick him up to go off and celebrate. Esmeralda and Phoebus (and Djali) watch him fondly. Clopin picks up the child and says (sings), mirroring his words at the beginning, " 'So here is a riddle to guess if you can,' sing the bells of Notre Dame. 'What makes a monster, and what makes a man?' Whatever their pitch, you can feel them bewitch you, the rich and the ritual knells of the bells of Notre Dame!"As the citizens of Paris carry him away on their shoulders, Quasimodo is at long last genuinely accepted among them--not as a sideshow and a monster, but as a friend and a man.
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psychedelic, cruelty, violence, romantic
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I think the only problem with Hunchback is the fact that Disney refused to accept that this is a serious, relatively adult motion picture and would not make any animated movie, no matter how serious, without obnoxiously cute little critters (i.e., the gargoyles) bouncing around to entertain the kiddies, or huge marketing campaigns at McDonald's, etc.
As some others have written on here, it's pretty obvious this movie isn't for kiddies from its subject matter.But anyone over 13 who's willing to think as well as be entertained when watching a Disney movie would probably love Hunchback..
Yes, the pretty heroine gets the knight in shining armour, but at the same time the real leading man doesn't have to be paired off with a beautiful leading girl in order to end up happy.The voices are really talented- the notable standout for me being Kevin Kleine as Phebus, and Esmerelda is arguably one of the best things Demi Moore has ever done.
The risk paid off and the result is one of the greatest achievements of Disney Studios.The animation here is first rate and the entire thing is shot like a live-action film with some incredible long shots, great theatrical panning and even at one point, during Quasimodo's song "Out There" a realistic camera flare (I did a double take the first time I saw it!) Hunchback is filled with all sorts of great "tricks" like this.
The prologue to the movie alone is a minor masterpiece and, like Beauty and the Beast, marvelously prepares us for the whirlwind of a story to take place.The complaints about the singing and dancing gargoyles Victor, Hugo and Laverne, are simply wrongheaded.
Many critics have complained about the talking gargoyles messing up the movie and taking it further away from Hugo's original novel, but the only problem I have with them is their song (A Guy Like You), which attempts "Be Our Guest" and "Under the Sea" status, but really does lack the melody.
The main reason I love this movie is the villain, Frollo, played to perfection by Tony Jay. His sinister atmosphere and lust for Esmerelda are elements of the like we have never seen in any other Disney movie, prior to or after Hunchback.
Disney adapts the famous novel by Victor Hugo into their 34th animated feature, telling the story of the lonely, deformed Quasimodo, the secluded bellringer of Notre Dame, who lives by himself in Notre Dame's church towers, with only three stone gargoyles named Victor, Hugo (get it?), and Laverne for company.
With help from his three gargoyle friends, as well as the kind soldier Captain Phoebus (who has fallen in love with Esmeralda), it's up to Quasimodo to save Esmeralda and the town of Notre Dame itself from Frollo's evil control....
But now that I've just gotten reacquainted with Disney's 1996 film, "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame," finally released on DVD, I know now beyond the shadow of a doubt that this beautiful animated film is indeed my favorite Disney feature of them all (okay, so "Fantasia" arguably remains the best *animated* of the lot, but it certainly didn't have an actual plot).
"The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" is, quite simply, a glorious triumph for Walt Disney Productions.Granted, the Disney team have "Disney-ized" Hugo's original novel, such as turning it into a musical, including sidekick stone gargoyles that come to life, as well as the obligatory happy ending, but no matter.
It's very well-written, surprisingly dark at times, gorgeously animated, very funny AND very dramatic at turns, with a first-rate voice cast including Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, Tony Jay & Jason Alexander, and beautiful, memorable songs by Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a surprise of a pleasant Disney film, in my opinion this is the last real great (hand drawn)animated Disney movie.
However, once Frollo finds out the Quasi has been helping those who Frollo hates, it leads to an all out battle on the steps of Notre Dame, with a heart-pounding climax and bittersweet resolution.This is by far Disney's best film, with beautiful animation, amazing voice talents, and a wonderful (if not completely faithful) story.
There can be no denying that Walt Disney studios have produced many good animated films, especially in the last decade, but, without a doubt, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the best.
Although not a kid-pleaser like "The Little Mermaid", Disney's rendering of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is in every way its equal.
Amusing and lively retelling of the Victor Hugo novel that packs an excellent animation and spectacular scenes , depicting the known story about a deformed bell ringer must assert his independence from a vicious government minister in order to help his friend , a bombshell gypsy dancing girl .
There are several computer generator frames and digital images , such as all the bells appearing throughout the movie are 3D-rendered , also when Quasimodo was sliding down the flying buttress and when he was rappelling down from Notre Dame to save Esmeralda , the background flames are one good example of CGI , during the "Topsy Turvy" sequence, the confetti and the crowd of hundred people during the "Hellfire" sequence ; at the flames scenes that big and appearing too fast were hard to animate traditionally , so probably the animators used computer generated images for this .
The sweeping musical score was provided by the great Alan Menken , furthermore a lot of Latin chants heard throughout the movie are adapted from actual Gregorian chants, including the Dies Irae , a portion can be heard in the scene where Frollo kills Quasimodo's mother.
I know that children couldn't possibly understand what the real lessons of the book were trying to portray.However, I believe that Disney reformed this story as to not really narrate the book as I think it was made to prove a point, and to educate children on the cruelty of society in general.The second time i saw this film, i had rented it and watched it with a three year old girl that I was nannying at the time.
It's not Hugo, but the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) is a wonderful film in its own right.
The characters are all memorable, from the soulful Quasimodo to the kind but tough Esmeralda to the evil Frollo, one of the greatest and most unsung of all Disney villains.Were it not for one factor, this film would be a masterpiece and that is the juvenile humor which creeps into this overall somber and dark movie.
I loved the music and songs by Alan Menken and they fit right in with the rest of the magical songs of Disney.Gary Trousdale's and Kirk Wise's film is an animated take on Victor Hugo's classic novel.
This story is about a deformed hunchback named Quasimodo who at the urge of his loyal gargoyle companions, goes out to save Paris along with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the rogue knight from the evil archbishop of Notre Dame.This film has an impressive voice cast.
Led by the magnificent voices of Tom Hulce, Jason Alexander, Kevin Kline, and Demi Moore, the voice work is really good and they all do a wonderful job giving each character their own emotions.Overall, this is a wonderful Disney film even though it just stops short of making it to the top-tier of Disney Animation.
The cheeky relationship between Phoebus and Esmerelda was brilliant and Quasimodo was one of the best heroes in Disney history.I loved how they began the movie with the riddle 'Who is the monster and who is the man' and then ended it with 'What makes a monster and what makes a man' It just captured the essences of this film perfectly!
They've done it again in making their own version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", based on the novel by Victor Hugo.The story takes place in Notre Dame, Paris 1482 where a deformed hunchback named Quasimodo, who desires to be outside of the church before being told by his adoptive father Frollo that "out" there is filled with cruel people who might scorn him.
And Quasimodo must desperately defend both Esmeralda and the very cathedral of Notre Dame.For such a take on the novel, Disney had succeeded in making this film a lot darker (similar to that of Richard Rich's The Black Cauldron) by capturing the tone of the book while having a pervading atmosphere of racial tension, religious bigotry and mob hysteria.
The story is absolutely touching it would bring you tears throughout the film, the music/songs by Alan Menken are memorable and original, the animation is unbelievably lovely along with the solid character animations, the characters are likable and the voice acting is nice.The Hunchback of Notre Dame is yet another masterpiece that kids and families would love.
This film is very well made featuring great songs, beautiful animation, strong emotion, a good message, one of Disney's best villains, great atmosphere, and great writing.
Though there are certainly many obvious deviations from the novel, most of them can be forgiven.This is technically a children's movie, but it's certainly more mature than many other Disney movies, particularly in Frollo's not-very-subtle lust for Esmeralda and the cruel treatment of Quasimodo that reveals maybe a little too much of the darker side of human nature.
Though many of the novel's darker parts are left out and the usual Disney trademarks included (characters breaking into song and dance, talking gargoyles), the subject matter makes this movie more appropriate for an older age group.
It's a shame that Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't one of Disney's more popular movies, but it's certainly understandable that parents would prefer their children to watch something more lighthearted like Cinderella.As for the score, it's certainly one of Disney's better ones, and that's saying quite a lot.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame follows a deformed bell-ringer named Quasimodo, who ventures out of his bell tower home, against the advice of his 'master,' Judge Frollo, and meets a girl named Esmeralda, whom he falls in love with and tries to protect as Frollo confronts his desires for her, and tries to kill her.Going into this film, I knew it was not going to be the typical 'all is happy' Disney film.
The film had gotten so dark by then, that I was expecting someone other than the obvious to die, it's a shame that they didn't.Overall, however, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a great Disney film, and one that should be looked upon as a classic.
Disney has made some dark and more adult stuff before, but none more so than their 34th full- length animated feature, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996).
It tells the story of a deformed person named Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) who is forced to stay in the bell tower of Notre Dame by his evil guardian, Frollo (Tony Jay).
<3 And I think it is a SUPER underrated Disney film.I've heard some people say that the songs are weak compared to the songs in more acclaimed Disney films like Aladdin or The Little Mermaid.I TOTALLY disagree.I think the opening song is VERY powerful and God Help the Outcasts was simply beautiful and worked wonderful with Esmeralda's voice.Heaven's Light was a really beautiful and bittersweet song(bittersweet because we know what happens later)And the Hell Fire sequence was freaking EPIC.And am I the only one that found the gargoyle's song catchy and not annoying?Anyway,I also thought the score was AMAZING.I mean just listen to how powerful it sounds.It's all FSDUHAGAJBAMGK(that means amazingly powerful.)From the beginning by just hearing the music you can already tell the movie is going to be epic!
Let's move on with the characters!I love the characters in this movie!Quasimodo is plain out lovable.I don't see how you can dislike such a sweet character.He is also a strong character who truly cares about Esmeralda,even when she does break his heart he still helps her because he truly cared about her.Phoebes is funny and I love his attitude and the way he stood for what was right even though there were consequences for him.And Esmeralda is an awesome heroine!I also love how she stands up for what is right and rebels.She's so kind and sly too.I didn't think the Gargoyles were annoying,I actually kinda liked them.I can't decide if the movie would be better without their comic relief or not though.However,the comic relief didn't ruin the tone of the film so that's good.As for the villain,Frollo was awesome!I loved his personality and sinisterness(is that a word?)And he is different than all the other Disney villains.He wasn't just out for power and he wasn't evil simply because he liked being evil.He actually thought everything he did was for God so that's really unique in terms of Disney villainy....And Frollo was just plain out awesome.The animation in this movie is beautiful.(well this is Disney,it's not like it would have crappy animation)I really wish Disney would make more beautiful hand drawn animated movies.The computer animation for the backgrounds and what not blended in well without looking cheezy.I love the vibrant colors and wonderful detailed backgrounds,especially in the cathedral.I thought this was a wonderful adaption to a rather grim story.A lot of changes were made to make the film more suitable for children but I give Disney credit for not totally screwing up the story and still keeping some of the more mature elements instead of making it all kiddy kiddy.Yes,it's a Disney film and it's still meant for children so they took out the more brutal things and gave it a ''the good guys live happily ever after'' ending but I'm glad they at least didn't keep the ending TOTALLY perfectly happy(poor Quasi not getting Esmeralda)I recommend this film to all children,animation buffs,or anyone who likes a good family movie ^.^ 10 out of 10 stars!Thanks for reading,my kitties!ღ.
In the movie Quasimodo is a bellringer who lives in the church of Notre Dame and who is forbidden by his foster father Frollo because due to his half form but with the help of his gargoyle friends Hugo, Victor, and Laverne he disguises himself and goes to the Festivel of Fools and befriends Esmeralda and Captain Pheobus who help him and the other people to understand about people who are different and they also help defeat Frollo and his evil ways.
For about 10 years Disney remained on top with only brilliant animated movies, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame was one of them...probably the most underrated.
It's obvious the movie was Disney-fied with comic relief gargoyles, but the truth is this tale of prejudice is a mature story, so adults will probably enjoy it more than little children.Quasimodo was left on the steps of the cathedral when he was born because of his disfigurement.
The characters are relate-able, and real emotion id felt for Quasimodo who is shunned by the public for his looks, even though he's a nice person, and Esmeralda who's constantly being pursued by Frollo who wants her dead.Overall, this is one of the most brilliant animated movies ever made, and the most mature of the Disney animations.
The various sceneries and angles of view of both Paris and the Cathedral of Notre Dame are amazing and stunning (including some views of the cathedral from the clouds), which makes them one of the best things about this movie.The evil Minister Claude Frollo is, of course, cruel and hateable, very hateable in fact, but a good villain.
Set in 15th century Paris, this "Disney-fied" version of Victor Hugo's classic novel is the story of Quasimodo (voiced by Tom Hulce), the lonely bellringer and hunchback who lives in the bell tower of Notre Dame with his evil guardian Judge Claude Frollo (voiced by Tony Jay) who assumes the responsibility of the parental figure to atone for his sin after Frollo killed Quasimodo's mother and unsuccessfully attempted to drown him as a baby, seeing him as an "unholy demon." Twenty years later, Quasimodo, being isolated from the rest of the world, soon gets the desire to want to go to the Festival of Fools after being told that "life's not a spectator sport" by a trio of gargoyles named Victor (voiced by Charles Kimbrough), Hugo (voiced by Jason Alexander from "Seinfeld"), and Laverne (voiced by Mary Wickes), who are Quasimodo's only true friends.
While a lot of material was altered and left out of Hugo's novel, it still has a good story, good characters, and another great music score from 4-time Academy Award winning composer Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin"), and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
This movie also has, in my opinion, the greatest Disney villain ever, Claude Frollo, voiced by the equally magnificent late actor Tony Jay. Never mind that Disney made him a judge and not a priest like in the Victor Hugo novel; his insane lust for Esmeralda and his pious but utterly selfish sense of morality are retained and dealt with so that most children will not even pick up on the lust factor, obvious as it is to most adults.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is fun, incredibly dark, mature, well made, and featuring music that is almost too catchy and brilliant, this is the movie YOU SHOULD show you kids.
the other voice actors also do a great job of bringing life to the characters.but except for that one song the music is excellent and makes the movie very dramatic and sometimes silly dramatic but thats just sometimes.The animation is also great even though 1 or 2 sequences fells a bit twitchy and stuff like that.Now comes my BIG complain!
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame," I feel, is a fantastic movie for the older Disney audience.
If you'd like to get THAT out of a movie, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is a MUST!Further praise / originality .....I think the song "God Help The Outcasts" sung by the character of Esmerelda ( and obviously NOT by Demi Moore.
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The Producers
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=== Act I ===
In New York in 1959, theatre producer Max Bialystock opens "Funny Boy", a musical version of Hamlet ("Opening Night"). It is terrible, and the show closes after one performance. Max, who was once called the King of Broadway, tells a crowd of down-and-outs of his past achievements and vows to return to form ("King of Broadway").
The next day, Leo Bloom, a mousy accountant, comes to Max's office to audit his books. When one of Max's little old lady "investors" arrives, Max tells Leo to wait in the bathroom until she leaves. She plays a sex game with Max, who eventually persuades her to give him a check to be invested in his next play, to be called "Cash". Leo reveals his lifelong dream: he's always wanted to be a Broadway producer. After a panic attack when Max touches his blue blanket, Leo tells Max that he has found an accounting error in his books: Max raised $100,000 for "Funny Boy", but the play only cost $98,000. Max begs Leo to cook the books to hide the discrepancy. Leo reluctantly agrees. After some calculations, he realizes that "under the right circumstances, a producer could actually make more money with a flop than he can with a hit. ... You could've raised a million dollars, put on your $100,000 flop, and kept the rest!" Max proposes a scheme:
However, Leo refuses to help Max with his scheme ("We Can Do It"). When he arrives at work six minutes late, Leo's horrid boss, Mr. Marks, reminds him that he is a nobody. While he and his miserable co-workers slave over accounts, Leo daydreams of becoming a Broadway producer ("I Wanna Be a Producer"). He realizes that his job is terrible, quits, and returns to Max ("We Can Do It" (reprise)). The next day, they look for the worst play ever written. Max finds a sure-fire flop that would offend people of all races, creeds and religions: Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden, written by Franz Liebkind, which Max describes as "a love letter to Hitler". They go to the playwright's home in Greenwich Village to get the rights to the play. Ex-Nazi Franz is on the roof of his tenement with his pigeons reminiscing about the grand old days ("In Old Bavaria"). The producers get him to sign their contract by joining him in singing Adolf Hitler's favourite tune ("Der Guten Tag Hop Clop") and reciting the Siegfried Oath, under penalty of death, promising never to dishonor "the spirit and the memory of Adolf Elizabeth Hitler".
Next, they go to the townhouse of flamboyant homosexual Roger De Bris, the worst director in New York. At first, Roger and his "common law-assistant" Carmen Ghia decline the offer to direct because of the serious subject matter ("Keep It Gay"). After much persuading and invoking the possibility of a Tony award, Roger agrees and tells them the second act must be rewritten so the Germans win World War II. Max and Leo return to the office to meet a Swedish bombshell who wants to audition for their next play: Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson. She auditions for them ("When You've Got It, Flaunt It"). The producers are impressed, mostly by her beauty, and hire her to be their "secretary-slash-receptionist". Max leaves to raise two million dollars for "Springtime for Hitler" by calling on all the little old ladies in New York ("Along Came Bialy"), which he does ("Act I Finale").
=== Act II ===
Leo and Ulla are left alone in Max's office (redecorated by Ulla), and they start to fall in love ("That Face"). Max walks in and sees the perfect form of Ulla's covered behind ("That Face" (reprise)).
At the auditions for the title role, Hitler, one terrible actor after another is rejected by Roger in summary fashion. Finally, Franz performs his own jazzy rendition of "Haben Sie Gehört Das Deutsche Band?", at the end of which Max stands up and shouts, "That's our Hitler!". Opening night arrives ("It's Bad Luck to Say 'Good Luck' on Opening Night"), and Franz falls down the stairs and breaks his leg. Roger is the only one who knows the part of Hitler, and he rushes to the dressing room to get ready. The curtain rises, and Max and Leo watch the theatrical disaster unfold ("Springtime for Hitler"). Unfortunately, Roger's performance is so camp and outrageous, the audience mistakes it for satire, and the show becomes the talk of the town. Back at the office, Max and Leo are near-suicidal ("Where Did We Go Right?"). Roger and Carmen come to congratulate them, only to find them fighting. Franz bursts in, waving a pistol, outraged by Roger's portrayal of his beloved Führer. Cowardly Max suggests that he shoot the actors, not the producers. The police hear the commotion and arrest Franz, who breaks his other leg trying to escape. They also arrest Max and take the accounting books. Leo hides; Ulla finds him and persuades him to take the two million dollars and run off to Rio with her.
In jail awaiting trial, Max receives a postcard from Leo and, feeling betrayed, recounts the whole show including the intermission ("Betrayed"). At his trial, Max is found "incredibly guilty"; but the now-married Leo and Ulla arrive to tell the judge that Max is a good man who has never hurt anyone despite his swindling ("'Till Him"). The judge is touched by this and decides not to separate the partners, sending both (plus Franz) to Sing Sing prison for five years. In prison, they write a new musical entitled Prisoners of Love, which goes to Broadway ("Prisoners of Love") (starring Roger and Ulla), and they are pardoned by the Governor. Leo and Max become the kings of Broadway and walk off into the sunset ("Leo & Max"). Everyone comes back for one last song, telling the audience that they have to leave ("Goodbye").
=== Differences between the 1968 film and stage musical ===
Although the musical includes many scenes and jokes taken from the film, there are many differences. The film was set in the present day of its year of release, 1968. The musical is set in 1959; consequently the character Lorenzo St. Dubois (LSD), a hippie who played Hitler, was omitted from the 2001 musical. In the original film, Max and Leo seek to procure $1,000,000; in the musical it has become $2,000,000. Ulla has a much larger role in the musical and is more than just the vapid actress of the movie. Franz Liebkind is portrayed more sympathetically and comes to a happier ending than his 1968 counterpart. Overall, the musical is more upbeat than the original film, which was a darker comedy.
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The Producers (2005) **** Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Farrell, Gary Beach, Roger Bart Dir. Susan StromanI don't think the critics know what they are talking about.
Based on the 1968 film starring Zero Maestel and Gene Wilder, and the smash hit on Broadway, the story of a failing Producer named Max Bialystock who has just had the worst show in town close called Funny Boy, a musical version of Hamlet.
Step 4 Open on Broadway and before you can say step 5 they close and run off to Rio. All goes well until Springtime for Hitler becomes a success leaving Leo and Max in the dust.People have been comparing it to the original, which sure it has some of the same lines, and the story is the same, but both shows have something different to offer.
He sings "I Wanna Be A Producer" with such gusto and dances with Ms. Uma Thurman, who is amazing as Ulla, and their dance number has sheds of the old Astaire and Rogers's musicals of the 30s.Also excellent, are Will Farrell as the Nazi who speaks to his birds and Gary Beach and Roger Bart as Roger De Bris and Carmen Ghia they gay "couple" who want to put Springtime for Hitler on the stage, both stand out in the cast, and both played the roles on Broadway.
Other familiar faces you will see are Jon Lovitz as Leo's accounting firms boss, Michael McKean as one of the prisoners and Richard Kind as the Jury Foreman who took over in the Nathan Lane role on the stage.Susan Stroman doesn't make the camera cuts flashy, they are simple, which makes it more enjoyable to watch the dance numbers, from the opening number to the hilarious "Along Came Bialy" when the old ladies do a dance break with walkers, to "Keep it Gay" to the uproarious Springtime for Hitler number.
If you listen to some critics who choose to say "this film show inexperience" or "not as good as the original" you are missing a terrific movie musical that is just as good as Chicago!
This film is a sop to the musical comedy, with good performances from the leads, and Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell, who all appear to be enjoying themselves.The central (staged) number "Springtime for Hitler" is brilliantly choreographed, with suitably outrageous costumes.
I went to an advance screening and left with my jaw aching from all the laughing and grinning.At first, it felt the film was just the play in front of the camera, but the style eventually worked, turning the movie audience into a Broadway audience.
During the credits, it felt like a curtain call with applauds for each actor.So much fun and very deserving of the name Mel Brooks this film is great for the holidays (with the more adult jokes being concealed in song, and only minor swearing) older children and teenagers should get a kick out of this fast paced, fun, and very memorable film.Also, just a bit of advice: stay until the end of the credits..
Unfortunately it didn't live-up to my expectations on a number of fronts.Most fundamentally, it seemed more of a cinematic rendering of the stage show than a remake of the movie - the problem is that it utterly lacks the charm of the 1968 film, and fails to capture the excitement and energy of the show.
Though, I wonder if it was a good idea to keep the leads from Broadway - playing a part on stage is very different from doing the same thing in a movie.
This is at the heart of what is wrong with this movie - it is trying to be cinematic and theatrical at the same time.Also, they have cut some of the funniest scenes and changed some of the best lines from the original.
It was a fun time from beginning to end.While his portrayal of Leo Bloom was too much like Gene Wilder's, Matthew Broderick was simply divine when dancing.
First, there was Mel Brooks' clever movie "The Producers." That got adapted into a Tony-winning stage musical.
When I first saw Mel Brooks 'The Producers' I thought it was a stage play adapted into a movie not the other way round that it became.
If you have seen the original, then you notice just how little effort the actors made other than giving pale imitation of the Zero Mostel/Gene Wilder blue print that makes the 2005 version look like an overacted summer pantomime.
The same can be said for Nathan Lane - a pretty good impression of Zero Mostel - as if these actors viewed the tape of this movie a hundred times until they got it down.
Comparing the work of Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Will Ferrell in this film to the brilliantly hysterical performances of Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder and Kenneth Mars in the original movie is like saying that apples are an apropos metaphor for describing elephants.
This movie doesn't work and its existence in the theaters (hopefully not for too long) is a masochistic slap in the face at the very best film that Mel Brooks ever crafted.
This is one of the few films I have tossed in the trash after I finished watching it.If you like over-acting, flamboyance, Broadway on the silver screen, and people trying hard to be funny, but coming off as obnoxious, desperate, and overall plain stupid, then you will like this.I honestly do not see what humor people are finding in this, and it's not that I don't get it.
I like musicals; I love Nathan Lane and like pretty much every other actor in this; I thought the original movie was funny but didn't remember it that well.
I couldn't get to the end of this movie.The musical aspect of this play was perhaps the biggest spoiler, while the songs were clearly supposed to be entertaining they were instead irritating and the lyrics seemed to resemble something along the lines of particularly unoriginal.And as someone else stated: "the Hitler scenes are, as the initial "audience" said, tasteless.".
Overall, I think I smiled twice, hence the two stars.In short, "The Producers: The Movie Based on the Play" gets no points for comic or musical accomplishment.
A lot of critics said they thought this movie was not so good because they remembered the original movie or had seen the play, but I've not done either, so I'm just judging this specific film.It's overacted, the songs aren't memorable, the way too cheesy-easy joke lines are tedious, and etc.
We painfully sat through 3/4 of the movie and absolutely could not finish it.We had high-hopes for this film, thinking a Mel Brooks comedy is always good.
I had heard rave reviews of the original from 1968 by Mel Brooks.This movie gives musical films a bad name.
And in modern extreme closeups, this kind of extravagant mugging looks amateurish and clownish - or like having some kind of seizure.Perhaps the success of the Broadway show so great that no-one had the guts to say that this pathetic filmization just is not funny.But it is wheezy, clumsy, tedious and v-e-r-y v-e-r-y l-o-n-g with even more of the sub-adolescent crudities that have stained much of Mel Brooks's later work.Maybe it's my problem but repeated erection gags ceased to be hilarious when I was about 12.I really wanted (and expected) to love this film (as I do the Mostel/Wilder original); I hated it and still find it hard to believe that I considered walking out after about 10 hair-raisingly awful minutes..
Will Ferrell is really funny, Uma shines through and Broderick and Lane make a great pair for this movie there's even 20 minutes of hilarious outtakes on the DVD..
Now on to Nathan Lane, who really really is the star of this movie and he proves it, with a great comedic performance, great singing, he too was good enough for the Oscar nomination at least i feel.Apart from some camera problems, the music is catchy and fun, the movie is a laughing riot, everyone performed very well.
While the Producers stage show did get much critical acclaim, and this could be a good sign for this great film!After a year of pure crap, finally some light at the end of the tunnel...
As a fan of Mel Brooks, the original film and the Chicago & NY productions, I went into the screening with the mindset of comparing/contrasting it to the other experiences that I enjoyed so much.
but Uma & Will did a good job and definitely have more Hollywood power.After leaving the theater I realized that maybe what I just experienced was a genuinely fun musical movie, the likes of which I had never experienced growing up...
I just adore Uma Thurman, but she can't sing and is going to waste here.The musical numbers go on and on ad nauseum and are dead-boring other than "Springtime for Hitler in Germany".If you've not seen the original, then go find it and watch it instead of this uninspired drivel.
This version is based on the multi-award-winning Broadway musical, which was based on the original movie starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.
The numbers "I Wanna Be A Producer" and "That Face" show that she really does rank up there with the great choreographers of movie and Broadway history.Many people ask why film this version?
Matthew Broderick, let me tell you, is not as bad as the critics would have you believe, Leo Bloom is actually quite a difficult character to play with all his neurosis es and such like and Gene Wilder did a great job, but, so did Broderick, especially in the musical numbers.
"I want to be a Producer" is fabulous, the choreography is outstanding and Broderick is awesome and best of all he looks like he's having a real fun time, his expression throughout that number is just a joy, completely genuine.
Having watched the mess that was "Moulin Rouge" this was, in my personal view, entertainment at it's best, not pretentious or big and clever but an excellent transferring of Lane/Broderick/Beach and Bart's stage performances.
I saw the stage musical in London and just seen the screen musical and it is a pale copy of the original Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder movie.
Both Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are good but no where near as good as the originals.The songs are totally forgettable (except Springtime for Hitler)and the direction looked small when a musical should be BIG!One can get away with a lot on stage because of the set constraints but in a movie one has no such restriction.Uma Thurman was however a bright star in this movie.
I feel that the song Betrayed worked so well on stage, but here is not as good, and I think audiences might get bored with it, should have been shortened and King of Broadway should have been Nathan's big number, especially for the film version.
In any case, I had them thrown out (not the the specific remarks, but I hate people talking during movies, especially annoying teenagers who can't respect others).Eileen Essell, who played the hilarious tenant in Duplex and is in many movies these days, was brilliant as "Hold Me, Touch Me." She's one great actress in demand.I feel some of the good numbers were really opened up, especially the old lady number, and I don't agree with those who say everything was done exactly like the stage.
I sure wish this type of treatment was done to more stage musicals (like Miss Saigon or La Cage Aux Folles).The Producers is a great movie and I will buy the DVD and I know it will be played often.
Not having been able to afford to pay the exorbitant prices being asked by the producers of "The Producers", now running for a few years at the St. James theater on Broadway, we waited for the release of the film based on the musical that is based on the original 1968 film written and directed by Mel Brooks.
The film, while not a total failure, could have used a different treatment as it plays flat at times.In theory, "The Producers" was the right candidate for making the transfer to the screen since it involved the same director, Susan Stroman, and the two principals, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, who were paid a cool million each to come back to the show, last winter, when sales were lagging because the substitute actors weren't pulling in the crowds the original stars did.
This pair of charismatic actors are seen in the film doing their own shtick.Uma Thurman is fine as the long limbed Swedish secretary in a fun role that seems to be the only thing right in the movie.
after 10 minutes i couldn't take it.i have only walked out of 2 movies my whole life the cat in the hat remake, and this me and my sister went to see "The Ringer" after leaving "The Producers", because it was playing in the next theater and remarkably i found a person pretending to be mentally challeneged so he can win his gambling uncle enough money to stay alive and get his friends thumb back much more humorous and enlightening then this pathetic excuse for a movie/musical/whatever you want to call it i wish i could cuss in this comment because this thing deserves every negative comment given 2 it.
I can picture both Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane intently studying the reels of Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel to get pinpoint accuracy.If it's so true to the original then why, you ask, would anyone bother watching the remake?For the same reason we rush out to buy the digitally remastered versions of our favorites.
It has some great dance numbers with nice moves had by all.All of this has the effect of making "The Producers" (2005) more like the extravagant musical comedies that made Mel famous in the 70s.
Any person with a half a brain can see that isn't true.Also to the people who are mad that Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick are (in your opinions) inferior to Zero Mostel & Gene Wilder, therefore this is a "pointless remake"....Newsflash You Old Farts: its SUPPOSE to be different from the '68 version!
Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick both have beautiful singing voices & you empathize for their down-&-out neurotics, Max & Leo.If you're a more macho Mel Brooks fan I could understand if you don't like this version...
the stage is an important part of a musical, so it only makes sense that like a time honored actor, that the stage makes an appearance on film as well.i think it was great- and if you haven't seen it and plan to go see it, i recommend you stay through the entire credits--- ALL the way through to the end.
Originally a film made in 1968 and starring Zero Mostel, The Producers was later adapted into an incredibly successful Broadway musical.
The Broadway version of The Producers is one of the funniest and most refreshing stage musicals to date, bringing together some excellent and memorable songs, entertaining dance numbers and some witty lines that only Mel Brooks could write.
The music, the lyrics, watching Nathan Lane play a straight guy, and Matthew Broderick's incredible performance has lifted this to the top of my Mel Brooks' favorite movie list.I've seen them all, and can quote most, but the music from the 2005 version just can't be beat.
When we went on a plane trip, I was listening to the soundtrack mouthing the lyrics and hoped no one could tell what I was doing.Everyone who knows Mel Brooks is familiar with the Springtime for Hitler song, but I can't stop laughing when it goes into "Heil to Me..." As a terrible student of German and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, one wouldn't think this to be politically correct.However, I saw the original movie before high school, and knew that the remake had to be at least as good.
I thought the stage musical adapted from Mel Brooks' classic 1968 film was terrific and if anything even more outrageous than the movie.
Uma, God love her, doesn't have the chops or the dancing skills to put over Ulla's big number, though the film makers do use her height to humorous advantage.I love the original film, but I don't worship it like some others, so I'm not as averse to playing with the material, and I didn't feel the need to compare Nathan Lane's and Matthew Broderick's performances to those of Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.
I felt like I was actually watching an old movie musical with Mel Brooks's politically incorrect humor inserted everywhere.
if you love musicals and love Mel Brooks and love good old fashioned comedy, go see this movie!
I haven't heard audiences laugh out loud in a movie theatre like that in a long time.I don't believe these critics who don't see it as a filmed valentine.
This new version of the film is just the same, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are fantastic in the lead roles.Uma Thurman is also up there with a great performance, if this is the first time she has danced and sung in a film lets have more, great legs!
Ask me to name my favourite movie of all time, and Mel Brook's 1968 film "The Producers" will be right there at the top of my list.
Matthew Broderick, whose face is frozen in terror during his dance moves, shows the weakness of casting movie stars in Broadway musicals but he faithfully recreates his stage performance here.Of the supporting roles cast with film stars, Will Ferrell holds his own against even Lane in his scene chewing performance as Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind.
I had great expectations of this movie; after all, I had watched the original 1968 version and enjoyed it very much.
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Paura nella città dei morti viventi
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In New York City, during a séance held in the apartment of medium Theresa, Mary Woodhouse (Catronia MacColl) experiences a traumatic vision of a priest, Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine), hanging himself from a tree branch in the cemetery of a remote village called Dunwich. When the images overwhelm her, Mary breaks the circle, goes into convolutions, and falls to the floor as if dead. The police, led by Sergeant Clay, interrogate Theresa, but fail to heed her warnings of an imminent evil. Outside the apartment building, Peter Bell (Chirstopher George), a local journalist, tries to gain entry to the premises but is turned away. The following day, Mary is buried in a local cemetery on Long Island overlooking Manhattan and Peter visits her grave site. The gravediggers (Perry Pirkanen and Michael Gaunt) leave Mary's half-covered coffin at the end of their work shift and leave. Soon, Peter hears muffled screams as he reluctantly leaves the graveyard. Using a pickaxe, he frees the screaming woman from her premature burial, but with the pickaxe coming dangerously close to her head as it smashes through the casket lid.Peter and Mary visit Theresa where she warns them that according to the ancient book of Enoch, the events Mary has witnessed in her visions presage the euroption of the living dead into our world. The death of Father Thomas, a marked priest, has somehow opened a door through which the living dead can enter and the invasion will commence on All Saints Day, just a few days away.In Dunwich, Bob (Giovanni Lombardo Radice), a lonely youth with a bad reputation, wonders into a desolate, empty house. He finds a rubber doll which inflates itself. But before he can use it, the sight of a rotting babys corpse scares him away. At Junie's Lounge, the barman discusses recent events with two local men, Mr. Ross (Venantino Venanini) and Mike. Strange events have been occurring the last few days, and Mr. Ross is inclined to blame Bob. When a mirror shatters and the wall cracks inexplicably, the men leave, despite the bartender's offer of free drinks. Across town, Gerry (Carlo De Mejo), a psychiatrist, is in consultation with Sandra (Janet Agren), a neurotic patient, when Emily Robbins (Antonella Interlenghi), his 19-year-old girlfriend and personal assistant, arrives. She tells Gerry that she's on her way to meet Bob, whom she has been trying to help. After Emily leaves, Sandras pet cat, whom she has been holding through her session, suddenly scratches her badly on her hand, and huddles in a corner. That evening, Emily visits Bob at a disused garage, but unearthly groans scare him away. Emily is left alone when she faces the supernatural apparition of Father Thomas who smothers her with a maggott-covered hand.A short distance away, Rose Kelvin (Daniela Doria) and Tommy Fisher (Michele Soavi), a teenage couple, are making out in Tommys jeep near the vicinity when they too face the ghostly image of Father Thomas outside the jeep. With a powerful, mesmerizing stare, Father Thomas makes Rose's eyeballs bleed and she meets a ghastly fate by vomiting her entire guts out while Tommy watches, and he is immediately killed by getting his head ripped open by an unseen ghoul. The next morning, there is no sign of Rose or Tommy, while Emily's body is found at the garage. The local pathologist Dr. Joe Thompson (director Lucio Fulci), cannot make a clear assumption to how Emily died except from a heart attack caused by shear fright. After Dr. Thompson leaves the scene, Sheriff Russell finds a small puddle of black, worm-infested fluid nearby. Mr. Robbins tells the sheriff and Gerry of his suspicious about Bob. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary leave New York and embark upon their search for the town of Dunwich, as seen in Mary's vision.As All Saints Day approaches, the people of Dunwich suffer further ghostly visitation in advance of the Hellish outpouring. That evening, Bob sees Father Thomas hanging in the deserted house he frequents. At the local morgue, a mortician is bitten on his hand by the cadaver of a old women, called Jane Holden, whilst trying to steal her jewelry. The apparition of the dead Emily pays a nocturnal visit to her little brother John-John (Luca Paisner). At Sandra's house, the corpse of Mrs. Holden appears without explination on her kitchen floor. Sandra calls Gerry for help, and he tries to cling onto the possibility of a rational explination. But as soon as Gerry arrives, the body has disappeared as mysterious as it appeared. Investing noises upstairs in Sandra's house, the doctor and patient witness broken glass fly from a shattered window into the wall opposite. The wall bleeds before their eyes, forcing them to flee the house. Meanwhile, Bob has taken refuge at the Ross household in the garage. When Mr. Ross's teenage daughter finds him and tries to comfort him after he tries to explain whats going on outside, the rabid patriarch enters, and mistakenly assuming that Bob is trying to seduce his daughter. The vicious Mr. Ross kills Bob in a horrific way by impaling his head on a drilling lathe.The following morning, Peter and Mary follow a bland village priest's directions to the shunned village of Dunwich. Arriving at the graveyard, they begin searching for Father Thomas' tomb. Gerry and Sandra also arrive after following a trail there, and the two couples exchange stories about their recent events. They begin to become acquainted at Gerry's office when a sudden violent storm blasts through the window, showering the four with maggots. When it's over, Gerry receives a distressing phone call from John-John Robbins. The little boy says that his dead sister has returned from the grave during the night and killed his parents. The four rush over the Robbins' house and find that John-John's story is true. Sandra offers to take the boy to her apartment while, Peter, Mary, and Gerry try to find the sheriff. Upon arriving at the entrance to Sandra's apartment building, she is killed by the malevolent zombie/ghost of Emily, who rips Sandra's scalp off. John-John runs through the fog-shrounded streets of the town, evading more zombies of the townspeople, when he is saved by Gerry who hands the boy over to the police.At Junie's Lounge, Mr. Ross, Mike, and the barman are attacked and finally killed by the marauding ghouls as a state-of-emergency is declared over the radio. Mary, Peter, and Gerry arrive back at the graveyard as All Saints Day begins. They decent into Father Thomas' family tomb, discovering an underground grotto of skeletal remains and cobwebbed putrescenes. Sandra appears as a zombie, and kills Peter by ripping his brains out. The zombie Sandra is then immobilized by Gerry who impails her to a cave wall with a pitchfork to her chest. Mary and Gerry are forced to go on until they reach a weired, stained-glass chamber coated in musk and dust. There, they face Father Thomas who has re-entered corporeal existence with his supernatural powers intact. Mary and Gerry look on as all of the dead begin to emerge from their tombs and surround them. Father Thomas once again begins to use his powerful and mesmerizing stare making Mary's eyeballs bleed. Before his stare can turn Mary inside out, Gerry grabs a large, rotting, wooden cross and disembowels Father Thomas. The evil priest's decayed guts are punctured, and he and the massing zombies burst into flames and return to dust. The Gate of Hell have apparently been closed. Mary and Gerry struggle from the subterranean catacombs of the night and emerge back out of Father Thomas' tomb into the graveyard at morning, to see John-John running excitedly towards them. As he approaches, Mary and Gerry's joy turns to disquietude, and then to fear, until the movie suddenly ends as ambiguously as it began... with Mary's scream.
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cruelty, grindhouse film, gothic, murder, paranormal, cult, violence, horror, atmospheric, psychedelic, sadist
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train
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imdb
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Like most of Fulci's horror movies and Italian horror in general, plot and logic take a back seat to gore and stunning visual set pieces.
Fulci's horror film about the dead coming back to life on a small location of Dunwich with inspiration on famous novelist H.P. Lovecraft .
A journalist named Peter Bell (Christopher George), a psychiatrist (Carlo De Mejo) and a psychic named Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl , Fulci's fetish actress) race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide by hanging of a priest caused them to open , allowing the zombies to rise from the tombs .
Watch for the great highlights as the alive burying and the pick-axe coming dangerously close to her head ; as when a drill punctures the face an unfortunate young -a Fulci's mark who repeats ad nauseam - and clergyman's mesmerizing stares making eyeballs bleed .
"The Gates of Hell" is another masterpiece directed by one of the best horror directors Lucio Fulci.Fulci,who sadly died in 1996,was a real artist.Anyway this film concerns a priest committing suicide and opening the gateway to Hell,allowing the dead to rise from their graves and feed on the living.Christopher George("Pieces")tries to stop them.The gore effects made by Gino de Rossi are excellent(maggots,rotting flesh,lots of squished brains etc.)Giovanni Lombardo Radice gets an electric drill through his head,and there's also a notorious scene of woman(Daniela Doria)vomiting up all of her internal organs in a really nauseating torrent of blood and guts.The plot is weak,but the film is highly atmospheric and imaginative.Again brilliant director Lucio Fulci created a masterpiece of pure horror!10 out of 10-not to be missed..
But first: year of release: 1980, genre: horror/fantasy, director: Lucio Fulci, writers: Lucio Fulci and Dardano Sacchetti, themes: sin, heresy, death, afterlife and doom, plot: close the Gates of Hell before it is too late, summary: a priest commits a sin by hanging himself on a cemetery and consequently opens the Gates of Hell; a medium and a reporter sets out to close the Gates of Hell again before All Saints Day. We are thrown into a much more otherworldly heresy and sin compared to 'Zombi 2'.
Meanwhile in Dunwich there are weird deaths and Peter and Mary meet the psychiatrist Gerry (Carlo De Mejo) and his friend Sandra (Janet Agren) to find out the grave of Father Thomas to close the gates of Hell before All Saints Day; otherwise the dead will raise and destroy the living.
This leads to a series of grim events, including several supernatural zombies.City of the Living Dead is the second of Italian director Lucio Fulci's four celebrated zombie films from 1979-81.
In the case of City of the Living Dead it is most probably two gruesome set-pieces in particular that have established its infamous reputation - a nasty scene where a man is killed by a power drill through his head and a sequence where a woman vomits up all of her innards.
There is also a notable macabre scene that doesn't involve any blood and guts, where a woman who has been buried alive is freed by a man hacking her coffin open with a pick axe, which just misses her head several times.Lead actor Christopher George will be familiar to a few fans of early 80's splatter flicks from his lead role in the bonkers Spanish slasher Pieces.
Zombies that appear and disappear in your bedroom are far scarier than ones that just amble around like Albert Tatlock on Mogadons.There are concessions to Fulci's juvenile gore, of course - one girl bleeds tears and then regurgitates her own internal organs before snatching out her boyfriend's brains.
Fabio Frizzi's music also adds much to the film in its dated synth-drum machine type way, though its inability to continue from scene to scene does jar somewhat.The new skills Fulci brought to this project pace, characterisation, an actual plot, of sorts were themes he continued with in his third zombie flick, E tu vivrai nel terrore L'aldilà.
I wouldn't say there's a "lot" of gore, but what is here is pretty shocking in the context of the plot...Anyway, if you do decide to see this movie, just know that you're going to enter a world with the greatest atmosphere I've ever seen in a horror film.
I think a lot of people expect some kind of American-ized action-packed zombie movie where watching this film and don't understand all the elements at work here.And this film has probably the greatest and most terrifying ending scene I've ever witnessed.
City Of The Living Dead is a Gothic splatter masterwork that makes much of the horror movies at the time look tame.
So, I digress that even outside of film, these movies had an impact and Lucio Fulci was one of the finest horror directors to have ever lived..
A reporter named Peter Bell (Christopher George) and a psychic named Mary (Catriona MacColl), whom Bell saves from being buried alive, race to the small town of Dunwich to close those damn gates in time for All Saints' Day.Fulcis' set pieces are so potent that they can keep entertaining on every viewing.
We're treated to repeated scenes of brain smushing, and a fantastic drill through the head sequence, but the scene that really gets people talking when it comes to this film is the one of Rosie Kelvin (Daniela Doria, who was made to take a lot of abuse every time she worked for Fulci) literally puking her guts out.
Another typical representation of the great FULCI.Gates of Hell is without a doubt the most intriguing fulci's supernatural splatter movies, second only to "THE BEYOND" in sheer atmosphere and over-the-top inventiveness.As is often the case, ridiculous dialogue and hysterically brain-damaged character motivations anchor the film in an endearing netherworld between uinintentional camp and surrealistic terror.Very macabre and nightmarish.A hell of a movie.Lucio fulci at his best!!!!!!!!!!.
Peter, a New York City reporter, teams up with a young psychic, named Mary, to travel to the town where they team up with another couple, psychiatrist Jerry and patient Sandra, to find a way to close the gates before All Saints Day or the dead all over the world will rise up and kill the living.
But this is still a very good horror film by Fulci though it was the beginning of his "Bizarro" phase.Do enter these Gates of Hell!.
City of the Living Dead moves too slow, there isn't a hell of a lot of gore, the dubbing is poor, there are almost no zombies (and the make-up is pretty poor) and the ending is annoyingly dumb.The only good points were the great gore effects (there are brains and guts galore), some great camera-work and another great score by Fabio Frizzi.
Thus is the basic premise behind The Gates of Hell(also known as City of the Living Dead) by that Italian director of renown...Lucio Fulci.
The best we get in this picture is a psychiatrist that watches everyone around him die and Christopher George as an annoying, charmless newspaperman who drives up from New York City looking for Dunwhich with a woman who was buried alive(by the way, for me, the best scene in the whole film is the one where the woman cries and tries to get out of her dirt-covered coffin...very effective).
I'm still trying to figure out what the point was.Having seen most of his attempts at horror films, City Of The Living Dead is without a doubt Fulci's worst movie.
It's gore for gore's sake, but it can't even get that right.If you really need to watch a Lucio Fulci movie, please try House By The Cemetery or Zombi.
It's a competently made Italian splatter flick, with plenty of grisly FX work, but it's not quite up to other Fulci films like ZOMBIE, THE BEYOND and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY.A supposed "sequel" was also released, but it's actually just a cheap, unrelated American movie that steals the title.Score: 4 out of 10.
Director Lucio Fulci who also created other classics flicks, The Beyond 1981 and Nightmare Concert (A Cat in the Brain) has created another gem in City of the Living Dead.Starring Christopher George who was also in the classic flick, The Exterminator 1980.Also starring Catriona MacCall who was also in Lucio Fulci's The Beyond.Also starring Carlo De Mejo.I enjoyed the coffin, drill, intestines and other gore scenes along with the sound effects.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic zombie flicks, 28 Weeks Later 2007, 28 Days Later 2002, Dawn of the Dead 1978, Dawn of the Dead 2004, Day of the Dead 1985, Day of the Dead 2008, Dead and Buried 1981, Dead Meat 2004, The Horde 2009, Pontypool 2008, Quarantine 2008, Resident Evil: Extinction 2007, Resident Evil: Afterlife 2010, Resident Evil 2002, Resident Evil: Apocalypse 2004, The Return of the Living Dead 1985, Return of the Living Dead 3 1993, Braindead 1992, Of Death and Love 1994, Diary of the Dead 2007, Land of the Dead 2005, The Last Man on Earth 1964, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue 1974, Night of the Living Dead 1968, Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane 2007, Planet Terror 2007, Shaun of the Dead 2004, Undead 2003, Dead Heat 1988, The Dead 2010, Mutants 2009, World War Z 2013, Dead Shack 2017, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead 2014, Re-Kill 2015 and Zombie Strippers!
FACT: City Of The Living Dead (AKA: The Gates Of Hell) is an Italian Hardcore-Horror Film directed by Lucio Fulci (1927-1996)!
This is maybe my favorite Horror movie cause "City Of The Living Dead" has some special Zombies that none other Zombie-films have!
He switched back and forth from zombie films and Lovecraft horror (probably whichever one was more marketable at the time).The story is about an evil priest who's spirit has returned to wreck havoc on the living and bring hell on earth.
Cigar-chomping journalist Christopher George thinks something's slightly off about the whole situation (just as well he didn't see the dancing flames in Mary's apartment!) and heads to graveyard to dig a bit further, which he literally does some time later when he realises that the muffled screaming he can hear is Mary, who has regained consciousness.Mary didn't die at all (try not to apply logic to this or anything else that happens - the sequence with Mary in the coffin is still effective) and since waking up she's now bangning on about this priest who's suicide has opened up the gates of hell in a place called Dunwich.
Emily's death is blamed on local weirdo Bob (Giovanni Radice), but we all know that in Italian horror, the dead don't stay dead for long...Flimsy plot aside, the whole film works because Lucio Fulci and scriptwriter Dardano Saccehetti thought up loads of cool things they'd like to see in a horror film, then tried to connect with a tenuous end-of-the-world storyline.
Director, Lucio Fulci had a way of capturing a cold, bleak sense of doom in his horror efforts, and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is a great example of this.
I really miss those dark pieces that focus on the undead, on horror, on gore and on creating a dark tone - not the kind of drama queens now filling a once great show called The Walking Dead (I am rewatching the first seasons and I am shocked how bad the last seasons are compared to them).You should put this one on your watch-list - if you don't know it yet but you like zombies on your screen regularly.Good one..
I had almost watched The Beyond before I realized that it was part of the "Gates of Hell" Trilogy which had lead me to City of the Living Dead to start with the first film.Holy gore this movie has some great kills and practical effects for it's time.
This movie isn't the best work I have seen from Fulci but it is a great starting point for the Gates of Hell Trilogy and I can't wait to watch the next two films..
Lucio Fulci was one of the major players in the Italian horror/exploitation scene in the 1970's and 1980's (though he worked in other decades as well, it's then that he made his mark in the world of low-budget gore and schlock), and sometimes he could make some really terrific, even awe-inspiring genre work (The Beyond hits the spot for me), and other times very much not so (Zombie 3 and Sodoma's Ghost are rather pitiful).
City of the Living Dead marks some of the high qualities of Fulci's style that's loaded for bear with dreadful imagery (I mean that word as a compliment, up to a point), but there was barely any work on the script or characters.I want to give the movie more of a break for how Fulci and his crew make this town of 'Dunwich' eerie and fogy and genuinely spooky for much of the 2nd half (which seems to be an obvious allusion to the Dunwich Horror, but may also be connected to 'witches' or the supernatural).
Uh, ask the writers I guess.There are supposedly characters here - I know Christopher George is one of them - and like a lot of horror films from Italy and of the super-cheap variety (several from Fulci of course), New York city is used because it's...
In other words, when it comes to humans talking it's not too satisfying, but when Fulci keeps it to being just a hardcore, brutal horror movie, it's like going into a haunted house and getting the works: cool cinematography, obvious music score, and gruesome kills..
No nudity in this one, but I do not really recall any in The Beyond either and only very briefly in House By the Cemetery, Fulci was more gore than nudity, though he did have that awesome scene in Zombie featuring the topless scuba diver.So all in all, it is a fun movie to watch if not particularly good.
Being a fan of zombie movies, I was very disappointed in watching Fulci's "City of the Dead".
I've seen director Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead several times over the years.
Absent the esteem in which so many veteran genre fans hold City of the Living Dead, I'd probably have written it off long ago.I know, of course, that one shouldn't expect brisk pacing or narrative cohesion of Italian horror films.
Though I'll probably never call City of the Living Dead a personal favorite even where Fulci's work is concerned, it's far more engaging, creative and artistically interesting than most of the "so bad it's good" cult oddities treasured by die-hard horror fans.
If you are familiar with Lucio Fulci's films you pretty much know what to expect from his horror movies.
'The Gates of Hell' (aka 'City of the Living Dead') is the strangest horror movie I've seen.
This is the second of the four movies that gave fulci the reputation of godfather of gore.It is great.You can read the plot in every other comment so...The gore is plenty,in fact this probably is the goriest of fulci films.IT has almost everything:squashed brains,worm attacks,a drill in the head,vomiting your insides out...everything.It also has a good atmosphere,though nowhere near as good as the beyond or house by the cemetary.I love this film BUT...it has the two most inconceivable scenes in any fulci film(and you know there are many inconceivable scenes in fulci films).First the drill scene:you see a man you believe is a pervert and guilty of many crimes but now he seems weaker than a fly.So what do you do??Call the police??NO!Punch him?NO.You put a drill in his head!!Why??The supposed pervert seems much more normal than the man who kills him.Second and much worse:the ending scene.Whether you like it or not this IS a happy ending.The demonic priest dies in flames,the zombies are destroyed and the gates of hell stay shut.So what does Mac kol screams about??And why does this kid suddenly seem scared.Nobody will ever find out.A happy ending is a happy ending and sorry great late Fulci this is a happy ending no matter what!!.
the first movie i ever saw by Lucio Fulci was House By The Cemetery and hated it, i thought the directing was really bad as well, but City Of The Living Dead aka Gates Of Hell was a classic, and i must say that Fulci created a very creepy feeling through out the film.
I've seen a lot of zombie movies and I'd put this one up against any of the "Living Dead" series of films for sheer gore and fright factor.
You know going in that a Lucio Fulci movie is going to have plenty of gore, and this one doesn't disappoint with lots of maggots, rotting flesh, drilled heads, squished brains, and a girl vomiting up her insides.Peter Bell (Christopher George - I Escaped from Devil's Island, "Rat Patrol"), a skeptical reporter, joins with psychic Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl - The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond) in an effort to find the Gates of Hell and close them before All Saint's Day.Gerry (Carlo De Mejo - Manhattan Baby, The House by the Cemetery) and Sandra (Swedish model Janet Agren) join the search after some of the dead come back to life.No one really has any idea what to do and there are zombies everywhere!
I thought that Lucio Fulci's City Of The Living Dead was a great film.
In New York City, an ace journalist (Christopher George) with psychic Mary (Catriona MacColl) where they must go to Dunwich to find the grave of the priest in order to shut the gates of hell before All Saint's Day and if it doesn't get shut then the spirits of the dead will take over the world.Exciting, gruesome and very H.P. Lovecraft-esquire supernatural Italian shocker from Lucio Fulci is one of his best movies.
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tt1194271
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Against the Dark
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Prologue: "Once the infection hit, there was little time to react. People did what they could but, since no one was immune to the effects of the virus, authorities were ultimately helpless as the virus rapidly spread. All who became exposed and survived an initial attack began their own relentless quest for blood, attacking and feeding upon the innocent. There was no vaccine, no known reports of individuals made immune. Neighborhoods and entire cities were wiped out. The very fabric of civilization was breaking down before our eyes. Many surviving humans like us were left to fend for themselves, moving around during the day and hiding at night, barricading themselves inside secure buildings. Others formed vigilante groups or became hunters, swordsmen who were tracking down and killing the infected. We were lucky when we managed to find a refuge, a place where there was some food and shelter, a place where we could survive until we could be rescued. But with the location of our refuge no longer being safe and the chances for rescue becoming more and more remote, our options were running out. It was now us 'Against the Dark.'"Morgan (Danny Midwinter) and Dorothy (Jenna Harrison) have been holed up for the past three weeks at the medical complex where Dorothy was once a student intern. Dylan (Daniel Percival), Ricky (Stephen Hagan), Amelia (Emma Catherwood), and Charlotte (Skye Bennett)have come into the hospital looking for penicillin to treat Charlotte's pneumonia. Four hours before dawn, the two groups run into each other and decide to band together. Besides, they have to get out of the hospital before the generator fails and the main security door becomes permanently locked, and Dorothy is the only one familiar enough with the layout to get them to the door. Meanwhile, outside the hospital, Tao (Steven Seagal and his group of vampire hunters are fixing to enter, kill any vampires they meet, and search for survivors. They had better move quickly, however, because Lieutenant Waters (Keith David) has been given orders to "sterilize" the area at the crack of dawn. Fighter jets loaded with bombs are standing by, just waiting for the command to take to the air.Fortunately, Dorothy knows that all the corridors in the complex eventually lead to the security exit, so they start wandering down corridor after corridor, stepping over bloody body parts and fending off vampires who always seem to come at them one at a time. First to fall is Dylan when he goes into a bathroom to wash his hands and gets carried away by an uninfected surgeon (Claudiu Bleont) looking for humans to feed to his infected daughter. The hunters catch up to Morgan and help him kill a vampire. Together, they then rescue Dorothy from becoming some vampire's dinner, as well as Charlotte when she stops to nap. They also rescue Dylan just as little Sophie (Andreea Ungureanu) is about to get a chunk of him. Next to fall is Ricky who, while stoned, wanders through a storeroom and can't tell mannikins from vampires.With 29 minutes left before the generator fails, the hunters and all the survivors finally all meet. The survivors continue to wander the corridors looking for the exit while the hunters clear out rooms and shoot up more vampires. They all meet up again to take an elevator down to the next level. Next to go is one of the hunters, who gets pulled out of the elevator by a vampire just as the door closes and the elevator starts to descend. Suddenly, the elevator gets stuck. Morgan crawls through a hatch and starts to climb down the ladder. The elevator starts up again and knocks him to the bottom of the shaft into a pool of water where he is attacked by a vampire interested in his jugular. When the vampire tries to climb through the elevator hatch, Tao shoots him. The elevator starts up again, and the doors open. Tao gives a gun to Dylan and tells him to take Dorothy, Amelia, and Charlotte to the exit and then to head south to the nearest safe camp. Then he and his hunters go back to kill more vampires. When one of his troops gets bitten in the neck by a vampire, Tao does the only thing he can do...run a sword through her gut.Meanwhile Dylan and the girls have turned into yet another corridor, but this time they can see light at the end of the tunnel. Dylan goes ahead to check it out and is immediately set upon by a vampire. Hearing Dylan's gun fire, the girls start to run. Along the way, they meet a young boy. Amelia declares him not infected but, when she reaches out her hand to him, he bites her and runs off. Now infected, Amelia hangs back while Dorothy and Charlotte keep running, fighting off more vampires as they get closer to the exit. They finally make it to the exit and get the door open. Tao and his last remaining troop, Tagart (Tanoai Reed) catch up, but so does Amelia, now fully turned vampire. She tries to convince them to become vampires, too, but Dylan sneaks up behind and shoots her in the back. Suddenly, dozens of vampires come running down the corridor. Dorothy, Charlotte, Tao, Tagart, and Dylan escape through the door just as a generator fails and the door closes, trapping all the vampires inside. The army starts dropping bombs, and the whole place goes up in flames. In the final scenes, Col Waters receives word that the hunters and survivors have made it out alive, Dylan, Dorothy, and Charlotte drive off looking for the safe spot, and Tao and Tagart walk off, no doubt looking for more vampires to kill.
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suspenseful, murder, violence
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train
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imdb
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I actually heard from a few people that he took the script just for fun and support this movie.Skip this piece of crap and wait for Ruslan to come out, as that actually looks like it could be in comparison to Urban Justice and Pistol Whipped..
I have noticed that some people are glad to see Steven Seagal move his career in a slightly new direction by leaving behind his traditional style of roles in favor of something of a vampire hunter in his new film Against the Dark (or "Last Night," depending on whether you're looking at the cover box or watching the cast and crew interviews), in which he is the leader of a small group of people who stalk through the night dispatching the vampires that the entirety of the human race have transformed into as a result of a viral epidemic.Really?
Seagal has been one of my guilty pleasures for almost 20 years now, and while the vast majority of his movies are undeniably awful, there is always an element of fun in them that manages to come through even the stupidest story lines, but not this time.
So let's just refer to the creatures by what they really are, shall we?Steven Seagal's first line in the movie, by the way, comes after he and his team rush on screen and cut up a bunch of zombies that are closing in on a young boy.
It doesn't matter, the entire script is stupendously dumb, and the movie reduces the destruction of all of mankind to a handful of people wandering around a darkened hospital trying to avoid getting eaten while they wait for Seagal and his crew to come save them.
The United States Military, headed by Keith David (the movie's one completely wasted talent), waits outside for Seagal to do all the hard stuff.
You have Steven Seagal fighting vampires, I mean that alone should interest any martial arts movie fan since he hasn't really done anything like that before.
This movie is so low budget that almost the entire movie takes place in a hospital that is crawling with "vampires"; although we are told at one point that they are more like mutants.
Seriously though, if I had Linden Ashby and Steven Seagal in the same movie I would at least have them in a scene together, not to mention a fight scene.
No sh** Sherlock, the guy is locked in a manky hospital with an army of raging mutants inside and out.The acting is mostly okay, but Steven Seagal is so wooden it is hard to distinguish him from the scenery.Otherwise it's reasonable especially at some have no lines at all, aka attendants one and two :) There is horror and action in good measure but overall the film is a stinker.
When most of the population of Earth is infected by a virus and transformed in flesh eaters and blood drinking creatures, a group of hunters leaded by Tao (Steven Seagal) and his word chases the vampire zombies to eliminate them.
The choreography of the action scenes is ridiculous, most of them with Steven Seagal in close moving his sword in the direction of the camera in a terrible edition.
It does not matter if I like them, or even detest them ("The Snake People", "Hot Tub Time Machine" "The Adventures Of Pluto Nash", "Bowfinger", "Teenage Catgirls In Heat", "Walk On The Wild Side", "Jewel Robbery", "Billy Jack", and Valley Of The Dolls" are a few that come to mind), I always catch the ending (Even if it is just the last 10-15 minutes) to know how the film ended.
Seagal's performances in films like "Against The Dark", and "Attack Force" make the worst Charles Bronson movies at Cannon Films (Such as "Kinjite" and "Messenger Of Death") look like "Death Wish" or "Once Upon A Time In The West".
The look of the movie (cinematography, music and FX were all competent) It just needs tighter editing, and maybe a few more 'sub-plots (something i thought i'd never ask for, given the over-abundance of 'filler-plots' in more recent 'Seagal' movies) For once, a bit more plot wouldn't go amiss (other than people wandering around corridors, waiting to be attacked....then rescued....the end) David Cronenberg pulled off a similar trick in SHIVERS, by adding 'offbeat' dialogue and situations.
The director of AGAINST THE DARK, is no Cronenberg And i'm sure you know by now, that although billed as a 'Seagal' flick, his screen time amounts to about a third of the running time (although, the fragmented plot ensures that nearly most of the cast, are only ever seen roughly the same length also) Seagal is fine in the role of Tao, master swordsman and vigilante, and one can only sit back and wish that he had more screen time and more 'ass-kicking' to do (but he does do a fair amount here) The other actors around him, are OK, but nothing to right home about either.I was surprised at the 'gore' factor (quite Romero-ish, in places) but hardly anything to keep KNB awake at night.
Steven Seagal plays Tao a master swordsman, along with his team of hunters, they are looking for survivors of a deadly virus that has broken out and transforms people into flesh eating mutants, along the way they find survivors hiding in a hospital and have their work cut out for them trying to keep them alive.It is good to see Steven Seagal in a different kind of film than we're use to seeing him in, considering what I've seen in his last few DTV films, the flaws that this film had did not really come as a surprise to me, especially the editing, but it does have improved direction, great cinematography, and the cast is better than those of KILL SWITCH.Although this film doesn't really present itself as a Steven Seagal vehicle, because it takes 30 to 40 minutes before he really becomes involved, and for those seeking an intelligent storyline, you might find yourself being a bit disappointed, because there is no major storyline here, it doesn't provide any explanation for how the outbreak occurred or what the intended purpose of the virus was, it just starts in the middle of the mayhem.Was this film a bad move for Steven Seagal?
Well, venturing into unknown territory might not be such a bad thing, for what Seagal has brought out so far since doing DTV films, he has nothing to lose, but his only setback is his weight, without being insulting, there are fans that don't like seeing him this way, and we're not telling, we're pleading with him, pull yourself together, that FBI crap is long gone, your comeback movie is just around the corner.Overall, its a good movie and far better than SHADOW MAN, ATTACK FORCE and FLIGHT OF FURY, which are definitely his worst films without question..
I have to admit I went into it expecting it to suck, so maybe my lowered expectation had something to do with it, but the movie starts off like many others describing the disaster, we meet the survivors and meet Seagal and his crew.
Seagal and his team do kick a lot of butt, so that can't be the reason as to why so many people hate on this film.
I've been a Seagal fan for a long time, but his films have gone from great (Urban Justice) to lame (Against the Dark)to ridiculous (Flight of Fury).
Rating: 3 Out of 5Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Action, Infection, VampiresDirector: Richard CrudoStars: Steven Seagal, Tanoai Reed, Jenna Harrison, Danny Midwinter, Emma Catherwood, Stephen Hagan, Daniel Percival, Skye Bennett, Tania DobreSynopsis: "Against the Dark" takes place in the not-to-distant apocalyptic future infectious vampires have taken their toll on the refugees of the world tapping them in undefended towns.
what a great idea Stevie takes on some vampires....I have watched it, Although as a film its not too bad, I would not chalk it up as a Stevie movie, He has a very small part in this Taomai Reed took more of the role that i would of expected Stevie to play, There was a distinct lack of depth to the story around the "Hunters" that Stevie headed up, Die hard fans may of noticed that the Sergent back a base camp starred along side Stevie in "Marked for Death" Im just hoping that Stevie gets back on track (Like i felt after renegade justice" and the next offering Driven to Kill is more "Old Skool" Stevie where we can see him deliver his Aikido without the stupid cuts and camera work....
Watching Good ol' Steven Seagal doing his over-the-top aikido we all love and appreciate him for as an actor, is never out of the question when you just want to kick back and enjoy some brainless action-comedy.
This is a pretty cool straight-to-video action/horror flick that happens to co-star Steven Seagal.
Oh dear, Steven Seagel has been starring in very mediocre to poor straight to DVD films in recent times
and the digitally shot low-budget horror / action "Against the Dark" is another terrible outing.
Who does nothing much than wandering around, kicking in with some slaughter by samurai sword and whispering out inane dialogues.The future is looking grim as the earth's population has succumbed to a virus that turns its victims into zombie-like vampires.
Their only chance of survival seems to rest of a small group know as hunters led by Tao (Seagel in glory) who go around finding the non-infected and slice and dice those who are.The premise feels like a sloppily dull mixture of ''Resident Evil", "Blade" and "28 Days Later".
During a violent war between the species, a group of master hunters tries to escort a group of survivors away from a hospital containing a horde of vampires inside before the entire area is leveled in a tactical strike, but the creatures keep making advances on the group as they try to survive.For the most part this one was a very enjoyable and entertaining entry.
The idea of turning the virus into a more zombie-like creation, based around the spread of off an airborne virus and bringing about an absolutely ravenous mindset of not only attacking for blood but also ravenously ripping people to pieces that has nothing to do with drinking blood such is the mess left behind yet there's still numerous vampire traits on display which still leaves this one enjoyable enough.
Given the early knowledge of the virus, this one jumps right in with the attacks during the credit sequences and then leading to the early scenes of the group wondering around the hospital filled with the mangled body parts strewn around that leaves for plenty of encounters in the hallways and the different rooms swarming with the creatures, there's quite a lot to like here while setting up the numerous attacks and encounters in the second half.
With the exception of a handful of surrounding scenes, the entire film takes place in an abandoned hospital and mainly consists of characters wandering through dark corridors and fighting some dodgy villains.Shoehorned into this low budget mess is Steven Seagal, dubbed and doubled as usual, playing a vampire hunter who uses a samurai sword to dispatch the undead menace.
As per usual these days, Seagal hardly appears in his own movie, and his fight scenes are largely disappointing: full of that dodgy, jolting editing that seeks (and fails) to hide the fact that Seagal was doubled for the most part.The vampires themselves are a mess (not literally), who act more like the infected in Danny Boyle's 28 DAYS LATER.
Meanwhile a group of "hunters", ex-military assassins on a mission to eliminate any zombies they encounter, converge on the hospital.Against the Dark is a direct-to-video action / horror film that is notable for a number of reasons.
The zombies are another weakness – one character refers to them as vampires while they are surprisingly easy to destroy, not to mention the fact that they don't pose much of an intellectual threat, instead being the usual stock horror villains for the genre – gone are the Romero shamblers, the Fulci gutmunchers & the Snyder speedsters.Moving back to Seagal, the actor spends the few minutes he's in swinging his sword in the direction of the zombies while wearing his trademark long leather coat (the same coat that he has worn in numerous other DTV actioners – probably due to the fact that he has put on some weight & doesn't want his fans to notice, an exercise in futility since his weight has been the talk of action fans for the past few years).
The acting is terrible and the vampire mutants are ridiculous.Most of the scenes with Steven seagal he just walks around like a hillbilly with a sword killing a few vampire mutants with his crew that try to look tough but never really succeed.This is the most horrible movie i've seen this year.
Steven Seagal plays Tao, the leader of a squad of ex-military vigilantes, "hunters" who are attempting to find and rescue a group of survivors of a worldwide virus, who are trapped in a hospital.
Not the Worst in Seagal's Fat Period because it is a bit Different and the Make-Up Effects for the Mutants and Their Prey are Somewhat Impressive.Worth a Watch for Gore-Meisters, Zombie Cultists, Steven Seagal Completists, and Low-Budget Movie Maniacs..
Steven Seagal stars in a horror film where he has to battle against vampires !
It's one of those movies that differs very little than most of the other ones broadcast on SyFy and The Horror Channel It's unoriginal and derivative and in this case owes an awful lot to 28 WEEKS LATER with characters trying to escape a lair populated by infected creatures and an army officer on the outside wanting to sterilize the area regardless of whether people are infected or not .
Vampires look and act a lot like zombies, and then spontaneously evolve for no apparent reason.12.
After a mysterious "virus" causes most of the population to become blood drinking flesh eaters what we have is Big Steve and his band of sword and automatic weapon carrying "hunters" doing most of the military's work for them slip sliding around killing never ending bands of fast moving vampire/zombies who can be recognized by their blood all over their mouth growling behavior.
But you just know large and in charge puffy faced sword flashing long coat wearing blues singing Steven Seagal will protect that little preteen girl from the evil even more bloated vampire/zombies who gently run their fingers through her hair like it's Dateline NBC.
So I going leave this movie with a rating of seven out of ten I would have rated it higher but for Steven Seagal's lack of screen time it brought it down.
Survival of a few uninfected is the plot, and add in a vampire hunter - Steven Seagal.
Armed with a shotgun and kitana sword, Seagal(name Tao in the movie), along with three others(Tanoai Reed, playing Tagart gets lots of action) get plenty of vermin to massacre while the rest of the cast just try to escape and withstand an onslaught of vampires popping up time and again as they move down darkened corridors and through dreary rooms, never knowing what lies in wait.
Apparently someone in the studio came up with a brilliant idea, casting Steven Seagal against the vampires and just shot the movie in a day.
Steven Seagal Vs Zomb...Vamp...Mutants?Movie tells a familiar story of a killer virus mutating people and few survivors trying to, well survive even more.
Well really one character does the killing, and its not Segal...I don't really know why they call it a Seagal movie because Steve is not really the main character, he is just walking and attacking the camera grew, he only has few lines and don't have much screen time.
the only good movie he's done in the last 5 years is urban justice, when i seen that i was actually pumped because i thought the old seagal was back.
Following a scene-setting opening that cuts costs with a quick voice-over monologue, the film has little to no real plot other than people stumbling around the hospital and running into zombies/vampires/mutants (it is never really established what the 'infected' are) only to fight them off or invariably be saved by Seagal and his leather-clad crew (little knowing that jets will explode all and sundry at dawn!).
A team of zombie hunters are conducting a sweep of a zombie infested hospital for survivors before the facility is bombed by the military.The movie was released direct to video and had a budget of $US7 million.The zombie hunters led by Steven Seagal are constrained by the virus, so there is minimal physical contact during the fighting and the predominant use of guns and a long (kitana) sword (although knives are also used).The film (horror genre) creates tension through use of dark lighting as the survivors make their way through the locked down hospital with the power threatening to fail, while under constant attack by the zombies.
I am a big fan of Steven Seagal movies, he's my idol.
I only watched the film because Steven Seagal was in it..
Too many movies like this...and Seagal was out of place..
There is also a group of "hunters" led by Steven Seagal and the hunters are killing these infected with sword and guns.
The government is also involved and ready to bomb the city and kill whats left and hope the hunters get the survivors and themselves out first.I have seen so many movies like this with 28 Days Later coming to mind first.
One key ingredient in making these films work is having a creature/zombie/vampire or whatever having a reoccurring part all through the movie to keep people looking and waiting for them.
This is by far the worst Steven Seagal movie that I have ever seen.
I have scene much better movies with Steven Seagal.
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tt0064116
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C'era una volta il West
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In the desert Southwest of America during the waning days of the Old West, three gunmen (Jack Elam, Woody Strode, Al Mulock) approach an isolated train depot; two are wearing duster overcoats. The men take over the station and settle in to wait for the train. When the train finally comes, a nameless harmonica-playing stranger (Charles Bronson) gets off and asks for someone named Frank. They tell him Frank sent them in his place. In the ensuing showdown, all four men go down. Only the man with the harmonica gets up again.The soundtrack to the opening scene is a creative orchestration of ordinary sounds in the style of John Cage. Composer Ennio Morricone uses dripping water, the clicking of a telegraph, a buzzing fly, and over all the persistent, annoying squeak of a windmill-powered pump to build tension, punctuate visual jokes, and emphasize the tedium of waiting for the train. The scant dialog allows the soundtrack to consume much more of our attention than a score usually does.On a remote farm called Sweetwater, Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) and his children are preparing an outdoor wedding feast. McBain tells his son Patrick to drive into town to pick up his new mother, who is arriving by train from New Orleans. Suddenly shots ring out from the desert, and McBain's daughter Maureen, son Patrick, and McBain himself are slain. The youngest McBain, Timmy, runs out of the house to find that his entire family has been destroyed. He watches in terrified silence as a group of five gunmen in duster overcoats emerge from the scrub brush. When one of the men calls their leader Frank by name, asking what to do with the child, Frank (Henry Fonda) draws his pistol and slowly takes aim at the last remaining witness. With a self-satisfied grin, he pulls the trigger.In the town of Flagstone, McBain's bride Jill (Claudia Cardinale) steps down from the train to find that no one is there to meet her. Giving up hope, she steps through the train station into the bustling new town still being built. She hires a carriage to drive her to Sweetwater. The farm's name draws laughter from the driver, Sam (Paolo Stoppa), who informs her that "Sweetwater" is a worthless piece of ground, and McBain is crazy for trying to farm it.Along the way, Sam speeds through a group of railroad workers busily laying their "damn rails." Then he stops at a wayside inn/tavern/trading post, and Jill follows him inside. Her beauty draws the unwelcome attentions of the barman (Lionel Stander). After a noisy off-screen gun battle, the outlaw Cheyenne (Jason Robards) enters wearing shackles on his wrists. The sounds of a harmonica again reveals the presence of the nameless stranger, who has been watching from a dark corner of the tavern. Cheyenne dubs him "Harmonica," and he uses Harmonica's gun to force another patron to shoot apart the chain between his wrists. Cheyenne's men soon arrive, too late to help him escape the prison guards who now lie dead outside. Harmonica notes that the three men he killed earlier were wearing the same duster overcoats as Cheyenne's men, and Cheyenne is annoyed that rivals may be copying his trademark dusters.Jill and Sam arrive at Sweetwater to find a crowd of somber wedding guests standing around the outdoor tables, now put to use as funeral biers. Jill is horrified at the carnage. When one of the women bemoans that this should happen to the "poor little miss" on her wedding day, Jill informs the guests that she and Brett McBain were married a month earlier in New Orleans. As the burial comes to an end, the crowd discovers that the torn-off collar of a duster overcoat was found on a nail by the door. This marks the massacre as Cheyenne's work. The men form a posse and ride off to track down the outlaw and hang him. Sam offers to drive Jill back to Flagstone, but she says she will stay at Sweetwater. That evening, she ransacks the McBain household, looking for anything of value that might have been hidden away.At the town laundry in Flagstone that night, Harmonica puts the laundry man Wobbles through a violent interrogation, wanting to know why Frank didn't show up at the train. Wobbles doesn't know; he only arranged the meeting. Harmonica suspects Frank was occupied at McBain's farm just then, but Wobbles insists otherwise: "Cheyenne did that job--everyone knows that. We got proof." Harmonica doesn't believe it: "That was always one of Frank's tricks--fakin' evidence."Jill finds a group of miniature buildings stored away in a trunk, including a model train station with a fancy swinging sign that says "STATION." She hears the sound of a harmonica outside and fires a shotgun into the darkness. The sound of the harmonica moves farther away. In the morning as she is about to leave for good, she finds Cheyenne on her doorstep. While his men wait outside, he barges in and asks for coffee. He tells of being chased by the posse all night and helps make the fire for the coffee. He says he would never kill a kid: "I ain't the mean bastard people make out." He decided to come take a look at the scene of his supposed crime. Not only is he annoyed that someone is trying to blame him, but neither he nor Jill can understand why the killings happened at all. The place looks so worthless, he imagines that McBain must have hidden a treasure away somewhere. Jill tells him that if so, she couldn't find it. Aware that she is vulnerable to any sort of mistreatment Cheyenne and his men might deal out, she serves the coffee.In a private railroad car, Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), a crippled and dying railroad tycoon, berates Frank for killing the McBains. He only wanted Frank to scare McBain, not kill him. And now a Mrs. McBain has shown up, making the killings pointless. Morton began building his railroad in sight of the Atlantic Ocean, and he means to build his way to the Pacific before he dies. He hired Frank to "remove small obstacles from the tracks," but Frank intends to become a wealthy businessman himself. Morton tells Frank he will never be like Morton, because Frank doesn't understand that money is more powerful than guns.After sharing a congenial interlude with Jill, Cheyenne finishes his coffee and rides away with his men. Jill takes her traveling bags out to the wagon. But Harmonica is there and demands that she stay. As he throws her down roughly and begins ripping at her clothes, Jill becomes alarmed. Instead of harming her, he simply removes the white trimmings from her black dress, leaving her in full mourning. They go to the well for a drink of water, only to be attacked by two more of Frank's men. Harmonica kills them, and from a nearby vantage point Cheyenne sees how handy Harmonica is with a gun.Jill goes to the laundry and asks Wobbles to tell Frank she knows everything and wants to negotiate with Frank personally. Wobbles denies knowing anyone named Frank, but Jill repeats her demand and leaves. Wobbles heads out to Morton's private train, unaware that Harmonica is following him. Morton scolds him for coming there, but Wobbles says he wasn't followed, and he thought Morton and Frank would want to know about Mrs. McBain. When Frank sees Harmonica's shadow on the ground, he knows someone is on the roof, and he signals the train to start moving.Stopping in open country, Frank captures Harmonica. A blurry flashback appears of an indistinct man walking through a desert landscape, but no explanation is given). Frank has Harmonica brought on board and bound. He kicks Wobbles off the train (literally) and shoots him down just as Wobbles is about to reveal the presence of Cheyenne hiding in the train's undercarriage. Harmonica lets Frank know that the two men he sent to kill Jill are themselves dead. Realizing this is the man who wanted to meet with him, Frank asks Harmonica who he is. Harmonica answers with the names of two men Frank has killed. Morton interrupts the interrogation to remind Frank he has more urgent business: the woman. Taking to horseback, Frank rides away with three of his men to do away with Mrs. McBain himself. He leaves three men behind on the train to guard Harmonica and keep an eye on Morton, whom he doesn't trust. Frank tells the men to meet him at the Navajo cliff, and the train gets under way again. Over the next few minutes, Cheyenne craftily disposes of the three gunmen one by one and sets Harmonica free. They now have Morton in their power, but they will deal with him later, choosing to stop the train and ride to Jill's aid.At Sweetwater, Jill is puzzled by the arrival of a large amount of lumber and building supplies that McBain ordered. Since he paid cash, it all belongs to her. Neither the lumberman nor Sam can say what it's for, but there are enough materials to build at least eight buildings. When the lumberman shows her a blank sign and asks if she knows what should go on it, she recognizes its outline from the miniature train station and tells him it should say "STATION." Inside the house, she looks through the trunk again for the model train station. Just then, Frank captures her.At the Navajo cliff, Morton offers to buy Sweetwater to avoid more killing--he's had enough of Frank's butcher tactics. He doesn't have time to compete with Frank. But away from his train, Morton looks weak and pathetic, no competition at all as far as Frank is concerned. Frank kicks one of his crutches out from under him, sending Morton sprawling face first: "I could squash you like a wormy apple." Frank tells some of his men to take Morton back to his train and watch him.At Sweetwater, Cheyenne and his men are just as puzzled by the building supplies as Jill was. Harmonica paces off the dimensions of a train station while explaining to Cheyenne what he has seen in a document: McBain was planning to build a town at Sweetwater, which has the only water supply for fifty miles west of Flagstone. Since trains need lots of water to make steam, the railroad must inevitably come through Sweetwater. McBain contracted for the rights to operate the depot himself, provided it was built by the time the tracks reached it. Knowing that the rail gangs are just over the hill, Cheyenne puts his men to work building the station.Inside a ruin at the Navajo cliff, Frank enjoys an intimate interlude with his captive Jill. He remarks that she will do anything to stay alive and that it seems she can't resist a man's touch, even the touch of the man who killed her husband. Frank knows from inquiries sent over the telegraph that Jill was one of the most popular prostitutes in New Orleans until she married McBain. As he undresses her, he thinks of marrying her himself to take over the land. Realizing he would make a bad husband, he comes up with a quicker, simpler solution.Jill sits in quiet resignation in the saloon at Flagstone, where people have gathered for a land auction. One of Frank's men hovers over her, and several more are scattered through the crowd, ready to intimidate anyone who even starts to make a bid. It's Frank's way of getting the property for himself cheaply. The sheriff (Keenan Wynn) reluctantly gets the auction under way.Meanwhile Morton, aboard his train, senses that his dream of seeing the Pacific is growing remote. He joins a game of poker with four of Frank's men who are now his captors. Instead of dealing out cards, he deals out five hundred dollars to each of the men to buy their allegiance to him.Back at the land auction, one of Frank's still-loyal men bids five hundred dollars for the farm. Just as the sheriff is about to close the sale, Harmonica calls out a bid of five thousand dollars. In what is most likely a scheme devised by both men, Harmonica brings in an indignant Cheyenne at gunpoint and turns him in for the reward money to cover his bid. The sheriff puts Cheyenne under guard on the train bound to Yuma, where there is a new, strong, modern prison that is much more secure than the local jail. But two of Cheyenne's men follow him onto the train after buying one-way tickets to the next station. Meanwhile, one of the men on Morton's train rides into town to tell the others what transpired in the poker game.Jill is grateful that Harmonica has saved the farm for her, and she begins to look at him more warmly. Frank enters the saloon and offers Harmonica five thousand dollars for the farm, plus one silver dollar profit. Again he asks Harmonica's name, and Harmonica answers with the names of two more dead men: "They were all alive until they met you, Frank." Again the blurred flashback appears, but the image of Frank walking through the desert becomes clearer than before. Harmonica rejects the offer but uses Frank's silver dollar to pay for his drink. Having noticed suspicious activity outside, Harmonica goes to watch from the upstairs windows and balcony, breaking into the room where Jill is taking a steamy bath. Frank steps out of the saloon onto the street--and into a deadly cat-and-mouse game. His former men, now Morton's men, try to gun him down. But with some timely assistance from Harmonica, Frank manages to kill them instead and rides out. Jill is furious at Harmonica for saving Frank's life. He tells her, "I didn't let them kill him and that's not the same thing."Frank discovers the aftermath of a gun battle at Morton's train. Bodies of Frank's men and Cheyenne's men lie strewn along the tracks and in Morton's private car. He finds Morton crawling desperately to a nearby mud puddle. Frank draws and cocks his gun to finish him off but then decides to let him suffer. Morton dies with the sound of ocean waves crashing in his mind.The track laying crew is reaching Sweetwater at last, and construction crew are busily turning the stacks of lumber into the beginnings of a town. Harmonica sits at the farmyard gate as Cheyenne comes riding awkwardly in and goes inside. Not quite his usual self, he again asks for coffee, which Jill has ready this time. They both sense that outside something important is about to happen with Harmonica. Cheyenne: "He's whittlin' on a piece of wood. I got a feelin' when he stops whittlin', somethin's gonna happen."Frank rides up to the gate, and Harmonica stops whittling. They exchange a few words. Frank admits he'll never be a businessman: "Just a man." They acknowledge they're of an ancient race being killed off by the coming of the modern age--arriving right next to them as they speak. Then Frank gets to the business between them: "The future don't matter to us. Nothin' matters now--not the land, not the money, not the woman. I came here to see you. 'Cause I know that now you'll tell me what you're after.""Only at the point of dyin'," Harmonica tells him. Frank says, "I know," and they stride out into the farmyard to face off for the final showdown.Inside, Cheyenne begins to clean up and shave while he watches the railroad move up. He tells Jill she should take water out to the workers at the tracks, letting them enjoy the sight of a beautiful woman. And if one of them should pat her behind, she should just make believe it's nothing. They earned it.As Frank and Harmonica square up a few feet apart, preparing to duel, Harmonica remembers his history with Frank, in the flashback, a young Frank strides out of the desert to the isolated ruin of a Spanish mission--a lone arch with a bell hanging at the top. He places a brand-new harmonica into a young man's mouth, telling him to keep his lovin' brother happy. The youth's hands are bound behind him, and his older brother, also bound, is standing on his shoulders with a noose around his neck. Frank and his men wait for the inevitable moment when the boy's legs will give way and complete the hanging. The doomed man curses Frank and kicks his younger brother away. The harmonica drops out of the young man's mouth as he falls into the dust.Frank and Harmonica draw and shoot. Frank turns around and staggers a few steps before he falls to the his knees. He asks Harmonica again, "Who ... who are you?" In answer, Harmonica places the old, beaten-up harmonica into Frank's mouth. Frank's remembers--he sees the image of the boy falling into the dust and the harmonica dropping out of his mouth. Frank falls lifelessly into the dust and the harmonica drops out of his mouth.Cheyenne tells Jill he's not the right man for her, but neither is Harmonica. There's something inside a man like that, he tells her, something to do with death. Once Harmonica has dealt with Frank, he will come inside, pick up his things and move on.Harmonica comes in and, true to Cheyenne's prediction, picks up his belongings and tells Jill he has to go. Jill is wearing a dress whose top reveals her cleavage. They share a lingering look, and then he opens the front door and surveys the developing street scene outside. "It's going to be a beautiful town, Sweetwater," he says. Jill hopes he will come back someday. With a doubtful "Someday," Harmonica leaves. Cheyenne too says goodbye and pats Jill on the behind, telling her to make believe it's nothing.As the two men ride away, Cheyenne pauses and gets off his horse before dropping to the ground. Harmonica discovers that Cheyenne has been gut-shot, the work of Morton himself during the gun battle at the train. Cheyenne asks Harmonica to go away--he doesn't want Harmonica to see him die. Harmonica turns away and soon hears Cheyenne fall over dead. Just then, the work train rolls into Sweetwater and stops at the station, which has its "STATION" sign in place. Harmonica takes Cheyenne's body away as Jill carries water out to the newly arrived railroad workers.
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suspenseful, murder, western, dramatic, cult, violence, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, action, revenge
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train
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imdb
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Leone's masterful storytelling and Morricone's crazy, beautiful, epic soundtrack; desperate, haunted faces which look like the barren landscapes the story is set in and a plot that unfolds with impeccable pacing to culminate in THE ultimate western finale.As in Leone's previous films, music isn't just used to add to the atmosphere but is essential to the story, or perhaps even more: Morricone's main musical theme plays the actual role of a (or rather: the) protagonist in the film.
With his brutal but honest portrayal of the sheer hardness of life and death in those times he thoroughly destroys the old romantic idea of the west as a 'generally-hunky-dory-kind-of-scene with the occasional bad guy and indian' and replaces it with an eerie, dark, hot and dry place where life is cheap and only the strongest will survive.I cannot adequately convey in words the way in which Sergio Leone deepens and defines the characters by pure means of visual persuasion.
Any other director would have skipped directly to the moment of arrival, but Sergio Leone takes minutes of boredom and translates it into a visual feast, deepening the characters that are portrayed and making them more human, more real to the viewer, while at the same time encompassing us with a deep dark sense of foreboding.
Who needs words and explanations when the combined forces of cinematic mastery and heart-tearing music are not just able to carry the story, but pick it up and push it up to such heights of excellence that it has no equal in it's genre?Another great feat that adds to the power of this movie is the minimalistic way of portrayal of the characters as real, emotional people.
No superheroes or supercriminals, just real, desire-laden, traumatised, obsessed people that act upon motives inherently understood by the viewer.All in all this is without a single doubt in my mind the greatest western of all times, and even though Sergio Leone has made many more mindblowing, heart-shattering westerns like this one, like 'A Fistful of Dynamite', 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly', and 'For a Few Dollars More', none could equal 'Once Upon A Time In The West' in sheer magnitude of perfection.
Fonda, Bronson, Robards and Cardinale queue up and take Leone's choreographic direction in an epic tale of blood and revenge.Frank is a bad guy who has killed a lot of people.
The time has come for the real Americans to confront both the railroad and Frank.Leone sat down with film intellectuals Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento and watched dozens of Hollywood westerns.
Gradually the fates of the main characters converge, and swim into sharp focus for the shoot-out.It is not the story, excellent though that is, which lingers in the memory, but rather a hundred individual flashes of brilliance: Claudia Cardinale (are those eyes for real?) filmed on the bed, viewed vertically downward, through a lace canopy: Cheyenne's surprise method of concealing himself on the train: Morton ("when you're not on that train, you're like a turtle out of its shell") imprisoned by the armature that helps him walk: the 'heartbeat' of the train's engine during the cardgame: the tension of the ambush preparations against Frank: the eruption of guitar music as Bronson enters the frame: Bronson's stillness and self-possession, the emblem of his righteousness: Fonda's eyes flickering rapidly in his motionless head, denoting the waning of his self-confidence: the amazing super-close-ups of Bronson: and the weird brick arch, the only man-made intrusion into the entire terrain, and the focus of human depravity..
From the top stars, Henry Fonda and Jason Robards, through a whole host of superb supporting character actors, Charles Bronson, Gabriele Ferzeti, Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, and Lionel Stander, they comprise a film maker's dream.
Even the unknowns with the bit parts are unforgettable.Now you add a towering director, Sergio Leone, an absolutely sublime operatic musical score by the matchless Ennio Morricone, superb cinematography, great costumes and makeup, fine voice and sound work, and you end up with a seismic event.It holds up like the masterpiece it is, no matter how many times you have seen it before, no matter how many years it has been since it was made.
That today is considered the best Western ever made in the history of cinema."Once upon a time in the West" begins when the farmer Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) and his sons are murdered in cold blood by the hands of the ruthless bounty-killer Frank (Henry Fonda) who puts the blame on the criminal Cheyenne (Jason Robards).
But a web of mystery and deceit circulates between the contradictory relationship of the characters.When the film premiered at the time it was poorly received by critics and was a box office failure, only today that the critics and the public praised the film as not only the best Sergio Leone's movie, but also the best Western ever made.
Not that they are not superb and memorable (which they are): Jill is nothing more nor less than the representation of the women in the world of men in the Old West and its extreme strength and intelligence, along with an excellent performance from Cardinale; Cheyenne can be compared with Tuco from "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly", both characters are cruel bandits, but in several times they are shown to be simple human beings with their problems and their kind and innocent side; Frank is another cruel-badass villain that Leone built in his films, Frank is a bounty-killer who in previous films its showed that they are honored to their "job", do whoever they were told and paid for and nothing more.
All this makes "Once upon a time" not only one of the best Western films ever made, but a beautiful masterpiece of cinema and the beginning of another amazing trilogy!
Joining the instrument playing stranger is an unpredictable, half-breed, renegade, who is a notorious gunfighter called 'Cheyenne.' ( Jason Robards ) The entire film is a triumph to the superb direction of Sergio Leone, who christens each major character with their own theme song.
That these little films can impress all you younger fans so much says a lot about good taste and the sad lack of it in American films of recent times.Great directors, like Leone, don't come along every day and it saddens me greatly to know he died before he was recognised for the genius he surely was.
Tonino Delli Colli's cinematography is vividly descriptive and has elements which have become his and Leone's trademarks like the extreme close-ups, the quick panning of the terrain, the rotating camera shots etc.The haunting score written yet again by the master composer, Ennio Morricone enhances the grandeur of the movie tenfold.
Like I said, this thing's close to perfect.The Good The Bad and The Ugly might be a tiny bit more entertaining, and Once Upon a Time in America might have a slightly better soundtrack and stronger emotional moments (for me, personally), but it's still really hard to find much to complain about here.
Jason Robards is great as the outlaw with a good heart, Cheyenne; and Charles Bronson is very Eastwood-like as a man known only as Harmonica with a mysterious past and a quick draw.
The central character, though, is that of the beautiful Claudia Cardinale as Jill, a widow seeking revenge.Sergio Leone used a slower, more romantic style for this Western, but he still was able to produce some great images and a story that will forever be remembered.
I remember over the years that echoing mournful theme song but since I missed this movie on first release I didn't make the connection, and it never played on television because of rights issues and the unusual length for the time.finally I bought it on DVD and there it was, that theme song that gave me flashbacks big time.then I finally knew what the interview with Jane Fonda was about where she described her recollections seeing her father Henry in the unusual role as archvillian, and another one with jack Elam about how it took all day to do the scene with the handgun and the fly.this is a remarkable western, despite some stretches of credibility.the railroad indeed was the thing that finally opened the west; it was the only way to move millions of tons of goods and tens of thousands of people over the long distances, wagon trains were too dangerous and got off the beaten path too easily and couldn't carry enough provisions.
I think Charles Bronson plays the best role in his career and just like Henry Fonda he's acting great in the interesting, mysterious conflict in which they're involved.
The best character in the film, though, was "Cheyenne," played by Jason Robards.The opening credits - spaced out over 11 minutes (which was rare in "classic movie" days) - are considered by many as the most famous ever, in any genre.
Jill's survival depends on Cheyenne, who wants to find out who framed him, and a mysterious stranger called Harmonica, Charles Bronson, who has his own business to conduct with Frank."Once Upon A Time In The West" is perhaps the most beautiful western ever filmed.
The pacing and filming are pure brilliance and really build the tension as you work toward the inevitable final standoff.The way each character is introduced makes them feel real and full of personality without the need for explanatory dialogue and I love how the music suits the movie, I can still hear Harmonica's haunting tune in my head.
People who view movies as foremost an art say "Once Upon A Time In The West" is the best western Sergio Leone ever made.
An entire faceoff between Jason Robards' tough outlaw Cherokee and a dandy with an itchy trigger finger goes on for about five minutes and has but one word: "Bravo."It's really a western as epic, and an interesting response to anyone who might have thought Leone couldn't have done up anything grander than "Good, Bad, & Ugly." The use of themes and ideas from other Westerns, particularly those of John Ford, give this film a sense of taking stock of cinema's first genre.
And Leone is getting it all in, even from the very beginning: That opening shot of Frank's pistol going off into the camera quotes directly from 1904's "The Great Train Robbery," the granddaddy of westerns.I love watching this film unfold in its gradual way, and can't help feeling a sense of exultation over how everything gels, but it's impossible to ignore the flaws.
He seems to serve some mystical function, as Leone's emissary bringing down the curtain on Fonda's Frank, the ultimate bad guy, and the West that spawned him."Once Upon A Time" feels like a dead stop that way, both for Leone (who would make only two more films, neither much appreciated in their day, in the next 20 years) and for the western.
Instead of cluttering the beauty of his carefully photographed frames with dialog, close shots of these actor's iconic faces express all that needs to be said.Ennio Morricone, also my favorite movie composer, scored five distinct musical themes that embody each of the main characters: widowed new bride Jill (Claudia Cardinale), mysterious harmonica-playing gunman (Charles Bronson), bandit Cheyenne (Jason Robards), hired gun Frank (Henry Fonda) and railroad tycoon Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti).
Although Sergio Leone never really made anything better or more entertaining than The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, in my opinion, he did come incredibly close to repeating that cinematic feat with this spaghetti western epic.
Also new in town is a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman who has a personal vendetta to settle with Frank.Sergio Leone earned his reputation as one of cinema's gifted visionaries for his Dollars Trilogy but this film introduces a very mature side of this director & his keen eye for stunning detail, visual narration & cinematic art is noticeable from the opening moments where we see three men waiting at a railway station for someone or something due in the next train.
And, Ennio Morricone impresses once again by composing an even more haunting soundtrack for this film compared to his previous compositions & it's easily one of his finest works, if not the finest.Coming to the acting department, the movie features an ensemble cast of Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards & Claudia Cardinale, who all chipped in with strong & genuine performances.
And last we have Claudia Cardinale making a fine contribution in the company of men.On an overall scale, Once Upon a Time in the West is one epic that shouldn't be missed by any cinema lover, especially the fans of westerns, Sergio Leone or Henry Fonda.
Leone's masterful storytelling and Morricone's crazy, beautiful, epic soundtrack; desperate, haunted faces that look like the barren landscapes the story is set in and a plot that unfolds with impeccable pacing to culminate in THE ultimate western finale.
Sergio Leone's follow up to his superlative "Man With No Name" trilogy is highly acclaimed in some circles, a bit too much so to be honest, but is still a well acted story of a woman(beautiful Claudia Cardinale) who comes to the west as a mail-order-bride, only to find that her would-be family was wiped out by a cold-hearted gunfighter(Henry Fonda, cast effectively against type).
This is clearly among the greatest movies ever made and the very top westerns ever made, its main competitor (in my opinion) being another Sergio Leone masterpiece: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Everything about it is utter perfection, with the slow build-up of tension as the viewer for some time wonders what exactly is going on but can feel the tension; the quick, sharp spot of violence (another Leone trademark); the use of the sounds of the windmill, etc.; the things with which the three gunmen occupy their time whilst waiting; the images, especially the view with the close-up of the windmill and long shot of the countryside and tracks as Woody Strode casts a shadow whilst traversing the makeshift platform; every detail of the station and the characters; the references to other westerns; the arrival of the man for whom they are waiting; the image of them turning to face him.
With his dollars trilogy, director Sergio Leone proved that he was the master of the spaghetti western; with Once Upon A Time
he transferred the conventions of that genre – the operatic sense of drama, the nihilism, extreme close-ups, epic widescreen photography, Ennio Morricone music and moral ambiguity – into Monument Valley, the setting of the traditional American western.
Once Upon A Time In The West is directed by Sergio Leone and stars Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards & Henry Fonda.
Ennio Morricone scores the music and cinematography is from Tonino Delli Colli.After finishing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1966, Sergio Leone felt he had done all he wanted to do with the Western genre.
But, as of now, I've only seen "Once Upon a Time in the West".The film is a classic epic spaghetti western, with great atmosphere, great performances, and, of course, an excellent soundtrack by Ennio Morricone!
It is simply incredible every point of this film, with an incredible start and tense, a development that opens our eyes, classic phrases that are remembered as celebrities, an epic ending, incredible performances, beautiful cinematography, unique sound editing, A plot of entertainment, everything, everything, I love everything about this movie.It's just so gratifying to know that directors such as Leone lived to give us the most beautiful films in history, movies so incredible in every sense that they leave us remembered the most grandiose scenes, we'll never have epic films in life, well , Probably never like these.
Perhaps this has some sort of literary value, but its just too slow for me.The Good the Bad and the Ugly is one of my favorite westerns, but just can't get through Once Upon a Time in the West, as there is always something better I can do with my time, such as watch on old John Wayne movie that I've seen 100 times.I think the director gets way too caught up in impressing the viewers with with slick camera work (which there is, by the way), but drags out each scene to the point its difficult to remember sometimes whats actually going on in the plot.I am clearly in the minority here, and I attribute that to the fact that I am perhaps a more shallow movie viewer than most who post here.
The railroad is the villain here as Henry Fonda plays an unscrupulous blue-eyed bad guy paid to force landowners to sell up cheap so the rails can pass through.Charles Bronson is a darker take on Leone's man-with-no-name character, but it is debatable whether that makes him more interesting then Clint Eastwood's version.The main characters each have a theme tune, opera-style, which is an interesting motif, but quite an irritating one when you have heard the harmonica tune for the 30th time.A fine movie, but claims that it changed the western any more than Leone's previous films or that it is better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly should be taken with a pinch of salt..
Once Upon a Time in the West is more a work of Sergio Leone , the master of westerns , the film already shows in the beginning a great photograph, a great wardrobe , and a great cast , Henry Fonda this great Charles Bronson this great also , Frank Wolff , Gabriele Ferzetti , Woody Strode , Jack Elam , Lionel Stander , Keenan Wynn , and etc.
"Once Upon a Time in the West", directed by Sergio Leone is without a doubt, the single greatest film I have ever watched.Everything from the near silent opening scene to the monumentally epic final moments is pure cinematic perfection.
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tt0082498
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Happy Birthday to Me
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At the Crawford Academy campus located in Massachusetts, Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson) is leaving night classes to meet her friends. After an encounter with the authoritarian headmistress Mrs. Patterson (Frances Hyland), Bernadette gets into her car when she is attacked by someone in the back seat wearing all black clothing and wearing black leather gloves who chokes her. Bernadette momentarily feigns death and manages to slug at her unseen attacker and manages to run out of the car. A minute later, she sees someone she apparently knows where Bernadette says: "thank God, please help me". Suddenly, the unseen person in black pulls out a straight razor and slashes Bernadette's throat.Sometime later that night, at the village inn, a group of students are at a table drinking when Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson) arrives and joins the group with them wondering at why she was so late in meeting them. Soon, another person shows up whom is the creepy-looking Norman Bates-esque taxidermist, Alfred (Jack Blum). After Rudi (David Eisner) angers the local townies with a prank involving putting Alfred's pet white mouse in someone's cup of beer, the students run outside chased by the townsfolk. Seeing that the nearby drawbridge is coming up, Steve (Matt Craven) says, "Lets play the game". They all plan to drive their cars over the opening bridge. When Virginia, in a car with Greg (Richard Rebiere) and Amelia (Lisa Langlois), goes over the bridge, she screams "Mother!" Visibly upset, she demands the car be stopped, and she gets out and runs away. Virginia walks to a local cemetery where she visits her mother's grave. Another student, named Etienne (Michel-René Labelle), offers to walk her home, and Virginia declines.At home, Virginia goes to her room to shower and change her clothes. When she returns to the bathroom, she sees that the recently shut window is now open. She screams in fright as Etienne (who Virginia does not see) jumps down and flees into the night.The next day in chemistry class, the teacher is shocking a pair of frog legs with static electricity, and Virginia flashes back to an operating room, where she is laying on a table with her head wrapped up. She later tells her doctor, David Faraday (Glenn Ford), of the eerie recollection. David tells her that after being injured in an accident, Virginia had been an experiment. She was able to remember something she had previously forgotten due to a regeneration of her damaged brain. David says that she will remember more later.At a dirt bike race, Virginia and her friends are cheering on Etienne, who wins the race. Being the hopeless romantic that he is, he shows Virginia that he won because he had a pair of her underwear next to his heart. Virginia is obviously angry, as is Albert, watching from afar. That night, as Etienne is cleaning his motorbike in his garage, someone approaches him from behind and throws his scarf into the running wheel which pulls his face closer. Then the unseen person revs up the bike, letting the wheel do the rest as it mangles Etienne's face.Later at the village inn, everyone is awaiting Etienne and Alfred. Virginia and Ann (Tracy Bregman) go to find Alfred to find out what "evil deeds he has been up to". They go over to his house and climb through a window into his bedroom and they find Bernadette's severed head on a tray. Alfred is suddenly there and he shows the girls that the head is a fake, calling it his "latest masterpiece". The next day, Virginia and Ann are reprimanded by Mrs. Patterson because she does not believe their claims that they do not know the whereabouts of the missing Bernadette and Etienne.After the group of students view the movie 'High Noon' at the recreational hall, the uninvited Rudi arrives and starts a fight with Steve, who accompanied Maggie (Lenore Zann) (with whom Rudy had been with). Rudi threatens Greg after Greg pulls him away from Steve. That same night, Greg is in his basement lifting weights when the unseen person in black clothing (someone he eventually knows) comes into the room and, at Greg's request, adds more weights. When it is too much, the person refuses to spot Greg, and the person drops a weight onto his crotch, allowing the heavy barbell to fall and crush his throat.The next day, Virginia and Rudi go to the campus bell tower together. Rudi mentions that Virginia is new, but she tells him she was at the academy four years ago for a few weeks. Rudi talks about cutting the bell's rope and brings out his knife, disturbing Virginia.Later, Virginia is with David, flashing back to where her head was cut open in the surgical operation after her accident, and the doctors declared her dead. She tells David about Rudi and the knife, and she panicked and cannot remember anything. David hears about the discovery of a bloody knife at the bell tower and the possibility of foul play. He finds Virginia and tries to persuade her to tell him exactly what happened at the bell tower. Before long, Rudi shows up, and the skull found in the campus garden is only a joke. The students are assembled later by Mrs. Patterson over this practical joke, and Virginia is unsettled and goes to the cemetery again to sit at her mother's grave. She is followed by Alfred who continues to spy on her. But when Alfred gets close, Virginia turns around and stabs him to death with a pair of garden sheers.The next morning, Virginia's father, Hal (Lawrence Dane), is leaving town for a business trip, but be promises to be back on Sunday which is Virginia's 18th birthday. At a school party, Virginia invites Steve over to his place now that her father is out of town. At Virginia's house, while dining on shish kabob by the fireplace, Virginia is feeing Steve when she suddenly shoves the metal bar into his mouth and kills him.The next morning, Ann arrives and tells Virginia, "I wanna hear all the gory details about you and Steve last night". Virginia says that she doesn't remember anything after she came home with Steve and does not know where he is. As Virginia is showering, she flashes back to a rainy night with her irate mother Estelle (Sharon Acker). As they are driving on the drawbridge, it opens, and the car they are in falls into the river. Virginia manages to get out of the car, but her mother drowns. In trying to swim to the surface, Virginia suffers a severe head injury when she hits her head against the bottom of a barge passing over the submerged car under the bridge. Virginia awakens to a bathroom flooded with water and she sees that Ann is dead in the overflowing bathtub.Frantic, Virginia calls Dr. David Faraday who arrives over, but when they go into the bathroom, Ann's body is no longer there. He tells Virginia that he will stay the night and he eludes the police who show up at Virginia's house looking for the missing Ann. David tells Virginia that she must remember what happened to her the evening before her car accident. In a flashback, Virginia remembers that her mother wanted Virginia to have a birthday party at the old guest cottage that sits behind Virginia's house, but none of the other students showed up because there was a birthday party at Ann's house. Virginia's mother is angry and she drove with Virginia over to Ann's house and demanded to be let inside. When she is denied access, Virginia's mother yells from the front gate: "I can't be bought off again!"Virginia, distressed, runs out of the room, only to return a minute later with a fireplace poker which she uses to beat David to death. A little later that evening, Virginia's father, Hal, finally comes home and sees blood all over Virginia's bedroom and runs outside looking for his daughter. After finding David's corpse in the bushes, the father heads to the cottage in the back of the house and discovers, all around a table, the dead bodies of all the students, Bernadette, Etienne, Greg, Alfred, Steve, Ann, along with the decomposing corpse of Virginia's mother stolen from the grave. Virginia walks into the room with a birthday cake with fully lighted candles and singing "happy birthday to me". Virginia blows out the candles and puts a birthday hat on her father as he sits down at the table and sobs. Virginia takes out a large cake knife and offers to cut a slice of cake for him. When Hal does not respond, Virginia suddenly slashes his throat.Virginia next walks over to Ann, lying face down at the table, and lifts up her head. It is actually Virginia at the table wearing Ann's clothes. She awakens, looks up, and immediately struggles with her evil twin who says: " I did it all for you, sister!" Virginia eventually grabs the evil Virginia's face... tearing off a latex mask and reveals Ann standing there. Ann tells Virginia that she would drug her and dress up like her and kill people while disguised as Virginia. When Virginia asks Ann "why", Ann tells her that Virginia's mother was really Ann's father's mistress (which means that the two of them are really half sisters). Ann tells Virginia that Virginia's mother would not let Ann's father ever forget it. Virginia suddenly turns against Ann for killing all her friends and eventually stabs her. As Ann falls to the floor, she tells Virginia that that it doesn't matter if she didn't kill her for she had orchestrated this whole thing to frame Virginia for all the killings. Just as Ann dies, a police officer walks in as Virginia is standing there before Ann's dead body holding the bloody cake knife. "Dear God, what have you done?!" the policeman exclaims. Virginia drops the cake knife and realizes (way too late) that the insane and murderous Ann had indeed gotten her final revenge because it is strongly implied that Virginia will be arrested and get blamed for all the killings that Ann actually did... with no possibility now to prove her innocence.
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revenge, cult, murder, violence, flashback
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Beasts of No Nation
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Agu is a cheerful pre-teen boy playing barefoot with his friends in an African village. He lives in a Christian home, a modest but clean family dwelling with a father, mother, teenage brother, senile grandfather and infant sister. There is talk of war, sounds of gunfire in the distance and UN troops but the family has high spirits and laugh and joke around. As the civil war gets closer the villagers decide to send the women and children to the Capital for safety. In a melee, there is no room for Agu as the packed cars and taxis depart.A short time later the government troops enter the village. The remaining men and boys try to hide but are discovered, an angry Sergeant declares them as spies and orders them killed. The prisoners scatter but are shot, Agu's brother and father are killed but he makes it out to the forest in safety.Agu, wandering in the bush getting hungry is captured by a gang of armed boys, they have machetes, AK-47s and other weapons. The leader is a man called Commandant (Idris Elba) who lets Agu join their battalion. First he is a carrier, hauling an ammo box. The battalion hikes to their camp high in the hills. There Agu is further indoctrinated and brainwashed into the group, and receives training in small arms platoon combat. There is another boy is same age named Strika, angry who never talks. An earnest young man is the second in command referred to as "2-I-C".The first real mission is a road ambush. The youths hide around a bridge and attack a convoy of jeeps and trucks. Successful, they strip the dead enemy of anything valuable. A survivor is brought to the Commandant, who then gives Agu a machete and orders him to kill the man. Pausing and needing some prodding, Agu finally hacks he pleading man, Strika joins in and they chop away furiously. The battalion take the vehicles and drive off.In a town the battalion attacks as part of a larger force to take over a bridge. The Commandant personally leads his troops by coaching and exhorting the scared teens in his unit in a real combat situation. At night they relax and the Commandant calls in Agu to his office. He is on the phone with the Supreme Commander getting congratulations and his next mission. Agu has found a tinfoil pack of drugs on a dead body and offers it to the Commandant. The Commandant teaches Agu the importance of obedience in the military and following orders even if you don't like them. He encourages Agu by telling him he has leadership potential. Going into the bedroom the Commandant snorts the drugs, lays back on his cot and summons Agu to pleasure him.Leaving the hut, Agu is stunned and quiet, Strika comforts him.The battalion attacks another town, shooting people on the streets and ransacking houses. Agu and his team find a woman and young child hiding in a bedroom. Confused, Agu thinks the woman is his mother and tries to hug her, then realizes she is not. Upset, he paces around then shoots her in the head as another teen is starting to rape her. The boys then stomp the infant. After, Agu starts using drugs like the older boys in the battalion.The Commandant is summoned to see the Supreme Commandant, he brings Agu, Strika and a few others. They are made to wait several hours before the elegant politician deigns to see him. The white suited man announces the Commandant will be promoted to Deputy Security Chief, but the Commandant sees it as a demotion and wonders about his pay.For his last night with his boys the Commandant takes them to a brothel. The older ones go to rooms with the ladies while Agu and Strika drink beer and sleep in the reception area. A gunshot rings out and the 2-I-C staggers out clutching his stomach. A prostitute says it was an accident as she was playing with his gun. Frantic, the Commandant orders the women shot and the men leave quickly. 2-I-C dies later.The Commandant refuses his promotion and takes his battalion back into the bush. In a skirmish Strika is shot, Agu tries to carry him piggyback but the boys dies. They cover him with leaves and continue. In a fetid en-trenched base where are the troops are either drugged up or shooting randomly, they approach a weary Commandant. The new 2-I-C says they have no money or bullets and are leaving. Everyone points weapons at each other but the Commandant relents and let's them go. A short while later a UN force disarms and captures the straggling teens.Agu is sent to a pleasant ocean-side camp with other youngsters. The boys play soccer and swim in the surf and receive counselling. A reticent Agu goes through the DTs to get over his drug addiction and finally opens up to a social worker and goes to play with the others.
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violence
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A gripping account of modern day war seen through a child's eyes, Beasts of No Nation is easily one of the best of the year.The first thing you'll notice is how beautiful the film is.
Director and cinematographer Cary Fukunaga makes sure you remember the reality of this not-so-fictional story, paralleling Agu's family life and how his world was flipped upside down when he joined a group of mercenary fighters.
He never lets us forget the harsh realities of war, touching on familiar themes like family but going a step further by making it personal for Agu. As the film is his story through and through, the adult details of war are kept to a minimum.
The film doesn't specify what part of Africa it is, but you know it is something that is real.Netflix doesn't hide anything about the realities of what happens to families, children, fathers, and brothers, as well as the numbness the war leaders (on both sides, really) have toward excessive and brutal violence.
He is forced into a mercenary squad after his family is torn apart, and he experiences something that is even darker than hell itself.That young boy, played by Abraham Attah, puts on a performance I have never seen before in a child actor.
I felt foolish realizing my immaturity in life, and felt embarrassed for us as America in general, for caring so much about things so materialistic and shallow, when people in Africa (and other parts of the world, no doubt), are fighting for their lives every day, being torn apart by corrupt leaders and greed.To compare this film, it is similar to The City of God and Blood Diamond, but in an of itself, it is certainly unique.
He could do whatever he wanted after that, and so, tip toeing past comfortable studio gigs that may or may not have landed on his desk, he ventured out to the African jungles with Idris Elba for the most stressful shoot since Apocalypse Now. Catching malaria, filling in for an injured camera operator, and constantly rewriting the script due to the actors dropping out, the haphazard conditions shows on the film for better and for worse.Coppola's film is an apt point of comparison for the effect of Beasts of No Nation, as well as Platoon and The Thin Red Line.
Netflix's first outing on the big screen is a huge success thanks to an absolutely harrowing tale of conflict that makes for one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking movie experiences you've had in a long time.The story follows this young boy, Agu, as he becomes deeper and deeper involved in the rebel army under the wing of the Commandant, played by Idris Elba.
Elba is often terrifying as the warmongering troop leader, and his unnerving performance is key to making this such an unsettling and disturbing film.However, even Idris Elba is outshone by the stunning performance given by the young Abraham Attah, who plays Agu. Attah does a brilliant job at showing his character's transformation over the course of the story, from an innocent young boy to a hardened warrior in one of the most brutal wars on the planet.This ties in perfectly, then, with the main theme of the film, which is all about the way that war destroys innocence entirely and replaces it with only doom and despair.
In that, you can see that this is clearly an anti-war film, but it fortunately doesn't present itself so much as that, only giving you its powerful message if you concentrate hard enough and look for the details telling you about the destruction that war has brought to this place.I say that because this film is, on the whole, not the most fast- paced, and if you watch it with your brain turned off, you'll likely be bored, because it's quite long, and hasn't got much action at all, it's the power and emotion of the underlying themes that provides the horrifying punch that makes this so compelling and upsetting.Cary Joji Fukunaga's directing is also stunning.
There are so many astonishing long shots of individuals' faces, particularly focused on Agu, and they just have such an incredible emotional power when you really look deep into their situation.Abraham Attah's performance as a young boy who has clearly been through hell is of course integral to making that emotion clear, but the inventive and beautiful directing really aggrandises that feeling of total despair and loss of innocence, which is why this film is just such an incredible one to watch..
It's the performances of both Elba and newcomer Abraham Attah (as Agu) that make this such a devastating and fascinating movie to watch, and it's the filmmaking of Fukunaga that keeps our eyes glued to the screen when we would just as soon turn away..
The sad part is that this tale, as brutal as it is, it still isn't as powerful as it proclaims to be.'Beasts of No Nation' is A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.'Beasts of No Nation' is well-made, but not very well-written.
The Netflix film "Beasts of No Nation" is a dramatization of such an army but the exact countries involved are never mentioned...and it could be one of several across the continent.The film centers on a boy who appears to be about 8-10 years old, Agu. When the film begins, he's living in a zone controlled by the UN, though true to form the UN troops soon leave and the village is destroyed by government forces.
This non-traditional form of release could also be blamed for its omission from the Academy Awards, with Idris Elba's Best Actor snub the most glaring eyebrow-raiser in the #OscarSoWhite debate.Of the film itself, Beasts of No Nation is an intermittently excellent portrayal of child soldiers in an unnamed African country that works best when focusing on innocence lost and the relationship between narrator Agu (Abraham Attah) and his Commandant (Elba), yet hampered by pacing issues and an exhausting running time.
(note: this movie isn't a casual Saturday night film to watch drunk in your fraternity house eating cold cuts off of your stomach, it is quite deep and VERY disturbing.)This film follows a young African boy named Agu (Abraham Attah).
Here we are exposed to what hints at slight character development (something this movie really lacks), the disturbing atrocities committed by both Commandant and the rest of the battalion, and the brilliant narration given by Agu.With all of this in mind, it will be shocking to know that my biggest complaint with this film is it is hard to care about many of the characters.
I also feel that had we been given more historical background and information on the war being fought, we would better understand the situation of this African country (which I don't even remember having a name the movie!).So do I recommend you watch this?
Director Cary Fukunaga brings us the turmoil of war as experienced by child soldiers through the eyes and words of Agu (Abraham Attah).The film starts of sweetly, in a safe zone of an unnamed West African country, Agu and his friends go about with a television box without a screen entertaining villagers and UN soldiers.
They sell the TV set as a box of imagination.Before long in the country ravaged with civil war, they are abandoned by the UN soldiers, his father and brother are killed, he is separated from his mother and sister and under the tutelage of the Commandant (Idris Elba) in order to survive he goes from being a playful young boy to a brutal soldier as he is firstly forced to hack a man to death.The Commandant is a sadistic mercenary, who trains the child soldiers and at night selects some of the boys to rape.
Superb acting - especially by the lead young boy Agu. The movie contains some very harrowing scenes - it's not an easy watch, but it is worthwhile.The movie is well directed and gives you plenty of food for thought.
Set in an unnamed West African country, director Cary Fukunaga, takes us through the turmoils of war as we experience it through the eyes of a young child who is forced to become a soldier.
So, without having to make a one-time overpriced transaction to see the movie, and without having to leave the comfort of my room, I watched Beasts of No Nation.The film chronicles the tragic journey of a young child, Agu, living in a nameless nation ravaged by war.
Credit is definitely due to the writing of this complex commander, but Idris Elba makes his insanity plausible and not just a showpiece.Speaking of the writing, Cary Joji Fukunaga not only wrote and directed, but shot the film, and the cinematography is probably the strongest dimension.
Movie theaters choosing to pass on the film simply because it wanted to release it on the big screen and Netflix at the same time makes the movie theater chains feel like the 'cool kid' on the block who never leaves his hometown; irrelevant, pathetic, and soon to be forgotten while the rest of the world progresses on.
A great Idris Elba and a wonderfull performance of the main character(Abraham Attah) makes this movie one of the best netflix originals.
Intense, destabilising, profound, shocking...this is what movie making should be about...subtly invites the audience to judge the protagonist...despite the brutality, the inner voice yearns for answers to the horror that war brings...beautiful vibrant cinematography, well paced editing, absorbing soundtrack, top notch acting...who needs Oscars...this director has some talent.
However, Abraham Attah, only 13 or 14 at the time, steals the show as Agu. He is excellent in the role.Solid supporting performances.The best movie Netflix has made, to date..
Movie Review: "Beasts of No Nation" (2015)With an almost honest look on the child soldiers situation in Central Africa, director Cary Fukunaga, known as creator of a spellbinding HBO Miniseries ''True Detective" (2014) starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, comes the first independent as initally daring Netflix production, which even with towering, but then emotionally disappointing actor Idris Elba, can not convince any audience at home or at abandoned theatres in award season 2015 that at least outstanding television format director Cary Fukunaga is to be wish the best of success for a crowning film-noirish dark conclusion for faithful 007 actor Daniel Craig in the motion picture delux production of yet untitled ''Bond 25''.FAZIT: Picture declined (cut)Cinemajesty Entertainments 2018.
The film does a good job depicting the brutal process of African youth being converted into child soldiers, not only in this un-named West African nation, but probably throughout all of Africa.
Beast of no Nation painted vivid shots of what life was like for these child soldiers, so it can be a little hard to watch.
It's the story of a child soldier fighting a civil war in an unnamed African country (filmed in Ghana).
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga who also directed a season of the classic TV series True Detective 2014-15 has created a gem in Beasts of No Nation.Starring Idris Elba who has also been in other classic flicks, Star Trek Beyond 2016, Bastille Day 2016, Avengers: Age of Ultron 2015, RocknRolla 2008 and 28 Weeks Later 2007.Also starring Abraham Attah.I enjoyed the often overlooked story of children used as soldiers in Africa and the violence.If you enjoyed this as much as then check out other classic African flicks, Johnny Mad Dog 2008, Viva Riva!
Beasts of No Nation is a Netflix original movie about Child slavery and its role during an African civil war.
Beasts of No Nation stars Abraham Attah as the young, trouble Agu and Idris Elba as the power-hungry, merciless Commandant who leads the battalion.
excellent acting directing and filming makes this movie the call for help to put and end to wars..
This movie is about child soldiers in an un-named African country, and it manages to show both the horrors of (civil) war and the beauty of Africa at the same time.
Beasts of No Nation is a Netflix original movie that was filmed in Ghana Africa with the plot of the story taking place in West Africa.
The main actors of the film are Abraham Attah who played Agu and Idris Elba who played the Commandant.
They end up taking him in as one of their own and we as the audience get to see Agu's childhood and innocence slip away as he is transformed into a child soldier.The Director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, uses a staccato filming style near the beginning of the film.
Netflix's first original film "Beasts of No Nation" explores the horrors of child soldiers in an unnamed African country.
It's an impressively constructed effort and for all those that may have worried Fukunaga's work on True Detective was but a flash in the pan, they can rest easy on the basis of the product he has delivered here.There's a wild, almost nightmare like quality to how Fukunaga captures much of the goings on in Beasts; from the jungle set camp of the warring soldiers, the fighting scenes (in particular a mind altered look at a village battle) and the way in which our main protagonist and child soldier Agu delivers a voice-over to let the audience into his inner mindset set, Beasts is a beast of its very own, and it's all the better for it for not conforming to usual resolutions or plot progressions.At the very heart of Fukunaga's film also is the delivery of one of the best child performances your likely to ever see and another feather in the cap of Idris Elba whose quickly becoming one of his generations most powerful performers.
Alongside his seasoned co-star in the form of Elba's charismatic yet vulnerable commandant, Beasts features some of the year's best performances and it wouldn't be surprising to see these two at next year's Oscar ceremony.Beasts of No Nation marks the beginning of a brave new world, a Netflix led charge on feature film watching and while it's a shame many of us will never get to see this devastating beauty on the big screen, we should be more than excited for what the future holds on the basis of this no holds barred tale that shows the loss of innocence in the midst of chaos and death.One of the year's best films and in many ways most shocking (a few scenes are almost unbearable in subject matter and intensity), Beasts of No Nation is yet another reason to suggest Fukunaga could well become not only one of the best filmmakers of his generation, but one the most accomplished filmmakers in many moons.4 ½ screen-free TV's out of 5.
The story follows a young boy named Agu (Abraham Attah) who finds himself thrown into the war by the Commandant (Idris Elba), throughout the film Agu must face situations that no one in their lifetime should ever have to experience.One of the most stunning aspects of this film is the atmosphere in which all of the events of the movie unfold.
Abraham's subtle body language and facial expressions do a great job of displaying the emotions Agu would experience in such scenarios.Supporting actor, Idris Elba, had several very impressive performances throughout the movie.
"Beasts of No Nation" is one of 2015's most realistic and visceral films, an unforgettable drama detailing the experiences of a young boy named Agu who is forced into joining a group of child soldiers trained into become guerrilla killers during Nigeria's civil war.
After all, who really wants to watch a movie about child soldiers recruited to become killers in savage African civil wars?
The first in what is sure to be a long era of Netflix films, Beasts of No Nation, helmed by True Detective Season 1's Cary Fukunaga, tracks a young boy, Agu, in an unnamed West African country ravaged by civil war who is taken under the wing of the charismatic Rebel Commandant (Idris Elba) after his family is killed by government forces.
The film follows the story of Agu (Abraham Attah), a young West African boy who gets involved in his country's civil war after joining a rebel military battalion headed by the powerful Commandant (Idris Elba).
This film delivers a powerful message, with the help of it's shocking content and brilliant acting from both Idris Elba and the previously unknown child actor, Abraham Attah.
That's not to say that the picture isn't impressive by any means for it is definitely a powerful, provocative & compelling piece of work but this movie industry's immoderate fascination with the civil war subject is slowly becoming unhealthy.Set in an unnamed West African country, Beasts of No Nation tells the story of a young boy named Agu who, after witnessing his family being gunned down by soldiers, flees from the village but inadvertently runs into the rebel forces and is coerced to join them in their fight.
The plot then follows Agu's harrowing journey as a child soldier plus the loss of innocence he undergoes after witnessing the brutality & hardships of war.Written, shot & directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation takes a very no-holds- barred approach to bring its script to life on the film canvas and is able to depict everything in an uncompromising manner.
They loved me".The story is about a young child in an unnamed African country learns to become a soldier under the tutelage of a Commandant.Beasts of No Nation is shocking, powerful, heartbreaking and scary to watch sometimes.
'BEASTS OF NO NATION': Four Stars (Out of Five)Netflix's new critically acclaimed war film; starring, and co- produced by, Idris Elba.
The film tells the story of Agu, a child who finds himself as a soldier in a civil war in Africa.
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Autostop rosso sangue
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Somewhere in northern California, Walter Mancini (Franco Nero), an alcoholic reporter, and his spitful wife Eve (Corrine Clery) are on a road trip with a trailer heading back to Los Angeles. Their marriage is strained over their long conflict over Walter's drinking, and Eve's suspected infidelity. During an overnight stay at a local campground, Walter gets a little too roudy with some of the other campers and breaks his left hand.The next day, as Eve is driving with Walter along a deserted two-lane road, they pick up a hitch-hiker (David Hess) whose car has just broken down. The hitchhiker introduces himself as Adam Konitz and he intially asks them to drive him to the nearist gas station so he can get to a phone to call a tow truck for his car. When Eve and Walter protest over driving their guest over a long distance, Konitz pulls out a gun on them and reveals himself to be a sadistic escapee from an institution for the criminally insane, and he is running from the law after robbing two million dollars from a bank in a nearby town with his partners. Holding the couple hostage, he orders Eve to head to Mexico. They are soon stopped by two policemen for speeding. After Walter attempts to signal them by writing "SOS" on his matchbox, Konitz shoots them both. He threatens to kill both of them if they pull another half-baked stunt like that again.While the three stop for the night off the road, Konitz's two partners, whom he had betrayed to get all the loot for himself, shoot at Konitz and take control of the money and the car. They decide to keep the Mancinis alive until reaching the Mexican border. While driving, they are attacked by someone in a truck. The attacker turns out to be Konitz who kills his former associates and again takes the Mancinis hostage. After they reach a secluded place, Konitz rapes Eve and forces Walter to watch the act. As Konitz gets ready to kill Walter, Eve shoots and kills him with Walter's hunting rifle.Despite Eve's opposition, Walter decides to keep the $2 million for themselves instead of going to the police. After four young motorcyclists the couple meet at a gas station pass them and pour oil on the road, the Mancinis' car goes off the road and crashes. One of the youngsters steals Walter's wallet and Eve's purse taking $200 in cash from it and leaves the couple in their wrecked car for death. But the thugs leave the suitcase on the back seat untouched (they do not know about the stolen cash in it). After the road thieves ride away, Walter wakes up and sees that Eve is badly hurt and she requests help from Walter. Walter brings Konitz's body from their trailer and plants it on the accident scene. He then tells the dying Eve that the thieves had only helped him. He had planned to stop after 15 to 20 miles, kill her and make it look like an accident. The sadistic Walter lights up a cigarette and sets the car and the trailer on fire. Eve is burned to death. Walter starts walking and, hearing a car come by, thumbs a ride.
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cult, violence
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A tough one about self-hatred, mayhem and self- destruction: Franco Nero as a down-&-out reporter, Corinne Clery as his sexy, completely hollow spouse, plus David Hess doing his usual good- humored-and-mean-as-hell thing.
There are clear-cut villains (no surprises: David Hess) in this film, but the complete absence of really likeable characters makes this uncomfortable viewing.
I agree with the other reviewers who lament David Hess's minor film career--his three key roles (Last House, House on the Edge, and Hitch Hike) showed amazing sleaze potential (he could've been the wisecracking villain in summer action movies if his time had come 20 years later).
It's an uncommon little B movie with the gloss and name actors (Franco Nero, Corrine Clery) of an A picture, along with a surprising moral slant, gay stickup men, and twists galore.
Like most Italian exploitation films, "Hitch Hike" sometimes bogs down in a bit too much excess talk, but it helps flesh out the characters--they're not mere victims or heroes, but people, too.
Intense, off-beat Italian thriller is an underexposed classic.Fueding married couple, traveling across the country, make the mistake of picking up a hitch hiker who turns out to be a violent bank robber.
The terrific David Hess makes for another great villain, also having played a crazed criminal in both Craven's Last House on the Left (1972) and another Italian exploitation film House on the Edge of the Park (1979).For those who are seeking an unconventional thriller or just a fan of Hess, this film will be a well rewarding watch.*** 1/2 out of ****.
"Hitch Hike" is one of the best road movies I have ever seen.
The legendary David Hess pulls off another great performance as the brutal hitch-hiker whilst the loving couple Franco "Django" Nero and Corinne Clery as Walter and Eve make for compulsive viewing.Involving and always engaging.
From the moment it starts, it grabs your attention and doesn't let it go until the film ends; moody, dark, exciting and brilliant; Hitch Hike is a rare gem that should not be missed by anyone lucky enough to get the chance to see it.In the familiar style of the more well known hitchhiker films such The Hitcher, Hitch Hike follows the fortunes of an Italian couple; a reporter and his wife that are traveling across America.
And obviously, that turns out to be a bad decision....Hitch Hike features three outstanding performances from it's three main leads; Franco Nero, who was made famous for Django, Corinne Clery, the beautiful young lady that would go on to play James Bond's love interest in Moonraker, and of course, David Hess; a man that horror fans will recognize from the shock horror classic; The Last House on the Left.
All three of the leads portray their characters excellently, especially Franco Nero, at certain points in the movie, such as the part in which his wife is brutally raped, he really draws you into his character and you can feel his anger flowing from the TV screen.
And finally; Corinne Clery, undoubtedly the least outstanding of the three in terms of character strength, gets to flex her acting muscles somewhat too as the victim of most of the film's brutality.What makes Hitch Hike so thrilling is mainly its free flowing and meandering plot structure.
This is done multiple times in the film and it really keeps the audience on their toes.Aside from being a thrilling exploitation flick, Hitch Hike is also an interesting character study.
This is a great thing for this movie, as you never really know where you are with the characters and they can always surprise you; the shocking and ironic ending epitomizes this best.
The movie has a great way of drawing the viewer in with it's attention-grabbing banter, and yet at the same time making them wish they were somewhere else due to the tenseness and foreboding feel of danger about it.Hitch Hike also features a fantastic soundtrack from a man that is probably the best composer there ever was; Ennio Morricone.
His music adds texture and vibrancy to the picture and really succeeds in making the powerful images on screen that much more powerful.Hitch Hike is a tense, exciting and efficient thriller and overall I find it hard to pick any faults with it, and the only real fault I can muster is that the dubbing isn't always great.
Not surprisingly (considering it's an Italian exploitation movie), Bond girl Corrine Clery spends half the film at least partially naked, but what is surprising is that she would have been excellent regardless.
It is an Italian-produced piece of drive-in drivel featuring European megastar Franco Nero as a drunken, bitter journalist touring the US with his gorgeous young wife Corinne Clery (best known to British audiences for her role in Moonraker); a dysfunctional couple at best, the flaws in their relationship are well and truly exposed when they pick up a stranded motorist who unfortunately turns out to be a psychopathic bank robber on the lam (played by mop-topped David Hess, reprising his patented 'complete scumbag' routine familiar from Wes Craven's highly unpleasant 1972 D-movie dog turd The Last House on the Left)...
At best a film of two halves, Hitch-Hike is quite accomplished technically (an action scene in which Hess guns down two dopey cops is shot with Peckinpah-like style, whilst the several stunt sequences involving speeding vehicles are also pretty decent), and largely well-acted (Nero is particularly good), but the film is nevertheless undone by the mostly unimaginative script (the dialogue, of which there is a lot, is inane in the extreme, never more so than when Hess tries to persuade Nero to write a book about him, treating him to several deeply uninteresting anecdotes from his childhood, whilst the early scene in a campsite must be one of the worst-written, and most ineptly post-synched, pieces of film I've ever seen), the seedy emphasis on threats of impending sexual assault against the shapely Clery, and the many dumbly illogical things it requires the characters to do to drive the plot forward.
This angle leads to the disturbing scene in which Hess finally succeeds in having his way with Clery, whilst the hog-tied Nero watches in horror, which is incredibly crass as it portrays the wife as actually enjoying the act (a conceit in itself that might account for the flick's obscurity, as it would generally result in any film getting an instant red card from censors).
The last quarter of Hitch-Hike admittedly drags it out of the ordinary (and out of the gutter), as it skilfully sketches the Nero character's final moral collapse, and ends the film on a considerable (and logical) downer.
Same with Franco Nero, a very good actor but he seems to have been asleep or something during this movie because his acting is horrible.
Here you go."Hitch-Hike" is a rip off of Mario Bava's classic road-horror, "Kidnapped," with a dash of "Last House on the Left" and sprinkle of "Race With The Devil" thrown in for good measure.
I thought he pulled it off wonderfully.There are many, many Italian exploitation/sleaze/horror films that you should have seen before this one if "Hitch-Hike" shocks you at all.Oh yea- the soundtrack is awesome.7 out of 10, kids..
Ennio Morricone's score is again, quite unique and adds quite a lot to the film and the cinematography is outstanding and looks beautiful on the region 2 Anchor Bay disc.
The simple, straightforward direction, the visually beautiful locations, the atmospheric score, and Franco Nero's great performance (I know David Hess has his fans also, but he really doesn't display much charisma in this role; imagine what a Henry Silva could have done with this!) are all positive qualities of the film.
Recommend for fans of road trip films, Franco Nero fans, and camping enthusiasts.
I had never even heard of it before today and it was so good that I wish I had so I could have enjoyed it sooner.David Hess is one of the kings of exploitation and he rules in this film as the hitchhiker that destroys a bickering couple's trip.
The story is great and even better than most exploitation films because it's very well thought out and has a lot of clever plot twists that you will never see coming.
Great action/drama about a married couple who hate each other that pick up an escaped convict played by the man, David Hess.
Movies from the seventies are notorious for their high levels of sexual situations and violence as compared to films today, thus they're always worth checking out just on those merits alone."Hitch-hike" was no exception.
Walter Mancini (Franco Nero) and his wife Eve (Corinne Cléry) pick up a young man with a suitcase full of stolen money, Adam (David Hess).
Franco Nero does not play a hero - his character Mancini takes as much pleasure in humiliating his wife as the criminal does.
'Hitch-Hike', it must be said, provides a great opportunity for David Hess to play a raging lunatic, who enjoys telling his life-story, pleased with himself to a ridiculous degree.
The film is beautifully made with majestic visuals, great Morriconne score and for a film with so little actual story, completely captivating direction, helped enormously by good dialogue, gobbled up and spat out by true heroes of exploitation cinema.
the film is so good that although ostensibly a road movie, it takes on a life its own and grabs you as it goes.
Hitch-Hike...what a great road movie.
The plot follows an unhappily married couple who pick up a disturbed hitch-hiker (played remarkably well by David Hess) and the nightmare ride that ensues.
Genre staple Franco Nero and Corinne Clery play Walter and Eve, a couple whose marriage is on the rocks.
Hitch Hike (1977) *** (out of 4) Bickering couple Walter (Franco Nero) and Eve (Corinne Clery) are on vacation when they decide to pick up hitch hiker Adam (David Hess).
Before long the couple realizes that their arguing is the least of their troubles.HITCH HIKE is a rather interesting Italian movie that you probably think you know what's going to happen going into it.
Hess was always great at playing a bad guy and this here is one of the best performances I've seen from him.
I think a tad bit more editing would have made for a much better movie but there are still plenty of great things in HITCH HIKE and it's certainly worth watching..
A European couple on a long road trip in California picks up a hitch-hiker who turns out to be a psycho.
It appears that Nero and Clery, playing a bickering couple in a troubled marriage, are dubbed, but it could just be bad acting.
With a cast that includes Italian icon Franco Nero in the lead, 'Mr. Evil Psycho' David Hess as the villain, and the stunningly beautiful Corinne Clery in the female lead, a fan of Italian 70s cinema simply cannot go wrong.
Before seeing this, many people might expect another imitation of Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left", but these are unjustified preconceptions, as this is a very tense and original film of its own right, that doesn't have much in common with Craven's film other then David Hess as the bad guy.The constantly drunk Italian journalist Walter Mancini (Franco Nero), and his sexy wife Eve (Corinne Clery) are making a cross-country tour of the United States, and constantly fighting while doing so.
When they pick up a Hitchhiker named Adam Konitz (David Hess), their marital disputes soon turn out to be the least of their problems...Franco Nero is one of my favorite actors, and once again delivers an excellent performance here.
Corinne Clery is gorgeous, and fits very well in the role of the seductive, overtly submissive and masochistic wife Eve. It seems odd that a goddess like her would fall for her scumbag husband, but the fact that she bares it all several times makes the film all the more recommendable.
There are several brutal outbursts, as well as scenes of rape and sadism, and beautiful Corinne Clery gets naked on several occasions.In many ways, this film resembles Mario Bava's "Cani Arrabbiati" ("Rabid Dogs", 1974), which, in my opinion is one of the most essential Italian cult-masterpieces of the 70s.
I have to say that this violent Italian thriller exceeded my expectations, making up for an overly familiar central situation (the hostage/road movie type) by being pretty smart overall – but it keeps piling on the twists and, consequently, goes on twenty minutes too long!
The film also benefits from being well-cast: Franco Nero as the alcoholic small-time reporter husband, Corinne Clery as his desirable, wealthy yet indignant wife and David Hess in his all-too-typical role of the psychotic criminal (which, in the accompanying interview, cites as being his favorite).
David Hess is at it again as another rapist-psycho in the exploitation "road-thriller", HITCH-HIKE.
An Italian film shot to look as though it was filmed in the desert of the U.S. south-west, HITCH-HIKE is an often tense and entertaining film, that despite a good bit of relatively graphic violence, rape, and other "strong" content, never really seems to cross the line into blatantly sleazy exploit territory.
An exploit film definitely - but one with a bit more substance than most...Playing a role much like the ones he's portrayed in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE PARK - Hess puts on a powerful performance as a bank robber picked up by a drunk reporter and his extremely tolerant wife - the daughter of a publishing mogul.
Franco Nero as the rough-and-tumble alcoholic reporter and Corinne Clery as his tolerant wife shine very much as well (especially Clery, who is gorgeous and spends a good bit of the film in various degrees of undress...).
It's a truly harrowing homicidal hitchhiker opus with a stand-out psycho perf by the ever-intense David Hess as a dangerous highway bandit who forces both Franco Nero and Corrine Clery as a bickering unhappily married couple to give him a ride.
It's expertly directed by Pasquale Festa Companile, with uniformly excellent acting from the whole cast (Hess in particular is wonderfully repulsive in his finest screen scumbag role to date), a tasty Ennio Morricone score, and several jarring outbursts of blood-curdlingly brutal violence, this unsung gem is well worth picking up.
Bickering couple Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry pick up hitchhiking bank robbery suspect David Hess out in the California desert.
I abide by a simple rule when driving: never pick up a hitch-hiker, especially if he looks like David Hess.
Bickering married couple Walter and Eve Mancini (Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry) do just that whilst driving cross country, quickly coming to regret offering stranded driver Adam Konitz (Hess) a lift when they discover that their passenger is in fact an escaped lunatic and armed robber who is on the run with $2m in his suitcase.While Hess is no doubt the most loathesome character in the car, the depraved killer quickly showing his true colours, Walter and Eve are no angels either: Walter is an egostistical, drunken, misogynistic, failed reporter living off his wife's money, while Eve is something of a spoiled ***** (although Corinne Cléry's stunning beauty cuts her a lot of slack in my eyes).
The fun is in being along for the ride, not knowing where the film will take you.At 104 minutes, Hitch-hike is possibly a little too long, heavy on dialogue that might have benefitted from some judicious trimming, but director Pasquale Festa Campanile doesn't allow the pace to drop too much, delivering enough exploitative content at regular intervals to keep fans of '70s sleaze more than happy.
With an uncompromising dark tone, effectively depraved moments, and committed performances by its star trio, "Autostop Rosso Sangue" (American title: "Hitch-Hike") is a solid and compelling exploitation feature from co-writer / director Pasquale Festa Campanile.
Played out against some stunning rural vistas, it's got enough gore, sleaziness, and nudity to satisfy devotees of this genre.Franco "Django" Nero plays a reporter named Walter Mancini who's going on a trip with his wife Eve (Corinne Clery of "Moonraker").
Most of the rest of the movie shows what happens when Walter and Eve find that they can't get Adam out of their lives."Hitch-Hike" is potent stuff, with two motorcycle cops getting gunned down and a pivotal scene involving Adams' rape of Eve. The stunning Ms. Clery shows all of the goods in a couple of shots.
HITCH-HIKE is a moralistic Italian crime thriller with a sleazy feel that comes from the presence in the cast of David Hess, playing up to his usual sadistic LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT persona.
He plays a volatile hitch-hiker who is picked up by bickering couple Franco Nero and Corinne Clery and subsequently holds them hostage on a lengthy road trip.
****SPOILERS*** One of the better "Hitch-Hiker from Hell" movies that has Walter & Eve Mancini,Franco Nero & Corinne Clery,held hostage by this escaped from an institution the criminally insane hitch-hiker Adam Konitz,David Hess,in an effort to get him across the border into Mexico.
A psychological road-thriller, mixed with exploitation elements and the voice used to dub David Hess laughs like Elmer Fudd...
I can't say it never works, the psychological warfare comes off pretty good at times, but overall the plot is too contrived and the characters / actors fail to get the right mood across - it basically gets stuck in the b-movie exploitation genre.
For approximately 80 minutes, "Autostop Rosso Sangre" is a gripping & compelling mixture between road-movie, psychological thriller and down-to-the-ground exploitation.
Hitch-hike is an Italian exploitation effort.
All 3 of the main actors have been in far better movie.Nero will be forever Django, Clery will be forever O (as in Story of), and Hess will always be Krug (ok in Hess's case probably a bit of type-casting there).
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tt0260991
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Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA
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Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the DMZ at a North Korean border house, before Sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-hun), a South Korean soldier on border duties, attempts to flee back to the South Korean side. The southern troops rescue him while the gunfire erupts and, two days later, the fragile relationship between the two Koreas depends on a special investigation conducted by Swiss Army Major Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young-ae) on behalf of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.As Sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok has confessed to the shootings, Sophie investigates why the two Koreas have contradicting accounts of events; Soo-hyeok's states he was knocked out and kidnapped while relieving himself and, waking tied up in the North Korean border house, secretly freed himself and shot three North Korean soldiers, leaving two dead. The North Korean survivor Sergeant Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) states that Soo-hyeok barged into the border house and shot everyone before retreating when the wounded Kyeong-pil returned fire.The autopsy report shows that one NK soldier, Jeong Woo-jin (Shin Ha-kyun), was shot eight times repeatedly, indicating a grudge was held; additionally, a single bullet is not accounted for. Over the course of the investigation, witness Private First Class Nam Sung-shik (Kim Tae-woo) attempts suicide by jumping out of the window of the interrogation room and a strange emotional reaction between Kyeong-pil and Soo-hyeok during a meeting causes Sophie to confirm her suspicions that the surviving soldiers and Woo-jin held a mutual friendship and were attempting to protect one another.Explained through flashbacks it is shown that Soo-hyeok was on patrol with other soldiers, only to get lost on the North Korean side and to partially trip a mine. Found by Kyeong-pil and Woo-jin, the two North Koreans deactivate the mine, which later prompts Soo-hyeok to throw written messages over the border to maintain contact with his two new friends. Eventually inviting Soo-hyeok across the border, the three become a group of friends that soon includes Sung-shik, with the four agreeing to leave politics out of their friendship so to remain loyal to their own respective countries.As tensions rise between the North and South, Soo-hyeok and Sung-shik return to the North through the Joint Security Area to say goodbye and celebrate Woo-jin's birthday, only to be discovered by a commanding officer from the North and resulting in a Mexican Standoff. Despite Woo-jin panicking and betraying his friends, Kyeong-pil convinces Woo-jin, Soo-hyeok and the officer to lower their weapons, only for Sung-shik to panic and shoot the commanding officer when he reaches for his radio; when Woo-jin draws his gun again, Sung-shik shoots him, and in a daze shoots his corpse several times. Earlier in their friendship when Soo-hyeok is joking around with his gun, Kyeong-pil asked Soo-hyeok if he'd ever had to kill a man like he's had to, implying that Soo-hyeok doesn't know what it's like. Kyeong-pil slaps Sung-shik out of his daze, takes the gun from him and kills the still-alive officer, then persuades Sung-shik and Woo-jin to flee with a false alibi of being kidnapped, before throwing away the evidence that he and Woo-jin were fraternizing with Southern soldiers. After shooting Kyeong-pil in the shoulder to complete the alibi, Soo-hyeok and Sung-shik flee across the border, with the former getting past unseen; as Soo-hyeok's wounded leg from the firefight prevents him from running, he is the only soldier seen and picked up by soldiers.Sophie is eventually removed from the case when it's discovered that her father, a former POW, had North Korean ties during the Korean War, thus technically making her a non-neutral. Before leaving, she attempts to informally learn of the true events first with Kyeong-pil and then Soo-hyeok. Having asked Kyeong-pil if he had a message for Soo-hyeok, Sophie gives Soo-hyeok the lighter he first gave to Kyeong-pil. Before saying goodbye and wishing him well, she reveals that Kyeong-pil told her that he saw Soo-hyeok's gun actually shot Woo-jin first during the chaos before Sung-shik shot him. On his way out, Soo-hyeok steals an officer's pistol and commits suicide out of guilt for Woo-jin's death and Sung-shik's suicide attempt.The film concludes with an American tourist's photograph of the joint security area that accidentally contains all four soldiers prior to the incident.
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tragedy, violence, murder
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train
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imdb
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Fusing a Hollywood-style 'who-dunnit' with an intellectually poignant essay on Korean geopolitics, 'Joint Security Area' ('JSA') offered a surprisingly moving twist to an otherwise engaging film.
'JSA' perceptively explored a modern day Korean psyche - that heartfelt desire for kinship and unity between the people of both Koreas.'Joint Security Area' is a timely film with a universal message - "Let not differences in race, religion or ideological allegiance blindside our judgement, especially in these violent and confusing times."
The smart Major finds lack of consistency in the statements of the survivors, and in spite of being pressed by her superior, she interviews South Koreans Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Byung-hun Lee) and private Nam Sung-shik (Tae-woo Kim), and the North Korean Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Kang-ho Song), disclosing a tragic story of friendship.
I don't know about that: When a country has been as divided as has Korea for the past half-century, a movie like this must have really knocked the socks off of a lot of South Koreans (I doubt it could be shown in the North).
A compelling and moving work in its own right, JSA makes something haunting and memorable out of a situation which, in outline, could easily have proved propagandist and dull.It takes place entirely at the Panmunjom, the Korea DMZ peace village where North and South Koreans face off under the terms of 50-year-old treaty, glaring at each other across a thin stretch of ground, huddled over spyglasses and rifle barrels, or staring each other down across a borderline.
In the more profound JSA, national division provides a starting point for an examination of the human condition, as soldiers on either side of the line discover what it is to establish warm, normal interaction - even at terrible cost."There are two kinds of people in this world - Commie bastards and the Commie bastards' enemies" says a South Korean officer to the Swiss investigator Major Sophie Jean (Yeong-ae Lee) at the start of Park's film.
Ultimately the 'Joint Security Area' becomes less a site of military stalemate than a place where emotional ties ought to provide their own justification and balance.The structure of Park's film is an intriguing one: a straightforward, and reasonably suspenseful investigation of an outrage frames a sequence of flashbacks and reminiscences, often presented in non-linear manner, fleshing out the main story.
The director's achievement lies in tying all this into a reasonably convincing whole, moving the audience from the coldness of a military tribunal to the warm realm of human feeling.There are several moments in JSA to savour, some of which occur within the no man's land between the two societies itself - a neutrality which seems to encourage a self reflection and recognition between main participants: the snowy, wordless encounter between two border patrols for instance, where tension is dissipated with a single cigarette; or the first encounter on a cold night between Sergeant Oh and Sergeant Lee, surrounded by mines, their breath freezing in an field.
The camera also plays a memorable part in the last scene of the film, as an ordinary snapshot is transversed by a slow pan, which pulls out of the composition a final, mute commentary of its own.Asked earlier why one of the soldiers had deserted his post just to relieve himself, the blithe answer comes back as: "People with constipation should seize the chance when it comes." It's a philosophy that informs a good deal of JSA.
The secret friendship seems to concentrate the whole Korean divide issue simply, but minor hostility still pops its head up now and again, nevertheless without needing any kind of over-dramatics the men all respect and begin to ultimately care for each ahead of all else As expected, the whole situation comes to a head, and their is some strong emotional moments but the education to anyone who watches this more than makes up for all else.I can't think of many more emotive subjects or films that I have seen this year.
Chan-wook Park's most politically-charged film tackles the very volatile tension that exists between the North and South Koreans.
Chan-wook Park's most politically-charged film tackles the very volatile tension that exists between the North and South Koreans.
In fact, the North Korean leader even requested a copy for his viewing pleasure -- perhaps to get his own look at what South Korea might be plotting, or maybe simply to be entertained with some great film-making.The movie combines a very likable Hollywood touch with compelling plot action, in contrast to some very personal moments and an amazing sense of suspense in this movie.
I was floored.The whole location of where the movie takes place -- in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea -- and the acute tension was certainly captured and sure made for great story-telling.
I saw this as the second half of a double bill and after the first five minutes of truly horrible english dialog I thought I was in for a rather lame movie going experience, but i was too be proven wrong.JSA is quite a good film, especially when it is looking back on the friendship of the North & South Korean border guards.
At the same time the practical difficulties in making friends across such a divide show that not only can the difficulties of two countries be accurately conveyed into the behavior of just four people, it also shows how vice-versa the actions of both Korea's, which inevitably lead to great drama, is at the same time a metaphor for the small tragedy that unfolds in the joint security area.
Showing sympathy for the North had long been taboo in South Korea, thus the movie broke new ground.That said, the character Sophie was totally unnecessary as I found her part to be a big nuisance.
The actress couldn't speak English and didn't look mixed, as her character was supposed to have learned Korean as a second language and had a Korean father and Swiss mother.There have been reports of soldiers of the two Koreas mingling over booze at times, so the story is not implausible.
The story is set as a murder mystery but that is only the framework to study the tense situation that North and South Koreans have to live with every day as their people are split in two with absolutely no communication between them.
With both nations on verge of war, the neutral countries send an investigating officer to look into the matter but the truth is far too simple & much more tragic, which makes a statement of its own.Expertly directed by Park Chan-wook, who makes his mark with a promise of greater things to come, the film plays its mystery part extremely well & effortlessly manages to keep its audience's attention transfixed on the screen.
Lee Yeong-ae also chips in with a good performance as the neutral officer overseeing this fragile case.On an overall scale, Joint Security Area is a gripping, heart-felt & highly tale that's uncovers its mystery in a calculated manner & is one of Korean cinema's finest films.
In fact neither side wants to talk about it.Lee Soo Hyuk is condemned by the Northern forces and protected by the South, with each party possessing such a strong bias a neutral investigation is commenced lead by Major Sophie Jean, a Swiss resident with Korean ties and a mastery of the language.In interviews and flashbacks the real story gradually unfolds, nothing is as simple – or funnily enough as complicated – as it first seems.It is not fair to the film to say much more, I will say that it takes time for the real events to unravel but it is worth the wait.
Being a Park Chan-Wook film it is well acted and immaculately paced, and JSA also contains some moments of great innocence and humanity.
In fact the final truth is far more 'boring' and human than anyone might guess from the serious tone of the first few minutes.The film is laid out in three chapters, the first shows the viewpoint of the investigators, the second the actual events from the soldier's point of view and the third the conclusion and ultimately the truth.JSA is never less than intriguing and even though it isn't as great as the Vengeance trilogy it possesses perhaps the strongest final frame in almost any film that I can recall.Final Rating – 8 / 10.
I won't go into massive detail but it is a excellent example of korean cinema led by massively likable song kang ho and while the murder element does take away from the film somewhat it leads to a immensely satisfying conclusion The story begins with murder and mystery with political overtones, yet at it's heart, it's a film about friendship.
People that are forced to take sides because of national interests meet and find out that they are not that different at all.The characters are clearly defined with great depth, the way it's filmed is just awesome and the story is an important lesson to us all.
If you walk out of the theater after watching this movie without being deeply moved, you probably don't have any feelings at all.Chan-wook is a master and with this film he confirms his place on the throne..
When "Joint Security Area" began, with non-descript military figures of various origins walking around and discussing dull events in different languages and accents, I was prepared for a tedious military/political thriller like "A Few Good Men".I should have trusted Park Chanwook.This is, after all, about the demilitarized zone in between the two Koreas, perhaps the only place on Earth where soldiers of either side come into relatively friendly contact with one another.This has to be one of the most fascinating contemporary topics, and the movie really comes alive when flashbacks of the soldiers interacting play out.
This is, thankfully, the majority of the run-time.If the movie has a failing, it's the framing story - showing a young woman investigating the mysterious shooting that resulted from the unusual north-meets-south dynamic - this part doesn't work so well on its own.
I think "Oldboy" was the first flick I ever saw by Chan-wook Park and it turned out to be a good entrance to the realm of Korean movies.
On top of that, we have a powerfully gripping drama reflecting the Korean people's ideal for unity, the importance of friendship/brotherhood plus an intricate storyline (you try and work out why there's 16 bullets!) you've got a real winner.The only let down was the slightly weak first few minutes of the film and a few horrible English speaking roles.
You will have to replay the ending a few times to understand the brilliance of the final scene.I must admit that my political views are very much like the tough South Korean Colonel (General?) in the beginning of the movie who despises "commies".
If you're not Korean, you'll enjoy the masterpiece as an emotional piece of cinema, if you are Korean or even know in detail about Korean history, you will remember it as a message from above.If you haven't seen it, and wanna know in one simple sentence what it's about-- just think of it as Romeo + Juliet, only with friendship instead of love, and two countries instead of two families pulling the relationship apart.Incredible film.
With only 30 people in the audience and no prep work at all - just a wonderful movie with a lot of things to say about the silliness of war and hostility between two countries that are in fact one nation.Go see it, you won't regret it, I hope Chan-wook Park goes on doing great stuff like this in the future.
It is most unlikely of a story - that of the friendship between North and South Korean soldiers stationed at the foremost military posts of their respective countries.
Overall the movie may seem over-glossed with espionage/hi-tech military politics, but by the end of the film, you would feel like you have been through a dark long tunnel and came out on a very bright and beautiful side.I must say the last scene of the movie is one of the best visual conclusions to the essence of a story in decades.Peace..
Eventually the whole story is told, and by the end of the show you are left in your seat saying "Ah......"While Joint Security Area showcases the hostilities between North and South Korea, and touches on the serious topic of friendship amid hatred, the movie manages to include humour as well.
After the Korea War,every South Korean people had learned all North Korean were a red monster..and they were always watching a chance to invade again...But things are changing........Korea ,the originally one nation,was separated by the world's big power countries and the difference of ideology..
A noteworthy South Korean movie that lacks political innuendos against North Korea.
If Oscar works universally , this is a no-question contender for acting, direction, photography, editing and heaps more.(yes people, i do mean it!).So, JSA revolves around the mystery that happens around the Line Perimeter that separates North and South of Korea, thus its called "Joint Security Area", the film starts with a chaotic gun blazings between the mentioned border, as a result Two of the North korean soldiers ends up worm chow, one wounded southie, the frame of the story recoils around the investigation of the neutral Swiss unit, sending one of their Military investigator; a Swedish grown Korean Major Sophie Lang.First i must to advise viewers for those who are not familiar of what happened between the North and the South (Korea) two countries that has been separated under two different ruling system, South being a Republic and the north being Communist(since the China alliance).In the process of peace keeping and the intention to unite, forms of violence has occured,making the vibe between these two neighbouring brothers a murky and hateful one, similarly to what happened with UK and Ireland.
"Joint Security Area" takes place entirely at the Panmunjom, Korea DMZ peace village (a mockup thereof) at the 38th parallel border crossing where North and South Koreans face off with a 24x7x365 military presence engaged in a tense show of force held in check by a 50 year old treaty.
The film tells of the shooting to death of a North and a South Korean soldier which is investigated by a Korean-Swiss military woman.
Anyone who has been in places or situations like these will recognize the cigarette rituals and so on.I think the movie excellently describes the stupidity and rigidity of war and the military life - just like in the movie, all it ultimately leads to is friends killing each other for no good reason.The people who are complaining about the bad English in the movie obviously never heard Swiss and Swedish people speak English - none of the "foreigners" are supposed to be native English speakers, so it makes perfect sense for them to speak as they do!All in all, a visually beautiful movie with a nice but slightly over-obvious script, nice acting from the four main Korean characters, some very funny scenes that gives comic relief to fend off the impending doom of the inevitable end, and actually quite realistic, in my opinion.Now I am going to check out Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Old Boy!.
A South Korean soldier, Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Byung-hun Lee), takes responsibility for the killings, claiming he was kidnapped by the North, and that he shot the men as he attempted to escape.But as Sophie slowly unravels the truth, she learns that the reality is far more tragic and, in a series of flashbacks, we get to witness the events leading up to the shooting: Sgt. Lee straying into the Northern half of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and accidentally treading on a mine; his rescue by 'the enemy'two guards who work a stone's throw from Lee's own post, just on the other side of the border; and Lee's eventual friendship with his rescuers, which sees him crossing into the North at night to spend time with his new pals.After a while, Lee introduces his trusted workmate to his new 'brothers'.
Soon the truth will be know.The plot of this film, directed by Chan-wook Park before his great and famous "Vengeance trilogy", involve one of the most difficult themes for the two Koreas and a tragic and touching story about friendship set in an absurd thing called war.
The acting of the so-called neutral investigators were miserable, Yeong ae Lee as the major was disappointing, and her Swedish colleague is not worth mentioning.While lacking a bit of originality the movie still highlights the absurd border tension between the North and the South.The major problem was the lack of character development leading to nonexistent affiliation to their feelings resulting in an emotionless conclusion.Apart from this the direction was on point, as you would expect from Chan-wook Park, and the movie ends on a stunning note leaving you with a sweet aftertaste that the film doesn't truly deserves.The movie isn't bad, but if you're looking for yet another of Park's masterpiece, sadly this isn't one.Special mention for Song Kang-ho for his impeccable performance!.
Friendship Knows No War. Joint Security Area or J.S.A. is a great political movie about the friendship of soldiers patrolling the borders of North and South Korea.
This is one of my favorite movies despite some flaws.First, I'd like to point out for those who've watched this film after realizing it was made by the same director, Chan-wook Park (Oldboy).
Because of this film that Park Chan-Wook was able to do his Vengeance trilogy.In the Joint Security Area on the border of North and South Korea the rival states have a border dispute.
JSA is a remarkable story about an incident where two North Korean soldiers are killed in the DMZ, and the investigation that follows.
This is a great film of four guys (two from South Korea and two from North Korea) who become friends during very tense times.
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tt1221188
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Eloïse
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Die 18-jährige Asía liegt im Krankenhaus. An ihrer Seite die besorgte Mutter und der liebevolle Freund. Doch der konventionelle Schein trügt. Rückblenden erzählen von Asías Leben vor dem Unfall: Ihre Freundinnen genießen das neue Leben als Studentinnen in vollen Zügen shoppen, trinken, lästern, knutschen. Asía findet das alles recht nett. Wie auch ihren neuen Freund, Nathaniel.
Erst als die unverfrorene, kunstbegabte Eloïse in ihr Leben tritt, begreift Asía, was ihr bisher gefehlt hat: Kunst, Schönheit, verrückte Ideen, tiefschürfende Gespräche und schließlich Leidenschaft!
Malerisch inszeniert, mit hinreißenden Hauptdarstellerinnen und voll erotischer Spannung schildert dieses feinfühlige katalanische Filmjuwel die Geschichte einer ersten Liebe in einer perfekten Balance zwischen Romantik und Kompromisslosigkeit.The 24th BFI London L&G Film Festival website states: A sensuous and ethereal story of two young women falling in love for the first time. Young, beautiful Àsia lies in a coma, her mother and boyfriend keeping constant vigil by her side. In flashback we see what led up to her accident, her life studying architecture at university, the somewhat overbearing relationship she has with her mother and her passionless relationship with Nathaniel. Àsia seems unhappy and unsure in the world until she meets the mysterious and exotic Eloïse, an art student who asks Àsia to model for her. Eloïse is openly gay and unapologetically different from anyone else she knows, and despite her anxiety about falling in love with another woman, Àsia can't help but respond to Eloïse. Opening up a new world of feelings and possibilities the two young women fall in love, and Àsia is faced with choosing between her disapproving mother or following her heart. A sensuous and beautifully made film that reminds us love can conquer all.
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tragedy
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train
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imdb
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Girl meets girl, etc..
Eloïse's Lover, originally entitled Eloïse (2009) was directed by Jesús Garay.
It is listed as a film in Spanish, but it's actually in Catalan, the language of the region that includes Barcelona.This movie is, unfortunately, a pretty stereotypic lesbian love story.
A young college student is more or less engaged to a fine young man, but she's clearly not in love with him.
She meets an intriguing and beautiful lesbian woman, and the rest of the film is fairly predictable.
We know from the outset that the young student is in the hospital in a coma, but we don't know whether or not she will recover.
That's the biggest suspense of the plot.Still, the movie has its good points.
Both Diana Gómez as Àsia (the young student) and Ariadna Cabrol as Eloïse (the out lesbian) are very beautiful.
It was interesting to get multiple shots of the university in Barcelona, and it's rare to find a film in Catalan in Upstate New York.In my opinion, this isn't a film that you must see, but it's worth watching if it's readily available.
It will work well on DVD, if that's an option.
We saw it at Rochester's Little Theatre, as part of the wonderful ImageOut:The Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film Festival..
Incredible movie.
I am not a lesbian, or even a female, but I found the movie to be poignantly thrilling.
I think far too much is made of ...
Novelty?
I recall a passage in the George Orwell's book Nineteen-Eighty-four in which on one tryst Winston observes a peasant woman hanging out laundry and singing an old ditty that women must have sung for millenniums.
Some things need to be re-experienced again and again.
Love is Mount Fuji, described by thousands of Haiku poets and still begging to be once more described.
Critics don't seem to know this.
That's why the book and movie Love Story made the critics look like the insulated stuffed shirts they are.
Eloise's Lover presents first love in a heart-wrenching, soul- searching, suspense-loaded manner that artists should all emulate.
The flashback technique in the movie kept my mind and emotions on edge.
I could not sleep for several nights wondering what if .....
This Catalan-Spanish teen lesbian movie very much anticipates the later Cannes-winning French film "Blue is the Warmest Color".
Like the later film, it is about a sexually confused girl in her late teens who becomes involved with an older female artist who is much more of a committed lesbian.
This results here though in tragedy as the heroine begins the movie in a coma after an accident and the rest of the movie is told in flashbacks.In America movies like this are called "gay interest", which implies--unfortunately accurately in many cases--that they may not hold much interest for anyone else who is NOT female and gay.
But then again, many lesbians might justifiably scoff at some other "lesbian" movies like "Room in Rome" which seem a lot more interested in hot girl-on-girl action than in seriously portraying believable lesbian relationships.
Even "Blue is the Warmest Color" fell victim to this latter criticism by people who couldn't see beyond the 15 minutes of hot sex scenes to consider the REST of the three-hour long movie.
This film though is more immune to that criticism since there is really only one graphic lesbian scene near the end of the movie, long after most horny frat-boy types would have lost interest.
Most of the movie is fairly believable if somewhat pedestrian female romance.
The best scene by far is the startlingly filmed night swimming scene where the lovers break into the university pool after hours.
This scene is so beautifully filmed and lit, you perhaps won't question why they turned on all these lights if they weren't supposed to be in the pool.
This scene really transcends the rest of the movie and eventually returns later as a metaphoric image for the heroine's deep and perhaps irreversible coma.The coma plot is perhaps a little melodramatic and reminiscent of trite Hollywood crap like "If I Stay", but that is perhaps an unfair criticism since this movie came out years earlier.
Despite the melodrama though, this is not nearly as dramatically compelling as "Blue is the Warmest Color" (and is also only about half the length).
Diana Gomez, as the young university student, and Ariadna Cabrol, as the older artist, are both muy pretty girls with beautiful bodies even if they're not nearly as strong of actresses as Adele Exarchopolous and Lea Seydoux in "Blue" (but they also both have a lot more nude scenes than than Chloe Moretz in "If I Stay").
Some individual scenes are very impressive, but the movie as a whole is bit slight and rather cliché.
But it also matters what you choose to compare it to.
It is worth seeing at least..
It is worth seeing at least..
What a sweet young lesbian love story with a very sad ending.
It is a GREAT MOVIE, very sweet, touching, and tender.
Both lead actresses are young students in university.
Asia is an architecture student and has a steady boyfriend, Nathaniel.
Eloise, who studies arts, left Asia a strong impression when they first met.
Eloise portrayed herself as a strong and confident and out lesbian.
Asia modeled for Eloise's paintings.
Throughout the whole process, they fell in love.
Eloise seemed to really touch Asia's heart through her paintings and awoke Asia to search herself deeply.
They just connected!!
Initially, Asia was ashamed of herself for falling for Eloise but she finally was able to face and accept her true self.
It was very real stating young lesbian's confusion when they realize they are who they are and can't be changed!!
However, Asia's mom disapproved!!
Asia chose Eloise but got hit by the car and died!!
The ending was extremely sad!!
Asia dreamed she could run away with Eloise on the bus.
Their love making was very tender and sensual.
These two actresses are gorgeous and very attractive with a lot of chemistry together.
They are very believable as lovers.
Both are very young with lots of talents.
Although the movie did send out the message to encourage parents accept their gay/lesbian children being who they are otherwise it usually ends badly.
The sad outcome of Asia's death is still too overwhelming.
I wish the ending could have been different.
Asia could come out of the coma and her mom would have understood Asia's happiness should outweigh her own social perception.
Overall, the movie is pretty realistic in describing the difficulties young gay/lesbians have to go through and fight to come out of the closet, to accept themselves and to be accepted!!
I strongly recommend this movie.
It was outstanding!!
Very well written, well directed, and well acted.
The music was so soft and soothing.
The whole movie just flows, not a dull moment.
It was Really beautiful and amazing.
Love this movie!!.
Some major flaws....
The movie has some ideas.
The protagonists' psychologies are quite simple and straightforward.
The two actresses do a decent job, and overall the plot is quite decently structured.
The character of the girl's mother is not really believable though (they should have taken an older, more angry-looking actress!).
The major flaw of the movie, though, is in the editing: the images of some scenes seem to be patched together like a Picasso painting (speaking of Spain!).
They would have required some more accurate editing.
Much more importantly, I am firmly convinced that in the end, Asia is not dead: at the beginning of the movie we hear her say "Eloise, I dreamed I died".
The scene where she is hit by a car is therefore part of the dream (which explains the absurdly cold reaction of Asia's boyfriend when she's hit!).
With the final scene of the two girls leaving together, then, we get back to reality.
The different light used in the final scene aims at underlining that we are on a different plan than the rest of the movie, which is (entirely?
or in part?) a dream.
This is my interpretation of the finale, but if it's correct, it is not well communicated at all to the viewer!p.s.: the movie is not in Spanish, as somebody wrote: it's in Catalan, what a nice language!.
Youngster Gets In Touch With Her Feelings..
Not a badly done story of a young university student, Asia, attracted to and then running off with a Bohemian girl, Eloise, though I had a few problems with it.First of all, I happen to be rather quick at language and have been studying Spanish assiduously for ten years.
I'm already on Lesson Two, "How To Find Your Way Around The Airport." Yet, I could hardly understand a word of this really el freako dialect.
Okay, okay.
It was shot in Cataluna.
(I don't have that little diacritical mark for the "n".) I finally figured out it was shot in Spain because they pronounce "sais" as "shay".
But --"D'accord" means, "Sure"?
That's FRENCH!
That aside, the film kept my interest.
Asia is the pale, innocent, slightly shapeless, thoughtful and ordinary young lady.
She has a casual boyfriend, Nat, who is an easy-going sort of guy who gets bored at the ballet.
It's hard to see why he would.
The ballet is no "Swan Lake" but some challenging stuff involving gymnastics out of Pilotes taking place among half-filled bottles of Evian water.
Something like that.
Weird, but hardly boring.The tickets were given to Asia by Eloise, an artist of her own age for whom Asia is modeling.
Eloise is different from Asia.
She's a pariah at the university.
She's dark, a little feral, with large, expressive, hypnotic eyes and plump sensual lips.
The other girls gossip about her, giggle, call her a lesbian.In fact, it turns out she pretty much is.
Without really setting out to do so, she begins introducing Asia to the immoral life -- drinking at a gay bar, posing nude, and the next thing they're in the sack.
When Asia wakes up she feels dirty.
And then Asia's uptight mother begins to sense what's going on and there is a heated confrontation.
Asia backslides for a while before realizing she must follow her bliss, then she runs off with Eloise and her own mother's doubtful blessings.
Unless Asia dies first and the ending is a wistful dream -- I couldn't quite make it out.It's always interesting to watch movies made outside of the English-speaking world.
They broaden the mind.
Mostly they broaden it by demonstrating the many parallels between the lives of these exotics and our own.
Those stupid electric alarm clocks sound as irritating in Barcelona as they do in Keokuk, Iowa -- three high-pitched urgent beeps separated by a short space.
In Morse Code, they're crying S -- S -- S.
Beyond that, it's sometime amazing how closely the management of conflicts resemble each other across cultures.
Asia's mother, for instance, is a snoop, like many mothers, and paws through her daughter's personal effects until she uncovers evidence of the unholy alliance.
She waits up all night for Asia to return from her date.
But instead of confronting her, she gives Asia an expensive present, a formal dress, which she will wear when she next goes to the ballet -- WITH NAT.
It's a sensitive and unspoken way or urging her daughter to return to the comforting folds of heterosexuality.But I do have some problems with it.
They're not necessarily serious ones but they are obvious.
Example: Asia gets stoned and wanders into the ladies' room.
She looks into the mirror, takes out her lipstick, and draws a mustache under her nose.
It's a good idea because it illustrates Asia's confusion over her gender identity.
But the scene is stupidly shot by the director.
He has Asia stare not at her own image but at an angle, into the camera lens, so that when the mustache is complete the underestimated viewer can grasp what's going on.
That clumsy mistake lancinates much of the good will that the movie has built up.
It's only partially compensated for by some other shots.
One is a lengthy shot of Asia talking to Nat on the phone.
The conversation ends on an ambiguous note, after which she hangs up, takes the phone out into the hall, and calls Eloise, while the camera lingers in the first room and we can only listen to Asia and Eloise, like the eavesdroppers we are.
A less imaginative director would have done the expected and simply cut to Asia in the hallway.
Instead, the conversation is as hidden from us as it is from society.I like the way women look.
They're beautiful.
Not moreso than men but in a different way.
Even with less than perfect figures they suggest a voluptuous grace.
Men, with their hairy angularity, suggest strength.In this case, when the musculature is stripped off, when the endoskeleton is laid bare, it's familiar territory -- tentative and unfulfilled woman finds release through the realization of her own sexuality.
It's like "Emmanuelle," a search for the perfect orgasm if that orgasm had emotional overtones.
"The Graduate" is a more grounded example, "Belle de Jour" more sophisticated.
So it's a genre movie, but as this genre goes, it's involving enough.
There is, by the way, considerable nudity but only one scene that's at all explicit..
A Little Too Choppy....
Although the basic premise of this movie sounds appealing, having watched this film I felt that it was yet another stereotypical movie.
A young girl, Asia, meets and becomes intrigued with Eloise.
They begin with friendship, which leads to more.
However, she is involved in a car accident (the story is delivered in a series of flashes, back and forth between past and present, very convoluted) and in the end, actually dies.It was a rather nicely done movie, but honestly, that she died in the end, I saw it coming a mile away.
It's a movie that I would assume would have been made in the early 90s, the outcome being so typical.
What, she couldn't have just found happiness with another woman?
She had to die?
Pathetic.
The acting was quite good, except for the actor who played Nat. Honestly, if your girlfriend was hit by a car, would you casually walk over to her?
I think not.
Maybe that was just poor directing, but honestly the guy was pretty bad.
4 out of ten for this movie, the outcome was pretty shocking.
The flashing back and forth all the time made it hard to keep track of what was going on.
And the end, Asia and Eloise getting on a bus and driving off into the sunset?
Yea, Asia's dead.
That ending wasn't going to happen and it was like a teaser as if to say 'Ha, ha, this is what could have happened'I really wouldn't recommend this movie at all..
Like the idea, but misses the mark.
Lots to like about this movie.
The women are beautiful.
Love the Catalan language and Barcelona scenery.
I liked the main character Asia, and the free spirited Eloise.I thought the ending however was overly dramatic.
I also thought Asia's reaction to her first experience with Eloise was 30 years in the past.
Appropriate for those of my generation perhaps but young people now are much more sexually open.
I would have liked more about her relationship with her father and her overbearing, manipulative mother.
The movie was superficially pleasing but ultimately lacking in much body or substance.
It needed another layer of complexity with the main characters.
I would watch it again, if only for the women and to hear Catalan in a movie..
OK but flawed.
*** This review may contain spoilers ***Look I love lesbian films, being one myself, but I am very tired of this plot.
This film contains nothing original.
It's not a happy 'coming out' film by any stretch of the imagination.
With quotes like "It made me feel dirty" and "that's disgusting" when referring to lesbian sexuality - my enthusiasm waned a tad.
The other main flaw of this film is the poor editing.
Some scenes just don't fit, and are completely out of context.
Especially the ending.
She's dead right?The film does have some good qualities, mostly the two main leads, but its poor fodder for any type of film goer.
If you want sad traumatic lesbian film - go see a classic like "The Killing of Sister George" or "The Fox".
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tt0083987
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Gandhi
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The story begins with the assassination of Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi in India in 1948. The following funeral procession is a long one and his body is conveyed on a jeep covered in flowers.The story flashes back to Gandhi's early days as an attorney in the late 1800s in South Africa. He is thrown off a train for sitting in the first-class compartment despite possessing a ticket to be there. He later stages a non-violent protest in the center of town where, with several police officers and officials present, he burns work permits that all non-Afrikaners are required to carry and present to police when demanded. Gandhi's reasoning is that the permits are an unfair and oppressive symbol of Afrikaner rule over minorities. As he burns them, he is struck by a police officer on the hand. Though quite plainly in pain, Gandhi continues to burn the permits, his will overcoming the blows from the officer. He is finally knocked down, unable to continue his protest and is arrested.When he's freed from jail, he meets a young American reporter, Walker, with whom he converses about the oppression of the masses by a handful of bureaucrats. While they walk, Gandhi is confronted by an angry youth (Daniel Day-Lewis in a bit part) and his friends. They demand that he pay them to walk down their street. Gandhi refuses in the face of obvious bigotry. When the young man's mother calls him inside, Gandhi and Walker continue down the street.Gandhi travels to his home country of India. When he arrives there he is met by members of the press who know of his exploits in South Africa. They ask if he'll take up any political causes, especially those in opposition to the British rule of India. Gandhi politely refuses the requests, saying he's only going to his home city of Porbandar. His wife accompanies him. Gandhi's real plan is to organize a non-violent protest against Britain, knowing that millions of Indians will follow him. Very soon Gandhi realizes that the British rule of India is harsh and oppressive, having grown more so since he left to pursue his law degree and is growing worse each day.One of Gandhi's first public protests is against the British textile industry. He urges his followers to weave their own cloth for clothing and other needs and burn the British cloth they've been forced to buy and wear for decades. However, many Indians, both Muslim and Hindu, stage more aggressive protests. The crowds become angry mobs when they are attacked by the police. Gandhi appears inwardly angry that his message has been misunderstood.In Amritsar, a city in Northern India, a group of Indian citizens gather in the Jallianwala Bagh garden to protest an unfair town curfew. Though the protest was peaceful, a British general, Reginald Dyer, orders his troops into the garden. They take up firing positions in the courtyard. When one of his lieutenants suggests that the protest is peaceful, Dyer says that the people have "had their warning" and commands his troops to open fire. Many are killed.a trial is held by the Hunter Commission, comprised of British and Indian officials. Dyer himself testifies and is at first quite proud and defiant, claiming he wished to "inflict a lesson that would be felt through all of the India". When asked if he'd ordered his troops to fire at the thickest part of the crowd, he says yes. He also states he would have used the machine gun on the tank that accompanied his troops (it was unable to fit through the narrow passage to the garden). When an Indian attorney asks Dyer if he attempted to help the wounded in any way, he becomes agitated and says he would have. A British official asks him how a wounded child that had been shot would be able to approach him for help. Dyer is silent.Nevertheless, the campaign generates great attention, and Britain faces intense public pressure. After World War II, Britain finally grants Indian independence. Indians celebrate this victory, but their troubles are far from over. The country is subsequently divided by religion. It is decided that the northwest area and the eastern part of India (current-day Bangladesh), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called Pakistan. It is hoped that by encouraging the Muslims to live in a separate country, violence will abate. Gandhi is opposed to the idea, and is even willing to allow Muhammad Ali Jinnah to become the first prime minister of India, but the Partition of India is carried out nevertheless. Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupt into nationwide violence. Horrified, Gandhi declares a hunger strike, saying he will not eat until the fighting stops.The fighting does stop eventually.Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angers many protesters on both sides, one of whom (Godse) is involved in a conspiracy to assassinate him.
As Godse shoots Gandhi in a scene recalling the opening, the film cuts to black and Gandhi is heard in a voiceover, saying "Oh, God!" The audience then sees Gandhi's cremation; the film ending with a scene of Gandhi's ashes being scattered on the holy Ganga. As this happens, viewers hear Gandhi in another voiceover from earlier in the film:When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but, in the end, they always fall. Think of it. Always.
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violence, historical, murder
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train
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imdb
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Yet men, governments, dignitaries from all over the world, have joined hands today to pay homage to the little brown man in the loin cloth, who led his country to freedom."This quote is from the funeral scene in the 1982 film "Gandhi".
Throughout the long film you forget you are watching an actor playing the part of a great man in history: you are watching the real Gandhi.
Charleson, in his clerical collar, looks like he has walked in off the set of the preceding year's Academy Award winner, Chariots of Fire (where he played the Scottish sprinter-missionary, Eric Liddell).This movie won eight Oscars, with Attenborough, Briley, and Kingsley all earning honors.
As soon as I finished watching Gandhi, I thought to myself "This movie had to have won Best Picture." I think it's one of the best epics of all time.
"Mahatma" Gandhi - played to shocking perfection by the wonderful Sir Ben Kingsley - this is a film that I can say really, deeply affected me with its power, its scale, and of course, its timeless message of love and non-violence.
The life of the legendary man from India (dominant Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley, who was a total unknown theatrical newcomer at the time) who gave up work as an attorney to defy British rule throughout the first half of the 20th Century before falling to an assassin's bullet in 1948.
Thinking back, I suppose I have now seen many (sometimes good) films that follow the same recipe: One man makes a difference.But this film is an exception in so many ways:1) It was made in 1982, so it came before many of them.2) It has amazingly well-displayed historical significance.3) Great performances in a near-flawless, frank scrpit.This film does not bother the viewer with an opening montage of scenes of the main character at various ages ("Dragon", I'm looking at you).
With its subtle relevance to today's situations in that part of the world, this is a history buff must-see.Watch this film and see great performances (an obvious oscar went to Ben Kingsly), excellent cinematography, and a wonderful inspiring story, whose essence soars well above the corny, do-gooder mentality of other pitiful efforts of "bio-pics".10/10.
For those who found it "boring" or "too long," you folks need to just stick to stuff like "Star Wars," "Terminator," "Spiderman," or perhaps reality TV would be more your cup of tea.For those who like to actually see real human history come to life on the screen, "Gandhi" is a true masterpiece for all times.
century!I find it odd that aside from a fine performance in "Shindler's List," that Ben Kingsley has really been a major disappointment as an actor following his role as "Gandhi." Perhaps like George C.
While filming the movie in the small towns of rural India, there were those older people who actually remembered seeing the original Gandhi who collapsed in shock when they saw Kingsley in his makeup.
After so many years I finally broke the ice and saw the movie in totality right from the first scene of Nathuram Godse, to Hey Ram, and I understood that Gandhi was as British, as much a part of Britain's history as he was of India's, in fact an outsider judged the person better than we ourselves could, hence without doubt this is a masterpiece, because it was always meant to be.
Gandhi (excellent Ben Kingsley) realizes that the laws are biased against Indians and decides to start a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of all Indians in South Africa .
Ample support cast formed by notorious secondaries playing brief roles , many of them performing historical characters , such as Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White , Edward Fox as General Dyer , John Gielgud as Lord Irwin , Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield , John Mills as The Viceroy , and Indian actors such as Saeed Jaffrey as Sardar Patel , Alyque Padamsee as Mohammed Ali Jinnah , Om Puri , Amrish Puri as Khan and Roshan Seth as Pandit Nehru .
The motion picture was correctly based on historic events , these are the following : Gandhi returns to India in 1915 from South Africa , there he carries out the 'salt march' , he subsequently declares a hunger strike, saying he will not eat until the fighting stops .
He shows the young man shocked to see what is happening to his fellow Indians who go to Africa, the idealist trying to form the Ashram in his home country, the leader standing up to the English, and the aging man distraught over the conflict between the religious groups in India.But this movie is worth seeing for other reasons as well.
One of this century's true heroic figures, it is a crying shame that more than 50 years later, we are still dealing with the dangerous fallout of the Indian-Pakistani aggression that he so desperately sought to end.Count this movie amongst the great epics of cinematic history.
As a Hindu mystic Gandhi is not an easy character for a Western European to fully appreciate but after watching this film one does really begin to develop some understanding of his life and times.
Historically there are only a few recorded triumphs of non-violent revolts over the government of the day - the best known are probably the rise of Christianity in pagan Rome, and the independence of India from the British Raj. The latter is better documented, and this film is significant because of the way in which it shows how non-violent protest can be successful against what appear to be all the odds.
However this is of less importance than the fine re-creation of life as it was lived in India at the time, and the magnificent acting - particularly the award winning performance of Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi.
If I were to liken Attenborough's "Gandhi" to any other epic film, I would choose Spike Lee's "Malcolm X." Initially, of course, this may appear rather irrational, but just because Gandhi and Malcolm X differed in their methods (at least as historians and filmmakers would have us believe) their ends and many of their attitudes were exactly the same.Both men believed in the dignity of their people (whether "their" was defined across racial or national lines makes little difference) and, consequently, both believed in their right to freedom, to liberty.
The film is about Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) and his struggle to free India from British rule.
Especially the fact that the script was written around the words of Gandhi and the situations he became involved in from the beginnings in South Africa to the torture and massacre in India, makes the film special and unique.
We see, for example, Gandhi's young sons near the start of the movie and yet we never meet them again, which seems kind of odd, because his wife plays a fairly major role in the film.
These are Gandhi's words when Hindus and Muslims are killing each other in the 1982 biographical drama "Gandhi" about the man who freed India.It was written by John Briley and produced and directed by Richard Attenborough.
The movie shows this in an entertaining way and is an important historical memory at the same time.Even 45 years after its release, the cinematography of "Gandhi" is still kind of breathtaking.
Attenborough won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for best direction.Gandhi is played by Ben Kingsley, who was an unknown actor at that time.
Deservingly he won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for best actor.All in all, I can only recommend watching "Gandhi" as it just is a wonderful movie with a great atmosphere.
You know you lived for a long time when you don't die until twenty after you played an old man in a film.But of all his accomplishments, his greatest is directed this classic about one of the most important men in the twentieth century.
But it is number forty four in my top one hundred films for a few reasons: one, it is the definitive image on how to do a wide-ranging biopic, as well as the definitive image on one of the world's most important men; two, it is one of the grandest movies in history, one with a scale nothing short of extraordinary, a scale that will stick in your mind long after you see it, a scale that evokes the same emotions in the viewer as one imagines were felt by Gandhi; three, it is brilliantly acted on all fronts, particularly by the man who plays Gandhi, the great Ben Kingsley, perhaps proving the adage that Brits make the best actors; and four, it takes the watcher on a journey, churning their emotions up and down like a boat on the stormy open seas, leaving them different and changed and in all venues, satisfied.The film begins with Gandhi getting shot.
This is a rather dark way to start what is ultimately an uplifting movie, but it is a good decision if one is to think about it: all of Gandhi's work is against the backdrop of racism and violence and crude, ignorant anger, and this depiction of this cold, callous, resentful act establishes the backdrop of the film, against which we see all the positive, progressive events take place.
It is a good way to draw the reader into the story and put them firmly in the world of the film, a decision that becomes even sharper when you think about the fact that this movie is a historical epic, the sort of movie that many people could easily tune out of unless you give them a reason to stay awake.
Attenborough's in-depth research work and perfect casting of Ben Kingsley and Rohini Hattangadi for the lead roles of Gandhi and Kasturba contributed a lot to make it an unforgettable movie.
This movie perfectly describes how Gandhi set to achieve his goals despite the British Empire trying to stop him.Richard Attenborough's film is about the life of Gandhi from his early adult life all the way to his brutal end.
This film from Richard Attenborough was the second 1980s success story for British cinema, and rightly so, winning Oscars including Best Actor for Ben Kingsley - playing Gandhi brilliantly here.
Even if you don't know the story of Gandhi and where he was coming from, you can gain some understanding of and empathy with the man through this film.Famous faces appear in brief roles throughout, including Edward Fox, Trevor Howard, John Mills, John Gielgud, and Saeed Jaffrey.
All of the major events in India's push for independence are portrayed, though I do think that a greater Indian rather than British interpretation of these events is needed to make this film an all-time classic.
This movie is an excellent example that a great film is not solely based on the most modern special effects, but instead manages to bring the life of a most exceptional man nearer to the viewer.
Is Gandhi a great film - Hell Yes. For Ben Kingsley's acting, for Attenborough's direction, for the cinematography, for the retelling of a truly enduring story of a man and a nation.
Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) uses his wisdom and power to achieve independence and freedom for India.
Compromise slowly happens through many life taking events on both sides.Sir Richard Attenborough's 1982 multiple-Oscar winner (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley) expresses the religious beliefs and determination of India.
It also happens to be an Indian British co-production.Ben Kingsley stars as Gandhi and he looks similar to him in this film.
Krishna Bhanji (better known as Ben Kingsley) comes up with what I can easily term as one of the finest performances I have ever seen, which is an apt tribute to such a strong character on the script and in reality as well.After knowing the fact that this picture stands firm on the shoulder of a 23 years old study by Attenborough, on Gandhiji, which was flagged off by Javaharlal Nehru himself, this depth in the film doesn't remain a surprise anymore.
With then unknown Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, leading an all star cast the film over three hours (3 hrs 8 Mina actually) covers his days as a young lawyer in South Africa, attempting to break the back of apartheid, at least for Indian people in that country.
And Ben Kingsley's Gandhi dominates the film, no wonder he received his Oscar for Best Actor.
Burning passes is the first step towards a life spent in peaceful protest, massive social change and ultimate assassination.Taking on the unenviable task of doing justice to the life of Gandhi in a matter of three hours, Richard Attenborough has produced a professional film that presents the story in an engaging, easy to follow way that sees the hours slip effortlessly by.
Attenborough's direction is strong and the use of locations is impressive the film never really loses the sense of place, time or people that it creates from the very start.The cast greatly helps this sense of place and they are led by a fantastic performance from Ben Kingsley, who marked this film as the one he will always be best known for no matter what else he does.
Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.The cast is pretty amazing: Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, Daniel Day-Lewis.
After that, the movie falters, and we see less about Gandhi than the political events that follow, not delivered with great accuracy.Ben Kingsley delivers a perfect performance, looking and acting the part.
He was such a treasure to the people that fear of his death could make them stop fighting.Richard Attenborough filmed in India and assembled a splendid cast that includes: John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Candace Bergen, Edward Fox, John Mills, Martin Sheen, Athol Fugard, Nigel Hawthorne, even then newcomer Daniel Day-Lewis in a small role.Writer John Briley fashioned a magnificent script and probably worked through tons of material in order to do it.Now we come to Ben Kingsley.
Film Review: "Gandhi" (1982)Director Richard Attenborough (1923-2014) at the peak of its creative powers, accumulating a massive independently-gathered budget throughout this international UK-based production on the real-life events of a historic cinematic-compelling figure Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), in this case with amazing-resemblance portrayed by actor Ben Kingsley, who carries the picture with devote charisma, when also-producing director Richard Attenborough captures the life and death of "Gandhi" from his early days as law school graduate in race war-mongering "South Africa" at the turn of the 20th century towards the outbreak of World-War-One in 1914 before this overly-righteous regarded character gets glorified to a legend of modern resistance against Imperalistic regimes in this case the India-occupying British Empire, which like no others indulges into colonialism, starting exceedingly under iron-handed ruling Queen Victoria (1819-1901).Cinematography by switching lighting cameramen and the décor of the picture are researched to the utmost of authenticity by production designer Stuart Craig, also known for winning Academy-Awards for "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988) and "The English Patient" (1996), in favors for a solidly as towards classic Intermission striking director, who has not shy away from presenting his fellow country-men as barbarous, relentless, arguably cruel ingeniously-performed due to impeccable dignity by actor Edward Fox, at age 44, when endless suffering scenes in almost two decades of the leading character's encampment under lowest life-form conditions with recurring "Hunger-Strikes" that word-of-mouth reaches the highest occupying military ranks and governmental monarchic rulers that the end of a seemingly-vvasted life of less than joy proportions gets only justified by a county's independence declared on August 15th 1947, when comparison toward today's India got closer then ever to western civilization policies of the richest and the fittest in a global player ongoing cold-served undermining war of dominion, where reason on frequent basis must perish.
He was convinced that the movie would be telling one of the 20th- century's most remarkable stories that of the Indian lawyer who returned from racially segregated South Africa to drive the British out of his home country through successive acts of non-violent protests.Ben Kingsley played Gandhi and is therefore the main character in the movie.
Attenborough tells Gandhi's story: The story of an Indian lawyer, who returned from South Africa to help his country gain its independence through successive acts of non-violent protest.
This three-hour film probably tells one of the 20th century's most remarkable stories as Mahatma Gandhi created a new form of peaceful protests in India, which have been affecting history.
The 1982 movie "Gandhi" written by John Briley and produced and directed by Richard Attenborough, tells the story of Gandhi's life and shows the viewer his opinion on the Indian society.
It is not possible to summarize the life of a so important man like Gandhi in just one three-hour movie but the producers did a good job.
When I saw the events of 1947 portrayed in the 2017 film "Viceroy's House", I was encouraged to revisit the earlier film which I think deals with these events more powerfully."Gandhi" was a triumph both for Richard Attenborough, as producer and director, who worked for 20 years to bring the story to the big screen and for Ben Kingsley, a man whose father was Indian but who had until then had a minor profile, proving to be a superlative choice for the eponymous role.
This film tells the life of Gandhi, a highly intelligent lawyer of British origin, which joins the Indian independence cause and plays a key role in the independence of India, after decades under British rule.
Directed by Richard Attenborough, it has a screenplay by John Briley and stars Ben Kingsley in the lead role.The film is quite honest in the picture that makes of the life and struggle of Mahatma Gandhi, father of modern India.
Richard Attenborough's Gandhi is the best and most inspirational movie of 1982.
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Halloween Is Grinch Night
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In Whoville, on a night known as "Grinch Night", which commences when a "Sour-Sweet Wind" blows and a chain of events causes the Gree-Grumps and Hakken-Krakks to prompt The Grinch into terrorizing the Whos, as he believes such nights are the perfect nights for a Grinch Night. Later, Euchariah, a polite little Who with a slight astigmatism, goes to use the outhouse (referred to as "the euphemism" in the story), but is swept away to Mt. Crumpit by the wind.
On the road he encounters the Grinch, who is busy picking Brickles out of his fur after failing to hunt down the "Wuzzy Woozoo". Along with the Grinch's dog, Max, who is in the process of bringing a large wagon called the "Paraphernalia Wagon" down to Whoville. Euchariah decides to stall the Grinch from reaching Whoville. After some persistence from Euchariah, the Grinch tricks him into getting a strange trance in the Paraphernalia Wagon.
Inside the wagon, Euchariah is confronted by surreal imagery, numerous monsters and the Grinch's mocking voice. Although he is scared out of his wits, Euchariah bravely keeps on his toes long enough for the Sour-Sweet Wind to die down, thus forcing the Grinch to pack up and retire to his cave. Max on the other hand, who had been abused and overworked by the Grinch, goes home with Euchariah. Back in Whoville, the residents (including Euchariah's grandfather Josiah and his grandmother Mariah) celebrate the little Who's courage in preventing the Grinch from releasing the Paraphernalia Wagon's full horrors on their town and up in the mountains the Grinch, who is hauling the wagon home himself, ominously notes that one day there will be another Grinch Night when the Sour-Sweet Wind blows once more.
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Fireproof
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Captain Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) is a firefighter in Albany, Georgia and firmly keeps the cardinal rule of all firemen, "Never leave your partner behind". But Caleb's home life is an altogether different story; his seven-year marriage to his wife Catherine (Erin Bethea) is on the verge of implosion. Neither one understands the pressures the other faces, and after a heated argument in which Caleb screams in Catherine's face, she declares she wants out of the marriage, and takes off her wedding ring.While Caleb claims to his friends and co-workers that Catherine is over-sensitive and disrespectful, Catherine simultaneously claims to her peers that Caleb is insensitive to her needs and doesn't listen to her. Further catalyzing Catherine's motivation for divorce is Caleb's addiction to Internet pornography and a large sum of money ($24,000, to be exact) he has saved up for a fishing boat he intends to buy, ignoring the fact that Catherine's disabled mother is in need of hospital equipment that she cannot afford, and which insurance refuses to cover. Caleb tells his father John about the impending divorce, and John challenges Caleb to commit to a 40-day test called, "The Love Dare." Caleb reluctantly agrees to do the test, but more for the sake of his father than his marriage. Catherine initially sees through Caleb's half-hearted attempts to win back her heart, which deepens Caleb's frustration. But with his father's encouragement, Caleb continues with The Love Dare, and eventually makes a life-changing commitment to God, unbeknownst to Catherine.Meanwhile, Catherine begins flirting with Dr. Gavin Keller (Perry Revell) at the hospital where she works. She begins to open up to him about some of her problems, chiefly her mother's need for the hospital equipment which she can't afford, but as she's no longer wearing her wedding ring, Keller doesn't know Catherine is married, at least not until Caleb is brought to the hospital later. Catherine comes up to Caleb in the emergency room as Keller is treating him, and a nurse says that Caleb is Catherine's husband.Through the guidance of The Love Dare, and as a result of his commitment to Christ, Caleb begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. He begins pulling more of his own weight at home, doing household chores and running errands, and even leaving real roses for Catherine. Soon Caleb even finds the motivation to destroy his computer and everything on it, smashing it to pieces with a baseball bat. However, Catherine is still intent on filing for divorce, much to Caleb's anguish.When Catherine goes to the home care store to talk with a clerk about the unpaid equipment her mother needs, the clerk tells her that all the equipment has been paid for in full and is being installed at her mother's house. Convinced it was Dr. Keller that paid the $24,300 price, Catherine goes to Keller at the hospital to thank him and sets up a lunch date with him. Meanwhile, Caleb finds out about Dr. Keller through a card for Catherine that she left at home, so he goes to the hospital and warns Dr. Keller that, even with his mistakes, he will not step aside and let Keller have Catherine without a fight. The doctor gets the message and quickly cools the relationship with Catherine, and the viewer learns that Dr. Keller is married and hides his ring in a desk drawer.When Caleb finds Catherine at home sick in bed, he decides to take care of her, with food and medicine. Bewildered at his new bedside manner, Catherine asks Caleb what's happening to him. Caleb starts to tell Catherine about The Love Dare, and she pulls Caleb's book out from underneath the blanket next to her. Caleb tearfully apologizes for his selfish behavior and asks her forgiveness. While Catherine admits she sees some change in Caleb, she still cannot bring herself to trust him and believe he has changed. Caleb understands and gives her as much time as she needs to think things over.Days later, Catherine returns to the home care store to purchase linens for her mother's new hospital bed, mentioning to the clerk that linens were the only thing Dr. Keller didn't pay for. But when the clerk reveals to Catherine that it was Caleb two weeks prior who paid $24,000 (Keller contributed only $300), Catherine bursts into tears and leaves the store. Now fully convinced of Caleb's genuine change of heart, Catherine runs home crying to put her wedding ring back on her finger. After freshening up, she goes straight to the fire house to tell Caleb that she now forgives him, and the two lovingly embrace. (Also, in a deleted scene, Catherine discovers Gavin flirting with a nurse shortly after learning of Caleb's payment for the hospital bed.)Caleb's parents come to visit. While talking to his son, Caleb's father reveals that, contrary to what Caleb had believed, he did not do The Love Dare on his wife, she did it on him. This causes Caleb to recognize the impact his mother has had in his life, and rushes home to reconcile with her. Caleb and Catherine renew their vows in an outdoor ceremony, this time as a covenant with God.
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Selfless love and service as the keys to a joyful marriage are not exclusive to any religion.A great movie for married couples - very thought provoking..
Making a movie that tackles real life marriage problems head on is challenging, and not always easy to watch.
I'm an Evangelical Quaker (basically, a Christian who believes that you can reach anyone by being understanding, compassionate, and loving without thumping their head with a Bible) and my father, at one time, was a pastor of a church plant.
People, especially Christians, are so easily mislead to believe that just because the people who made the movie share their beliefs that it must be good even though the film's clearly bad.
But when a truly Christian movie comes along (like Walk the Line or The Road), they ignore it because people say it isn't "Christian" enough.
These are the types of Christian movies that people should look up to instead of this trash:Tender Mercies (1983) Deals with the theme that some people need to be polished with love in order to change.The Road (2009) Deals with the theme of persevering in the harshest circumstances presented to you.
The father-son relationship is a metaphor for passing the torch on to the next generation.I Am Legend (2007) Deals with the theme of losing everything in your life and then regaining it again and realizing God's love.The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Asks the question of how people ignore God when they have seen the Devil.Walk the Line (2005) Again, deals with the theme that some people need to be polished with love in order to change.
As in their previous movies, the Kendricks brothers had me crying, laughing, cheering, and, during the action sequences, on the edge of my seat.Being a Christian, I was not turned off by the message(s) of faith in Christ that are an inherent part of Sherwood Pictures productions, and I didn't feel like that aspect of the movie was being shoved down my throat.
But if a message of being good, kind, and loving doesn't frighten you, I highly recommend this movie.At times I saw myself on the screen, as most of us can relate to some level of tension in marriage (or any relationship).
And I believe people of any marital status can learn valuable lessons from this movie and be entertained at the same time.An interesting side note - I heard in a couple different interviews that Kirk Cameron auditioned for this part like all of the other volunteer actors, AND was a willing volunteer himself - pretty much quieting the skeptics who claim he (and others) were making this movie to line their pockets..
"Fireproof" finally puts together solid production values, mostly topnotch acting, and a very nicely written script that includes some clever plot twists.Yes, it is explicitly Christian in its message.
Anybody who is married should see this movie because we've all had bumps in the road along the way.Fire department Captain Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) is valued and respected everywhere he goes, except at home.
His wife Catherine (Erin Bethea), overwhelmed by her career and her mother's inability to communicate, doesn't feel loved by him; and Caleb's withdrawal of love, along with her inability to respect him cause them to pursue divorce.Upon finding out about their troubled marriage, Caleb's dad asks him to hold off proceeding with the divorce to make one last effort to save his marriage, a forty-day experiment called, "The Love Dare." Caleb reluctantly agrees to it, and forgetting it took years to dig the hole that their relationship is in, he is upset when it doesn't work immediately.
All through the movie the husband is told by everyone he just needs God to save his marriage with none of these advisers knowing anything about his wife or his marriage.
Well in the real world that's not how it works, and that's why the divorce rate is higher among Evanglicals than the general population.The wife in the movie is never asked to change or adjust her behavior she's just asked to accept God and then everything is okay.
She's also mad at her husband for looking at porn and like most evangelical nuts the writers of this movie want to portray that porn is bad.
This movie kind of reminded me of "Freedom Writers" where overall it was so-so yet contained some very poignant, profound, and memorable scenes.I am a Christian and I admired the fact that the makers of "Fireproof" were not shy of bringing forth the Gospel message and how Jesus Christ should be the focal point of a healthy marriage.
But a word of warning: if you are passionate and/or empathetic, it may be too much to handle.A fireman (Kirk Cameron) with leadership responsibilities and strong commitment to the working relationship among the team finds that his own marriage relationship is suddenly tanking, and spends the rest of the movie finding a way to respond.
The characters brazenly act out in ways that, from our vantage point, make us cringe (déjà vu, perhaps?); there is no quick, easy resolution, and reaching the final disposition wrings more from the characters (and the audience!) than would be expected from, say, the Hollywood quick-fix relationship movies we are accustomed to.The story paces well, with characters that avoid the stick-figure caricatures we can expect with most H*wood fare, A wonderful balance of humor lightens the movie, and even some of the intense moments are funny as well.
(If you have experiences in life that you thought were totally serious at the time, but you look back in laughter, you know what I mean...) Another couple, my wife, and I watched the movie this afternoon, and after checking the score and reading the comments on IMDb, I must wonder: how can someone see this who has any experience with real life, and not be moved?
(My throat is pretty sore right now from stifling it.) Even without top-line actors, the scenes are a testimony to a tragedy in our midst, happening right now in your city and mine, yet unseen.There are heroes in this movie, and this film will satisfyingly define the difference between their heroism and running with over-weighted spur-of-the-moment feelings from one fire to the next..
I will not tell you how this movie rocked based off of Bible verses...I will tell you that it was an important story about reaping what you sow and staying true, not just to God (if you don't believe), but to your morals and being a good, kind person.Kirk Cameron delivered an AMAZING performance as Caleb Holt, frustrated by his marriage and more so questioning himself for why everything he seemed to do was wrong.
The supporting cast was great, and I don't know why people thought Kirk was so unbelievable as a firefighter (ok, i admit I don't know A LOT about the ins and outs of their daily work).There was a "Jesus element" of course...but I went into the movie expecting Bible verses at every turn.
I would say if you are prepared for a movie with a "lesson" see this...if you want love-making scenes and need lots of blood, swearing, alcohol and hitting people...skip this film.
I don't know about the literal fire-and-brimstone place for unrepentant sinners, but "Fireproof" is a truly awful movie made for what writer/director Alex Kendrick and producer/star Kirk Cameron must have thought were all the right reasons."Fireproof" documents the declining marriage of a fire captain (Cameron) and his hospital administrator wife (Catherine Holt).
And the rest of the actors seem to be reading off cue cards without regard to the emotional honesty of the scene.But what I really found offensive was the basic message: Only Evangelical Christians get married for the "right" reasons, and the source of all marital discord is a lack of faith in God's word.
Having witnessed my own parents' divorce, I can tell you the root of their problems was not that they didn't go to church often enough.Many of my Evangelical friends say that movies like this have to be made and can't be screened for critics, because Hollywood and the mainstream media are hostile to Christianity.
Plus, it's a million times better than "Fireproof".Kirk Cameron and the Kendrick brothers--I am fairly sure--felt this movie needed to be made.
Watching this movie I just kept thinking, "Get a divorce, already!" So he talks to his dad who gives him a book to work on his marriage for 40 days, which he tries to no avail.
I have heard from many people (Christians) about how great this movie is because it shows how a man should make his marriage work, but there really wasn't much of that.
I suspect this movie is an attempt to find someone at a low point in their life (like in a bad marriage) and recruit them to Christianity.If you're a Christian, you'll probably absolutely love this movie, since most of them do.
See Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson if you want to see a film which gets both message and medium right.It is to be expected that churches will not have the budgets to finance professional actors.
Kirk Cameron does a wonderful job in this movie as well as the lovely young actress who portrays his wife.
I think like Facing the Giants, it will stand the test of time.Let's fill up the theaters for this one and send a message to Hollywood that this is the kind of movie we want to see!.
I laughed throughout the film, I loved all the action scenes, all the acting was fantastic, and don't tell anyone, but I even got a little misty a few times.
This movie was simply incredible!!!One movie reviewer gave this summary: "A heroic fireman locked in a failing marriage accepts his father's challenge to take part in a 40-day experiment designed to teach both husband and wife the true meaning of commitment in this faith-based marriage drama starring Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea.
I admit that the message that the movie is *TRYING* to put across is heart warming and sincere, but the film is extremely awful, simple as that.
The short version: It was an honest, deep, touching film about marriage, the people in them who want to succeed but come up short, and our need for God to fill in what's missing in our lives.
But Cameron's father intervenes and the promise he extracts from his son to try what will prove to be a grueling 40 day challenge provides the framework and the drama for the rest of the film.Cameron's character has a dedicated Christian side-kick at work who gives him guidance - whether he wants it or not - and several subordinates who generate most of the tension-alleviating humor the movie desperately needs.
They deliver with several full-on side- splitters that, just as in real life, show that Christians aren't all Puritanical prigs.The plot is solid throughout as Cameron battles a common addiction/crutch that many men, Christians and non-believers alike, deal with every day and his wife Kat experiences unexpected temptations because of the change in her commitment to her marriage.
Bad acting, bad writing it was painful to watch, the main characters were horrible, boring and you can see the plot coming from miles away but I thought maybe I can get through it until the train scene I was like " come on seriously the god thing again( cause I've seen that sh#$t many times in many American movies) the black dude was away from the train people use your brains" most of the reviews didn't even touch on the acting/writing part in their reviews all I can read is "oh it was touching, spiritual and magical".
Basically, if you want to see a really good love story, with lots of values and morals in it, and you don't necessarily care how bad the acting is, this is the movie for you!.
(Take it from me, you should be able to predict how the movie turns out 15 minutes into it) This is all I can give without 'spoiling' it for anyone: There are three take aways from this film:1) Mutual respect is the means to a long loving relationship.2) Only through Jesus can someone truly understand the sacrifice of love.
Unless you believe wholeheartedly that God is in control of your life and you are in a marriage that is about to result in divorce and you are looking to save it, Do Not Watch This Movie!This movie does nothing but preach, and the anyone with any clue what good acting is will be disgusted..
It has a great plot, some edge of your seat moments and some core values that anyone can embrace,even if some people aren't Christian that watch it there is still a good story to see this movie for.
The underlying emotions and the powerful messages really compliment what the pastors share throughout the churches each week.Anyway, here's my Top 10 list of best Christian films:1) Ben Hur; 2) The Gospel of John; 3) A Vow to Cherish; 4) Left Behind-Pt. II; 5) The Jesus Film; 6) The Passion of the Christ; 7) Facing the Giants; 8) Fireproof; 9) The Genius Club; 10) Time Changer.
My husband and I saw Fireproof together, and we were struck by the movie's celebration of covenant marriage and unconditional love.
"Fireproof" is not a very good Christian movie.
"Fireproof" is the first movie I've seen in too long a time that takes the issue of marital problems and deals with them in an honest way without giving in to fake plot devices like several over-emotive shouting matches; the boys'/girls' night out where the spouse meets a super sexy someone; or one spouse almost dies, making the partner realize what almost was lost.
"Fireproof" definitely has a Christian message, but given Caleb's circumstance, what he does to try and better his marriage makes sense.
They did a great job hitting on problems that happen in every family.Kirk Cameron did a wonderful job as did all the actors and actresses in the movie.This movie totally spoke to my heart and also my husbands.This family had huge problems in their marriage but who out there hasn't had a problem or a fight.
All i can do is pray Hollywood sees that this movie rocks.Some people are saying that there was to much scripture or Christian talk in this movie but isn't that what it is about.Please tell all your friends to go see this movie....Lets all Fireproof our Marriage!!!.
Kirk Cameron is dedicated to his real-life wife so much so that they used her at the end of the movie for the final kiss.
As you've probably heard if you know anything about this movie, the story revolves around a firefighter (Kirk Cameron) who is successful and heroic on the job but is allowing his marriage to fall apart.
More romantic than the average romance-comedy out today, this is a good love story and a message that will somehow impact anyone who sees it, Christian or not.***1/2 out of **** (though it doesn't deserve this by all film-making standards, its inspirational value and lasting impact alone are worth this)..
Such pitfalls are lacking any conception as to how people who do not live a faith-based life think and act, emotional manipulation, incredibly mawkish and hamfisted themes, and a disturbingly basic storyline for an issues as complex as a crumbling marriage and divorce.The film centers around the unhappily married couple Caleb and Catherine Holt (played by outspoken Christian and evangelist filmmaker Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea).
After the liberals have vent their spleen on it, I look for the rating to increase, word of mouth to work, and maybe a few people may even have their marriages saved or find Jesus because of this movie..
Fireproof is the third movie by a production company that was never given a chance, and this 3rd attempt is even better that the first two.As for those that think that God shouldn't be in the theaters than I guess you haven't read your Bible.
Faith based movies may not have the technical and theatrical sophistication of mainstream Hollywood, but as long as we keep supporting them they will get better.Fireproof is a great movie and the theme, Christian or not is refreshing; especially for a nation that has a 50%+ divorce rate and clearly needs help..
The "Love Dare" has some really good ideas on how to "fireproof your marriage." (One of those corny figures of speech.) And the film inspires you to make the effort.Despite some stilted acting, corny dialogue, and preachy speeches, I was genuinely moved by "Fireproof." I could relate to the characters' struggle.
I always love a good romantic story line, and I really loved this movie, I'm a Christian, and I was wondering how they were going to portray the thematic elements.
Here is a great story which was passed on to me of a couple who watched this movie :A man takes a woman whom he is having an affair with to the movie thinking that it is an action film.
The fact that this movie has reached so many people, is an act of God. Not liking it is your choice, but it's about time we get some REAL movies in the media and REAL MEN love Jesus!
I saw how it blew up at selected theaters and actually beat out some movies in the weekly top 5 here on IMDb. And I have to say,....not bad.I know Kirk Cameron is a Christian and loves all things, 'GOD', and this movie reflects that, mostly with the father character who always wants to pray.
However, about 30 minutes into the film, you see Kirk Cameron do some really good acting.
Good movie, great message.
But it's a good movie, with a great message - that to really love another person, you have to open your heart to God. And that to survive in a marriage, it takes work, sacrifice, and reaching beyond yourself.
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24
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Sangala, Africa (Don't feel bad if you don't know where it is, it's fictional.)Men drive through the streets of a shantytown with machine guns and young boys in the back of a truck. A man reports to his colonel that he has five boy soldiers.
At the training camp, boys no older than 14 practice shooting with automatic weapons. They swig from presumably laced bottles, woozy and pliant.
Colonel Dubaku gives the boys a pep talk about exterminating cockroaches (i.e. dissenters) and puts a machete in a stoned boy's hands. He whacks at the "cockroach" as the crowd of children cheers.The 24 clock ticks."The following takes place between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Events occur in real time."A stuffed shirt carrying a federal subpoena rides in a car.Two young brothers argue as one wants to go into town. The younger says Mr. Benton says they're not supposed to. The older one goes with a friend anyway.A U.N. truck arrives at the boys school. As the boys follow it the first boy sneaks into someone's room and starts going through someone's things. He finds a scarf he likes.Jack Bauer arrives in the doorway. The scarf is from India, Jack was going to give it to his daughter some day. He got it there last summer.
He tells Willie he can keep the scarf, but Jack's gonna need his knife back.Carl Benton comes to talk to Jack with the stuffed shirt, Frank Trammell, the ambassador's chief political officer. Jack knows who he is, he got his messages.
Frank tells him the senate subcommittee has questions about the torture and questioning of prisoners in Jack's custody and tries to serve him. Jack says if they want him, they can come get him.
Trammell tells Benton that Jack's been ducking the subpoena for more than a year across three continents.
Frank tells Benton it'd be a shame for his funding for the boys school to dry up because of Jack.Jack unloads stuff from the supply truck as a Frenchman generally irritates him.3:10
The rebels have more guns than soldiers to carry them. An underling promises Dubaku he'll have his "little soldiers."
Dubaku gets a satellite phone call from Jonas Hodges, your standard issue "24" bad guy in a suit, offering more soldiers if he needs them. Hodges provided the weapons. He wants General Juma to call him later.
Hodges, back in D.C., tells a businessman he doesn't want the transactions traceable by anyone and to deal with it.
On the trading floor a broker named Chris tries to smooth talk a client. He reaches in his drawer for a pill and pops it. Chris is summoned by his boss and passes Hodges on his way into the office.
His boss tells him to burn some records.Benton talks to Jack, telling him he should look at the subpoena. Jack tells Benton not to worry, he'll be gone by dark.
He tells Benton all he has left is his freedom, and he won't let them take that away from him.
We learn Jack called him after 10 years, they're old special ops buddies, and Benton has found a way to live with himself, but first he had to stop running. Benton tells him again Jack's welcome to stay. But Jack says they both know it'd be better if he left.The Frenchman with the supply truck argues with a man saying that nothing is wrong and that Juma isn't stealing children. Willie mentions that his brother Desmond is in town with James. Benton says he'll go into town to find them.
The Frenchman mocks Benton for being worried and says they would have heard if Juma was up to something.The boys play soccer in town.
The men with machine guns drive up, firing into the air. The boys run but they're surrounded. They're told they're now soldiers in the People's Freedom Army and they'll have the honor of fighting the imperialists to take back their land.
One boy wets himself and they laugh at him. As they're distracted James and Desmond make a break for it.
The men take off after them into nearby woods. One of the men fires at them, hitting them. The boys fall and lie still as the man chastises the one who fired, saying they're no good to them dead. But they drive off.3:26
A man and a woman get ready for something in the morning.
The man, Roger, gets a call from Chris, saying he thinks he might be in trouble. Roger assumes Chris has been drinking. Chris wants to meet up. He knows it's terrible timing, but he says it's really important.
His girlfriend isn't happy Roger's making time for Chris, and tells him not to be late for his mother's inauguration.At the White House, Allison Taylor awaits her inauguration. Tom Lennox finds her in the hall and says President Daniels is dealing with an urgent matter. She says he might as well tell her what it is, since it'll be her problem in a matter of hours. There's an impending coup in Sangala.
On a conference call, President Daniels talks to Sangala's prime minister. Lennox tells him Taylor wants to weigh in.
Daniels greets her, pointedly calling her "Senator" Taylor.
She wants to know how Juma could raise an army without them knowing about it. She thinks they need a show of force, but Daniels thinks it isn't their fight.
He ordered the ambassador to begin evacuating all non-military U.S. nationals. She thinks that sends the wrong message.3:33
Benton finds the deflated soccer ball. He sees a buzzard picking at something in the trees. It's one of the boys. Ew.
He calls for Desmond and sees him slumped by a stream. He's alive.At the school, Willie tries to convince Jack to take him and Desmond with him.
Willie says there are too many ghosts around, but Jack asks him to stay and help take care of the other boys.Jack walks away.3:37Thomas runs after him. Benton's on the phone. He tells him about the boys and Juma. They rebels are coming to the school, he wants Jack to hold them off until he gets back. Benton hasn't been able to get through to the embassy for military support.Jack time! He yells at the boys to get in the shelter
The Frenchman still doesn't believe anything is wrong and says the U.N. remains neutral. "Why don't you go hide in the shelter with the other children?" Jack snarls. Take that, surrender monkey.
Jack finds Benton's guns and dynamite as the boys hide under a school room.
Trucks of men with automatic weapons drive up.
Jack starts lobbing dynamite and distracts them. He takes out a few then runs for cover.
It's at least a dozen to one, just how Jack likes it.
They have serious hardware, including a bazooka.
A man creeps around the corner of a building right into Jack's knife. He takes his automatic weapon.
The boys keep quiet, hiding. Jack gets two rebels to follow him into the nearby woods and it's hand to hand combat time. Jack's doing pretty well until a third guy shows up and whacks him with a gun butt.
But the man in charge says to hold off on killing him until he tells them where the children are.
Benton drives nearby with a wounded Desmond in the vehicle.He checks out the scene and finds the rebels stringing Jack up.3:49A helicopter takes off from the embassy as people try to gain entry. But Trammell's only letting in U.S citizens. A woman with a baby pleads with him, but even when she offers to do anything he wants, he coldly says he can't.
Carl Benton calls for him, telling him he needs help. But Trammell can't spare any Marines because they're helping with the evacuation. Trammell says if Benton wants to get the 14 boys out, they have to get to him at the embassy. The last chopper leaves in an hour.The rebels beat on Jack, who, of course, isn't talking. The head guy removes a machete from the fire and singes Jack's ear. The children hear him scream.Jack looks up to see Benton flashing a mirror at him in the distance. The next time the man threatens him, Jack begs, un-Jack-like, to spare him and says he'll show him where the kids are. He describes an underground shelter right where Benton is waiting. Jack faux-sobs. Two men investigate and Benton takes care of them.
Jack grabs his torturer by the neck using his legs, and snaps it, killing him. Benton comes to untie him. He has sponsorship papers for the kids and needs to get them to the embassy, Benton tells him.
They get the kids and load them onto the bus.
The Frenchman U.N. guy refuses to provide an escort and goes off on his own.Jack has one of the rebel's walkie talkies. He says he's going with Carl, who assures Jack that he won't have to go anywhere near the embassy.4:00
The secret service searches Chris at Roger's house. A couple months ago his boss, Nickles, called Chris into his office and wanted him to manage a special project, for which he got paid a ton. But he had to keep his mouth shut. He thought he was "only" helping his boss embezzle money from his own firm. But he recognized one of the account prefixes. The account holder was on the terrorist watch list. He tells Roger about the creepy guy that morning.
Roger tells him he should go to the FBI, but Chris wants to take it to Roger's mom. Chris says he saved some records Nickles told him to destroy. They're on his hard drive at home.
Roger says he's not doing anything until he sees the records from himself. Chris tells him to check his e-mail in an hour.General Juma arrives at the base camp. They have Howitzers positioned to hit any target in the city.Dubaku gets a call from someone. They've caught the Frenchman, who says that Dubaku's brother is dead and he has info on where the boys are. Listening to the walkie, Benton hears that the rebels are right in front of them on the road. He turns off the road and the patrol drives by.
Desmond is developing a fever.4:12
Daniels hands over protocols to Taylor. She's ready to go, but Daniels offers her a drink. She declines but he has one anyway. He toasts her administration and when she says simply "thank you," he corrects her, "thank you, Mr. President."
In the hallway, she complains to her husband that Daniels ordered an evacuation without consulting her. She thinks there might be a reason he made the order that he's hiding.Dubaku wants revenge for his brother's death, but Juma wants him to focus on the coup. Dubaku says he just needs an hour.4:22
Chris arrives home. He starts to copy the data from his computer. He contemplates popping a pill but thinks better of it. He hears a noise in his apartment and goes to investigate. When he returns to his computer, he finds a man there. There's a gun on the desk now. The man asks if the files are everything. He's there to recover them.
Another man comes up behind him and whacks him with a newspaper. The first man says Chris is going to tell them everything he knows and they'll know if he's lying. Duct tape is involved.In the car, Roger's girlfriend harasses him to tell her what Chris's visit was all about. But he says he gave his word to keep it private.
Edward, the driver and secret service agent who frisked Chris, announces they've arrived.Edwards gets a call. The man in Chris apartment tells him they managed to recover the files but they're working to determine their exposure now. The second man injects Chris with something.4:31
Jack, Benton and the boys cross a field and Benton tells Jack to follow the river to get out of there while they follow a safe road into town. They say good-bye and Jack walks off, again.
Just then there's a noise in the distance. They're standing in an open field, exposed, when a helicopter comes around the corner. They run for the trees as the helicopter, with Dubaku inside, fires on them.
He orders the pilot to land.
The kids hurry through the woods. Willie stops, realizing he dropped the scarf Jack gave him. He runs to get it from the brush where it fell.
Benton watches Willie and sees his foot step between two land mines. Benton rushes to keep him from triggering one, pushing him aside. In the process, Benton ends up standing directly on top of it, arming it. Jack inspects it, but Benton knows the make and model. It can't be disabled.
Benton tells Jack there isn't enough time. He asks Jack to take the kids to the embassy. He gives Jack their sponsorship papers. He says he'll try to buy them some time.
Benton tells the kids to go with Jack, nobly saying he'll be right behind them. Jack and Benton exchange knowing man nods.4:38
Dubaku and his men look for the children in the woods. Benton covers up the land mine and raises his rifle over his head. The four or five men and Dubaku approach him, guns drawn. When Benton won't tell Dubaku where Jack is, Dubaku shoots him in the arm. Then the other arm. Benton struggles to stay balanced on the land mine. He mutters where they are and Dubaku steps closer to hear.
Benton looks at Dubaku and tells him to go to hell.Jack hears a large blast in the distance and pauses for a minute, having lost another friend.4:46
In the city, Jack and Thomas guide the kids to the embassy. Jack tells Thomas he's going to give him the papers. When Willie figures out that Benton is dead he runs off, crying. Jack runs after him, telling him Mr. Benton died to make sure he'd be safe. He tells him he's sorry as he gives him a hug.
They hurry, rushing to make the chopper.
Jack notices something amiss in the street and tells Thomas to hide with the boys behind a truck. He homes in on a man walking suspiciously through the crowd, as the man opens his coat to reveal a weapon, Jack shoots him dead. Men begin firing from the rooftops and a street full of people hit the deck. The coup is on.Jack turns to find the young drugged boy who killed the "cockroach" in the opening aiming an automatic weapon at him. Jack tries to talk to him, telling him he can come with them out of the country if he puts his gun down. He promises no one will hurt him. The boy throws down his gun and runs away.
Benton's boys hold hands, then weave through the crowd.At the inauguration, Roger checks his phone, looking for the files from Chris. His mother arrives.
As Taylor greets her son, Edward and Hodges confer off to the side. Edwards tells Hodges they don't need to worry about Roger, that he has no evidence and he'll think his strung-out friend told him something crazy. Hodges tells Edward to keep an eye on Roger.4:52
Chaos reigns at the embassy as desperate citizens try to find sanctuary. Jack pushes his way to the front of the crowd, telling the guard that Trammell is expecting him.
The boys wait in the crush of people, Desmond fading fast.
Trammell arrives and Jack, through the gate, tells him Benton is dead, but he has their paperwork.
Trammell tells him there's a problem: they need the legal guardianship of a U.S. citizen. If Jack surrenders himself, Trammell will waive the requirement. Trammell says whatever happens to them will be on Jack. "I don't have a choice you son of a bitch, open the gate," Jack growls.
.
Trammell makes Jack go in first, keeping the boys on the other side. Once through, Jack is immediately handcuffed while the guard blocks the boys at the gate. As Jack screams for the boys to be let in, Trammell finally relents. They boys are safe inside as Jack is led away by guards.Allison Taylor takes the oath of office
Hundreds of desperate people are left on the other side of the embassy gates.
Taylor gives her speech over scenes of boys testing automatic weapons in Sangala, the two goons covering Chris's body in concrete and Jack being flown away on the helicopter.
Taylor speaks of apathy, greed and fear threatening freedom.The helicopter takes off at the embassy as the screaming citizens are finally let inside, only to see the last form of transport depart.
Willie reassuringly puts his hand on Jack's shoulder.5:00Scenes from Season 7: Jack testifies at the senate subcommittee, being grilled about torture and saying he doesn't regret his decisions. Taylor making an impassioned plea to stop Juma; a woman briefing Jack that the man behind the threat is someone he knows: Tony Almeida, who is not dead. Then explosions, gun fights, car chases, threats to air traffic control, Chloe saying she's a stay at home mom. Dubaku, apparently not dead, threatening the president. Taylor refusing to bow to threats from Dubaku, a leak at the FBI. Finally, Jack grabbing Tony by the throat: "So help me god, I will kill you and you will stay dead this time."
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cult, suspenseful, murder, violence
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train
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imdb
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Of course 24 fans around the world were devastated with the writers strike and in turn the postponed "day 7" of 24, but instead of us fans having to endure another month of suspense and agony waiting on the arrival of the seventh season of 24, we were given a 24 (made for T.V.) movie known as 24 Redemption and yes Jack is back, but with some minute differences.Some critics might say the fight scenes were "poorly" choreographed, the special effects might not have been special enough, or there just wasn't enough action.
The writers decided to aim at a different target and in a different location, but by God the hit the bull's eye.Violence and surprises are defiantly a factor in the near "24" future and us fans can't wait...Also (I won't spoil it just in case you don't know, but you should already know) some of Jacks old friends are back, one important one in particular.I hope this has been useful for you..
Without spoiling the sixth season for those who have yet to watch it, our world-class hero Jack, always the odd one out, is now in a fictional African country, helping his old friend, played by the wonderful Robert Carlyle, with missionary work, trying to heal his staggering emotional wounds with peace.
Redemption maintains the real-time structural element, which the theatrical film reportedly will not have, but either way, 24 is a series that has transcended the conceivable scope of the feature motion picture.
Redemption, on the other hand, is only an hour and forty minutes, which even still is twenty minutes longer than the version that was broadcast on TV not including commercials.Also, I am unsure of whether or not the creators wanted to have the opportunity to do a lone Jack Bauer piece, but using this TV film as objectivity, one can easily tell that one of the vital elements in the show's scaffolding is its colorful, deeply observed and brilliantly histrionic characters.However, I am looking forward to Cherry Jones being president and hopefully being rid of Powers Boothe's weak and uncompromising president.
24 is back with this 2hour special 'bridge' between series 6 and 7, which sees ex CTU Agent Jack Bauer in a war torn African nation hiding from the crimes he committed whilst saving the United States in the previous seasons of 24.The past is catching up with Jack after the US discover his location and subpoena him to the US court.
However, strife and trouble are never to far away as the country in which Jack is hiding is facing a military coup, and he gets involved in helping the school children of an old friend to safety, played by a pleasant appearance of Robert Carlyle.Jack must rely on his unique skills once again as things quickly turn bad, and the viewer once again treated to the intense flurry of suspense, corruption and pure action that can only be 24.I won't go into anymore plot details, as not to spoil the film for anymore else, but be prepared for a fantastic 90min of fun that sets up very nicely indeed to the new 7th season of 24.Craig.
But Jack Bauer as seen in this film, comes across not so much as a badass super-agent/action hero (ala Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt) but rather as a very human character...a soldier weary of war, running away from the ghosts of his past and yet finding himself confronted by even more violence.
True, he is every bit the professional soldier too...but ultimately, a human being.'24 Redemption' may not be the most entertaining thriller out there...but if you want to watch a movie about the kind of action hero who CAN exist in real life, defusing the kind of situation which CAN arise in the real world; if only for the novelty if nothing else...then this is the ideal film!.
However, just as Jack packs up to leave the country and move on again, a coup begins and rebels come to snatch up the children to be soldiers.
Meanwhile in the existing country of USA , the first female President is being sworn in while, in the background, figures are covertly supporting the coup for their own reasons.Everyone has been saying how long a wait it has been since day 6 finished, using words like "impatiently" etc but for me (as a viewer since hour 1) I felt that the break was a good thing.
Day 6 was such a lacklustre season and played like an exaggerated pastiche of itself that the break does feel like an opportunity to send the makers away to sit in the corner and think about what they have done - and don't come back till you're sorry!
Fortunately the special harks back to the approach of season 1 and 2 which has dark deeds at a higher level and Jack thrown into them for reasons out of his hands, rather than being the creator and driver of all things.This takes the form of a simpler plot where Jack is looking after the fleeing children in their short run to safety.
Not only was this poor writing but it is a bit rich when you consider the real life conflicts in Africa and the level of US intervention in them, however even ignoring that it was a typically conservative piece of politics from 24 that must be a bit like a wet dream to Fox viewers!Talking of real-life for a moment, I did find the setting and scenario of this special to be a little off-putting.
The pace and "24-isms" of the film helped me keep my head in the world of fiction but there is no doubt that the world of child soldiers and African coups is a little too real to be purely entertainment and not have an edge of sorrow to it.
They didn't max out the potential of the movie, the script and story was in my opinion a bit dull.But if you like the series and plan to follow the 7th season, be sure to check this one out..
As such, it has half its attention on setup (new president, conspiracy, etc) and that's actually its weaker half.It's much better when it's focused on Jack Bauer, laying low in Africa and suddenly tasked with saving a school full of children from conscription into a dictator's army.
While in Africa Jacks hooks up (not in that way) with an old colleague (played by Robert Carlyle from that movie about the guys who become strippers) who is running a shelter to help young men and protect them from rebels who want to recruit them for their armies.As normally happens, trouble finds Jack and soon the lives of his friend and the boys are under threat.
compared to the TV series,this thing is crap.i couldn't get through it,i was so bored.it's just not exciting.there's no real suspense or excitement,at least up to the point i watched.that's really surprising,given the quality of the series.it takes place after season six,and before season seven,so i guess it's a season seven prequel.if you can get through it,i would recommend it,as it does fill in some gaps between the sixth and seventh season.i only know this,because in some scenes they allude to events that must have happened in the movie.for me,though it was just too difficult to get through.my vote for 24:Redemption is a 4/10.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is hiding out in Africa, trying to re-find his spiritual self after becoming disillusioned.
It's been a long time since Jack Bauer was seen on television and the same could be said for 24: Redemption's setting.
For years now Jack Bauer has been staying in Africa assisting teacher Carl Benton as they tend to a group of abandoned children in a large house.
It was also great to see such an underrated actor like Robert Carlyle as Carl Benton, he did a great job.24: Redemption is full of emotions but not filled with the most plot twists like the previous seasons have had.
It has been almost 1.5 years since Jack Bauer was on TV, a very long time for a series that can make you addicted.
Now, the film doesn't play in L.A. or involves the CTU, but plays in the fictional African country of Sangala, where children are trained to become soldiers, to overthrow the government.Since Season 6, 18 months have gone by and it is Inauguration Day in the United States, a historical moment as the first female President is about to be sworn in.
In fact, the company and its client Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) provide the African general Benjamin Juma with weapons to become dictator of Sangala.Jack, who is wanted for torturing a suspect in the US, aids his old friend Carl Benton at his school in Sangala.
Jack has to face another major crisis as he and Benton have to take the kids to the US embassy to be evacuated to the United States.It was great to see a change of scenery in 24, from L.A. to Africa.
I was very happy to see Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer again, and even though I had hoped for a little more action, the plot is logical (something that has been lacking during Season 6) and very intense, really focusing on some of the characters.
Robert Carlyle does an excellent job as Carl Benton and Jon Voight steals every scene he's in, even though he doesn't appear that often in Redemption.All in all, I'm really looking forward to Season 7 after the excellent prequel and am more more excited than ever to hear the clock again.
The opening sequence caught my attention and it was a completely different production style for "24", which makes this different from all the other seasons.Jack Bauer has had many hectic days in his lifetime.
In this short time I managed to care about Jack's friend and the children, which was why I loved this installment.
The only thing I had a problem with was the short time used to warm up to some characters that died in the end and the boy that Jack refused to kill who kept repeating that one-liner from the opening scene; it was just too corny for me.
This was actually a big risk for "24", taking on a different production style, set in South Africa, because at the end of the day it all comes down to whether or not the viewers would be able to adapt to this kind of plot line and I would say the writers pulled it off, I certainly enjoyed it.___________________________ Four out of Five stars ___________________________.
"24:Redemption", two-hours long TV movie that premiered last night, is a "bridge" connecting the last season that ended 18 months ago and the new one which we, the fans of the show have been waiting impatiently and which is scheduled to open in January 2009.
The film takes place in real time format, just like all episodes do.
It was a good idea to take Jack out of LA and place him in one of hot places on the planet, Sangala, the fictional country in Africa, with very real problems that look too familiar.
I am truly sorry that we may not see Robert Carlyle again - the chemistry between him and Sutherland was very real, and their last scene together moved me like not many scenes during all seasons did.
Jon Voight's presence promises a creepy dangerous villain, and if the writers of the series keep up with what they did for the movie, we are in for thrilling, entertaining, unforgettable 24 hours from the life of one very special Federal Agent, Jack Bauer..
This 24 TV Movie Remains A Must-See. 24: Redemption is a television film based on the series 24.
It takes place sometime between the sixth and seventh seasons, in real time between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm in Africa during the Inauguration Day of Allison Taylor,the new President of the United States.The main setting is Sangala, a fictional African country, where Jack Bauer,portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, tries to find peace with himself, and works as a missionary.
Bauer is served a subpoena to appear before the United States Senate regarding human rights violations, but refuses to go, and a shadow organization among the United States government aids General Juma and his militia in a coup d'etat.Robert Carlyle plays Carl Benton, an old friend of Jack Bauer, who runs a school for rescued war orphans.Carlyle suggested that there is a very close friendship between Benton and Bauer, since he seems to let Benton come closer to him than others.
Towards the end of the film, he sacrifices himself in order to buy time for Bauer and the children to escape.
Gil Bellows plays Frank Tramell, a U.S. State Department official who is ordered to subpoena Bauer.Native South African actor Sean Michael plays Charles Solenz, a UN aid worker helping at Benton's school, and later abandons Benton and the children, claiming that the United Nations is "neutral" in the Sangala conflict.Siyabulela Ramba plays Willie, one of the war orphans under the care of Benton, who befriends Bauer.
Among the antagonists in Washington are Jon Voight, who plays Jonas Hodges, a villain involved in a Blackwater-type organization.The TV movie is a more sober, stripped-down version of 24, and that's refreshing, and that it was the first time a terrorist threat did not take place in Southern California.Also, the depiction of the conflict in fictional African country Sangala is highly realistic and compelling.What would bother die-hard 24 fans is the lack of action,excitement and many elements that are present in typical 24 episode.But nevertheless,it still is one great film to watch..
Set between seasons six and seven of the TV series this film sees former counter terrorist agent Jack Bauer in a fictional African country where he helps at a local school.
Jack gets the children to safety but is captured and tortured; luckily when Benton gets back they overcome their attackers and head towards the capital hoping to get there before the last helicopter leaves.This TV movie has a solid story that contains plenty of excitement and many elements that fans of the series are sure to enjoy.
Plot: Jack is evading the US authorities, who wish to subpoena him for disobeying orders at the end of season 6.
Inevitably, Jack is drawn into the fight, and must protect the children of a school run by none other than Robert Carlyle.
I was hoping the other plots in the movie would cause some excitement, but it failed at that too.My recommendation: If you are interested as hell in Jack Bauer hauling a bunch of kids around AND if you are a hardcore fan, watch this!
Anyways, it was a nice touch to hear Jack say "events take place in real time" at the beginning again; they haven't done that since the first season and props to Sean Callery, who adapted the 24-style music nicely to the setting.
Either way, it's a soulful reminder of the lead character we started watching about 13 years ago, who he is now and where he's going.As much as 24 made great action set pieces, it didn't stop the show from losing sight of the human doing the shooting.
What doomed the season that Redemption proceeded is that mostly everything about Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) felt too routine, given the circumstances.
Redemption's writer Howard Gordon, moves his troubles to the background of the more pertinent problem of a growing coup by an genocidal African warlord (Tony Todd).Yet, the rapidly unfolding coup in Sangala somehow works in what it says about Jack Bauer without really commenting on it.
The series format of CTU and Jack regularly chasing down shady terrorist collaborators precluded the threats from being the vague, "Stop this or innocent people will die and/or get hurt."And Jack shepherding Benton's (Robert Carlyle) orphans — who are also running to avoid being child soldiers — to the American Embassy for asylum gives a great sense urgency that the series, frankly, hasn't had at least since season four.
With Redemption, the good guys lose a round to Hodges, whose not only kills Lemche, but also plots to eliminate the soon-to-be First Son.Things don't look good for everyone as the film wraps up, yet with people like Jack Bauer and President Allison Taylor in the world, "hope has a fighting chance," to quote the tagline..
A very effective but violent special forces' agent, running away from the USA where he is wanted for many exploits of his, Jack Bauer is helping out a UN refugee camp for orphans in some difficult country in Africa, is there one that isn't?
Having not seen any of the TV series I had no idea what to expect, but to my joy I really enjoyed it and will be starting the long slog of watching 24 from the first episode.My favourite actor of all time Kiefer Sutherland does an amazing job as always portraying Jack Bauer.
A show that full of credibility to stand for.The storyline for me is quite good, lack of action but still full of surprises.I thought the show is 2 hour television movie but instead only 1 hour 27 minutes?
With no help from the U.S. Jack must try, along with his friend (Robert Carlyle)to get the kids to America safely.The TV show always happens so fast and in the blink of an eye it's over, but this movie was so slow in getting to the point and it was shot in a 2 hour period and on two different continents and I'm not sure why no one happened to notice that with it being two different time zones that it would not be daylight in both.The movie was basically an extended episode and had a director from the show filming it and many of the actors were from the show.
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tt0109506
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The Crow
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"People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right."October 30, Devil's Night, in Detroit. Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) is at the scene of a crime where Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) has been beaten and raped and her fiancé, local musician and guitarist Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), has been murdered, having been stabbed, shot, and thrown out of their apartment window to the streets below. The couple had been planning their wedding for the next day; Halloween. A cop comments darkly, "Who gets married on Halloween?" Albrecht responds, "Nobody."As he prepares to leave for the hospital with Shelly, Albrecht meets a young girl with a skateboard named Sarah (Rochelle Davis) who says she is a friend of Eric and Shelly and that they took care of her. Albrecht tells her that Shelly probably won't survive.One year later, a crow flies over the dark and rainy landscape of Detroit and lands on the headstone of Eric Draven. It taps at the stone with its beak, awakening Eric from the grave. He climbs out of the ground, trembling and wracked with convulsions. With some confusion, he stands and walks with the crow to his abandoned apartment, finding it in shambles. Memories of the night of his death come back to him as the gang responsible runs through the city, setting fire to it. The faces of the attackers stick in his mind and, bent on vengeance, he changes his clothes and paints his face white in parody of a porcelain harlequin mask he had given Shelly as a gift. He then draws black liner around his eyes and down his cheeks like tears and paints his lips black with glasgow lines reaching out from the corners. Guided by the crow and sharing the crow's high perspective on the city, Eric sets out to avenge his murder and Shelly's death.The first person he locates is Tin Tin (Laurence Mason), a thug obsessed with knives. Eric engages in one on one combat, discovering in the process that he is immune to harm. He wins the fight by catching a knife and pinning Tin Tin to the wall with it. Eric confronts him about the murders the previous year and Tin Tin laughs in his face, mocking Shelly. Eric finishes him off by stabbing him in each vital organ (in alphabetical order) with his own knives and takes his trench coat, leaving a crow-shaped bloodstain on the wall of the alley. Using Tin Tin's memories, he goes to the pawn shop where Tin Tin sold Shelly's engagement ring. Eric forces the owner, Gideon (Jon Polito), to show him where the ring is located and finds it mixed in a box with dozens of other rings. He lets Gideon live so that he can deliver a message of death to the rest of the gang before he breaks a gas pipe, loads a shotgun with other rings of destroyed lives, and ignites the shop in a massive explosion.Eric locates the next thug on his list, Funboy (Michael Massee), getting high in an apartment with Sarah's drug-addicted mother, Darla (Anna Levine). Funboy shoots Eric in his hand and Eric mocks him by pretending to scream in pain before showing the hole in his palm heal before his eyes. Frightened, Funboy is easily disarmed by Eric and is shot in the thigh before being injected with an overdose of morphine. Eric then confronts Darla but merely says that morphine is bad for her, taking the drug out of her arm seemingly by magic, and tells her that she should return to her daughter who is waiting for her on the streets.Albrecht, meanwhile, has been following the deaths of the thugs around town. He doesn't share the rest of the department's view on the killings, thinking of them as more of a blessing than a curse. He even goes so far as to rescue Eric as he flees from choppers after his latest killing, though Eric is quick to disappear afterwards. Upon meeting again later on, Eric explains what he's doing and offers his best reason as to why he's come back. Albrecht tells him what he knows of Shelly's death and reveals that he stayed with her as she suffered through thirty hours of agony before dying. Eric touches Albrecht and receives from him all the pain felt by Shelly during that time.Gideon goes to Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), the leader of all gangs in Detroit, and warns him about Eric. Top Dollar responds by stabbing Gideon through the throat with a sword, sinking it to the hilt, as his lover/half sister/soothsayer, Myca (Bai Ling), looks on with glee. the crow visits sarah.Two other members of the gang, T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly) and Skank (Angel David), stop at a convenience store for supplies. Eric sneaks into the car and kidnaps T-Bird while Skank is in the store. Skank runs into the street, gets hit by a car & steals it to follow the pair; he watches as Eric ties T-Bird to the driver's seat of a car with explosives strapped to him & lets the car drive off the pier where it explodes midair and sinks into the harbor. When the police arrive, they discover a fiery symbol in the shape of a crow at the scene.Meanwhile, Darla tries to reconcile with Sarah by making her breakfast; though Sarah is skeptical at first of her mother's sudden change of heart, she accepts the effort and hugs her. Albrecht's "superior" reams him out just because he can & tells him he's suspended for misconduct.Sarah goes to Eric's apartment and speaks out to the shadows, feeling that he must be nearby. She tells him that she misses him and Shelly but, when no one responds, goes to leave and says that she figured he wouldn't care anymore. Eric speaks to her, appearing in the window, and tells her that, although they cannot be friends anymore, he still cares about her.Skank retreats to the gang hideout, rambling wildly about Eric; Sarah & Albrecht bond over their mutual experiences w/ Eric & discuss how he came back.At the gang hideout, Top Dollar, hardly concerned for T-Bird's fate, is discussing plans for criminal activity on Devil's Night with other associates. Eric crashes the meeting looking for Skank, and proceeds to make fun of everyone in the room. A massive gunfight ensues, while Top Dollar escapes with Myca and his lieutenant, Grange (Tony Todd). Eric easily kills everyone in the room by gun, fists & swords, saving Skank for last, throwing him out the window. The police arrive to find Eric the last man standing; he escapes w/ Albrecht's help.Top Dollar, Grange, and Myca discuss Eric and his unique abilities. Myca reveals that Eric is invulnerable to harm, but only if his link to the real world, the crow, remains untouched. Realizing that if they kill the crow, they kill Eric, the three of them hatch a plan.Having killed the last of the four who had murdered him and Shelly, Eric returns to the cemetary and visits Shelly's grave. Sarah meets him there to say goodbye and he gives her Shelly's engagement ring as a necklace. Sarah leaves the cemetary only to be abducted by Grange and taken to a local church where Top Dollar and Myca are hiding out. Through the crow, Eric sees that Sarah is in danger and goes to rescue her. The crow flies inside ahead of him but is sniped by Grange. Eric, not realizing what wounding the crow has done for his own immunity, accosts Top Dollar, saying he'll let him leave if he gives Sarah to Eric. Top Dollar shoots Eric, now no longer invincible, then smacks him around some; Sarah is taken to the upper levels of the church. Albrecht, having gone to the church to pay his respects, realizes what's happening & comes in shooting. He finds Eric on the floor and helps him towards the spiral staircase in the back. The wounded crow is picked up by Myca, who hopes to harness its mystical powers. Albrecht manages to shoot and kill Grange, but not before being wounded. He stays below as Eric ascends the stairs. Myca meets him halfway up, holding the crow at knifepoint, but the crow lunges up and pecks her eyes out, causing her to fall from the stairs to her death.Eric makes it to the roof where Top Dollar is holding Sarah. He pushes her off the roof though she manages to hold onto some scaffolding as Top Dollar and Eric fight. Distracted for a moment by Sarah's cries for help, Eric is stabbed through the back by Top Dollar who admits to having everything to do with Eric and Shelly's deaths, claiming that nothing goes on in their town without his say-so. He tell Eric that he's enjoyed their sparring & that he'll miss him, but before he can kill him, Eric grabs him and bestows his gratitude for Top Dollar's crimes: all of the thirty hours of pain Shelly had to endure at once. In agonizing pain, Top Dollar falls off the roof and is impaled on a gargoyle.Eric rescues Sarah and brings her to Albrecht who is soon taken to an ambulance. Eric then disappears from sight and crawls to Shelly's grave before passing out. Her spirit comes to him, sans face paint, and they are finally reunited.Later, Sarah visits Eric's grave, which has closed up once again. The crow stands on his headstone, holding Shelly's ring that Sarah lost during her abduction. The crow drops it in Sarah's hand. As it flies off into the night, Sarah narrates that, though buildings burn and people die, real love is forever.
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comedy, dark, gothic, murder, neo noir, fantasy, realism, allegory, cult, violence, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, romantic, tragedy, revenge
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt0039694
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The Paradine Case
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The police arrest Maddalena Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) for poisoning her late husband, Col. Paradine. She claims innocence, and hires solicitor Sir Simon Flaquer (Charles Coburn) and barrister Anthony (a.k.a Tony) Keane (Gregory Peck, with an occasional British accent) as her defense team. Anthony Keane is very successful and happy at both his career and in his marriage with Gay (Anne Todd). Sir Flaquer and Keane have been friends for many years, and Gay considers Judy Flaquer (Joan Tetzel) her best friend. The presiding judge, Lord Thomas Horfield (Charles Laughton) and his wife, Lady Sophie (Ethel Barrymore) represent the legal and popular views about the case.Spoiler alert:During the pretrial period, Keane's affections changes, as he falls under Maddalena's spell, starting at their first meeting. Gay Keane realizes her husband has fallen for Mrs. Paradine. She confides in Judy, who advises her to confront Keane about this. But Gay refuses to leave or condemn him She knows he still loves and values her, because Keane has not chosen to leave, yet. In fact, Gay wants Mrs. Paradine to be acquitted so she can fight against a living woman instead of a lost love.The suspects narrow down to Maddalena or Andre LaTour (Louis Jourdan), Col Paradine's valet of many years. She claims to love her blind husband. Their marriage had no problems. Andre argued with Col. Paradine earlier that night, about an unknown subject, and was dismissed. There is great uncertainty in the motives and actions of many people that fateful evening. The butler brought Col Paradine that glass of brandy, something he rarely requested at bedtime. Maddalena claims to have laid out her husband's sleepwear but did not go near the brandy. Andre was pounding on Col Paradine's bedroom door, and saw Maddalena enter her room after he started. Andre said the brandy glass still had a few drops when he forced his way inside. However, the police found the brandy glass cleaned and wiped. Just before the trial starts, Andre warns Keane that Maddalena is evil and he hates her because she brought so much turmoil into their lives.As a defense witness, Andre claims that Col. Paradine dismissed him as his valet, but to be reassigned to some other household role. He did put down the Colonel's hunting dog last year, but claimed to have disposed of the poison at that time. The glass still contained some brandy when he went to find the butler and call the doctor. Under more pressure, Andre reveals that he was Maddalena's lover and had confessed to Col. Paradine that day. At this point,Maddalena forces Keane to stop this line of questions. Disillusioned, Keane realizes that she has hidden motives for both her husband's murder and not implicating Andre as the murderer. The next day, Keane puts her on the stand and proceeds to question her relationship with Andre. Shortly after this begins, Sir Flaquer tells Keane of Andre's suicide. At this news, Maddalena breaks down and confesses to poisoning her husband out of love for Andre, who had come to hate her for betraying his Colonel. She receives the death sentence, and Keane goes back to his wife, sadder but more appreciative of his wife's love.
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cruelty, murder
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train
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imdb
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The build-up of the character within a few minutes of reel time for the viewer is considerably intelligent right up to the loud slamming of the cell door and the effect it has on the inmate (Hitchcock's own phobia?).The second sequence that is unforgettable for me is the camera zooming in on Ann Todd's naked shoulder followed by the lecherous Charles Laughton caressing Todd's hand hidden away from her husband's vision, leading up ultimately to Todd's rejection of Laughton's advances.
The men, doomed to arguing and finagling, miss the point-and the truth-completely, in their attempts to sacrifice each other to their own individual causes.Even considered strictly within the Hitchcock pantheon, it's clear THE PARADINE CASE has many Hitchcockian trademarks: dazzling cameras moves, wonderful imagery, sweeping romantic themes, blurred triangles of love, desire and hate between all the principle characters, brutal men, devious women, an impending sense of doom, and even a character noted for her `masculine' interest in the legal technicalities of the case.
There are some good scenes, with the best one being the subtly crafted opening sequence of Mrs. Paradine being arrested in her elegant home and taken to prison.Many Hitchcock fans will not particularly enjoy this one, although if you like his more somber masterpieces such as "Vertigo", you might at least want to give this one a try - not that it is nearly as good as "Vertigo" (how many films are), but it is somewhat similar in tone.
"The Paradine Case" has gotten an undeserved bad reputation as one of Alfred Hitchcock's least interesting films simply because it does not use any of the gimmicks and brilliant visual touches Hitchcock is famous for: a man being chased by a crop duster, inventively shot murder scenes in locations such as the ones in "Psycho", people dangling from Mt. Rushmore, unusual settings such as a cramped lifeboat.
Peck does quite a good job, but one can only wonder how Laurence Olivier, who was busy filming "Hamlet" at the time, and who was Hitchcock's first choice for the role, might have played it.
Louis Jourdan plays a suspicious-looking witness in the case, but Hitchcock wanted Robert Newton (famous for playing Long John Silver and other disreputable characters) for the role, and Newton would have provided a far more different and repulsive characterization (apparently Hitchcock's intention).Charles Laughton unforgettably plays the judge at the trial as a sadist and a supremely dirty old man, who hates Peck because Ann Todd (as Peck's wife) refused his advances once, and Ethel Barrymore, brilliant in her limited screen time, is Laughton's intimidated and submissive wife.The majority of the film does take place in the courtroom, but so does "Witness for the Prosecution", and no one has a bad word to say about that film.
It's most interesting parts of the performances of the leads (except for Alida Valli, who is quite dull), and the famous sequence of the portrait of Valli whose eyes seem to follow the camera (standing in for Gregory Peck/Anthony Keane) as it passes from one room to the next.Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that he felt the casting was wrong.
I don't think so.The supporting players, particularly Ann Todd, Charles Laughton as the sadistic Mr. Justice Lord Hawfield, and Ethel Barrymore as Lady Hawfield, gave good accounts of themselves in the film, especially Laughton as the Judge who takes out his frustrations with Mrs. Keane (ANN TODD) to wreck her husband's case.
In contrast, the final scene of the film does not carry the weight that it should and feels like a cheat rather than the resolution it pretends to be.Some fault may be given to the just-OK performances from usually dependable actors such as Peck and Ann Todd.
The stand-out performances here are from supporting characters such as Charles Coburn, Louis Jordan, Joan Tetzel, Charles Laughton and Ethel Barrymore, but they are either given very little to do or, in Barrymore's case, feel like they were interesting characters in sub-plots that were incompletely edited out of the film (usually a sign of a poor adaptation).In the final analysis, this is a film that will probably only appeal to devotees of Hitchcock and/or Laughton..
It's all of these things rolled together in one intermittently interesting movie, effortlessly told via Hitchcock's sophisticated camera.If you recall the lingering distress which Rebecca, the apparition femme fatale of that film, set off all the other characters, albeit she herself was dead, that's the kind of shadowy trouble that the poised Mrs. Paradine affects all the characters in this narrative, except she's quite alive.
There's also disquieting suggestion of Mrs. Paradine's clutch on her husband's valet, a man upon whom keen suspicion is aimed before and during the trial, though mainly it follows the zeal she rouses in the stiff-postured man appointed as her defending counsel and of the torment this causes his wife.Gregory Peck is fervent as the prominent young London barrister who lets his heart, callously ensnared by his client, control his head, while Ann Todd would be much more persuasively grief-stricken as his wife were it not for Franz Waxman's gushy score being poured on her every word like syrup.
Italian import Alida Valli makes the confined Mrs. Paradine a composite of inscrutability, ambiguity and sensuality, and Louis Jourdan is pretty intense as the harassed valet.It isn't a momentous Hitchcock effort by a long shot, save to the degree that it infers the cave dweller beneath everyone's practiced etiquette and concrete integrity and barristers' wigs.
Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine is accused of her blind husband's murder.Barrister Anthony "Tony" Keane takes the case.He is in a loving marriage with Gay Keane, yet he starts falling for his client.The Paradine Case (1947) is an Alfred Hitchcock film.It's one of his lesser known films.It's based on Robert S.
Hichens' novel from 1933.Hitch' wife Alma Reville is behind the adaptation.This movie has competent actors, which saves a lot.Gregory Peck is the leading man.Ann Todd plays his wife.Alida Valli is Mrs. Paradine.Charles Laughton portrays Judge Lord Thomas Horfield, while Ethel Barrymore plays his wife Lady Sophie.Charles Coburn plays Sir Simon Flaquer.Joan Tetzel is his daughter Judy.French actor Louis Jourdan, who turned 90 on June, gives his American debut as Andre Latour.Leo G.
Carroll, who did six Hitchcock movies, is Sir Joseph.Isobel Elsom is Innkeeper.Silent era's 'Snub' Pollard is seen as Cabby.Hitchcock himself is seen as Man Carrying Cello Case.Besides the acting, the movie also works in the courtroom scenes.They're quite absorbing to watch.And the ending makes you feel quite bad for the main character.Hitch certainly made something better than this.This isn't one of his masterpieces.But this is the work of a master.And the master at his worst could come up with pretty good..
Another minor criticism: the music is too heavy, the story just isn't enough to really grab us - so the music must tell us what we are supposed to feel.Yet the movie is still enjoyable - the characters of Gregory Peck, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn and Louis Jourdan are well-drawn and enjoyably relate to each other.
Those who don't appreciate words, will rarely honor great film writing, instead they will base success or failure of a movie on whether it's bloated with computer animated flash.In "The Paradine Case" the subtle gestures the characters employ like the grasping of Ann Todd's hand by Charles Laughtin as she slyly, calmly, cleverly uses parlor room banter to rebuff his advances, are brilliant.
Gregory Peck and Todd so gracefully inhabit their characters that they make the acting seem effortless, so effortless that some may overlook the excellence of their performances in this fine film.One test of a great movie is whether the conflict strongly continues the momentum in every scene and in "The Paradine Case" conflict is present in each deftly crafted moment.Ethel Barrymore is superb.
There was always subtext in Alfred Hitchcock's films, but "The Paradine Case" has subtext to spare.Successful London barrister, Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck), takes the case of Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) who is charged with murdering Colonel Paradine, her rich, blind husband.
It's a delicious performance, but he is totally odious as Judge Tommy Horfield complete with cruel observations on the impermanence of beauty.This film is a class act from beginning to end and Franz Waxman's velvety score gives it a sumptuous quality.I think Hitchcock fans can watch his best films over and over; "Rear Window", "North by Northwest" and others - "The Paradine Case" is one I would add to the list..
The suspected murderer, his beautiful wife Maddalena (Alida Valli), faces the Crown defended by a smitten barrister named Anthony Keane, played by Gregory Peck, who feels his best chance of winning the case is to let the jury see his client's true character and expose the victim's valet as the real killer.That whirring sound you hear is Johnnie Cochran spinning in his grave.
"She's too fine a woman...I only hope the Crown does try to foul her name once, just once."There's also nonsensical exchanges like this, between Keane and another attorney played by Charles Coburn, who rivals Peck, Valli, and a young Louis Jourdan for giving the worst performance.
Gregory Peck has torn Louis Jourdan to shreds and destroyed his life, in the bargain he has ruined the case for Alida Valli, and Charles Laughton as the judge sees it all and laughs at it with gleeful cynicism, as if he found it the merrier the lousier characters he got to expose themselves.
Charles Coburn observes the alarming peril of Gregory Peck's course of an aggressive defense but doesn't reach him to warn him.In the end the real tragedy is that Alida Valli has killed for love and is punished for it, but she doesn't care and almost gladly accepts her punishment, since her real punishment was to lose her love as her lawyer in his love for her tore her love to pieces in defending her - and ruined himself into the bargain.It's actually a passion play of high emotions towering above and beyond the grasp of the actors, who are all defeated victims in the end, as the one innocent and honest participant rather killed himself than accepted being accused of dishonesty.
Making it impossible to restore the movie to its original cut the way the "Master", Alfred Hitchcock, would have wanted it to be.Taking on the case of the murder of the blind WWI war hero Richard Paradine hot shot defense attorney or British Barrister Tony Keane, Gregory Peck, is certain that the Colonel's wife Anna, Alida Vallie, who's standing trail for his murder had nothing at all to do with it.
By then things got so far out of hand that the films director Alfred Hitchcock and star Gregory Peck wished that they never had anything to do with it!.
Enjoyed this Alfred Hitchcock film starring Gregory Peck,( Anthony Keane) who plays the role of a very successful lawyer and is also married to a very pretty wife, Gay Keane, (Ann Todd) and they are both very much in love with each other.
As the story progresses, Anthony visits Maddalena and actually starts to fall in love with her and this starts all kinds of problems with his own wife Gay. This film has many great veteran supporting actors like Ethel Barrymore, Charles Laughton, who plays a Judge and Leo J.
Gregory Peck plays a British attorney and Ann Harding his wife; Alida Valli is Mrs. Paradine, a woman accused of murdering her blind husband, Louis Jourdan is her husband's valet, Charles Laughton is the judge, and Leo G.
Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Coburn, Charles Laughton, Ethel Barrymore, Alida Valli - it's hard to believe it came out as bad as it did.
Absolutely fantastic performances came from supporting cast, especially Charles Laughton, Ann Todd and Louis Jourdan to name a few.It is not bad movie, as the premise is interesting, the cast is great (although Gregory Peck and Alida Valli are clearly miscast, their performances alone aren't bad), the screenplay is too meandering, but besides those couple of really ridiculous moments it offers magnificent scenes (acting/writing/directing all perfect).
Disclaimer' Any relation to 'Body of Evidence' is purely coincidental
Highly successful London barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck)takes on the case of Italian Maddalena Paradine (Alida Valli) who is accused of poisoning her blind military hero husband.
As as details in the case come to light ,Madame Paradines Veil begins to slip for all but her Champion , Her Lawyer We have at least two love triangles in this film, and they not as obvious as you may think.This is the Final Collaboration between Hitchcock and meddlesome Producer David O Selznick Who Brought him to America and Helped Create his first major American Film Rebecca , After The contract Expired with Paradine Hitchcock gained Creative Freedom of shorts and went on to experiment with new styles of editing such as in 'Rope" and "under Capricorn"Hitchcock also pioneers the use of multiple cameras with live action almost a forerunner to what Television would do in Studios some Years laterParadine was Considered in the "lesser Category" of the Cannon of Hitchcock However it does showcase his technique and the Entered of Louis Jordan is till one of the most startling is Cinema History.
Gregory peck Plays Another Lawer, who's sexual frustration begins upon meeting the Beautiful Mrs Paradine Joan Tetzel Plays an Interesting role of the sudo lesbian Daughter of A Solicitor who dosn't wont the Market woman to hang as she "hates breaking pretty things" Louis Jordan Plays the Anti social Woman Hating Vallet of the Murdered Mr Paradine Ann Todd aka Mrs David Lean as the Long Suffering 'Good Wife' Perhaps the Suspended Belief that Gregory Peck would Sacrifice everything for a Woman he had not even kissed seems a little slim, However as a Vehicle Created for the Mystique of Greta Garbo (who was offered the role first ) it may be been slightly more believable She Turned it Down after another film role Famously saying "No Mommies No Murderesses" ,Alida Valli Stills holds the attention of the Audience as the Mysterious Manipulative Passive Aggressive Madame Paradine , if you ever wondered what 'Rececca' may have been like in the flesh and why she seems to capture the hearts of Woman and Men give Mrs Paradine a look.As well as a resemble to Mrs Paradine Gorgeous Music of Franz Waxman which dominated the film of Rebecca Suffocated the Paradine case in wonder and MysteryIts is to be appreciated for the things which Hitchcock alone brings to the film even in the little scenes that make this a very engaging film to watch.
Ann Todd gave a standout performance as the "stand by your man" wife who knew her husband was in love with his client, Alida Valli.Louis Jourdan's role in his only Hitchcock film, was superb!
Sadly, in times of so many fast-paced and impressive courtroom thrillers and dramas (i.e. Witness for the Prosecution, Anatomy of a Murder, Judgment at Nuremberg) this movie really deserved the bad reputation that it gained in the first few years after its original release.If it weren't for the well-known director and notable movie stars, the movie would probably end up as some long-forgotten B-grade flick that no one would really want to watch.It's a story of forbidden romance, which began between a woman, accused of killing her blind husband, and her prominent defender.
Ann Todd as the brave and lovable Gay Keane, a wife, who even under the difficult circumstances doesn't give up and lets go of the jealousy.All in all, The Paradine Case looks more like a soap opera designed for TV, not a substantial film directed by one of the greatest director's in history.
******* The Paradine Case (12/31/47) Alfred Hitchcock ~ Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Louis Jourdan, Ann Todd.
Alfred Hitchcock presents a suspenseful courtroom tale about a lawyer(Gregory Peck)defending an alluring woman(Alida Valli)accused of poisoning her blind husband.
Wall-to-wall music in every scene, notes constantly zigzagging up and down scales for no reason, and orchestrations that seem to want to drive the listener insane—Unfortunately, Franz Waxman's score was only the first of many problems with this movie.Fresh off his success in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, Gregory Peck reunited with his director to play a British barrister hired to defend an accused murderess, but finds himself falling in love with her.
One of Hitchcock's few legal thrillers, The Paradine Case mixes the suspected wrong man theme so typical of his work to rear it's head, along with the film noir feel that is immediately conveyed through the stunningly beautiful Mrs. Prradine, accused of murdering her blind husband and clearly the forbidden object of her attorney's affections, the talented, handsome, and married Anthony Keane, played with outstanding intensity by Gregory Peck.As far as being a Hitchcock film, there is almost nothing technically brilliant about it, other than the fact that nearly every individual shot in the film, whether inherently interesting or not, is beautifully framed and photographed, but as is not very often the case, the story far overshadows the direction or photography.They heavy hand of David O.
The film though is still identifiably Hitchcock's but while it has its moments it unfortunately has more longueurs too.I can't recall too many Hitchcock courtroom dramas, maybe "I Confess" and "The Wrong Man" have similar scenes but not to the extent here where the last half hour or more is devoted to the lengthy trial of Alida Valli's Marguerita Paradine black widow character's trial for the murder of her blind husband.
I felt the premise may have worked better if Valli did act more the femme fatale in leading Peck's character on, as in the end he's made to look rather foolish and shallow with his infatuation.So this wasn't the best Hitchcock I've ever seen, as this time when it was good, it was just good but when it was poor, it was pretty poor..
Barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) takes on the case of Maddalena Paradine (Alida Valli).
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tt0118928
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Dante's Peak
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Dr. Harry Dalton, a volcanologist with the United States Geological Survey, and his associate/partner Marianne attempt to escape an erupting volcano in Colombia. While trying to escape the ash and falling debris, Marianne is killed when a lump of cooled lava comes through the roof of Harry's truck and strikes her in the head.Four years later, Harry is sent by his boss Dr. Paul Dreyfus to check out volcanic activity in the small town of Dante's Peak, Washington, situated beside a dormant volcano within the Northern Cascades. Harry arrives in town and meets Mayor Rachel Wando who has two children, Graham and Lauren. Before Rachel can show him the lake, they go to drop off the children with Rachel's ex-mother-in-law Ruth who lives on the mountain. Ruth suggests that they all go swim in the hot springs. Harry notices that the lake's acidity is somewhat high, trees are dying they discover dead squirrels. Graham is about to jump into the springs when Harry stops him just as Lauren screams, noticing two bodies having been boiled by the water. Harry sees this as a bad sign, tells Rachel to call a town meeting and informs Paul of the situation.While Harry is advising putting the town on alert, Paul shows up and stops him by telling him that he is overacting and that for now they will just observe. While Paul and his team are setting up and monitoring the volcano, Harry and Rachel become close. Harry and Terry go up on the mountain with a robot to monitor it. A tremor causes some of the rocks to collapse, breaking Terry's leg. While Terry is being airlifted to the hospital, Harry tries again to tell Paul this mountain is going to explode, to no avail. After a week and no other major activity, Paul decides they can monitor the volcano back home and tells everyone to pack up.Harry goes to say goodbye to Rachel, they almost kiss but Lauren wakes up stating that she needs a glass of water. Rachel points out that there is something wrong with the tap water and Harry discovers by visiting the main water supply the volcanic activity has leached sulfur into the water. Harry shows this to Paul and they all then realize it's only a matter of time before the volcano explodes.While informing the town of the evacuation plans the following day a series of massive earthquakes creates pandemonium in the gym and as people rush out, the top of the volcano explodes! People are now panicking trying to get out of the town. While trying to get to Rachel's children, they drive through panicked evacuees, a river, and the ash cloud.Arriving at Rachel's house, they find the children missing. Graham and Lauren stole Rachel's truck and drove up the mountain to Ruth, who refused to leave the mountain. After reaching Ruth's house and finding the children, a river of lava destroys Ruth's house forcing them to the lake. The lake, which has been turned to acid, starts eating away at the boat and propeller. They are almost at the other side when the propeller gets eaten away. Harry wraps his arm in his jacket to paddle but they are sinking too fast. Trying to save everyone, Ruth jumps in the shallow part of the lake and pulls the boat to the dock, seriously burning her legs. After being carried by Harry down the mountain, Ruth can't go any further and dies due to the shock and trauma after finally making peace with Rachel.Paul and the team evacuate the town with the help of the National Guard but the swelling river has overflowed from a combination of the volcano's melting ice and the local dam breaking. With everybody out of town, the scientists depart with the Guard. The team gets through safely in Humvees but Paul, driving their van, gets stuck on the bridge which is washed away by the river. After finding a truck at a ranger station, Harry, Rachel, and the children make it back into town as the volcano violently explodes. As the pyroclastic cloud destroys the town, Harry drives the truck into an abandoned mine (which had been Graham's hideout) just in time to escape the pyroclastic cloud.Harry has a beacon in the truck that will help his team locate and rescue them all. He tells Rachel and the kids he will be back; he reassures everyone that when they get out he will take them deep sea fishing. As he returns the truck to activate the beacon, the mine collapses, separating him from Rachel and the children. Despite a broken arm, Harry activates the beacon while the truck is crushed by the weight of the debris.Eventually, they are all rescued and reunited with Harry, reiterating his promise to take them deep sea fishing. As the helicopter carrying Harry and the Wando family flies off, the camera moves over the destroyed town and swerves eerily to the now Mount St. Helens-like crater where the top of the volcano used to be.
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tragedy, suspenseful
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt0100168
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Mo' Better Blues
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The film begins with a scene set in Brooklyn, New York in 1969. A group of four boys walk up to Bleek Gilliam's brownstone and ask him to come out and play baseball with them. Bleek's mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson, to his chagrin. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, and a family argument ensues. In the end, Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends go away.
The next scene brings us to the present (over twenty years later), with an adult Bleek (Denzel Washington) performing on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his jazz band, The Bleek Quintet (Jeff "Tain" Watts, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito and Bill Nunn). Giant (Spike Lee, one of his boyhood friends from the previous scene and current manager of Bleek's band), is waiting in the wings, and advises him to stop allowing his saxophone player Shadow Henderson (Snipes) to grandstand with long solos.
The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes (Joie Lee). She leaves to go to class, while he meets his father by the Brooklyn Bridge for a game of catch, telling him that while he does like Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing his trumpet, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams) visits him. She suggests he fire Giant as his manager; he suggests that they make love (which he refers to as "mo’ better"). She bites his lip and he becomes upset about it, saying, "I make my living with my lips", as he examines the bleeding bottom lip.
Giant is with his bookie, betting on baseball. Then he goes to the nightclub and argues with the doormen about what time to let the patrons into the club. He meets Bleek inside with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey (Esposito), who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club owners’ office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there, and unsuccessfully attempts to renegotiate their contract.
Giant meets his bookie (Rubén Blades) the next morning, who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt. Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops off at Shadow's home to drop off a record. Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the next scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke, and she asks him to let her sing a number at the club with his band, to which he declines.
Bleek and Giant are fending off requests from the other members of the band, especially Shadow, for a raise due to the band's success at the club. Bleek goes to the club owners to see about more money, which they refuse, reminding him that it was Giant who locked him into the current deal.
That night at the club, both Clarke and Indigo arrive at the club to see Bleek. They are wearing the same style dress, which Bleek had purchased for them both. Bleek attempts to work it out with each girl, but they are both upset with him over the dresses, and though he sleeps with them each again they leave him (after he calls each of them by the other's name). However, tension rises with Shadow, who has feelings for Clarke.
Bleek and Giant go for a bike ride, where Bleek insists to Giant that he do a better job managing and bringing in money. Giant promises to do so, then asks Bleek for a loan to pay off his gambling debt. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks (Samuel L. Jackson and Leonard L. Thomas) who demand payment. Giant can’t pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he fell off his bike on the ride home, but Bleek does not believe him. Giant asks the other band members for money and Left loans him five hundred dollars. When loan sharks stake out Giant's home, he goes to Bleek for a place to stay. Bleek agrees to help him raise the money, but fires him as manager.
Bleek misses both his girlfriends, leaving messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it, and fires Shadow after the two fight backstage before a gig. The loan sharks track Giant down at the club before Bleek can come up with the money, take him outside and beat him while Bleek plays. Bleek goes outside to intervene, and gets beaten as well. Additionally, one loan shark (Samuel L. Jackson) takes Bleek's own trumpet, and smacks him across the face with it. This not only puts Bleek in the hospital, but it also permanently injures his lip, making him unable to continue playing trumpet.
Months later, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has gotten a job as a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops in to see Shadow and Clarke, who are now performing together with the rest of Bleek's former band. Shadow invites him on stage, and they play together. Bleek still has scars to his lips, and is unable to play correctly. He walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to Giant, and goes directly to Indigo's house. She is angry with him because she hasn’t heard from him in over a year. She tries to reject him, but agrees to take him back when he begs her to save his life.
A montage flashes through their wedding, the birth of their son, Miles, and Bleek teaching his son to play the trumpet. In the final scene of the movie, Miles is ten years old, and wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish practicing his trumpet lessons. However, unlike the (almost identical) opening scene in the beginning of the film, Bleek relents and allows his son to leave and play with friends. This final scene uses exactly the same dialogue as the first, with changes only in the delivery of the dialogue. A major part of the film's themes is cause and effect and fate. In letting Miles stop practicing which Bleek never did, then maybe his life will lead to an alternate, and ultimately happier, conclusion.
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violence, melodrama
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After the commercial and critical success of "Do The Right Thing," in which Lee announced his arrival as a major player, he choose to follow up his breakthrough with a more personal film.
If you examine history, it seems all iconoclasts choose to do so after their first big success ("The Conversation," "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind," "Talk Radio"), and Lee decided to pay homage to what he's always referred to simply as "the music." Set in then-present day 1990, "Mo' Better Blues" tells the tale of Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam, a selfish trumpeter who fronts his own jazz quintet in an upscale Brooklyn club.
Bleek must decide whether to trust Giant or risk losing his band, while deciding how long he can keep up the game between Indigo and Clarke.This, simply, is one of my favorite Lee films.
Lee is also skillful at making Bleek the antagonist of the film without rendering him completely unlikable.
The "Love Supreme" montage ending seemed to stretch the film for longer than some would have liked, but I feel it was justified in order to illustrate the beauty and necessity of Bleek's redemption.
Lee was also smart to reduce screen time given to the film's true protagonist, saxophonist Shadow Henderson (rendered with cool, suave sophistication by Wesley Snipes), in order to keep the audience focused on Bleek.
Lee focuses in on characters at times, as though they are standing and talking to a camera by themselves in some sterile room, such that it actually cheapens the film.
One of Spike Lee's best, "Mo Better Blues" captures the atmosphere of jazz.
Spike Lee's latest 'joint' is a jazz variation of 'She's Gotta Have It', with the genders reversed: maladjusted trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) juggles two lovers while indulging an almost neurotic addiction to his music.
His compulsive behavior is, presumably, a consequence of strict childhood practice habits, but if all work and no play have made Bleek a dull boy, the same can't be said of the film itself: Lee's self-conscious homage to music and fatherhood suffers from a dizzy overabundance of distracting, Scorsese-influenced 'style'.
One of the best film's Spike Lee has ever created.
Denzel Washington plays Bleek Gilliam, a selfish musician who only listens to his music.
When Bleek lost the love of his life (watch the film to learn why), he was forced to make some hard choices about his life and face some unpleasant truths (something we've all had to do).I enjoyed the score and the jazz pieces included in this film (after all, Bleek played the trumpet).
The story is a bit uneven, but the acting and the music more than make up for it.Denzel Washington plays Bleek Gilliam, a NYC trumpet player who fronts his own jazz quintet to sell-out crowds at a local club.
Meanwhile, Bleek is seeing two different women (played by Joie Lee [Spike's real-life sister] and Cynda Williams), and is torn between his passion for music and his inability to control his relationships.
Things go haywire when Bleek's sax player, Shadow (Wesley Snipes), vies for the affections of one of Bleek's women, promising her fortune and fame as a jazz singer since Bleek only cares about himself anyway.Giant's gambling problems, Bleek's convictions as a "serious" musician, and the tightrope one walks between love and professional dedication are themes all visited in this exciting, vibrant film.
Besides the wonderful performances (by Washington, Snipes, and the always-underrated Lee standby Giancarlo Esposito, among others), Ernest Dicekrson's cinematography is stunning, and the music -- performed in real life by Branford Marsalis, who has a cameo in the film -- is dazzling.
The way the "band" mimes the performances is thoroughlly convincing (although it must be noted that Bleek's drummer is played by Jeff "Tain" Watts, a real jazz drummer who actually performs on the tracks themselves).If you're a jazz lover and a lover of Spike Lee's movies, check this out -- you'll be glad you did..
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee remind me of Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi when it comes to actors and directors.This is the first film they worked on together and it was a success.
The storyline and music are all great and Spike continues to make good movie.
In Spike Lee's fourth film, Denzel Washington proves early in his career that he is capable of being funny and romantic in a more modest film than Glory or Cry Freedom, the music is breezy and romantic and consistent, jazzy and colorful cinematography, and another characteristic Spike Lee touch, which is his gift for drawing from his actors stunningly realistic performances.
Maybe it is.Mo' Better Blues is a good, steady, effective drama, a portrait of a complex and overwrought musician and the indecision and jealousy that gradually eat away at his life, but it lacks the passion and brazen provocative nature of nearly all of Spike Lee's other films.The cast, once again, is brilliant.
Jackson entertains in one of his millions and billions of early bit roles.If I were to say, "I'm in the mood for a Spike Lee joint," this would not be one of the first films I pick, but it's different and enthralling.
Things get dull early an often in this in this mawkish jazz bio fiction written and directed by Spike Lee.Bleek Gilliam (Denzell Washington) is a happenin' jazz trumpeter that fronts a quintet packing them in at Below the Underdog.
I loved this film and it is tied with Malcolm X as my favorite Spike Lee film..
I don't know if he saw the money from Do the Right Thing and ran with it, or what
but this film did not demonstrate his true talent.For anyone out there that has seen this film, and perhaps stopped watching anything directed by Spike Lee afterwards due to this film, I suggest you give him a second chance.
He really is one of the most versatile actors of this generation, and I do consider him the Sydney Poitier of cinema, but this was not the film to showcase his talent.Another issue that I had with this film was the use of Spike's sister playing one of the love interests.
Perhaps that is how he could afford both Denzel and Wesley in the same movie without any explosions.There were two great scenes in this film that made it worth watching through to the end.
The other scene that was worth watching was the way that Lee introduced and ended the film.
This was a frustrating movie for me because it was at times brilliant, yet there are a few things that could have been done better.Spike Lee shows why he is revered as a writer director, with beautiful dynamic shots, intercut with smooth jazz.
Also Spike Lee's performance was very weak compared to Denzel's and he should have stayed out of the movie.
Review: I've never really been a big fan of Spike Lee's movies, mainly because I don't like his directing and writing methods, and his pro-black message was used to death but I thought that it would be good to see how far Denzel Washington has come in his career.
For those of you who don't remember the plot, the film is based around a trumpet player, Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington), who regularly plays in a club with his band, and is managed by his best friend, Giant (Spike Lee), who is addicted to gambling and hasn't paid the band for a long time.
As Bleek is the leader of the band, everyone turns to him for there wages, knowing that there manager is useless but Bleek stays loyal to his friend, whilst trying to hold a relationship with Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams).
He also had a few scraps with fellow directors in the media, and his movies started to take less money at the box office, mainly because people was getting a bit fed up with the same theme, so after releasing Girl 6 and He Got Game, he decided to make a movie about true events called Summer Of Sam. 25th Hour was also a change of direction for Spike Lee, and he started to turn his career to TV for a while.
Anyway, it's a watchable movie but not a classic.Budget: $10million Worldwide Gross: $16millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their music/romance/dramas, starring Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Joie Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Cynda Williams, Nicholas Turturro, Samuel L.
Furthermore with Spike Lee as a director and a lot of good actors you have a good start for a film.It's kind of a dramatic and comedy film.
Let me describe it as a witness would describe a crime.I saw, what appeared to be Denzel Washington playing the role of Bleek Gilliam, a musician in Harlem.
His manager's name was Giant who was a man in the form of Spike Lee. Bleek was involved with two women, Indigo and Clark who donned the flesh of Joie Lee and Cynda Williams.
Great music and good acting but as in many of Lee´s films:TOO LONG!!.
I saw this a couple of years ago and I don´t remember so much from it.But then I saw it again last month with my girlfriend I thought that it was too long.It could have been much better.The first half hour is great but the film is over 2 hours and you get bored and almost forget the story in the end.That´s a problem with some of Spike Lee´s films that they are too long but this film has great music and very good acting.I recommend "Jungle fever" for entertaining and "Do the right thing" as a masterpiece.2/5.
Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues is quite a compelling jazz drama.
Having just watched Do the Right Thing, I'm now reviewing Spike Lee's follow-up Mo' Better Blues which I also watched on YouTube.
Spike plays Giant, manager to Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) whose jazz band is the hottest in the club.
I have seen many films that have been written by,directed by and starred Spike Lee as well as his sister Joie.
This film was better than Spike Lee's other films since race doesn't play quite as big a factor in this film as it does in some of the other films he has produced..
I love Inside Man, a more conventional film for Lee, but Mo' Better Blues is far more personal.
The acting is all round great, headed by Denzel Washington as Bleek, the artist who loves the music more than his friends.
I myself liked it, it had me tapping my feet all the through.The film is a little long and can sometimes lose its way, but this is a very enjoyable film, a solid effort from Spike Lee..
mo' better blues was the only film of spike's back catalog that i hadn't seen yet, or more than once.
my only two complaints about the film: like most of spike's good movies, it runs out of steam before the credits.
Even thought you can definitely tell this is a Spike Lee movie and is definitely worth a watch, to me being Spike fan this did not really appeal to me as much as i thought it would of.It being a Lee film you thought it would of had a bit more power and satire humour to it and having two of the biggest names ever (Denzel Washington and Wesly Snipes) it is no more than simple little love triangle between the two.Blues is something that they just play at a club but the film dos not really resolve around any of tat specific subject.
I always thought That Lee had never made a bad film but this just did not really do it for me.Although i did like the acting and the photography was excellent.
This movie has three things I love - Denzel, jazz, and baseball.
Another two stars off because of the Spike Lee weird camera thing.
While you are playing that trumpet, your sax player (Wesley Snipes) is scheming about his own band, the two lovers (Joie Lee & Cynda Williams) that you are torn between are tired of being ignored, and your manager (Spike Lee) is so deep into the bookie that he will never get out and drag you down with him.Work and love.
Denzell Washington (Traing Day, Glory) is Bleek Gilliam, the leader of a jazz quintet who is so focused on his music that he ignored all that is going on around him until it is too late.
Bleek has to face these questions, as we all do at one time or another.Sure there is great music to listen to in this film, but there is so much more to ponder while listening..
I want to recommend Mo' Better Blues more, at least to a specific crowd, than I can exactly, even though it is a good film.
Quite simply, for jazz fans, this is where it's at as far as great soundtracks go, and on top of the sensational tracks that Lee has put together, with the given greats like Coltrane, Davis, and probably Rollins in there somewhere, there's also the final musical score provided by his father, Bill.
So at the least, as a jazz fan personally more than anything, this provides some many fine moments (Lee is also very good at using excellent Coltrane tracks for love scenes, or just talking scenes, or whatever).Unfortunately Lee doesn't have quite the same control over the sensibilities of his characters.
There wasn't really much I cared about with the main character, Bleek Gilliam, played by Denzel Washington, because he's like one of those interesting yet purely shallow, self-absorbed archetypes that one's seen in many other musical dramas.
More intriguing, however, than the sexual mind-games that end up getting played on Bleek via his infidelities and the eventual match-up of Clark and Shadow, is Spike Lee's own Giant.
Here, as in Do the Right Thing, he does give him some dimension, and through the clichéd wormy-guy-who-owes-gambling-debts-to-gangsters sub-plot, there is truth there in how he plays it.In fact, the acting and Lee's own determined, headstrong direction is not the problem I had with the film.
The actors are always dependable to follow the emotional lines to a believable fault, which is obviously part of the atmosphere Lee has on this and many other films of his; we can't imagine these characters acting any other way, even if they're a little 'too' theatrical for their own good.
And I will probably like watching parts of this on TV again if it comes on just to see those wonderful shots that Lee gets at times, like the circular spin around Washington as he practices playing trumpet with just his fingers miming at the camera, or when Lee is avoiding the hoods and tries to go swiftly past the car waiting for him, or even the very Scorsesean uses of red tinting in the lighting schemes and the usage of slow motion.So really, Mo' Better Blues has got a lot of things going for it, including a swift, cool sense of humor at times (I loved Robin Harris's bits of stand-up on stage, and the down to earth nature of the band members in smaller scenes), and a soundtrack I'd love to seek out if it were available.
"Mo' Better Blues" is Spike Lee's immediate follower of the unanimously acclaimed "Do the Right Thing".
And if not 'Mo' Better' than the glorious predecessor, Lee still 'did the right thing' by tackling a less political subject and pay a beautiful tribute to jazz music through one of the most under-appreciated performances of the 90's: Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam, the trumpet player."Do the Right Thing" also coincided with the year Washington won his first Oscar for his performance as the tormented Afro-American soldier questioning the value of his engagement with the Yankees.
The list would be incomplete without Spike Lee who plays Giant, an ironic name for the vertically challenged manager of the band.
All he's got left is Indigo, and she only accepts after he begs her to ''save his life', which means that he finally triumphed over his own ego.Part choice, part luck, the film subtly parallels life with jazz music, which is one third- dedication, one third-inspiration and one-third improvisation, Bleek was too dedicated to himself to see how listening to the others could help him.
I have worked as a jazz trumpet player, and I thought Spike Lee's presentation of the darker side of jazz was brilliant.
I myself have had to address many of the problems faced by Denzel Washington's character in this movie, and I think it should be required viewing for aspiring jazz musicians.
The music in this movie is wonderful, and the acting quite good (Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes probably don't know how to play their instruments as wonderfully as what we could hear, but they faked it well).
As usual, Spike Lee appears in the film.
*****************************SPOILER*************************Interestingly, the movie ends almost exactly the way it started, except Bleek is an adult whose son is practicing the trumpet, and this time the boy gets to go out and play with his friends.
Not My Favorite Spike Lee Movie.
As with several of Spike Lee's earlier films I just do not get them as they are not part of the lifestyle I lead.
This film says a lot about trumpet music and jazz, it's just not my cup of tea, I would much rather watch Lee's more racial driven films.
This film marks the first of four collaborations that Spike Lee and Denzele Washington have conferred on together and it is their least effective, but every one has got to start somewhere.
Spike Lee took a gander at the music world with 1990's "Mo' Better Blues", starring Denzel Washington as a musician.
It seems like the music throughout the movie was jazz, not blues.
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Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
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Impossible Missions Force Agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) is directing two members of his team, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), in an attempt to retrieve a package from a cargo plane that's about to take off in Minsk, Belarus. Luther is connecting Benji to the plane's electronics by hacking a Russian satellite, which is likely to get them into trouble -- and Brandt reminds them that they're already under investigation for misconduct. As the plane rolls onto the runway, Benji finds that most of the plane's systems are secured -- he can't shut down the fuel pump, the electrical system, or the hydraulics. Just then the missing member of the team, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), sprints over a hill by the runway and leaps onto the plane, demanding that Benji open the plane's door. By the time Benji gets the right door open the plane is up and away, but Ethan escapes with the package -- many canisters of toxic nerve gas, conveniently prepared for a parachute drop.The nerve gas was being sold to a terrorist group, but none of the people who sent it from Belarus had the means to obtain it. Ethan is convinced this trail will lead him to the Syndicate, an international criminal consortium whose very existence has been in doubt. Reporting to an IMF substation that's disguised as a London record shop to receive his next orders, Ethan is captured by the Syndicate and watches in horror as a Syndicate agent kills his contact. He wakes up in a torture chamber, where he observes some discord -- Syndicate operative and disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who's preparing to interrogate Ethan with drugs, is forced to step aside by her colleague Janik Vinter (Jens Hultén). He's called the Bonedoctor and has a case full of scary instruments to prove his right to the nickname. Ethan escapes with help from Ilsa, but she refuses to go with him.Meanwhile, Brant appears with CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) before a Senate oversight committee. Brandt must respond to every question by refusing to confirm or deny anything without permission from the secretary (of defense, presumably) ... which he cannot get because there is, at the moment, no secretary in office. This allows Hunley to have his way with the committee. At his request the IMF is disbanded and absorbed into the CIA, guaranteeing that Ethan -- who Hunley thinks has gone rogue -- will be captured within the day.Six months later, Ethan is still on the run. Unable to find the Syndicate without help, he enlists his former colleague Benji, who's happy to take a break from the CIA -- Hunley is sure Benji knows how to find Ethan and subjects him to weekly polygraphs (which Benji beats handily). Ethan arranges for Benji to attend Turandot in Vienna to search for Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), who Ethan suspects is the leader of the Syndicate. Although Ethan and Benji thwart three snipers at the opera (one of whom is Ilsa), the Austrian chancellor (Rupert Wickham) is killed by a car bomb. Ethan reveals to Benji that the Syndicate has been assassinating minor world leaders for some time; the murder of the chancellor of Austria is an escalation and a signal that the Syndicate is stepping out of the shadows.Brandt recruits Luther to help find Ethan and prevent Hunley's team from killing him. Using a likeness of Ilsa left by Ethan, Brandt and Luther are able to track Ethan, Benji, and Faust to Morocco, where they're infiltrating a secure server underneath a power station. Their target is a well-protected ledger containing the names of all Syndicate agents and information on where the Syndicate keeps its money. The three of them execute an elaborate scheme in which Ethan is nearly drowned. As soon as he starts breathing again, Ilsa whacks Benji and takes the drive holding the ledger. During the ensuing chase, Brandt and Luther catch up with Ethan and Benji, while Ilsa joins a team of Syndicate motorcycle goons just long enough to get a bike of her own. Ilsa manages to escape, but Benji reveals he had already made a copy of the data.Ilsa returns to London and attempts to pass the drive containing the Syndicate ledger to her handler, MI6 Director Attlee (Simon McBurney), who compels Ilsa to return to the Syndicate and finish her mission. She returns to Lane, only to find that Attlee has wiped the drive, which in fact contained an encrypted "red box." A red box is a data safe programmed by the British government; unlocking it requires the prime minister's biometrics. The former IMF agents confront Ilsa, but when Lane's men abduct Benji, Ethan and company are told they must deliver a decrypted copy of the drive to Lane.Brandt contacts Hunley and reveals their location. At a charity auction, the two try and prevent Ethan from attacking the prime minister, whom they and Attlee take to a secure room. Ethan, having posed as Attlee, reveals himself and has the prime minister confirm the existence of the Syndicate, a classified project to perform missions without oversight (though the prime minister insists that he cancelled the project while it was still in the planning stages). When the real Attlee arrives, Ethan subdues him and he admits that he had been covering up the existence of the Syndicate since Lane hijacked the project and went rogue.Luther discovers the file actually contains access to billions of pounds. Ethan memorizes the data and destroys the file to force Lane to release Benji and Ilsa in exchange for what he knows. He goads Lane, drawing him into the open and luring him into a bulletproof cell where he is taken into custody. Ilsa drives away, telling Ethan, "you know how to find me."Some time later, Hunley and Brandt return to the oversight committee, where Brandt once again refuses to confirm or deny anything without permission from the secretary. Hunley secures the reinstatement of the IMF, claiming that his previous efforts to have it disbanded were all to allow Hunt to go undercover. The committee, though skeptical, approves, and on the way out Brandt addresses Hunley as "Mr. Secretary."
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suspenseful, murder, violence, flashback, humor, revenge
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One may draw parallels between the events that have happened in this film to some of the recent events in our world, but I see it as a clever way for the franchise to keep up with our times.'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation' is without a doubt one of the most exciting films I've had the pleasure of experiencing this year.
Based on this current installment, there should definitely be more.MI:1 is a classic in my eyes and I've watched it countless times, but I must say, Rogue Nation...well, it's a lot more fun and I do feel it is a better film overall.
There are five separate big action sequences here, each lasting around ten minutes more or less, and they are all high-octane thrill-rides that never let up and make this such an entertaining film.Tom Cruise proves once again that he's a blockbuster star like no other, giving his all in the action here, whether it's attaching himself to a plane, jumping in a chasm of water or riding a superbike through the desert (in what was, in my opinion, the greatest, most exhilarating car chase ever).On that note, actually, the incredible bike chase is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the great action, but credit has to go to director Christopher McQuarrie for excellently turning this into a good-looking and intense action thriller, using great camera work (avoiding shaky cam) to make it so brilliantly entertaining.Away from the stunts, this film has still got a very good plot to it.
There are few blockbusters that couple great action and intelligent storytelling nowadays, but this really bucks that trend, because it's absolutely enthralling to follow from start to finish.There are betrayals and deceptions galore in this spy thriller, as well as a genuinely exciting climax, which is so unpredictable that it makes you forget about the generic plots of the less successful films and be properly engrossed in the current story.Finally, this is also a very nice film to look at, thanks both to McQuarrie's direction, as well as the beautiful sets and landscapes that this is set in all over the world.
But this film would be great in any format."Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" is one of the best action films I have ever seen.
Storyline with nice twists and pretty good for an action movie, though watching Ghost Protocol helps getting to know the IMF crew (there's no introduction this time around).**spoiler-free**Rogue Nation, like the latest movies in the franchise and others in the spy/action genre, starts with a small crew, with little support, against huge odds, having to deal with challenges that seem impossible (no pun intended).
The latest 007 movies are following the same ideals, but M:I has made a solid choice of supporting actors (specially Simon Pegg) that add a subtle layer of comedy and improvisation, which helps a lot into building some suspense in the audience - it feels like as if they are as clueless as we are of what is going to happen.Another great aspect that sets this moving apart are the terrific action sequences which are paired with outstanding sound effects and music score (without spoiling, there is an entire action sequence that plays with this very aspect).
Much like Ghost Protocol, the storyline packs some interesting twists and doesn't seem obvious - even though we all know that the good guys win, Rogue Nation adds some shady characters which are not as black and white, making for some interesting development.Overall a highly entertaining movie, packed with stunning action sequences and a storyline that is well thought-out and manages to keep the audience hooked until the end.
Rebecca Ferguson is a strong character & female equivalent of Ethan Hunt.Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner & Alec Baldwin all give great performances & have about the same screen time.The villains lead by Sean Harris are effective & chilling & also a little mysterious.Music is superb with many subtle bursts of the MI theme.
The film does not contain hardly any CGI its nearly all practical real stunt FX.Overall it just works from start to finish & Christopher McQuarrie has created a superb film experience which does not fail to entertain & deserves repeat viewings to enjoy the experience again & again.This mission should you chose to accept it is to enjoy the movie & watch it at least once more at the cinema the way its intended to be seen on a massive screen with loud sound..
This fifth installment in the franchise surges with death-defying action proceedings, riveting and pulsing with the relentlessness and explosiveness of its spiking adrenaline, to deliver the franchise's most thrilling outing, yet.That relentlessness is true and screaming right at the opening sequence of the film, where IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), is seen dangling from the door of an airbus, already adrift in the air as it ascends even further to the skies.
This doesn't mean there's barely any sense to take in, in fact you would be awed to realize that in spite of its speed and strength-defying physicalities, characterizations are still working along the explosive chaos, and the behavior of the characters, and the emotional aspect of the narrative, still follows acceptable reasoning.The whole of 'Rogue Nation' can be seen as Hunt's team desperate attempt to keep IMF running, and save it, and the world it intends to protect, from extinction.
The comic effort comes mostly from Hunt's sidekick, Benji (Simon Pegg), and Brandt, who spends most of the time running and chasing after the shadow-terrorist group, The Syndicate.Much of the movie's strength emanates from its seemingly unstoppable delivery of edge-of-your-seat action, but you can't ignore the grandeur of its camera shots and the palatable efforts of its lead characters and supports.
As for acting: Rebecca Ferguson's lovely, Simon Pegg'g good, Ving Rhames Jeremy Renner and Simon McBurney are adequate for their characters, and Tom Cruise...
Mission impossible Rouge Nation is directed by Christopher McQuarrie and stars Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg.
Somewhere along the line, before seeing this latest installment, I had decided to re-watch the original four films and realized that the character of Ethan Hunt really has no defining characteristics beyond just basically being Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise has a mission, something goes wrong, he goes rouge, needs to find some kind of MacGuffin, the villain is some kind of terrorist arms dealer, insert random forgettable love interest here, big stunts, the end.that being said, the film's action scenes are amazing, and really make you question the sanity of Cruise, who needlessly continues to insist on doing all of his stunts.
Even the most publicized stunt, with Cruise hanging on the airplane in mid-air seemed too hurried and poorly executed.The plot seemed repeated and predictable.IMF in trouble, Ethan is the lone wolf..the one man army, throw a sexy female agent and a villain who talks funny, too many Beemers, multiple intelligence agencies with secrets of their own, and there you have it !The only thing constant in the film was its flaws.
New women, same guys, a villain so big that he controls major international happenings and disasters, can start wars with his actions, yet personally goes to murder a movie store clerk cum IMF sub agent while exposing himself to the 'living manifestation of destiny' ( cant believe that was an actual piece of dialog, uttered by the wasted Alec Baldwin).The only standout was Simon Pegg as Benji ' when the cuss am i gonna get to wear a mask' Dunn.
I really enjoy MI series, however this one felt like it was missing all the things that make it interesting.I miss the comedic scenes, the suspense that is mixed with humour, the interesting gadgets that help get you into an impossible place also the interaction between the team members also absent.In the end I felt I could have watched the British woman all day, and had no interest in anything else, the rest was irksome.Do NOT waste your money to buy or go to the cinema just wait until its on TV and the adverts/commercials will give you more suspense!!Bottom line: Its the worst in the series!.
The opening features Tom Cruise, as Hunt, performing his own death-defying stunt, climbing on the outside of a flying plane without the use of special effects or a stunt double...so it's easy to see why he apparently injured himself 6 times during the making of the movie.
There's also what we've come to expect from Cruise in these movies: him running, on a motorcycle (though not running *on* a motorcycle...at least not yet), without a shirt, and having a shout-y moment.After the thrilling opening sequence, the following scene involving Hunt, a character simply credited as 'Record Shop Girl' and the film's baddie (who's not up to Philip Seymour Hoffman in M:I 3 standard, but is at least more menacing/memorable than M:I 4's bad guy) is surprisingly effective on an emotional level, given that Hunt and the girl only share a brief exchange.
While I felt Simon Pegg's Benji character was a bit overused in the last film, and relied too heavily upon for laughs, I think this movie - while still heavily featuring him - dialed things back a notch and allowed the character to have some strong character beats amongst all the funny lines/moments.
Director Christopher McQuarrie has another amazing team up with Tom Cruise after Edge of Tomorrow, not only delivering an exciting thriller well balanced by suspense, actions and humors at the right moment, but also the fun, shrewd and metaphorical dialogues throughout the entire film.
The well structured plot helps a lot in full character developments of all the cast while the chemistry between Cruise and Ferguson is excellent which enables the audiences to feel the interpersonal engagement and teamwork spirit in completing the impossible mission.
It could have benefited from less CGI in the driving sequences, but they're fun to watch (II and III are much worse by comparison).The plot line by itself is a bit convoluted, as they were trying to emphasize the spy vs spy story-line that can be expected from every Mission Impossible film.
Most of the previous characters from the other Mission films return to bring a sense of unity to the series.So if you're looking for some pretty amazing action, check it out.
Fifth movie in the Mission Impossible franchise has Ethan Hunt & IMF friends trying to stop a mysterious group known as the Syndicate, despite the IMF being shut down by the government and Ethan being wanted by the CIA.
The supporting cast is good, with Simon Pegg stealing every scene he's in and Rebecca Ferguson as the attractive assassin who saves Tom throughout the movie.
And play up they should as once you hear the familiar theme music – whooosh
you fall right in step with the action.This time round the IMF team is on the track of 'The Syndicate' an evil group of agents whom are all listed as supposedly dead or MIA along with the fact that no one seems to believe they exist, leads us to understand quickly enough who the bad guys are and who the good guys are..or in the case of one character..it might beg the question..do we?Simon Pegg back again as "Benji Dunn" adds the expected comic relief at the right intervals and is a fun watch here.
My motto of 'you're only as good as your villain' also comes across well with a notably beardless Sean Harris as baddie "Solomon Lane".While Rogue Nation is most definitely an adrenaline ride fueled by high octane action sequences, it's also wittier than past M.I. films with Cruise facial reactions to some of what's going on let's you in on the secret that yes..he knows how impractical it all seems..
As with most Mission Impossible movies there are twists and turns along the way to keep the viewer engaged.For me, the most important part of these kind of blockbusters is how well the action is filmed.
In Rogue Nation, every fight, chase, or shootout is shot which such perfection, it brings the audience along and makes them feel like they are part of Tom Cruise's team fighting alongside him.
It may not be a perfect movie for the most, yet it's going to be another superb time at cinemas with the usual Tom Cruise power and a surprisingly skillful mission that everyone who are looking for the magic of entertaining should accept..
This film tells the story of a group of secret agents fighting against the odds to prove that a secret terrorist organisation called The Syndicate does exist, and to destroy it."Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" begins with an intense scene involving Tom Cruise hanging on to an flying airplane, a scene that is in the trailers.
As befits a film that could be subtitled "MI-5", much of the action that underlies Tom Cruise's latest outing as IMF agent Ethan Hunt is set in London and concerns shady goings on at British Intelligence.
The weakest link in the series is by far the first sequel directed by John Woo, but J.J. Abrams managed to reinvigorate the franchise in the third Mission Impossible film with Philip Seymour Hoffman's memorable performance as the main villain and the introduction of Simon Pegg's character who brought the much needed comic relief.
"Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" starts off with its most talked about stunt performed without any CGI by Tom Cruise himself.
It looks like Tom has been Cruising with another great movie, as Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation is filled with the right amount of action scenes and comic relief to make this a must see.
The Mission Impossible series has only gotten bigger since its inception on to the big screen 20 years ago opening with Brian De Palmas smaller scale slick and intense thriller where we are introduced to Tom Cruise's secret agent Ethan Hunt.
The IMF has been disbanded and Ethan Hunt is now an outlaw for the C.I.A. The team have their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the syndicate - A rogue organization helmed by Lane (Sean Harris) committed to destroying the IMF.Full of blistering well done fast paced action as to be expected but I don't think it has moved the franchise any further, now more than ever in the Tom Cruise show has become a series of massive action sequences that could be shown in any order and it wouldn't make a difference.
Which is why it's hard to take that MI:5 is lacklustre in almost every other aspect with the exception of a couple of great action sequences.Same old, same old for the crew here Cruise the unstoppable machine with some spectacular and daring stunts which he indulges in more than ever, Simon Pegg's Benji the comic relief which for me grated at times, The ever tough and stolid Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Ving Rhame's Luther cool as a cucumber as always.
It's not a bad thing as I still enjoy Tom Cruise in movies like Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation.
Everyone in the cast is superb, Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, and Ving Rhames are superb in their roles, but newcomer Rebecca Ferguson is fantastic as a very complex character who's very mysterious.
My only problem was the pacing being slow at times, but that is it.Overall, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is a fun ride from start to finish with exciting action, great visuals, a talented cast and easily the best story and script of any of the films.
This time Tom Cruise is working alone as Ethan Hunt trying to save the IMF from an attack by another high skilled rogue organization called 'The Syndicate' where he is later joined by Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn.
Luckily, director Christopher McQuarrie injects the same thrilling energy into his set pieces and keeps the pace fast enough.The story: IMF is disbanded and a wanted Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is determined to bring down a mysterious organisation, the Syndicate.
The Mission Impossible Rogue Nation is a good movie but it is not the Best.
In the Previous whole series of Mission impossible Tom cruise did very big stunts but in this movie the first stunt on the plane is good but the timing of the stunt is very bad.
Great Fun. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation Plot In A Paragraph: Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team must track and bring down the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.I really enjoyed this movie.
This is one of those movies.A lot of jaw-dropping action sequences, laughs and scary moments.Tom Cruise is flat out at his best in this film.
Like all Mission: Impossible movies, Rogue Nation is directed by a different director than the last one, this time around being Christopher McQuarrie and it has Tom Cruise come back as Ethan Hunt and we get to see many of the awesome characters of the franchise back and we also get newer cool characters, as well.First of all and needless to say, Cruise owns the role of Ethan Hunt.
I love the last Mission impossible and this one just out did that.I would like to think that the full return of Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell had a lot to do with the success, but movie star Tom Cruise has proved that this franchise is more than just a pay check for him, he believes in the quality of his work, and we get quality.
Plus, Alec Baldwin is in the movie and I'm a fan.Rogue Nation has up the scale on the Mission Impossible franchise.
Tasked with their most impossible mission yet, Ethan must make new alliances and stop the Syndicate at all costs, even if the mission has been deemed.........impossible.Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, and the surprising Rebecca Ferguson star in the fifth installment to the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise, and this time it's back and better than ever!
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Eyes Wide Shut
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Bill and Alice Harford (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman), a well-to-do Manhattan couple, have been married for nine years. Bill is a doctor with his own private practice and Alice is a full-time mother, though she has managed an art gallery in the past. They have a seven-year-old daughter named Helena (Madison Eginton), whom they leave with a babysitter for the evening while they attend a Christmas party thrown by wealthy attorney Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack) and his wife Illona (Leslie Lowe). While at the party, Bill runs into an old friend, Nick Nightingale (Todd Field). Nick dropped out of medical school to become a pianist. Before returning to his place among the band, he invites Bill to come see him at another gig while he's in town. While Alice drunkenly fends off the advances of an unctuous middle-aged Hungarian businessman named Sandor Szavost (Sky du Mont), Bill flirts with two models. Alice dances with Sandor but finally gives him the slip when he invites her upstairs, citing the fact that she is married. Just as the models offer to show Bill "where the rainbow ends," he is discreetly summoned upstairs for an apparent emergency.Ziegler had been partying upstairs with an escort, Mandy (Julienne Davis). When she shot up a mixture of heroin and cocaine, she passed out, scaring Ziegler. Bill rouses the naked woman back to consciousness; determining that she'll safely recover, he chides her to get some help for her addiction. Ziegler makes Bill promise not to mention the incident to anyone.The next night, Alice rolls a joint and she and Bill get stoned. She asks Bill what he was doing with the two models the previous night. He denies hitting on them and asks Alice about the man he saw dancing with her. She says he wanted to have sex with her, which Bill jokes is understandable. Alice turns Bill's comment around and argues that Bill must have wanted to have sex with the models. He assures her that he would not break his marriage vows by cheating on her, but this only further inflames Alice, who infers that the only reason Bill didn't have a fling with the models is out of some sense of marital duty. When Bill smugly claims that women require love before they can have sex and that he has never been concerned she would cheat on him, Alice laughs mockingly. She reminds Bill of a family vacation they spent one summer at a resort in Cape Cod, and asks him if he remembers a certain naval officer. Bill draws a blank. Alice explains to Bill that she wanted this man so badly that she couldn't stop fantasizing about him even while she made love to Bill and attended to Alice. She states flatly that she considered throwing away her life as a wife and mother just to have sex with the handsome stranger. Bill appears stunned and deeply troubled by Alice's confession that when she learned that the naval officer had left the resort, she felt sorry that he was gone, but also "relieved" that fate had prevented her from sleeping with the man, which she most certainly would have done if he had stayed. Their discussion comes to an abrupt end when the telephone rings and Bill is called away to the home of one of his patients, but thoughts of Alice being ravished by the naval officer continue to haunt him.Bill arrives at the lavish apartment of his patient Lou Nathanson, who has just passed away after an illness. He offers his condolences to Nathanson's grief-stricken daughter, Marion (Marie Richardson). In the middle of discussing her engagement and future plans, Marion suddenly confesses to Bill that she is deeply in love with him and needs to be near him, even if she will never get to see him. Bill politely declines her advance, telling her that she is distraught and confused by her father's death. Marion's fiancé Carl (Thomas Gibson) arrives and Bill takes the opportunity to make an exit.Walking through the streets, Bill sees a hooker making out with a john and continues to be plagued by images of his wife with the naval officer. Minutes later, a group of drunken frat boys shove Bill down on the sidewalk, baiting him with homophobic taunts.As Bill continues wandering downtown, a prostitute named Domino (Vinessa Shaw) propositions him. He hesitates, but agrees to accompany her to her apartment nearby. Just as they kiss in her bedroom, Alice calls on his cell phone. Bill lies that he is still at Nathanson's apartment but after hanging up, thinks better of his decision to solicit Domino's services. He pays her and leaves without taking things any further.Resuming his walk, he passes the Sonata Club, where his former medical school chum, Nick Nightingale, is playing piano with a group. Bill decides to stop in to listen. After the music number is up, Nick meets with Bill for drinks at a table. He reveals that he is scheduled to play piano at a sex party later that night and he is waiting for the code word. When Nick answers his cel and appears to be discussing admission to the party, Bill hectors him for more details -- he wants to attend. Nick reveals the code word, "Fidelio," and explains that the orgyists wear costumes. Nick says he doesn't know much else because he's always blindfolded when he plays at the parties.Even though it is after 1:00 a.m., Bill walks to a costume shop called "Rainbow Fashions" hoping the owner, a patient of his, will help him with a costume as a favor. However, the store is under new ownership, and the man who answers the door, a middle aged European named Mr. Milich (Rade Serbedzija) tells Bill to come back during business hours. Bill offers Milich a generous amount of money to rent him a costume now. While taking Bill through the showroom, Milich catches his teenage daughter (Leelee Sobieski), clad in only her underwear, cavorting with two similarly half-dressed older Japanese businessmen in a dressing room. As his daughter cowers behind Bill, Milich expresses outrage at their lack of decency. He locks the men in the room and threatens to call the police on them after he has served Bill.On the way to the party in a taxi, Bill continues to obsess about his wife with the naval officer. Using the password supplied by Nick, he gains access to the party, held at a remote mansion in Long Island. As Bill enters the main room, a circle of thirteen masked women at the center of the room remove their cloaks to reveal that they are clad only in thong bikinis and engage in a quasi-religious ritual before an audience of similarly cloaked and masked men and women. Nick, blindfolded, plays the electric organ. The partygoers then retire to watch or participate in a variety of sexual acts in other rooms throughout the mansion. One masked woman comes to Bill, takes him aside and warns him that he does not belong there.Bill walks through the mansion where various orgies are taking place from the living room, to the dining room and the library. After a few minutes, Bill meets another masked woman who accompanies in watching the library room orgy. Just then, the first masked woman catches up with Bill and takes him aside out of the room where she again tells him to leave and insists he is in terrible danger, for the others suspect that he is an outsider. Bill demands answers and urges the woman to leave with him, but she refuses, saying that it could cost her life and maybe his. The masked woman runs when Bill is then interrupted by a masked porter who tells him that the taxi driver who is waiting outside wants to speak with him. However, the porter takes him to the main room where the masked, red-cloaked Master of Ceremonies confronts Bill in front of the anonymous spectators with a question about a second password, which Bill is unable to answer. The Master of Ceremonies asks him to "kindly remove your mask," and once he does, requests that he also remove his clothes. Before Bill is forced to disrobe, the young woman who had tried to warn Bill intervenes and insists that she be punished instead of him. As she is taken away, Bill asks what is going to happen to her. The Master cryptically replies her fate is sealed. Bill is allowed to leave, but he is also warned not to tell anyone about what happened there or he and his family will suffer "dire consequences."Bill returns home at dawn, guilty and confused. He hides the costume in a locked bureau in his office. Alice awakens and tells him of a troubling dream in which he and she wandered naked in a deserted city. She felt frightened and ashamed while he went off to try to find their clothes. After he left, she felt better, finding herself, still naked, in a beautiful garden. The naval officer emerged, stared at her, and the two of them began making love surrounded by many other couples doing the same. She then started having sex with many of those men and laughing at the idea of Bill seeing her with them.The next morning, Bill goes to a restaurant next door to the Sonata cafe in search of Nick Nightingale, where he learns from the waitress where Nick is staying. Bill goes to the hotel to talk to Nick, but the front desk clerk (Alan Cumming) informs Bill that Nick checked out several hours ago. When Bill asks the desk clerk if there was "anything odd" about Nick's departure, the desk clerk tells Bill that Nick returned to the hotel just before dawn, accompanied by two well-dressed and well-spoken but burly men, one of whom went up to the room with Nick while the other paid his hotel bill. When Nick came back downstairs with his luggage, the desk clerk tells Bill that Nick tried to pass him an envelope, but one of the men noticed this and intercepted it. The two men then forcibly escorted Nick into a waiting limousine parked outside the hotel and they left. The desk clerk adds that Nick appeared to be frightened and his face was bruised.A little later that day, Bill goes to return the costume to Rainbow Fashions, but the mask isn't in the bag with the rest of the costume. Milich adds the missing mask to Bill's charge. Milich's daughter and the two businessmen appear again. The men, now attired in expensive suits, exchange a few pleasantries before they leave. Milich's teenage daughter is still in her underwear. Bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Bill reminds Milich that he was going to report the men to the police. The shopkeeper smilingly informs Bill that he and the businessmen have "come to another arrangement." With his daughter by his side, Mr. Milich states he can do other favors for Bill "and it needn't be a costume." His daughter simply stares at Bill enigmatically.More disturbed than ever, Bill returns to the site of the party, where he is handed a note at the front gate... addressed to him. Although the people there saw his face, he had never told anyone at the party his name. The note tells Bill to cease his inquiries about the previous night's events and to consider the note his "second warning."Throughout the rest of the day, Bill cannot get visions of Alice and the naval officer having passionate sex out of his head. After he returns home from work, he thinks about Alice's recounting of the scene while he watches her instruct their daughter in math. After dinner, Bill lies to Alice about having appointments at his office that very night. He goes back to Domino's apartment and when she is not home, he tries to seduce Sally, Domino's roommate (Fay Masterson). Sally seems interested, but the mood is dampened when she feels obliged to break the news to Bill that Domino has learned that she is HIV-positive. Bill then attempts to call Marion, but hangs up when her fiancé answers the phone.Walking down a street, brooding, Bill notices a well-dressed stranger trailing him. Bill ducks into a nearby coffee shop and apparently loses his pursuer. There, Bill reads an article from a discarded newspaper, the New York Post, that a woman named Amanda Curran, a former beauty queen, was found dead of a drug overdose in a hotel room that morning. Using his doctor's credentials, Bill goes to the morgue to view the body. He recognizes Amanda Curran as the same "Mandy" who overdosed at the Zieglers' Christmas party two nights earlier, and suspects that she may also have been the same masked woman who tried to warn him during the orgy. Bill now fears that she died to protect him.As he is leaving the hospital, Bill receives a call on his cell phone from Ziegler, who wants to meet with him. In the spacious living room at Ziegler's house, after a few minutes of casual talk, Ziegler suddenly reveals that knows all about what happened to Bill the previous night because he was at the orgy Bill crashed and pleads with him to give up his investigations. He admits to having had Bill followed because his own position with the mysterious group has been jeopardized by Bill's intrusion, and curses Nick for having told Bill about the event. Ziegler assures Bill that beyond voyeurism and sex, nothing untoward happened at the party. All of the warnings and the trial, Ziegler suggests, were staged to frighten Bill into keeping quiet.Ziegler further tells Bill that the masked and costumed attendees at the orgy party are very wealthy, important, powerful people who want to protect their privacy. They already suspected that Bill didn't belong at the orgy because he came in a taxi and left the rental receipt for the costume in the pocket of his coat; also there was no second password. Bill would like to believe Ziegler, but can't simply overlook the death of Amanda Curran, whom Ziegler identified as the woman at the party as well as the same woman from the orgy who "sacrificed" herself to prevent Bill's punishment. He also wonders about Nick's fate. Ziegler claims that Nick is safely back in Seattle, and that Mandy was simply a prostitute who had a bad drug problem and died from an accidental overdose. Ziegler quotes: "Life goes on, until it doesn't. It always does." Bill clearly struggles to accept everything Ziegler is telling him. Ultimately however, Ziegler is one of Bill's patients and socializes with many of Bill's other wealthy patients... some of whom are surely the same people involved in these strange ceremonies. Ziegler could effectively put an end to Bill's medical practice if he were to decide to cause any further trouble or question Ziegler's answers, not to mention taking other, more sinister measures against Bill of which he has hinted he is capable. Bill has no choice but to acquiesce and try to forget everything he's seen-- or thinks he's seen.Bill returns home. He sees his mask from the orgy lying on his pillow next to a sleeping Alice. He breaks down in tears and wants to tell her everything. The next morning finds them both red-eyed and emotionally drained. Later that day, Bill and Alice take their daughter Christmas shopping at F.A.O. Schwartz. In a private moment, Bill asks Alice what they should do about their problems. She responds that she is grateful that they have both survived their recent real-life and dream-life adventures, and that they're both "awake" now. When Bill seeks reassurance that they'll remain awake "forever," Alice hedges, saying that while she loves him, the word "forever" frightens her.In the meantime, she suggests, they should get home and "fuck" as soon as possible.
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pornographic, mystery, cruelty, murder, neo noir, psychological, cult, atmospheric, psychedelic, suspenseful, storytelling
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train
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imdb
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Maybe only guys like Kubrick or Cruise will ever really know if they do or not.Many people might disagree with me when I say Eyes Wide Shut is one of the greatest films.
The thing a lot of folks haven't liked about Stanley Kubrick's films is the fact that he always seemed to think the audience needed some points driven home a little harder than others.
He could have put out a six-hour documentary on tissue manufacturing; at least I'll know that not one minute of screen time is wasted."Eyes Wide Shut" isn't as vacuous as, say, "Barry Lyndon" or "The Shining." Compared to those two, this one scoots along like a person trying to get to his car in the rain.
Though one might draw parallels to Lindsay Anderson's "O Lucky Man!" or Martin Scorsese's "After Hours," "Eyes Wide Shut" is no less than a complete work from the cold heart and brilliant mind of Stanley Kubrick alone.
Unlike most of Kubrick's earlier work, however, it does have an emotional subtext, which is used to devastating effect.Cruise, by the way, does an outstanding job, not as a trained, camera-conscious film actor, but as a mature, seasoned performer.
It is safe to say that this is her best performance to date, and those of us who have been ignoring her treasured abilities up until now (the Academy, critics, myself) will be astounded to see how far she's come since "Dead Calm." Her high points: the argument with her husband that ends by setting the film's plot in motion perfectly captures the way women lure men into arguments when the cause for one is nonexistent (and on Cruise's part, how men can't think fast enough to do anything about it), and her dream confession scene, in which she wakes laughing but becomes tearful during recollection.On a technical level, "Eyes Wide Shut" displays Kubrick's trademark perfectionism.
I'm open to many interpretations of this film, because Kubrick wanted the audience's eyes to remain wide open soon after they finished experiencing this masterpiece..
With the exception of a late-occurring scene of deadening over-explanation wholly unnecessary to the film on every level (and rather unusual for Kubrick), Eyes Wide Shut is utterly sensational, and represents another gleaming jewel in the master filmmaker's already studded crown.
Eyes Wide Shut is certain to be as closely scrutinized as many of Kubrick's other films (particularly because it is his final work), and its thoughtful and challenging treatment of such lightning-rod topics as marital honesty, sexual jealousy, and the perceived risks of disclosing one's fantasies (even to the single person you trust more than any other) is sure to draw some people in while pushing others away..
All his films remain in my mind with a vitality far beyond most of the other work I see, even though the details of the films are often boring or inscrutable.Eyes Wide Shut is no exception - there were many times in the movie where I could find no meaning or interest in an individual moment, but the overall experience is a lingering one with a deep impact - maybe Kubrick works the magic of making the spectator really _feel_ the characters turmoil and inner struggles by including so much of the mundane and seemingly unrelated incidents of "real life".A fine conclusion to an excellent career.p.s., being in Canada I had to put up with the "edited" version, which was certainly not subtle in its censorship.
From the director behind influential masterpieces like The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining & Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut marks the final entry in the decades-spanning, unprecedented & extraordinary filmmaking career of Stanley Kubrick.
And just like all of his reappraised works, is a classic that unveils more of its intricate layers on multiple viewings.Set in New York City, Eyes Wide Shut tells the story of Dr. William "Bill" Harford whose life spirals out of control when his wife tells him about an erotic fantasy she had about another man which shatters his faith in her.
Unable to get the image of his wife & the other man out of his head, he embarks on a night-long adventure during which he comes extremely close to cheating on his wife & also infiltrates a quasi-religious sexual ritual at a country mansion after learning about it from a friend.Co-written, produced & directed by Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut is a film about sexual desires that's jam-packed with symbolism & metaphorical elements.
Kubrick's direction makes efficient use of all his trademarks and just like before, he manages to push forward the existing boundaries of the medium while adding a few innovative tricks into the filmmaking manual in the process.The screenplay smears the plot with multitudes of themes & insinuations, the story unfolds in a slow, methodical manner, the leading characters have an in-depth complexity which is wonderfully illustrated by the master storyteller, each sequence is meticulously detailed & technically refined, and it has a lot to say about sex, infidelity, physical relations, desires & fantasies.
However, dialogue isn't one of its strengths for every time anyone says anything, the other character repeats the same as a question which becomes annoying after a while.The technical aspects always score very high marks in Kubrick films and Eyes Wide Shut is no exception.
Its 159 minutes of runtime & deliberately slow pace may feel like a challenging ordeal but it never becomes an issue once the drama sets in.The incorporation of classical songs to compliment the unfolding drama continues in Eyes Wide Shut and all the musical arrangements are wisely chosen & carefully infused into the storyline.
& Mrs. Harford, it's actually their on- spot chemistry that makes them click so well, and while there are no definite stand-outs, the contribution by its entire cast only works in the film's favour.On an overall scale, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut may not be as pathbreaking as most of his masterpieces but it's nonetheless a deeply fascinating meditation on sexual relations and despite its cynical tone, manages to be an erotic, enthralling & engaging thriller.
Trouble is, the real enigma is why anyone thought there was one to start with.There is a danger that Eyes Wide Shut will become, as Kubrick's last movie and the one he died making, some sort of cinematic Holy Grail, immune to all criticism.
It is as if halfway through, Kubrick changed his mind about what the film was about and then changed it back again for the last half hour, leaving neither element explored to any great degree.Like most of Kubrick's films, the characters are bland, narrow and un-engaging; Tom Cruise's character bumbles from one unrelated event to the next, purely on the motivation that he feels the need to cheat on his marriage because he misjudged his wife's ability to fantasise.
Any interest comes from your own desperate attempts to bring the various plot points together in some sort of cohesion.Most frustratingly, the film is littered with well-rounded, interesting characters and ideas and, like all Kubrick films, is beautifully shot.
But like many Kubrick films Eyes Wide Shut is ahead of its time in terms of artistic impression and thought-provocation.First I will like to talk about some of the criticisms many had about this film when it was first released.
After his wife Alice(Kidman) confesses a near act of infidelity, the "good-doctor" Bill Harbord(Cruise) goes on an odyssey-like walk through the empty streets on New York (Its suppose to symbolize his spiritual emptiness), in a vindictive pursuit to prove his character as a man.
In fact when I first saw A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as Dr. Strangelove I could not understand why the academy considers them classics, but they grew on me as well.In the end, Eyes Wide Shut like 2001: A Space Odyssey will be a film that was misunderstood by many people when it came out but inevitably will be widely considered as another landmark in the career of the greatest film-maker of all-time.Rating: 10/10 A Kubrick Classic.
Last night I went with a friend to see Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece.
Being the sort of mug film buff that I am, I thought that I should go to see a film made by an acknowledged master, who had spent so much time getting it just right.When the film finally ground to a halt, the audience in the cinema stood up and as one started muttering things like "Is that it?", "Thank goodness that's over" "Well, you can see why there are only two showings per day", "What a pile of ****".
Every scene could be halved in length and lose nothing and gain much.I was expecting a film in which Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise play roughly equally large parts.
The sun kept rising and falling at odd times, and characters would go back to somewhere they'd been the day before, to find that no one there had moved, changed clothes, or even finished what they were saying.Yes, there is a bit of nudity in it, but this is presented in scenes of such unnecessary length, and such little incident, that you just wish they'd get on with the next scene.Having more recently spoken to several other people who saw it, I have encountered near-uniform condemnation of this shamefully bad film.
But the truth is that this movie is a masterpiece, if you have seen it and felt like me after I first watched it, I encourage you to go to this website: http://collativelearning.com/EYES%20WIDE%20SHUT%20analysis.html and watch the three part analysis of Stanley Kubrick's final film.There are hidden clues throughout the film that show Kubrick's genius.
And this is exactly what we get while watching EWS – a story that combines the psychological traits of both dreams and reality
of being simultaneously asleep and awake
Eyes Wide Shut." -Rob Ager.I cannot stress enough how amazing this movie is.
Rob Ager's wonderful analysis, parts of which can be found on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7Hw6OnbH8), will clue you in as to why you owe it to yourself to do so.In my opinion and 2001 is the greatest film I have ever seen Eyes Wide Shut is on the level of 2001 in terms of its calling us to question the nature of our humanity.
Continuing my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I come to Eyes Wide Shut (1999)Plot In A Paragraph: A New York City doctor (Cruise) who is married to an art curator (Nicole Kidman) pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.Though often referred to as Stanley Kubrick's "unfinished masterpiece", the final edit of the film was actually presented to Warner Bros.
(by Kubrick) a full four days before his death, though the score and some special effects (computer generated people during the orgy scene) were not finalized.I have never got into this movie, it just left me cold the other two times I watched it.
I suspect the critics who gave a film the utmost positive reviews did so out of respect for its dead co-writer and director Stanley Kubrick.Eyes Wide Shut is an excruciatingly tedious and overlong movie that is more like the test of endurance than a thought-provoking philosophical movie such as Terrence Malick's flawed masterpiece The Thin Red Line.
I'm not easily offended as people might think (I consider Election one of the best movies of last year -- the sheer brilliance of the direction and screenplay blew me away -- though The Iron Giant takes the prize as my favorite movie of 1999).What irritates me most are not only the deliberately slow pace and Nicole Kidman's terrible acting (watch the long sequence in which she was spaced out and accuses her husband of cheating, then eventually confessed) but the shallow script that have no redeeming value whatsoever -- no story, no plot, nothing.
Eyes Wide Shut might as well have the same effect, but its lack of emotional distinction and absurdity (witness the weird and laughable ending) are the reasons I did not like the film.Stanley Kubrick tortured his actors and film crew during the making of Eyes Wide Shut for three years, and the final effort is not well worth it.
Whether it's the pauses without dialogue or the traditional Kubrick Long Shots, EWS is one of the best visually executed movies though it should also be praised due to the last work of the genius of Stanley Kubrick, from the signature end credits to the notable cuts of black , this film reads like contemporary Sade on the upper East Side.
Eyes wide Shut was based on a psychological dream novel and is a clever adaptation in modern society it's something eerie and strange about it that just makes it one of many visual stunning works in the Kubrick pantheon.
I wanted more after every minute, every scene was amazingly shot, the score is incredible and fits perfectly with the mood of the movie, which feels like a dream mostly, or even nightmarish.The movie was cast perfectly as both Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman give amazing performances to a very believable story that I could really identify with.
This is a very unique story that I'm sure most people can relate to.Eyes Wide Shut is a magnificent study on human psychology and ranks as one of Stanley Kubrick's best films..
Sadly, a lot of moviegoers are too shortsighted or narrow-minded to understand the film, which is why you get people saying it's the worst thing that Kubrick has ever come out with.
Based on a 1926 book called Dream Story, this tells about a doctor, played quite well by Tom Cruise, who goes on a night of sexual discovery after learning that his wife, played by Kidman who was his real wife at that time, almost cheated on him once.
If he wasn't good looking, he would have a hard time getting work.I guess if you have 2.5 hours to kill and don't mind a movie that takes you nowhere, you might enjoy this film..
Piano soundtracks have worked with other Cruise films, but in this one, it was just plain irritating.We get to see a lot of Nicole Kidman in the nude, but there is really very little sex.
But the fact that many people was disappointed with this film and saying that it is Kubrick's least work just makes me want to protest.
*Production Design/Special Effects: The costume and set pieces are grand and add to the feeling of the wealth that all of the characters have.*Conclusion: "Eyes Wide Shut" is a beautiful and gut-wrenching film that brings to light the evils of the elite and shows us the importance of needing to address feelings of unfaithfulness in our own relationships.
Eyes Wide Shut is a surrealistic mystery tale, a creepy thriller full of amazing scenes and rich colours.Tom Cruise gives a great performance (almost unrecognizable) as Dr. Bill Harford.
And since nudity never advances any plot points or gives us deep insight into a character's soul, filming 200 naked people seems pointless (unless you just wanted to catch a porn movie starring Tom Cruise, because that's all this is).
And the fact that I get it when I watch Eyes Wide Shut tells me that even if it's misunderstood, even if there is nothing to understand, Kubrick's final film was one of tremendous importance and validity.10 out of 10..
"Eyes Wide Shut" makes you feel like no other film has ever done..
From the second scene in the film, where Alice (Kidman) is shown on the toilet (just something perfectly natural, yet never shown in films) as they're getting ready for the party, you know this is going to be a different kind of a film.From the trailer that I saw so many years ago, with Chris Isaak's 'Baby did a bad bad thing' playing in the background while Cruise/Kidman/Kubrick was displayed in bold writing, I was expecting some sort of sordid, sleazy film.
I know a lot of people feel their pacing was very slow, but, when you think about it, Eyes Wide Shut is a very theatrical film.
I don't think there could have been another film that would have fit the end of the century like Kubrick's EWS.
I would accuse her of bad acting, but given the knowledge of the way Kubrick worked, this must be the way he wanted the scene to go.Driven by a jealous vision of his wife making love to another man, Cruise sets out on an "odyssey" that takes him all over New York for a series of meaningless encounters with various characters in which virtually nothing happens.
Now I believe it can be said that Stanley Kubrick was a filmmaking genius even though he directed 'Eyes Wide Shut.'.
Like pretty much all of Kubrick's other films, I think that "Eyes Wide Shut" will grow in stature with time.
Nevertheless, the film is a visual treat, and that is the reason that I keep coming back to Kubrick: he is a visionary with images."Eyes Wide Shut" is the last stunning work of the director's illustrious career.
After two months I've seen every Kubrick film in order, from Fear and Desire to Eyes Wide Shut.
But everything serves its purpose in Eyes Wide Shut, like the greatest films.
Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's worst film.
And about this time, he leaves for a certain funeral and this is how his bizarre odyssey begins.Kubrick builds up the atmosphere like a hypnotist, and makes sure the viewer watches the story unfold in awe..and get a feel of what Cruise's character experiences.The rest of the movie has to be seen to be believed and any synopsis won't do justice to this magnificent film.This is one of Cruise's finest performances.
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tt0277744
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Dead Heat
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Pally LaMarr (Kiefer Sutherland) is a 35-year-old Boston cop who is forced into medical retirement due to a heart condition. Depressed and thinking of suicide, his on-again-off-again estranged wife Charlotte (Radha Mitchell) suggests he spend some quality time with his step-brother Ray (Anthony LaPaglia). Charlotte and Pally are at odds because she wants children and he doesn't.Ray is a small time crook and hustler who has an eye on a racehorse with a medical condition that he thinks he can get on the cheap, and with some minor surgery, can be transformed into a winner. Pally reluctantly goes along with the idea and they buy the horse. With a little help from a philandering veterinarian (he's been cheating on his wife and is being blackmailed by Ray) the surgery is performed and the horse's running performance is greatly improved.Ray enlists the help of his friend Tony (Lothaire Bluteau), a washed-up jockey who owes a large gambling debt to mobster Frank Finnegan (Daniel Benzali). After some training, they enter the horse in a race and it wins. Finnegan gets wind of the horse's potential and, seeing a money-making opportunity, tells Tony that he will forgive the gambling debt in exchange for the horse. Driven by desperation, Tony agrees and makes the trade.When Pally and Ray find out what Tony has done, they confront him at his apartment and make threats only to be thwarted at gunpoint by Tony's precocious young daughter Sam (Kay Panabaker). The three men then hatch a plot to steal the horse back from Finnegan. They go to Finnegan's estate in the middle of the night and go to get the horse out of the barn. (They mistakenly steal the wrong horse at first which makes for a bit of comic relief). They make their escape with one of Finnegan's hoods in hot pursuit. Tony rides away on the horse while Pally and Ray create a distraction. The hood follows Pally and Ray into the woods where Pally is forced to shoot the hood in self-defense.Now that the trio have their horse back, Finnegan again approaches weak-link Tony and offers him a new credit line in Finnegan's betting parlor. Tony accepts, leaves his daughter Sam on Pally's doorstep and heads to Finnegan's place where he again runs up a huge debt. Finnegan again offers to forgive the debt if Tony will intentionally lose the next race. Meanwhile, Pally finds Sam on his doorstep at two A.M., takes her up to his apartment to get her out of the cold, and puts her to bed in the hide-a-bed sofa. Charlotte shows up, discovers Sam, and thinks Pally has sunk to an all-time low even though Pally has done nothing inappropriate with Sam.Charlotte befriends Sam and takes on the role of her stand-in mother; a role she has always wanted. At the next race, Tony is visibly nervous because Finnegan and his thugs are there. When the race begins, Tony holds the horse in last place until he comes around the last turn and sees Finnegan. Tony then decides he will no longer be intimidated and spurs the horse on to pass the whole pack and win by a nose. Pally, Ray, and Tony take off running when the see Finnegan; Finnegan and his thugs chase them into the stables.All encounter each other in a paddock area; Pally opens a gate to let some horses loose as a distraction. There is a shootout in the paddock. Tony is shot by Finnegan but Finnegan gets his comeuppance when he gets stampeded to death. Ray is injured and is rescued by Pally. Pally returns to the middle of the stampede to rescue Tony and Sam (who has come to her father's aid). He gets them to safety but suffers a heart attack in the process. Tony later dies.Pally and Charlotte finally reconcile in the hospital when he is recovering from his heart attack. They move back in together, taking Sam along, and live happily ever after.
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suicidal
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train
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imdb
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Great chemistry makes a fun movie.
I ordered this DVD without even seeing the movie first, because I am a fan of both Kiefer Sutherland and of Anthony LaPaglia.
From the little I read about it, I thought it was gonna be a straight drama, so, what a pleasant surprise to find so much humor in the movie.
Kiefer, after working non-stop for years, is finally getting long over-due recognition for his excellent work in FOX TV's "24", and Anthony LaPaglia has been a fave since I saw him in the much underseen "29th Street".
These two stars have great onscreen chemistry and it makes for a fun movie to watch.
Kiefer plays a cop who is forced to retire after a heart attack, and isn't happy about being sidelined at age 35.
Anthony plays his "on the other side of the law" hyper half-brother, who drags him kicking, into buying a racehorse.
They get involved with mob guys and there are some very dark moments due to the danger suddenly brought to their lives, but, that horse brings Kiefer back to life and he and his brother will do anything to keep it.
I think you'll like this flick..
I rented this movie because I'm a Kiefer Sutherland fan and I was really surprised!
It's a really good story.
The actors deliver great performances!
There is a love story, an action story and some good laughs.
To get him back on track his step brother proposes they buy a slow racing horse since Pally loves horses.
By doing this, they get the attention of some mafia bosses who want the horse.
It's an original story definitely worth watching.
I will give it an 8 because the plot can be a little far-fetched at times..
Ok, so this isn't a great movie.
I admit, I dug the so-so romance between Sutherland and his estranged wife.
I found the entire plot, while ill-constructed, fun enough to pass as a really well-meaning movie.
It was fun, and the acting was good all around.
Being the sucker for saucy fellows that I am, seeing Sutherland as such a good person was rather surprising, but he played it well all the same.
I can't say I'd recommend this one for anything more than the channel surfer or the die hard Sutherland fan, but it's got some great moments and a fun little story, despite moments of obvious cheese and silliness..
Dead Heat "I liked it".
I would have to say I liked this movie, No I am not a couch potato!
But I am a huge fan of Keifer Sutherland!!
He is one of those actors that a movie can be dull but though he is in it, it is a movie worth watching!!
I agree that Dead Heat does not have "blockbuster" written all over it but I understood the story line, A man that had to give up his career due to a heart condition, then he gets a opportunity to live a life-long dream with of course some turbulence on the way, But in the end he got the girl actually 2 and lived happily ever after!!.
A Reasonable Movie With Ups and Downs.
In Boston, the thirty-five years old detective Pally LaMarr (Kiefer Sutherland) has a heart attack while chasing a bandit, and is retired.
Very depressed, he is almost committing suicide, when his wife Charlotte LaMarr (the gorgeous Australian actress Radha Mitchell), of whom he is in the middle of a process of divorce, calls his half-brother Ray LaMarr (Anthony La Paglia) to visit him.
Ray is a small-time crook, and proposes the honest Polly to buy a horse per US$ 3,000.00.
With a minor surgery and a suitable jockey, this horse would be a winner.
Pally accepts, but Tony LaRoche ( Lothaire Bluteau), the jockey invited by Ray, is an addicted gambler in probation, having a debt of US$ 80,000.00 with the Mafia.
Due to this invitation, Pally gets involved in many troubles.
This movie has many ups and downs.
My impression is that the director got lost between a comedy and an action / crime / thriller movie.
The result is not funny, there is no black humor and there is not much action.
It may be a reasonable entertainment for a less exigent viewer.
The story seems to wander a lot, but somehow holds together enough to be enjoyable.
The mixture of comedy and violence at times does not work well, and is the main fault I have with "Dead Heat".
Kiefer Sutherland and Anthony LaPaglia have good chemistry when the film is in comedy mode, but their relationship loses steam as the drama increases.
The racing scenes are unpolished, and by the way, what racetrack keeps horses in a corral?
The on again, off again, love interest between Kiefer and and Radha Mitchell is somewhat redundant and could have been trimmed.
Not So Innocent Fun. This is an enjoyable movie with polished acting, humerous one liners and a plot that sees a cop who has retired on medical grounds thrown into a situation that would see his doctor wanting to put him back in the force.It is not the most original movie you will see, with the now expected cast including, the ex-wife, dodgy brother and cute bad kid BUT throw in a bent jockey, cheap racehorse and the mob and the whole thing ticks along nicely.
This movie won't win oscars but will win friends...6.5/10.
Its such a good fun movie.
Good story line with a seroius side to it but aslo very funny.
Keifer and Anthony work so well off each other.I would like to see them work together again.
Very enjoyable film.
And of course the horse is beautiful.
Sutherland & La Paglia do their jobs his well, as do the supporting cast.
Besides, any film with Lothaire Bluteau as a mobster is fun to watch.
good enjoyable film.
I thought this film was fun to watch and I was surprised that it was quite funny as well as having a serious side to the story.
I am a huge Kiefer Sutherland fan and would happily listen and watch him read the telephone directory so perhaps not the most objective reviewer of his films.
However, I thought he had good comic timing and would love to see him do some more comedy/drama stuff.
It was nice to have a story with a feel-good factor to it and with a happy ending - its a feel good film.
I am not bothered if there are technical mistakes with the horse/racing sections - I really don't think they matter.
Its the story itself that is the important thing about this film - the relationship between the two brothers, between Kiefer's character and his estranged wife and his coming to terms with the end of his career as a police officer.
I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to watch a good drama with good actors.
Good job, Kiefer!!.
Good Action, Good Acting, Overall a Fun Movie.
Although Dead Heat lacks in budgeting it doesn't lack in casting.
This cast works well as a team with no single actor trying to "hog" screen time.
With a good balance of deep thought and funny moments Dead Heat can please many viewers at a time.
The cinematography is wonderful and there are many shots that will take your breath away as you watch this film.
However, weakness does occur in the storyline, but most of the time the viewer is too busy watching the movie to really care.
Sutherland and LaPaglia work wonderfully together and create a very black and white duo on screen.
This movie draws much humor from the disagreements between their characters because the dialogue is witty and the body language is accurate.It is a shame this movie can't be found in very many video stores as it is the perfect addition to any Sutherland or LaPaglia fans movie collection..
Action Comedy Falls Flat.
I must have seen a different movie than the one that others have reviewed.
There were several plot lines going with an unbelievable final scene that unsuccessfully tried to bring the loose ends together.
I was not impressed with the "buddy" relationship between Kiefer Sutherland and Anthony LaPaglia...it was not believable, charming, or funny.
Radha Mitchell is easy on the eyes, and Kaye Panabaker was cute as the small daughter of Tony the jockey.
I did look up Kaye Panabaker, and she is apparently a former actress who did not make it acting beyond her early efforts as a youngster, and I thought she had potential based upon her performance in this movie.
The Dead Heat (2002) movie I saw was terrible, a waste of time, a ridiculous plot....and I want my ninety minutes back.
There is another movie with the same title made in 1999.
Perhaps that would be the movie to check out..
definitely one of Kiefer's badder movies.
I admit this was one pretty bad movie.
Kiefer has definitely done his share of bad films.
and this is one of them The only reason I'm posting is because of the extremely ignorant comment posted by senortuffy How can you say Kiefer Sutherland's career is in the toilet?
that lousy TV show that he stars in I assume you're referring to 24 is THE MOST WATCHED TELEVISION SHOW IN America Kiefer Sutherland and that show have won a lot of awards that's pretty good for a TV show which you refer to as "lousy" have ever even watched a single episode?
you don't like Kiefer Sutherland and his work fine.
Very nearly a non-film save some good chemistry between Sutherland and LaPaglia.
When he suffers heart attack on the job, resulting in a criminal escaping, Pally LaMarr retires from the police force.
Turning to drink and contemplating suicide he is offered distraction by his step brother Ray LaMarr who tries to bring him in on a deal to buy a race horse.
The horse is slow but Ray realises that minor surgery will free him up.
They go through with the deal and bring Tony LaRoche on board as the jockey.
However LaRoche owes money to the mob, so the mob take the horse.
Stealing the horse back, Ray makes a deal to pay off the debt within a month or to give up the horse.I watched this film because I do like Kiefer Sutherland and have grown keener on him now that I am watching him weekly on 24.
I had reasonable hopes for this because it did start quite well and was quite stylish in the opening 10 minutes.
However after this point the darkness opens up and it appears to be an uneasy mix of comedy and drama, neither of which really work.
The plot is very plodding and very little actually happens in the film certainly there is no real tension for the most part.Events happen which are almost without consequence (for example one of the mob goes missing but nothing is really mentioned of it again in the film) and things just seem to meander until an ending that is far too neat for it's own good.
In fact the final scene of the film is silly and abrupt like the film didn't so much end as, well, stop.
It is mildly interesting but this has nothing to do with the plot.What made it watchable was the chemistry between Sutherland and LaPaglia, although neither gave a particularly good performance.
They came across well together and made for an pairing that I'd like to see again in a much better film.
Sutherland is a little hampered as he doesn't know how to play his character at times he is comic, others he is dark, others he is free and light.
LaPaglia is a poor character here, his `furgett-abot it' acting is clichéd and tired and wastes his talents.
Bluteau is really, really poor his accent is way off somewhere and his character is as thin as paper.
The support cast are OK but have little to do but even with a dream support cast I doubt this film could have been lifted above the material.The direction etc is pretty standard.
After some style early on the film falls away and uses too much rock music etc and lots of `clever' shots that are just pointless more time should have been spend on the story and delivering characters and drama.
Overall I had reasonable hopes but these were dashed early on.
It delivers so very little that it is almost a non-film.
Kiefer Sutherland is and always has been a talented, powerful actor, who showed promise at a young age but has yet to find his place on the big screen.
Why then, you may ask, did he decide it was a good idea to star in this inane piece of made-for-TV drivel?
We can only hope he fired his agent afterwards.The plot involves a retired police officer (Sutherland) being convinced to buy a stake in a racehorse by his small-time crook brother (Anthony LaPaglia), only to get caught up in a caper involving the local mob.
All while trying to win back the affections of his estranged wife (Rhada Mitchell).
It's hard to concentrate when you're fighting the urge to fall asleep for the best part of 90 minutes.An extremely dull series of events follow: so basic, unexciting and unfunny you have to marvel at how somebody could possibly pitch such a script, let alone succeed in getting it produced.
A week-night, graveyard-slot film if ever I've seen one.Usually I would think nothing more of such an effort, vowing to avoid future post-midnight screenings of movies I've never heard of.
But with the acting talent involved in this it warranted a comment.
I feel relieved for Sutherland and LaPaglia who have since struck gold with their prime-time television hits, and Mitchell who is continuing to forge a nice line of critically-acclaimed Hollywood roles (although, to be frank, neither of them manage to add any spark to the dreary proceedings around them in Dead Heat).The only saving grace for the actors involved is that this effort flew so far under the radar it was never in a position where it could seriously endanger any of their careers.That was an hour and a half of my life I will never get back..
"Dead Heat" wander schizophrenically between comedy and drama with no clear sense of purpose as it wends its way through a story which starts out okay and becomes increasingly lacking in purpose and vision and looking more and more like a cheap made for tv flick as it winds down.
The film is not without its moments, but they're few and far between making "Dead Heat" little more than a wheezing and lukewarm small screen watch for the couch potato.
The plot is completely implausible from start to finish.
Sutherland's character suffers a heart attack in the opening scene which one would wish ended this debacle.
This adds nothing tangible to the film.
He and his wife are estranged but can't seem to keep their hands off each other though he's unable to perform and she's getting it on with some nerd.
The loser jockey has a precocious daughter whose presence provides nothing but for a possible catalyst to reunite the lead with his dim-witted wife.
The final scene (spoiler) is enough to make a viewer dizzy with the race horses galloping around an indoor corral ad nauseum selectively stomping the bad guys to death, yet somehow avoiding everyone else.
The reviewers keen hope that the second "big one" might result in death was dashed.
It's great that Sutherland and LaPaglia, who looked ridiculous with silly chin growth and bleached hair, have found apparent success with their TV series as they're both decent actors.
Why Daniel Benzali, an excellent character actor, allowed himself to be included in this mess is inexplicable..
Just a terrible film..
This movie has absolutely nothing going for it.
The action is contrived, it isn't funny, and the acting is lousy.Kiefer Sutherland is the focus of the movie.
He's an ex-cop in Boston (the movie was filmed in British Columbia, with Hastings Park the track shown), who had a heart attack on the job and retired.
He starts drinking heavily and his wife leaves him.
His half brother (Anthony Lapaglia) wants to cheer him up, so he talks him into buying a race horse who only needs a minor operation to return to his former glory.
But the jockey they hire to ride the horse is into the mob for lots of money, so the two owners have to win a big bet on an upcoming stakes race in order to pay everyone off and keep the horse.Sutherland and Lapaglia play this as a comedy, but it isn't funny when one of the mob guys is killed (Kiefer and his estranged wife, who he's trying to win back, go and bury the body while the jockey's little girl sleeps in the back seat - nice).
The jockey double-crosses the mobsters and wins the race, and is then shot while attempting to get away.
The movie ends when a goofy and contrite Kiefer Sutherland, walks out of the hospital after his second heart attack and shows up at his wife's door, where the jockey's little girl is staying.
They make up and presumably live happily ever after.I have no idea what the director was thinking when he made this mess.
The racing action is all wrong - anyone who's ever been around horses can spot dozens of mistakes in the film.
The attempts at humor fall flat too.
And the central character is someone with virtually no redeeming qualities.Kiefer Sutherland started out with such great promise ("The Lost Boys" was great) but between films like this and that lousy television show he stars in, I think his career is irretrievably in the toilet.
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tt0467200
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The Other Boleyn Girl
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When Catherine of Aragon fails to produce a male heir to the English throne, the Duke of Norfolk and his brother in law Thomas Boleyn scheme to install the latter's elder daughter Anne in the court of Henry VIII as the king's mistress and potential mother of his son, thereby furthering their own political ambitions. Their plan backfires when Henry, injured in a hunting accident indirectly precipitated by Anne, is nursed by her sister Mary and becomes smitten with her. With great reluctance, the recently married Mary and her husband William Carey agree to accept positions in the court, knowing full well what will be expected of her. Separated from her spouse, who is sent away on an assignment by the king, Mary finds herself falling in love with Henry.Rebellious Anne secretly marries betrothed nobleman Henry Percy and confides in her brother George, who tells Mary about the elopement. Concerned that Anne will ruin her reputation by marrying a nobleman without the King's consent, she alerts her father and uncle of the union. They confront Anne, who argues that the marriage has been consummated and what is done before God cannot be undone, and she is exiled to France in disgrace.The Boleyn family's fortunes seem to be secured when Mary becomes pregnant. When she nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed for the remainder of her pregnancy, and Norfolk recalls Anne to England to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival, particularly Jane Seymour. Anne successfully embarks on a campaign to seduce Henry, revealing herself to be more sophisticated and accomplished than she was prior to her exile. By withholding her sexual favors, she ensures the king's continued interest, finally making him promise never to bed his wife or speak to her sister in exchange for her giving him hope of eventually possessing her. Anne exacts this promise just after Mary gives birth to the much-anticipated son, making Mary's triumph hollow.The ambitious Anne encourages Henry to break from the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Clement VII refuses to annul his marriage to Catherine. Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and divorces his wife. The scandal of Anne's brief, secret marriage to Henry Percy threatens her forthcoming marriage to the king until Mary, out of loyalty to her family, returns to court and lies on Anne's behalf, assuring Henry her union with Percy never was consummated. Anne weds Henry and becomes Queen of England. The sisters reach a reconciliation and Mary stays by Anne's side at court.Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry is unhappy with Anne's failure to deliver a son and legitimate male heir to the throne. After she miscarries their second child, a now desperate Anne asks her brother George to try to impregnate her. Although he ultimately refuses to grant her request, his neglected wife Jane witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. Her testimony leads to the arrest, trial, and execution of both George and Anne. Mary returns to court to plead for her sister's life, but Henry refuses to intercede. He warns Mary never to come to court again, because her family's disgrace could result in danger to her as well. Mary fulfills her last promise to Anne and takes care of her infant daughter.The closing captions reveal that perhaps the king should not have been concerned about his failure to produce a legitimate male heir, because, ironically, his daughter Elizabeth served her country well for forty-five years.
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dramatic, romantic, intrigue, historical, atmospheric
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train
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tt0309593
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Final Destination 2
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It begins with a TV newsman talking about Flight 180 and its survivors and who got killed. Only one person survived, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter).Then we meet Kimberly (A.J. Cook), who is going on a road trip with her friends.They start their trip. She is driving with her one girl friend and two stoners in the back. Her dad calls her and tells her that her transmission fluid is low and to get it checked. She says ok and hangs up. Her friend tells her not to stop the car, though, when the warning light comes on. While driving, Kim sees a bus full of rowdy football players, a jocky looking guy, a cyclist, a mom and her son, a truck with logs, a guy drinking in a truck, a stoner, and a cop. Then, when the cop spills his coffee, the truck's cargo falls off. One of the logs goes through his window. The stoner's car flips over the cops, the cyclist falls off and his rammed by his motorcycle, the mom and son blowup, and the stoner gets hit by a truck. Kim's car flips and she thinks all is ok, until she sees the jocky looking guys car on fire. It gets hit by the other truck, which comes for her car, until she wakes up out of a dream.She pulls over, stopping some people. The cyclist (Eugene), mom and son (Tim and Nora), a pregnant mom, the jock aka lottery winner (Evan), the stoner (Rory), a rich girl (Kat), and the cop (Thomas). He stops and asks Kim why she is blocking traffic. She says that she saw an accident. He doesn't believe her, until the truck passes by. The cars start blowing up. Kim freaks out, Thomas runs to his cop car to alert the other cops, and runs back to save Kim from an oncoming truck, which hits her car, killing her friends. She cries and is taken back to the cop station with the others.They all talk about how coincidental it is that Kim saw it just like Alex did in the first film. (The highway was Highway 180). Eugene tells everyone about it, how everyone died. Thomas notes that one lived, Clear Rivers. They all talk about how they are going to die, and then leave. Kim's dad arrives and takes her home. She talks to her dad about her mom and all the death stuff.First, we see Evan, who was a lucky lottery winner and is getting a bunch of messages from women over his money. His microwave blows out as his hand gets stuck in the garbage disposal, after trying to get his ring. He gets out of his apartment right before all of these things start blowing up. He climbs down a ladder, which won't come down, so he forcefully jumps on it, making it fall. He lands on his feet, but slips on some food. The ladder comes down within inches of his head, but after a few gasps, it goes through his eye.We see Thomas looking up on articles about the Flight 180 incident. He comes upon Alex Browning, the survivor from the first movie, who apparently, while with Clear, was killed by a falling brick. Then we see the other survivors from the car incident, watching the news. Kim sees it and goes to her room. She looks at all her pictures of her friends, looks up Clear Rivers, and goes to the mental institution where Clear is. She talks to Clear, who tells her that she should just save herself, and that all her friends will just die. She feels kind of guilty after Kimberly storms out. She goes home and finds Thomas there. They talk until Kim sees a reflection of pigeons, which scare her. She turns around and sees nothing there. Kimberly deduces that Nora and Tim are going to be attacked by pigeons. We then see Clear in her cell, where she has a sudden change of heart, considering leaving the hospital.Tim and his mom, Nora, are at the dentist. Tim goes inside. Then the doctor is about to put a needle in his mouth, when a bird hits the window. The dentist says he can't do that with all the distraction, so he gives Tim laughing gas instead. Back in the main room, a fish tank has just begun leaking near a half-pulled out plug. As he is drilling, the dentist hears glass break, and leaves Tim with his mouth open. While Nora and the dentist are trying to get rid of the bird, the plug blows up the circuits. The gas tank turns up all the way. A dangling plastic fish from the ceiling falls into Tim's mouth, who almost chokes until the dentist's aid takes it out. They leave after Tim almost dies. Tim walks near a construction site next to the hospital, while standing under a giant piece of glass.Some birds come and break the wire, causing it to fall and crush Tim's skull.Nora cries over the incident. Kim arrives and tries to take Nora away, but Thomas stops her. She says that Nora is next. Then Clear arrives. She takes them to the morgue, where they meet the mortician, William Bludworth. He tells Kim that the only way to stop death is to create new life. She doesn't understand, but this comes to importance later. While at a gas station, Kim has a weird vision, that she is driving a van and it crashes into a river. Thomas then realizes that new life could mean pregnancy. There had been a pregnant lady Isabella stopped before the incident. Thomas sends out an APB on the white van Isabella was driving.All of the survivors gather at Thomas' apartment. They all talk about who's next, Nora knows it's herself. Kim gives them all cellphones, saying that if Kim sees something, she will call them. Eugene doesn't believe this stuff, so he picks up his jacket, starting for the door. A ball rolls out into a mousetrap. It flings up and knocks down a boat, almost killing Clear. She tells everyone to be careful. Somewhere close by, a cop finds Isabella, the pregnant lady, in the white van, and arrests her for stealing the van, jokingly set up by Thomas.Nora leaves with Eugene in an elevator. They are with another old man, a guy with a basket full of prosthetic arms. Some of the arms had hands, others had hooks. Back at Thomas', while Rory is securing the potentially deadly things, he knocks down a bunch of stuff. He looks at the ground and sees a shadow of a body and some hooks. Thomas calls Nora, who drops her cell, getting her ponytail caught in the hooks, and tells her that hooks are going to kill her. She doesn't understand, until the hooks trap her hair in the cart. The old man tries to get her free, but the elevator opens and she runs out, only to get her head caught between the doors. The elevator tries to go up and Nora is being choked by the elevator doors, the top of the elevator entrance way, and the floor of the elevator. Kat and Kimberly try to pull her down which cause her to become decapitated. Eugene is scared and crazily goes back to Thomas'. He threatens everyone with a gun and puts to his head, shooting six times, with nothing coming out. He breaks down and cries, while Thomas inspects the gun. It is fully loaded. Kim says it wasn't his turn.They leave the apartment. Next scene shows the cop that pulled over Isabella putting her in the prison. As they start arguing, Isabella's water breaks. The cop panics and they leave in her van. Back to the others, they are driving. This is where the first movie comes into play. They talk about near death experiences. Eugene explains that he was a teacher, and he was sent to another school. The teacher that took his place died two days later. Kat says that she was in a bus when it killed a girl in the same town Clear was from. It was Terry from the first movie, and the teacher was the one who died in her house. Then Rory says he was in Paris, on acid and all this stuff, when he saw a guy get killed by a falling sign. Thomas says that there had been a train wreck (Seann William Scott's head and Kerr Smith's car from the first film) and that he had been sent to that, while his partner died, where Thomas was supposed to go. Kim just saw on TV that some kid tried to strangle himself in a bathtub. They are all connected to the Flight 180 survivors.As the cop and Isabella are speeding down the road, Kat's tyre pops and they almost hit Isabella's van. The car goes out of control, and crashes. A log goes through the side, pinning Kat to her seat, and a sharp pole through the back of her headrest. She almost hits it. Eugene has some kind of liver problem and can't breathe. Some farmers arrive and Kim tells them to call 911. He goes to the hospital. A camera crew arrives, only to hit a rock, breaking their gas tank, causing it to leak. Rory hands Kim his wallet and his keys, and asks her to get rid of his porno and drugs,... "anything that would break my mom's heart. Rory then saves the farmer's son from a speeding car. Firemen are using jaws of life to cut off Kat's door. Kat asks the firemen not to do it so loud, the fireman tells her "OK, i'll just put it on quiet mode." Kat replies with "that would be good." The jaws force the airbag to come out, pinning Kat's head against the sharp pole, killing her. The cigarette she was smoking falls in the puddle of gas from the news truck. A tree falls down as Thomas is coming towards Rory. Thomas moves out of the way and lies down. The news truck blows up. A barbed wire cord held by two logs blows away, very gruesomely cutting Rory into several pieces. The farmer lets them take his truck. They leave. Then suddenly Kim starts choking and has a vision of being in the hospital. And a doctor, Dr. Ellen Kalarjian, supposedly choking Isabella. She tells Thomas and Clear what she saw. Then we see Eugene, who is alright until the vents close. A cord connecting to the gas loosens, releasing it everywhere and cutting off Eugene's air supply and the plug is almost disconnected. They arrive. Clear goes to find Eugene and Thomas and Kim go to Isabella.The baby appears to be choking. Thomas and Kim hear the intercom calling Dr. Kalarjian to Isabella's room. They stop Kalarjian and enter the room. Isabella's baby is fine. Eugene's air comes back from the Emergency battery. They are all celebrating, until Kim has another vision. She sees Isabella at the wreck. But not dead. She wasn't supposed to die in the accident. And then she remembers further and sees bloody hands. Clear then rushes towards Eugene's room. The vents are closed, the gas is still in the room. The plug disconnects sparking a fire that blows up the room, killing Clear and Eugene. Kimberly reaches towards Clear's body, which isn't fully burnt. Thomas pulls her away. She then deduces that the visions are about her. She looks at a wall and sees a newspaper clip, entitled "New Life for Drowning Victim." Kim then sees a white van pull up. She understands what she must do and enters the van, driving into the lake. Thomas follows her and tries to get her out. Everything turns dark as Kimberly sees flashbacks of the characters. She then awakens to see the vision she saw earlier, with Dr. Kalarjian tryin to revive her. Thomas is at her side and welcomes her back to life.Thomas and Kim are invited to the Farmer's house, the one farmer who called the ambulance for Eugene. They are eating at a barbecue in the back yard. The son goes to check on the food. The father explains that before Rory died, he pulled the farmer's son out of the way of an oncoming truck. Thomas realizes what will happen, and in the background, we see the barbecue blow up, with the son also. The arm lands in the mom's plate and she screams.
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paranormal, violence, sadist
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train
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imdb
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Well the makers of Final Destination 2 choose to use the basic same formula of the hugely enjoyable first film, only adding more black humour into the crazy death design broth.
Ali Larter returns for a second helping, and she in turn is joined by a bunch of no mark actors waiting for death, which is perfectly fine for the genre discerning fan.This is a riot, and as long as you don't look too deep into it (why would you really?) you may just find yourself having a real good time.
This movie is an honest approach to movie-making, hearkening back to the day when you got together with friends and said, "Okay, in this scene we cut to the dummy falling off the building, it's run over by a Mack truck, and it splatters chunks of blood all over that Oldsmobile over there." As for the premise behind FINAL DESTINATION 2, how do I put it into words?
Original idea, pretty suspenseful directing, and some death scenes that while inventive, were creepy to boot.This time around, with a new director and a new approach, we get a very different film.
The thing is, that doesn't make the movie all that bad - The deaths and the gore are the pay-offs, and great care has been taken to ensure that all of them would get a great reaction from a packed cinema theatre.The car pile up at the start is bone crunchingly violent, with buckets of blood being splattered everywhere - and its very entertaining stuff.
Various methods have been used here for the subsequent death scenes (CG, green screens, puppets, models) but it all cuts together very well, and most of the deaths would have your average cinema audience whooping with crimson tainted delight...The impressive trickery used in killing off each character, intertwining supsense and surprise, is so effective, that many people will come away from this film forgetting that there wasn't actually anything else good about it - apart from the eye candy of course.Worth a watch - you'll recoil in disgust and laugh more than you would watching most movies of this genre.
Final Destination 2 is a very entertaining sequel and while the story is weaker then the first, the deaths are better.
I have to say some of actors are pretty bad but the idea is fun and they always think of new crazy ways to kill people.This movie is about a young girl who has a vision on a highway that ultamitly ends up saving a few peoples lives.
If you loved the original Final Destination, then you will almost certainly enjoy the sequel, a virtual carbon-copy of the first film, except that everything is bigger and much, much bloodier.This time around, a group of travellers narrowly avoid being involved in a spectacular freeway pile-up thanks to an eerie premonition experienced by driver Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) as she waits on the on-ramp.
As the survivors of the accident begin to die in the order witnessed in her vision, Kimberley realises what is happening, and tracks down the sole survivor of flight 180, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), for help.Despite working with material that rarely explores new territory, director David R.
Ellis directs with gusto: his freeway pile-up is an absolutely jaw-dropping piece of cinema—a brutal, bloody and disturbing set-piece—and the subsequent death scenes are masterfully orchestrated pieces of mayhem that tease the audience with several possible bloody conclusions, before delivering their always impressive pay-off (gory fatalities are caused by a falling ladder, a sheet of glass, a faulty elevator, an air-bag, a flying wire fence, and a barbecue!!!).In amongst the graphic bloodletting, Ellis also finds time to throw in some very nice visual touches (such as the tree shadows which resemble clutching skeletal hands) and lots of delightfully dark humour (gotta love that final shot!).
This sequel of successful original by James Wong deals about beautiful girl(A.J.Cook)has a vision of car crash and aware which by avoiding it, she and others(Michael Lastres, Lynda Boyd, James Kirk,Sarah Carter,Jonathan Cherry, Kevin Connor, among them) around her have saved but soon begin dying in bizarre accidents.
Unless you enjoy watching extremely bloody, gory death scenes, you won't like this movie.
The only one I remember with any interest was Odessa Munroe.But the story and the special effects and the gore and, certainly, the suspense, made this film worth watching and peaked my interest in the prequel and the sequel, although not having seen the first one does not take anything away from this one.Check it out..
On par with its predecessor this sequel to the smash horror hit continues a year later with Larter as the sole survivor who aids another group of doomed fate testers when Cook stops their predestined traffic accident (and boy is it a doozy; one for the film vault in its violently affective execution) leading Death to stalk them one by one in a variety of grisly misfortunes along the way.
As good a sequel as the filmmakers could have made, "Final Destination 2" still delivered the goods the original did.Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) and her friends go on a road trip, but Kimberly has a vision of a big pile-up involving not only her and her friends, but a lot of other people.
Despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen it was a pretty fun movie, good for a date or any occasion in which you don't feel like devoting full attention to plot twists or witty dialogue..
Basically the movie its plot is just the same as in "Final Destination", only with different characters and settings this time.
I however feel that the Final Destination franchise is one of the few horror-movie franchises that can have multiple sequels, without loosing any of its power or originality.
Basically all that makes this movie good and original are the deaths that are featured in it.
It doesn't really matter that the characters aren't really interesting and the story is quite unlikely and far fetched at certain moments.An highly recommendable horror sequel but perhaps only if you've also seen the first movie.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
I remember when I saw the first Final Destination movie at the cinema, and I really enjoyed it, it was something fresh new original and exciting, and when I heard that they were making a 2nd one, well at first I was a bit sceptical, but when I saw the trailers, I was excited.Well the plot to this one, not all that different from the previous movie, only instead of an aeroplane, this time we get a traffic accident and the central character Kimberley (AJ Cook) has a vision much like Devon Sawa did in the first one.
Overall this one has a different tone to the first one, this one's more blood and a lot more gore, which is always a bonus in my eyes, another aspect is that the deaths are way over the top, which is awesome and something that was missing from the first movie.The performances again doesn't fail to deliver, with yet again another group of interesting characters, AJ Cook is this time the main character and she hits all the right notes, she's resourceful and likable.
After watching the first film i decided to give this movie a try.Just like the first one this movie wasn't scary, though unlike the first one this movie is actually a really fun gore ride.again the acting wasn't anything amazing, Ali Larter wasn't very convincing, AJ Cook i thought lead the cast better then Devon Sawa in the first, Michael Landes was really monotone, Tony Todd did really good again though, and the rest of the cast i thought were actually more convincing then the leads.It wasn't a blockbuster but it was really fun to watch, and it was pretty gory, which doesn't really add much except for making the death scenes more fun to watch.its a pretty mediocre movie just like the first one but its well worth a watch.and thats why i give FINAL DESTINATION 2 8/10.
Cue comes she freaks out and everyone who cheats death is put on a new list.Ali Larter's character Clear Rivers is revived from the first one and is first found at the Stony Brook institution as the only survivor as Alex from the first dies between films (a brick dislodged itself from a building and hit him in the head) Kimberley asks for Clears help as she is still on death's list.The story is nothing new though there is a connection with the people on the new list to the first one, which I liked.
Ali Larter is the best actress of the film whilst Tony Todd the mortician from the first one reprises his role in one scene which he makes the most of and Kimberly played by A.J Cook isn't bad either.This isn't a patch on the original as it's not really scary but you do feel for the characters still to some extent particularly Clear.
I loved it and I found out that I never got turned off by this detail that the whole story is repeating itself in all 4s.There is something about the idea of this movie that makes it watchable even if it reached the 100th provided that the deaths scenes get more challenging.
(Im convinced im going to die in a car accident anyways, but thats another story) Its just so realistic and you never think of it being like that when you see one on the news.4) This Movie had no mercy!
Though this could have been presented better in the movie (it was kinda cheesy at the time) it worked very well with the plot and tied the new cast with the original story very nicely.
First you think someones done for, they survive, only to die an instant later, completely off guard.This is the most entertaining and intense movie ive seen in a very long time, and with the success of this, Final Destination 3 should be pretty solid, but i dont know, this movie was so good, that it doesnt leave a lot of hope for the 3rd, no chance itll even come close to surpassing this.Best sequel ive seen in years, 10/10.
but I was wrong with thatThis time it's Kim who going trip with her best friends as get to The Freeway she has premonitions of pile-up .Which is one of the most shocking, gruesome, action packed, explosive and edge of your seat., That pile-up scenes is one the best scene EVER made, it was magnificentKim saved from getting killed, Now death is back again to killed them off,the deaths in this movie are so much MORE gory then the one in Final destination, In most horror movies you just get Teenager, (Like Final Destination 3 which was full of teenagers) in this movie they had older cast which think was really good idea but The acting is not great but still good..I give this movie 10/10 pile-up scene just blew me away..
with the big pile up on the motor way and how realistic the vision was ,and with the music it made you think oh whats going to happen here .The weirdest deaths were when the man got the ladder in his eye ,when the women was in the car and got the pole in her head and when the womens head was chopped of by the elevator.It sent a shiver down my spin .but what i also found great was when Eugene wanted to end his life so that he wouldn't die a horrible death,he went to shoot himself but none of the bullet's came out even though the gun was full.it was a fantastic carry on to final destination 1 the graphics of each persons death were brilliant especially when the man is cut up by the fence .and the clues that were shown e.g man with hooks ,birds and also bloody hands were great .altogether the film was just incredible to watch!!!!!!I've watched it that many times the DVD will probably brake loll!!!!!.
IN the most effective moment of campy humor, the end scene, involving a teenager barbequing is top notch over the top horror.A few stellar moments, scenes, and characters prevent the film from being unwatchable, and they may even serve as reason enough to watch the movie as some will definitely enjoy the experience, however, they do not save the movie from it's weaknesses.
Seeing the original movie that started this franchise, "Final Destination" left me wanting more, but it spawned so many sequels it lost its touch and just became feed to the box-office machine.
The sequel to it came quickly after the success of the first one, but I, myself, have not seen it until now and that is a lot of years apart from when I first watched the original."Final Destination 2" continues the supernatural premonition nightmares through the eyes of A.
J. Cook, who witnesses a massive accident on a highway, for which the consequences will lead to a series of unfortunate events.Unlike the first movie, the script for its sequel seemed flawed and did not give the same thrill and exhilaration, this time feeling more like an X-Files episode as its predecessor was meant to be in terms of quality and production values.All in all, for a horror sequel in the 00's, "Final Destination 2" is a decent popcorn film..
While the crash/collision scenes are magnificently intense and very realistic, 'Final Destination 2' does not get off to the strongest start and the first half of the movie feels like more of a remake or rehash of the original, except with even more inventive and elaborate deaths.
This sequel to the mega-hit Final Destination isn't much worse (or better) than the original, but trust me, that is a rare thing to find in any sequel to any popular horror film and it's a great thing here.
Kimberly and the rest of the survivors, must work with Clear to try and stop Death from repeating it's process.I personally had a great time watching 'Final Destination', and was hoping for much of the same experience for its first sequel.
The saga continues with Final Destination 2, where Ali Larter returns as Clear Rivers (how can you take anyone seriously with a name like that?), in a sequel which rehashes the same premise of premonition and therefore death avoidance, and the survivors this time round getting picked off one by one in similar violent fashion fit only for the screens.The one with the powers this time is Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook), who along with her buddies are going on a road trip.
It is often difficult for a sequel to live up to the original film it follows, and in that "Final Destination 2" is no exception.
That having been said, this film is still a very watchable sequel and bringing back Ali Larter as Clear Rivers, the one survivor of the first film was a definite plus.It is now a year after the crash of flight 180 and death is out hunting again, as the plot unfolds we find that nearly everyone on his list had some tie to one of the dead people in the first film.
Beginning with the mother of all car crashes this isn't so much a sequel to "Final Destination" as a reprise and it's good, grisly fun though this time round the element of surprise is missing.
But Final Destination 2 had a cool story with many more awesome deaths and scary suspenseful scenes.
I loved the story and I understand finally why these movies are so well liked.This time there is a girl, Kimberly, is about to go on a road trip with her friends.
Everyone who was supposed to be killed on that road is dying off one by one, so she looks to the help of a person who has been through this before, Clear.Final Destination 2 was a great sequel and I would highly recommend it for any horror fans.
Now Kimberly has to find a way to stop this before Death kills her.If you haven't noticed, this film has the exact same concept and plot in this movie as its original.
I acting by A.J. Cook is great.Basically, this film puts everything up a notch: The death, the premonition sequence (which has probably the best car accident scenes you'll ever see in your entire life!), the much needed humor, the intelligence, more characters to love, etc.
Deaths are a lot more gory, bloody and...as I already said it: predictable and surreal.About the characters, there's not as much chemistry between each other as there was at the first movie, they have anything to do among each other, is like you don't feel sorry that one character have just died 'cause it wasn't that important.The movie is good enough (for being a sequel) to entertain you, but it's one of those movies that you can only watch for one time 'cause it loses sense once you saw it..
Like the first Final Destination, this movie features a group of seven people who avoid a horrible accident only to later die in very elaborate, far fetched ways.
But it does provide good entertainment, especially if you enjoyed the first and don't my some repetition every once in a while.The story is technically a continuation of the first, but that is almost totally overshadowed by the death scenes and the characters trying to survive...which is just like the first movie.
The clear reason individuals go to see a Final Destination film is obviously the death sequences.
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tt0287740
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Syphon Filter 3
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Gabe, Mujari, and Lian are mourning Teresa Lipan in Whispering Woods. Hadden is then seen talking to Aramov, who complains that with administration pulls, he could end it. Hadden responds by saying he has other plans for Gabe Logan, that hearings have been scheduled and that he has to blame a party.At the Senate house in Washington D.C., Mujari and Lian are standing outside in a hallway while Gabe is inside talking to Hadden. Hadden tells Gabe his own version of the Syphon Filter Virus situation, saying that "There is no conspiracy, no arms consortium, only a traitor. Acting alone, or with his friends". He then asks Gabe if he has ever assassinated a world leader. Gabe says no, but remembers a mission in Tokyo in which he shot Shi Hao from across the street in a hotel.In the first flashback, Gabe is dropped off at a hotel, where Lian tells him that he has to go to room 413. Gabe goes up to the desk and asks for the key. He then goes to the elevator. After a talk with the elevator attendant about the weather, Gabe goes to the room. He receives a transmission from Lian to get his equipment from the bathtub.Gabe gets his equipment and goes to the window. He draws a bead on Shi Hao, who is currently in a meeting/interrogation with the JRA. Gabe watches as they are beating a man. He takes the shot, only after eliminating the rooftop sniper, and kills Shi Hao. Shi Hao's highest ranking lieutenants and other men in the building rush to attack Gabe, but he takes them out easily.JRA members have entered the hotel and have captured the daughter of a Japanese official hostage. Gabe eliminates most if not all of the grunts and, in the process, gets an explosive round shotgun from the man who took the beating across the street (if said man was not killed). He rescues the daughter of the Japanese official. Gabe leaves the hotel and Lian tells him that hearings have been scheduled.The second mission is also a flashback. In it, Gabe details the events leading up to the D.C. incident in 1999. Gabe and Lian were sent to Central America in Costa Rica to meet with Ellis, who was undercover, infiltrating the ranks of Rhoemer's terrorist group.Gabe and Lian were airdropped into the area, but were separated with two soldiers in between them. After they meet up, they notice multiple automated turret emplacements. Gabe and Lian are only able to take out the guns with grenades, and at the second emplacement, Lian runs out, forcing Gabe to destroy the rest on his own.Rhoemer has Anton Girdeaux set fire to all the plants in the area, and has Aramov kill Ellis. Gabe and Lian show up right after Ellis was killed. Gabe and Lian are told by Edward Benton to continue Ellis' mission. Gabe must secure 3 samples of the plants, and destroy Rhoemer's assault chopper; Lian must find out what they were growing.Gabe gets his samples, takes out the chopper, rescues two slaves and finally comes across a minefield. While he was collecting the samples, Lian tells him that Rhoemer was heading for a landing strip. Gabe crosses the minefield guarding said airstrip. Benton then calls and tells Gabe to meet up with Lian. He ignores the order and heads for Rhoemer. Gabe procures a jeep and trails Rhoemer to his C-5 Galaxy transport. The former manages to get on and find the exact same type of armor he would later find used by Jason Chance. Gabe finds Rhoemer donning the armor and shoots him with a USAS-12 to knock him out of the open cargo bay door. However, Rhoemer had a parachute on, and is able to escape.The next testimony for Hadden to hear spans two missions, and it is Mujari who gives the account. Mujari explains the first time he came into contact with the Agency and the Syphon Filter virus. In 1984, Mujari was working with the ANC, in South Africa, to free repressed Africans. Mujari freed two slaves, saved his partner, Dejesus, destroyed the mines with explosives, spoke with Foreman Jones about the sick workers, and sent the transmission to HQ, which was normally Venik Smith's mission; he was killed by two soldiers when Mujari reached the Transmitter Tower. When a movie that shows him going down the elevator and looking at the sick workers, he tells Hadden in his testimony that he has "found [his] brothers, but [he] would not be setting them free."We find that after the testimony that Mujari kept the South African samples, and Teresa Lipan, who was working in the WHO (World Health Organisation), came to his lab and saw the South African sample. Hadden says that Mujari gave the virus to Teresa, but Mujari said that he "thought nothing of it," and that Teresa asked him to work on the virus in a lab. Hadden asked if he remembered which lab Teresa took Mujari to. Mujari replied "Of course. It was Pharcom."When it was Lian's turn to testify, she tells about the events that happened in Kabul, Afghanistan during 1987. At the time of the event, she was gathering evidence of Soviet troop movements led by Uri Gregorov while she was an MSS agent. She was ambushed at one point by the Soviets, and was saved by a U.S. Army Ranger. The Ranger that saved her was none other than Gabe Logan. Gabe debriefed Lian on his mission to deliver weapons to the local rebels in the area, and Lian agreed to create a distraction for him.While Lian was testifying, Gabe was doing a joint operation with an MI:6 team headed by Margeret Powers. They tracked a shipment of the Syphon Filter Virus in Dublin, Ireland and had objectives to destroy the ship in order to prevent the virus from falling to the wrong hands. He planted three explosives in three different cargo holds, and one decoy explosive in the engine room. Gabe also recovers the shipping manifest to find out where the virus came from.Lian then started telling about her side of the operation in Costa Rica saying that Rhoemer had kidnapped an impressive list of world-renowned scientists and medical technicals to work at his labs. Benton ordered Lian to get the scientists out alive in order to find out whatever the plants were used for. She was also ordered to collect the physical sample of the virus, collect data disks, and destroy the seven computers that were inside. During the mission, we discover that Elsa Weissinger was one of Rhoemer's lab technicians. She was ordered by Rhoemer's men to tell where her mentor, Dr. Fried, was so her life would be spared. It's discovered that the plants were part of creating the Syphon Filter virus.At the time of testifying about the Costa Rica operation, Gabe and the MI:6 team were under attack by the Irish Republic Army. The IRA discovered the Agency consortium's plans to drop off viral containers at this particular dockyard and already unloaded several truckloads of the virus while the bombs were planted on the ship. Gabe and the MI:6 team set out to prevent the trucks from the leaving the area and find out who leaked the shipment to the IRA in the first place. After containing and destroying all but 1 truck, an MI:6 agent named Nigel Cummings was revealed to be pinned down with the final truck. After getting to Nigel and the truck, Nigel attempted to drive off with it, almost running over Gabe in the process and in turn, revealing Nigel as the double-agent of the IRA, so Gabe ran after and killed Nigel before he escaped with the last truck.It was Gabe's turn to testify and he told about his mission to deliver the weapons to the rebels in Afghanistan during 1987. Gabe, Ellis, and Benton were the only survivors of a destroyed convoy. While Benton was driving the truck, Gabe and Ellis were repelling attacks from other Afghan rebel factions while clearing away all obstacles. Upon entering Kabul, Lian's diversion worked as the heavily guarded portion of their entrance was temporarily empty. Unfortunately, the rendezvous point had a Soviet T-64 tank guarding the town square. Gabe had to take out the tank using C-4 charges. Gabe then reveals to Hadden that Benton's contact was not an Afghan rebel but a Soviet agent. It turned out that Benton did not work for the CIA. He worked for the Agency which was supplying weapons to the Soviets. However, Benton shot the Soviet agent dead before ordering Ellis and Gabe to leave the weapons for the rebels. He recruited Gabe and Ellis into the Agency several years later.While Gabe was testifying, Lian was working in the Tanami desert at Australia with tactical support provided by Maggie. The manifest recovered by Gabe led her to the desert and also found out that Dr. Elsa Weissenger was running the medical end of the operation. Lian intends to capture Elsa, take photographic evidence of genocide, sabotage the compound's communications systems, take out as many terrorists as possible, and save the local aborigines from being used as test subjects. Upon finding Elsa, Lian forces her to synthesise the vaccine after getting three compounds to make it. Before going off to save the villagers, Elsa gives Lian a data disk containing information about Mara Aramov and the agency she had made as an insurance policy in case Aramov double-crossed her. Lian saves the villagers and kills Commander Silvers in the process, although when Lian returns to the chopper, Elsa is missing.Hadden starts to accuse Gabe of lying in his deposition and is about to have him arrested as a traitor and for killing many people (including Jason Chance and Teresa Lipan), but Teresa herself barges in, arguing that Gabe is innocent because she faked her death. Hadden was shocked at her appearance. Teresa makes a testimony of what happened when she was an ATF agent in Western Montana, Paradise Ridge. She was sent in to find missing ATF agents investigating a satellite falling from orbit, when she ended up helping two FBI agents saying that they needed back-up in order to take down a militia sniper. Teresa provided back-up for the agents, but she ended up being in a middle of a conspiracy.It turned out that a militia survivalist named Earl Oakton was captured by the Agents and was executed in cold blood. The acclaimed FBI agents were corrupt NSA agents who were hell-bent on killing the Oakton family to cover up the illegal data they had taken from the satellite. One NSA agent captured Teresa after she watched Earl Oakton get executed. Teresa's captor killed the executors and it was revealed that Gabe Logan (in disguise) was the one responsible for saving her life. Gabe is concerned about retrieving the data. Teresa does her best to save the militia men and her fellow ATF agents from the NSA hitmen. She eventually meets up with the Oakton family, recovers the satellite data, and extracts them from the area with Gabe.At the end of the testimony, it turned out that Teresa was shadowing Hadden the entire time and found out that he has been talking to Mara Aramov. Gabe appears with federal agents with a warrant to arrest Hadden. Before any action could be taken, Aramov interrupts and shoots all in sight, but Gabe and Teresa escape danger. While Teresa monitors the wounded agents, Gabe attempts to pursue Aramov while saving captured federal agents and finding the code to disarm the bombs she had planted around the senate building. After sending the codes to Mujari, Gabe continues his pursuit, eventually entering a subway train and shooting Aramov.Upon Aramov's capture, Gabe is now given the head position of the Agency, which was eventually labelled the IPCA. Before any protagonist could have a break, Mara Aramov escaped the hospital. Gabe however was more concerned about forming the IPCA and decided to settle this unfinished business with Mara at a later time. The ending clip shows Mara, in a mini-sub, recovering some of the shipment of the Syphon Filter virus from the S.S. Lorelei's wreckage.
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violence, flashback
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train
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imdb
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What happened to the music?. When I played Syphon Filter 2, I was blown away. The music fit the atmosphere of the game, but the only drawback was the characters' faces, which only showed a pair of "lines" for eyes and that was it. Moving to SF3, they finally added faces to the characters, but now the MUSIC is empty. If you heard the disco music on the Moscow Club mission in SF2, you will listen to the SF3 music and wonder where they went wrong here. You can actually TELL the music has been downgraded from its predecessing game. The unique thing was that they kept the same theme song for SF2 and SF3 (I haven't played SF1, so I wouldn't know). Hopefully, in the soon-to-be-released Syphon Filter: Omega Strain, they'll stab this game with better music.. Could have been better. When I first heard about Syphon Filter 3, I thought that this would be a cool game. When I bought it, I played it, but got a little bit disappointed. It was cool to actually see the characters' mouths moving when they are talking. I was disappointed with how Gabe Logan looked. He looked liked a punk. There were also some times in the game that you get to use some of the weapons you kept in the earlier levels in the past Syphon Filter games. They did not allow this one. There was one mission were you have some weapons, and conserved ammo for it, but the next level limited you. There is only one big surprise in the game, but I am not going to spoil it for you. All in all it is an okay game.The story was the only good part of the game. Gabe and Lian Xing are still trying to eliminate the Syphon Filter threat, and Lawrence Mujari is trying to get a meeting with the Senate to clear their names. When at the Senate, the player controls the character's past missions including Costa Rica before the first game.. Good game, but the original was better. If you loved the other Syphon Filter games, you'll enjoy this, but basically this feels more like a compilation of leftovers from the first and the second. The story is told in flashbacks. Gabe and Lian are interrogated about the Syphon Filter, and their stories make out the game. The gameplay is the same as before, with a couple of new weapons in the inventory. A gun whitch can fire through everything!! will definetely be everybody's favorite.Gabe and Lian are basically taken across the world as usual, sneaking and roaming around taking out the enemy. Great fun at times, but a bit repetitive. All in all a cool cool game, but it's far too easy to beat if you beat the original Syphon Filter and it's sequel. I would recommend to the check out the "hard difficulty" cheat, which will make this game far more enjoyable If you are a Syphon Filter junkie you should definetely check this game out!!
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tt0211933
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Awake
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The Tagline is a gross misrepresentation of statistics. The actual estimate of awarness during anesthesia is 1:14000 for high risk patients to as low as 1:42000.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Capital-investment firm chief Clay Beresford (Christensen) is in love with a woman named Sam (Alba) but is unwilling to tell his mother (Olin) of their relationship. We later find out this is due to Sam being his mother's personal assistant. Clay suffers from a heart condition that requires a heart transplant to be carried out by Dr. Jack Harper (Howard) who had previously saved his life and is now his good friend. His mother and her famous surgeon boyfriend try to dissuade him from going through the operation with a team of surgeons that have so many malpractice suits pending. Because of his mother's intrusion in his decision to have his friend perform the operation, it seems that Clay begins to grow distant from his mother and eventually discloses his relationship with his fiance Sam. Clay's mother does not take kindly to Clay's haste and asks him to wait until he is older than his 22 years.Clay becomes upset and leaves with his fiance. He asks Dr. Harper to arrange a wedding for him and Sam immediately. They marry in a private ceremony in a church at midnight. After the wedding, Clay is notified by the hospital that it's time to perform the operation. Clay then goes to the hospital to get surgery. His mother tries to dissuade him again and refer him to a better clinic and a more experienced doctor. Clay brushes aside their concerns as attempts to interfere with his friendships and proceeds with his original plans, touching upon the point that "he trusts Jack". However, during surgery Clay encounters "anesthetic awareness", which is a condition that renders a patient completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak, but able to hear the doctors, and more importantly, still feel pain. To escape the excruciating pain of having his chest sliced open and his ribs separated, Clay attempts to focus on Sam, now his wife, and eventually has an out-of-body experience and uncovers a murder plot against him. (Spoiler warning).During his outerbody experience Clay discovers that Dr. Harper, one other surgeon and a nurse are in on a plot to inject his transplanted heart with a chemical that will cause it to be rejected upon transplantation. Dr. Harper has second thoughts at which point Clay's new wife Sam comes in. Apparantly she is a main part of the whole scheme. The doctors want Clay to die because now that he and Sam are married, his millions will go to her, and in turn, pay for all the hospital's malpractice suits (later we find out that Sam used to be a nurse there). She proceeds to encourage him and even coerces him to go through with the plan and inject the transplanted heart. The heart if rejected would cause Clay to die because he (like his mother is O negative - a rare blood type) will not find a transplant in time.In the operating room one of the conspirator's fails to show up and a seemingly inept anesthesiologist with an apparent drinking problem shows up to replace him. Meanwhile Clay's mother anxiously awaits for the results of the operation. Sam tries to win over her mother in law during her vulnerable moment. One of the surgeons makes a move on Sam since he feels he had seen her before.During his out of body experience Clay discovers and remembers things about his wife that point to her deceipt. Meanwhile as Sam is shuttling between the operating room and consoling (winning over) Clay's mother she forgets her purse in the waiting room. Clay's mother growing suspicious of Clay's newly wed wife looks through her purse and discovers that Sam was a nurse before she became her assistant. Clay during his out of body experience finds that Sam worked at the hospital and worked under Dr. Harper. He is dejected and accepting his fate walks (during his out of body experience) to his own home and awaits death.Clay's mother begins piecing together the situation, based on Sam's behavior and conversations, and finally gets a notion of what's going on. Upon discovering the truth, she takes an overdose of some of her son's medicine, and calls her boyfriend, the prestigious surgeon, and tells him the whole situation. She tells him to come save her son. Her surgeon boyfriend returns to evict Dr. Harper, and, upon seeing the mother's death, realises that she overdosed so that he could save her son (they had the same rare blood type). He then transplants the mother's heart into the son. Dr. Harper and his associates are arrested.As the transplant is complete Clay refuses to leave "limbo" since he has nothing left in the outside world after the death of his mother. His mother then proceeds to remind Clay that limbo with his mother and an afterlife with his father may not be that ideal. She reminds him that his father was an addict who was abusive to his son. During one such quarrel she had accidentally murdered her own husband as he was about to harm a young Clay. Dr. Harper continues to narrarate the story, noting that Clay eventually had his revenge. Clay then "wakes up", or "becomes unparalysed", while Dr. Harper's words close the movie with "He is awake".
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revenge, boring, murder, flashback
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train
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imdb
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Some parts of "Awake" are good, but some are merely okay.Like many thrillers, telling much about the plot defeats the purpose of seeing the movie.
His low-key handling of the film makes for an interesting, almost dreamy approach, but I don't know if it works like it's supposed to, because I have a feeling that it decreases the amount of suspense that the material warrants.
His co-star Jessica Alba isn't as good, but it proves that she has more acting ability than many people give her credit for (her reputation for being a tabloid sensation and the limited acting options that result from it are probably to blame).
Same goes for Lena Olin.Personally, I think it sucks when you like a movie but a lot of that feeling disappears when someone points out something that causes that to decrease.
The twenty-two year old Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is a genius of finance secretly in love of his mother's secretary Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba).
Clay witnesses the dialogs in the room and discovers dark secrets about his surgery."Awake' has a simple but effective story about a wealthy young man that needs to be submitted to heart transplantation and experiences an anesthetic awareness discovering that things are not like he believes they are.
The cast is excellent, leaded by the still gorgeous Lena Olin, Terrence Howard, Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen.
Thanks to what was the craziness of how hot hot hot Jessica Alba was this past year, a lot of people, including me, really didn't wanna see a movie with her.
I wouldn't necessarily agree, the movie and story does have it's flaws here and there, but if you let them slide, it's a fun little thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.Clay has everything: money, a loving mom, a company of his own, a world in his hands, and a beautiful woman, Sam. But unfortunately, his heart isn't so lucky, so much so that he needs a transplant, and his trusted friend Jack Harper is going to do the transfer for him.
But his mom is begging him to re-consider and have another surgeon do the operation, but Clay says she just has to trust his instincts, which may be the biggest mistake he can make.Awake is a pretty cool movie, the actors, some things are over done, but it's a thriller, it's supposed to keep you scared and tense, so I am willing to over look the non-existence of reality, I think this movie meant to be that way.
I also just hate to say it, Jessica Alba is decent in the movie and covers herself well in her role as Sam. But the top performance of the film was without a doubt from Howard, he was so convincing and almost made you feel bad for him, well, I don't want to give too much away, you'll just have to see what I mean.
There are all these "awards" movies out there, and some of them (think JUNO) are really great, but others are just pedigree films that we "should" see but we don't actually really want to see or enjoy seeing.
Its hard to say much more about the story than is given in the above summary without giving away key twists, but it might sound a little boring, being about a heart transplant and the wife's reaction, but trust me this movie is so far from boring, even in the very beginning which is where a lot of thriller/suspense movies are lacking.
With a charismatic cast and Jessica Alba going to new lengths as an actress, this movie is sure get your heart pumping.
Joby Harold both wrote and directed this film and despite the presence of some fine actors, the film remains grounded.Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) has inherited his dead father's multi-billion dollar fortune and shares the wealth and control of his empire with his domineering mother Lilith (Lena Olin).
The ending is very predicable and begs viewer indulgence.Perhaps the credibility of this story would have been better if the director and actors had paid more attention to OR technique: walking into an OR in street clothes, handling patients without gloves or masks, allowing outsiders to enter the OR during a transplant procedure, beginning surgery without documentation of complete anesthesia or before the donor heart arrives, etc.
Though the run time is relatively short, you'll feel like you just spent an eternity (in hell) watching this movie.
The voice-overs from Hayden Christensen are almost a self-parody.Overall, Awake is just like every other over-the-top thriller you've seen before.
Please people stop getting other good hearted people to watch bad movies..
Awake, the new thriller by first-time director Joby Harold, takes off from a grisly real-life phenomenon called "anesthetic awareness." This is when patients are unaccountably left fully consciousand physically paralyzedduring surgery, and Harold (who also wrote the script) has spun a preposterously entertaining yarn from this grisly germ of an idea, and manages to hold us in a vice-like grip for pretty much the entire film.
Christensen has an unusually expressive face (the camera takes to him), and he can convey emotion without ever appearing to do muchfortunately, because the film hinges around his internal struggle, and on our feelings of empathy for him.Awake is a white-knuckle movie experience if ever there was one (it even carries a viewer warning), with some of the most sheerly visceral scenes of horror ever committed to celluloid.
In the end he goes under the knife by choosing his friend (Howard) to operate on him with no worries, but little does he know he's about to find out more than he bargained for in this drama/thriller.Hard to write a review for a movie where you don't want to give anything important away.
No other movie I have seen this year has had me leave the theater blown away.The acting is good by the whole cast.
A young, wealthy man (Hayden Christensen) who is undergoing a heart transplant is awake though paralyzed during the operation and overhears a murder plot against him for his money.
After coming up with this great idea, writer-director Joby Harold gives it all the drama and suspense as an episode of "General Hospital." Among the cast, only Lena Olin really shines.
Jessica Alba has never been more beautiful and Hayden Christensen looks good, especially for someone who needs a heart transplant, but their acting is never better than adequate.
Hayden Christiansen is not a terrible actor, but he is incompetent and definitely not fit for a role in a gripping hospital drama such as this, for that needs actual emotion.Awake is an underwhelming and substandard film without enough emotion or realism to keep this whole thing compelling.
And the worst is the ending where it seems that it rains with stupid/comical twists.I have no relation with the medical world but for me those surgery scenes and what happens in them seem far way from the real thing.I have laughed a lot especially at the final story with his father.Grey's Anatomy meets Shyamalan in a very artificial and thin plot...
This movie BETTER make money, i just wish everyone would give it a chance, it was actually really good, and i know a lot of other people loved it too, as much as me!!!
It's a terrifying occurrence in which the individual is completely aware of their ordeal but cannot do anything about it.Makes me think twice about ever going under the knife.But regardless of any reputed medical inaccuracies present in the film, it doesn't change the fact that this is still a fairly gripping and quite intelligent thriller, written and directed by a newcomer, a Brit named Joby Harold.
It's at this point that the movie begins to mix genres - the horror film, the medical thriller, the supernatural thriller, and the murder mystery (!) - as Clay finds himself disembodied and wandering around the hospital in a deathly daze, later discovering that he's the victim of a horrific conspiracy to off him while still on the operating table.
The film allowed itself to build up nicely to create an experience that's all too nightmarish to be real, but the terrifying thing is that "Awake" is a movie that is very much real and could happen to any one of us.8/10.
Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba are not good at acting, and they prove it BIG TIME in this movie.
Don't watch it to research a paper on the subject, but if you want to see a really interesting, and well-acted triller movie-----GO SEE AWAKE!!!!!!!!!!every actor did a fantastic job.
The best thing about this movie is the script, it's a different and captivating story about a man who goes to surgery but it's still awake when it begins.
Another good thing about the movie are the couple of twists they throw at you, and some of them your like "I wasn't expecting that!".The bad thing about the movie was the casting, I think Hayden Christensen is a bad actor, and this movie gives me more prove of that, he doesn't quite show you the feelings and emotions in his words, and body language (face expressions, and things like that).
Even if I thought Hayden was a good actor, he doesn't look like a successful business man, when the movie started I thought we was playing a high-school teenager or something.Anyway you can live pass that, and you should try to see this movie (don't put it on top of your list though).
The few good things are, Jessica Alba, good visuals and a musical score that makes you feel tension, even though you know pretty much exactly what is going to happen.
Awake a story about clay a boy who is going through a heart transplant and how the truth unfolds through the course of it.The movie should be rated really highly as we don't get medical thrillers often.The starting 20 minutes of the movie is really the back drop as to what is going to happen and as you watch the movie you will be shocked,surprised by the turn of events on the surgery table.Clay comes to know that he is going to be killed on the table.
He has a out of body experience which lets him find out why is he going to be killed during the surgery.The movie deceives you completely as you see the story unfold in a way that will leave you surprised in many ways.Hayden christen does a very good job as clay.Jessica alba perfectly fits the bill for the role of clays wife and acts as the surprise packet in the movie .The direction,editing and the cinematography of the movie is really good as the director does not waste a single minute in creating the suspense and maintaining the momentum throughout the movie.Watch awake if you want to be deceived by what you are going to see.You will throughly enjoy it if you like thrillers..
With disturbing scenes and plot twists this movie was surprisingly well directed and extremely well done.The choice of camera angles and lighting effects just adds to the beauty of the film.
Jessica Alba blew everyone away with this character and Hayden Christensen's dialect added a certain something to the movie as a whole.
I wont give him 10 and probably don't deserve that much excitement, but this movie really surprised me in a good way!Watch it yourself and decide ;).
A millionaire finds himself awake during heart surgeryStarring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Lena OlinWritten and Directed by Joby HaroldThis is a surprisingly good film although I didn't really fancy it.It's quirky and different from anything I have seen before and the plot kept me intrigued all the way through.
I hear a lot of people say they think Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen can't act at all.
But I think they're both very good, Alba just hasn't had a movie that really showcases her talent and Christensen was bad in Star Wars but amazing in Shattered Glass.Both actors were great in this movie.
But if you want to have a good time at the movies, I strongly recommend Awake..
What i like in this movie that you will find a great thriller, original story, no boring part at all and most of the all the surprising twist in the end.
Awesome movie with lots of entertaining scenes with a good mystery loved it .i assure u will be hasppy after seeing the film.
A rich young man named Clay (Hayden Christensen) goes to the hospital for a heart transplant, and he suffers from anesthetic awareness (meaning he can only feel and hear everything, but can not do anything about it).
A rich young man named Clay (Hayden Christensen) goes to the hospital for a heart transplant, and he suffers from anesthetic awareness (meaning he can only feel and hear everything, but can not do anything about it).
Jessica Alba And Lena Olin Were Good In Their Part.This Movie Has A Twist Ending.
this movies's really good, the story is about a young man clay (hayden) who is very rich , he is hiding his relationship with Sam (Jessica) coz he fears his mother wouldn't take it well, anyway he has to undergo a surgical heart transplant operation but finds himself awake during his operation in what's called "anesthetic awareness" , he discovers that his death has been planned by the people he trusted the most, the script is wonderful and the director has done a great job, also Hayden was amazing ,but the real star here was Lena Olin as Clay's mother Lilith.
she was amazing , i thought Jessica alba did a good job as Sam but her script didn't show a lot of emotions as was expected, all in all this is definitely worth watching it makes u feel for Clay ,i give this a 8/10.
It is also a love and friendship story with Clay's interest being Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba) and his close friend (Terrence Howard) who put in great performances.
Both play parts well and Alba does great travelling from her normal role.This movie will leave you mouth open and asking questions about the world you live in and even (like myself) might make you look further into anesthetic awareness.The lack of background for the characters (especially Clay) was the biggest downfall for me in this movie.
Engaging and interesting crime-drama-thriller,with Hayden Christensen,Jessica Alba,Terrence Howard,Lena Olin.Interesting basic situation,smart plot,with a great twist,you can not see coming,interesting characters,good acting,and short scenes.The basic story situation based on a terrific true fact that is also interesting enough to build a movie script for it.The artists had fortune to get a role in something,that has enough originality,cause against they are mostly talented,but all of them had worst days,I mean for example Jessica Alba was not the favorite of those thinks she's acting,or acting skills is not able to the big screen,but in this production,I think all of them were good,and seems like they were serious.As a thriller drama it's worth rental money in my opinion,officially it was made from only 9-million USA-dollars,and gross more than 14-million dollars,I think DVD-and television rights can make the situation better.This thriller is not a gore fest,and isn't a horror film,but personally for me this was one of the best films of it's type,as family thriller.8/10.
The acting's classy all round, and Lena Olin is especially effective as Christensen's near-incestuous mother.If the film doesn't quite come together, at least it keeps you awake for its short 85 minute running time, though you might be put off by the graphic open-heart surgery operation scenes and the whole scary idea of botched general anaesthetics.
After watching Awake,I led to a conclusion:director and screenwriter Joby Harold made Awake with the intention of laughing at the spectator,for the simple fact the movie is full of ridiculous elements.Awake has a lot of plot holes and it is full of absurd and ridiculous elements(for example,the hospital uniform the spirit of the main character uses...did the ghost of a doctor leave it in the floor ?).The concept behind this movie is slightly ingenious but all the plot holes and the absurd things make of this a stupid and crappy film.With the exception of the great Lena Olin,all the actors bring bad performances.Hayden Christensen has zero expressions and naturalness and the same applies for Jessica Alba.The extraordinary actor Terrence Howard is enormously wasted on his role.Awake makes a laugh of the spectator.It's so ridiculous and full of absurd things that it's impossible to take it seriously.My recommendation is:skip this crappy movie..
Go to a real hospital to watch a real surgery if you want realism.Also, another complaint for this film are the two lead actors, Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba.
Supporting roles like Terrence Howard and Lena Olin also deliver good performances.Like I said, it's better to watch this movie not knowing what to expect because you'll be surprised what you're going to watch.
The movie also have a lot of good twists to get you interested (if it not had already got you interested already).In the end, you will feel like you were in a roller coaster ride.
Performance wise Hayden Christensen shines out from his shell he had in Star Wars and even Jumper, while Terrence Howard and Jessica Alba are on top form also.The premise of the film isn't really original, but its the setting of such a dastardly plot that is so imaginative.
Hayden is so bad that if you are an up and coming actor you should definitely do a movie with him because you will look good by comparison.Alas, this movie did have a very nice twist to it at the end to at least finish well.
If you like suspense or medical movies, you might want to check out the story before watching.
Terrence Howard is always good, Jessica Alba actually turns in a very decent performance, and Hayden Christensen is Annakin Skywalker as a billionaire.
Hayden Christensen plays Clay Beresford, who discovers that he is awake during heart transplant surgery.
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tt0862856
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Trick 'r Treat
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The movie includes four interwoven tales:Opening: A couple dressed as a robot and Flash Gordon return to their home, the front lawn decorated with numerous 'ghost-crows' (scarecrow-style ghosts) and lit pumpkins. The robot, Emma (Leslie Bibb), takes a jack-o'-lantern to blow out the light but her boyfriend, Henry (Tahmoh Penikett), tells her that it's against tradition to un-decorate before midnight. Emma asserts that she wants all the decorations gone before her mother visits the next morning, saying that the yard looks like a crime scene, and blows out the candle. Henry, a true fan of the holiday, promises to remove everything early the next morning and convinces Emma to meet him inside for some "alone time". While he goes in to "put on the tape", Emma starts to take down some of the decorations down, uttering the unforgivable "I hate Halloween". As she removes the sheets off one of the ghost-crows, it lunges at her, covering her in the white cloth. In the ensuing struggle, Emma tumbles onto the sidewalk where passing trick-or-treaters stop to investigate. Under the sheets, a figure takes a bitten pumpkin-shaped sucker and slits Emma's throat. Her blood stains through the sheets and the children run away. The hidden assailant drags Emma's body back to the yard as Henry lies upstairs, passed out and with the TV on high volume. Some time later, he notices Emma has not come up and goes down to the yard where he notices that one of the ghost-crows now has lights attached to it. He removes the sheet and screams at the sight of Emma's disembodied head on a stake, the pumpkin sucker lodged in her mouth.Meanwhile, the Halloween festivities and parties continue throughout the town and a parade marches down the main street while the silhouette of a short figure walks through the crowd, dragging a burlap bag with a dark stain at the bottom.1. The Principal - A portly boy walks through the neighborhood knocking over jack-o'-lanterns. He stops at one house and walks up to the porch where it appears no one is home. A bucket full of candy is set out with a sign saying 'please take one!' The boy begins to put the entire contents of the bucket in his bag when someone startles him from behind. The boy recognizes the man as Principal Steven Wilkins (Dylan Baker) who addresses the boy as Charlie (Brett Kelly). Wilkins sits down on his porch, inviting Charlie to sit and talk with him as he offers him a chocolate bar. Wilkins explains rules of etiquette and how to properly respect Halloween. When Charlie begins to cough, Wilkins explains the most important rule of Halloween; "always check your candy". Charlie violently vomits blood and chocolate and passes out. Wilkins drags Charlie into the house, the blood and chocolate mixture oozing onto his shirt, just as his doorbell rings. Struggling with the body, he answers and sees three teenagers who ask if they can take his jack-o'-lantern. He agrees and gives them all some candy, including a small boy wearing orange, footed pajamas and a burlap hood with buttons for eyes and stitching for a mouth (known hereafter as Sam, Quinn Lord). Wilkins then dumps Charlie's body in a large hole dug in his back yard where another child's body already lies. As he tries to bury the bodies his small son, Billy (Connor Christopher Levins), appears in the upstairs window and shouts down to him repeatedly, asking for help on his jack-o'-lantern and if they'll hand out candy. Wilkins, frustrated, tells him each time to be quiet and wait for him inside. Meanwhile, the neighbor's dog (Zip) approaches the fence and starts barking as the first child in the grave begins to moan, reaching out from under dirty sheets with a clown-costumed arm. Wilkins stabs the boy's arm with his shovel and severs one of his fingers, throwing it over the fence and distracting the dog. However, its surly owner, Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) comes into the yard and peeks through a hole in the fence to speak to Wilkins, still struggling with the clown child. Wilkins passes off his activity and the smell as a septic tank leak and Mr. Kreeg goes back into his house, shouting back to Wilkins to "get his kid out of his yard". Wilkins finishes the clown child off with a blow from his shovel and completes burying the bodies. As he walks back into his house, he notices a frantic Kreeg motioning to him from his window across the way. Bitter Wilkins ignores him and goes into the house as Kreeg is tackled by something. In the kitchen, Billy jumps out from behind a counter, scaring Wilkins and asking for help on his jack-'o-lantern. Seemingly annoyed, Wilkins takes a butcher knife from the knife block and follows Billy to the basement. Billy runs ahead to a table covered in carving materials and Wilkins approaches behind him. Billy says "let's make a scary face this time" as Wilkins puts his hand on Billy's head and brings the knife down, blood glistening on the blade as he draws it back. But Billy smiles and says "don't forget to help me with the eyes" as they look together at the severed head of Charlie on a wooden turntable.2. Surprise Party - Laurie (Anna Paquin) is a 22-year-old 'virgin' who is shy and self-conscious. Her older sister, Danielle (Lauren Lee Smith), tries to boost her confidence by taking her to a Halloween party with two of her friends (Moneca Delain and Rochelle Aytes). The girls all dress in fairy tale costumes while Laurie is stuck as Little Red Riding Hood, a choice she despises though her sister tells her "it's tradition". They walk through town on the way to the party picking up dates but Laurie is discouraged. She opts to meet the girls at the party later.Meanwhile, a young woman makes out with a masked man in an alley. He affectionately kisses her neck but, when she looks down, she sees blood running down her body. The man smiles, revealing blood on his fangs. The woman screams and makes her way to the street where the people are gathered for the parade. Emma and Henry walk by in costume, but ignore her, thinking she's just another drunk party-goer covered in make-up blood. The woman turns around to see the vampire standing behind her and screams as he swings his cloak around her. He leaves her dead body on the sidewalk leaning against a building, as if she's merely passed out, and walks away.At the bonfire party in the woods, Danielle stands alone worrying about Laurie. The others assure her that Laurie's fine but Danielle wonders, saying that their mother "always said Laurie was the runt of the litter". As Laurie walks down a dimly lit path in the woods, she senses someone is following her and shouts out that she's not in the mood and they'd better come out. When no one responds, she turns and comes face to face with the vampire. He grabs her by the neck and holds her against a tree, saying, "My, my, what big eyes you have", before biting her neck. At the party, the girls are startled when a cloaked body falls out of a tree near the fire. Danielle nervously approaches the body and removes the cloak to see the vampire, bleeding and begging for help. His mask is removed and Principal Wilkins blinks in the fire light, whimpering. Laurie appears and assures everyone she's ok, despite the blood oozing from her neck. She approaches Wilkins and straddles him, telling him to bear with her since it's her first time. The other girls start to dance as Wilkins looks around in shock to see that all of their dates are dead. Laurie removes his fake fangs as the girls rip off their skin, revealing coarse fur and lupine fangs. Laurie begins to change herself and leans down to Wilkins to whisper "My, my, what big eyes you have" before lunging into Wilkins' neck. The other werewolves finish the remains of their dates, howling at the moon, as Sam looks on from a nearby log.3. The Halloween School Bus Massacre Four costumed teenagers scour the neighborhood for jack-o-lanterns and stop at the home of a peer named Rhonda (Samm Todd), dressed as a witch, whose yard is decorated with dozens of them. Despite the fact that she's considered an idiot savant and nicknamed Rhonda the Retard by the leader of the group, Macy (Britt McKillip), dressed as an angel, Schrader (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) asks politely for one of her pumpkins and invites her to come with them, complimenting her on her costume. Macy leads them onward while Rhonda talks briefly with Chip (Alberto Ghisi), a pirate, about the origins of Halloween. They arrive at an abandoned rock quarry and Sara (Isabelle Deluce), an alien, asks why they're there and what the purpose of the jack-o-lanterns is. Macy explains that the quarry is the site of a fatal bus crash thirty years prior that has become the stuff of legend.The bus was carrying eight mentally disturbed children, clad in freakish Halloween costumes and so troubled that they had to be chained to their seats. That fateful day, the driver (Gerald Paetz) deviated from his normal route while taking the kids home. Their parents, no longer able to stand the strain and humiliation of caring for them, paid the driver to put them out of their misery by driving the bus into the lake at the bottom of the rock quarry, intending to make it look like a horrible accident. However, while double checking the restraints on the kids, one of them, a masked vampire (Richard Harmon), is able to free himself and hijack the bus, repeating that he wants to go home. Disturbed and confused as he is, the boy accidentally puts the bus in gear and drives it over the edge of the cliffside into the lake before the driver can stop him. Macy says that the driver survived but was never heard from again and the bus was never recovered, possibly because the rest of the town just didn't want to bother.The eight jack-o-lanterns collected represent the eight souls lost that day and are meant to be left at the lakeside as an offering. They walk to a rickety elevator and Macy, Sara, and Schrader get in with their pumpkins to go down to the lake. Since the elevator will only hold three at a time, Chip and Rhonda wait for it to come back for them. On their way down, they hear the panicked cries and screams of the other three and watch as the lights of their jack-o-lanterns go out in the mist. Rhonda tells Chip to stay in the elevator with the remaining pumpkins, saying that they will protect him, as she goes to investigate. Walking through the mist, she eventually comes to the wreckage of the half submerged school bus and sees the masks of the others floating in the water. She is suddenly attacked by two water-drenched figures covered in chains and runs to see a third disemboweling Chip. As they chase her, Rhonda drops and steps on her glasses before tripping and hitting her head on a rock, blacking out. When she comes to, she sees the figures standing over her and screams in fear but one of them, actually Schrader in disguise, explains that it was just a cruel prank played by all of them and tries to apologize. Macy is unremorseful and kicks a still lit jack-o-lantern into the lake as whispers and giggles suddenly echo out of the mist. Schrader leads Rhonda to the elevator and, when he hears the others screaming, tells her to stay put while he goes to see what's wrong, though he suspects another ruse. But when he meets up with the others they all see the figures of the eight dead children rise out of the lake, still tied in their chains. They run for the elevator though Sara is caught by a strand of chains and dragged away. The other three make it to the elevator to see Rhonda locked inside with the rest of the jack-o-lanterns, looking sullen but calm. They beg her to open the door but Rhonda, seemingly in a daze, presses the button to go up and leaves the others to their fate as the ghost children surround them. Rhonda exits the elevator and leaves the quarry, towing her pumpkins in her red wagon. She briefly looks at and passes Sam, sitting inside a cement pipe, as Macy, Schrader, and Chip scream and are ripped apart.4. Meet Sam Three trick-or-treaters walk up the porch of a dark, old house with no Halloween decorations and nervously knock on the door. It opens to pitch darkness and they nervously hold out their bags, saying trick or treat. Two glowing eyes appear and growling is heard. The children run away as the monster chases them across the yard and Mr. Kreeg appears in the doorway. He calls out to his dog, Spite, and picks him up to remove the monster costume and glowing head piece. He collects the children's dropped candy bags and retreats inside where he proceeds to burn old pictures in his fireplace before settling in his chair to watch TV. He takes a bite out of a candy bar but, disgusted with it, swaps it for a bottle of liquor. Since there is nothing on TV that doesnt have anything to do with Halloween, Kreeg turns it off and hears Spite barking outside before seeing an egg hit his window. He runs to the front door and opens it to see that his entire yard is decorated with dozens of jack-o-lanterns. Spite continues to bark in the back yard and Kreeg goes to investigate where he has his conversation with Wilkins. After finishing the finger that Wilkins threw over to him, Spite runs back inside and begins to bark upstairs. Kreeg follows him up and walks cautiously into his bedroom where he notices something moving under the covers. He pulls back the blanket to see a mechanized hand before a pumpkin, set on a table in the corner, suddenly starts spewing flames, bathing the room in orange light and revealing words scribbled all over the walls and ceiling: trick r treat, give me something good to eat. Kreeg then screams as something stabs him from under the bed. He falls to the ground and looks up to see Sam appear from the other side of the bed. Sam shows him a candy bar and peels back the wrapping to reveal a razor blade inside before attacking. Kreeg screams and manages to escape down the hallway but trips on the landing to the stairs and falls to the bottom. The staircase is covered in small pieces of candy and razor blades and Kreeg winces at his hands, covered in bloody cuts. Struggling as Sam attacks again, Kreeg makes it to the far window where he calls out to Wilkins just before being tackled. He tries to fight off Sam and manages to rip off his burlap mask. Instead of finding a human child's face underneath, Sam's face is a horribly deformed pumpkin with beady eyes and sharp teeth. Kreeg gains the upper hand and gets hold of his shotgun, shooting Sam across the room where he slumps against the front door. Kreeg shoots him again at close range, severing Sams hand, before dialing 9-1-1. But the line goes dead and Kreeg is stabbed in the leg again by Sam's severed hand. It crawls back to Sam and reattaches itself to the stump. Sam gets up and puts his mask back on as Kreeg backs up against the wall, knocking a table and its contents to the floor. Sam removes a pumpkin sucker from his pocket and takes a bite out of it, showing the sharp-edged bite marks. He approaches Kreeg, arm raised to stab him and bring the sucker down on Kreegs chest. Instead of stabbing him, however, Sam lodges the sucker in the discarded candy bar Kreeg had opened earlier, which had landed on his chest after he knocked the table over. Sam proceeds to chew on the candy bar and leaves the room, appearing satisfied. He looks back at Kreeg, who watches in puzzlement, before leaving the house. The door slams shut of its own accord. We then see one of the pictures that Kreeg had thrown into the fire. It shows the eight kids from the bus massacre, revealing that Kreeg was the driver.Later, a heavily bandaged Kreeg answers the doorbell to give candy to some trick-or-treaters. From his porch, he sees Sam go towards Emma and Henrys house across the way just as she is blowing out the candle to one of her jack-o-lanterns. Rhonda then walks by along the street, pulling her wagon absent-mindedly, and is almost hit by a car carrying the werewolf girls, laughing in human form. Billy Wilkins sits on his porch handing out candy, wearing a costume to mimic his fathers appearance complete with glasses and bloody shirt, unaware that his father is dead. Kreeg walks back inside and the bell rings again. He opens it to see the children from the bus massacre standing on his porch. The boy with the vampire mask says trick r treat and extends his bag before the children leap forward and begin to rip Kreeg apart.
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comedy, murder, bleak, violence, cult, horror, suspenseful, home movie
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train
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imdb
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Dougherty's film is the celluloid embodiment of that je ne sais quoi that has made Halloween such an alluring holiday for generations of kids (and adults) alike.As I said, Trick 'r Treat is a horror anthology which interweaves tales that all take place on Halloween night, similar to such genre classics as Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside.
A costumed couple learns to respect tradition
the hard way, a group of girls head out into the woods for a "howling" good party, the local school principal has a (literal) taste for blood, four kids attempting to pull off a holiday "trick" end up becoming "treats", and a cantankerous old man gets a visit from a holiday visitor looking to settle a decades-old grudge.To say anymore than that would spoil the fun in watching the film, as these stories are best digested when viewed on an empty mind.
I know that we never bothered getting a serious stash of lollies ready until around three years ago, but this year our house got door-knocked at least 20 times.What has been true for many years is that horror movies are more popular around this time of year, as many are made for US release to coincide with the holiday.The plot of Trick R Treat is actually hard to describe, it is more a series of initially random events involving the same group of characters than a linear storyline.
They all take place on Halloween (natch) in a small US town that obviously takes the night seriously.The main combatants of the film include: A young couple arriving home from the night's festivities, with the young woman knocking back a kind offer of intercourse in favour of cleaning up the Halloween decorations in the yard.The local school principal and his dealings with a trick or treater (played by the doofy kid from Bad Santa), which is interrupted by his son and a grumpy neighbour.Four nubile young skanks prepping for a night where they are all hoping to "pull", including two absolute hotties and a pair of sisters, one of whom is Anna Paquin as a somewhat reluctant trollop dressed as Red Riding Hood.A group of kids who attempt to pay respect to the victims of a past local tragedy involving a crashed school bus, and who rope in an unpopular young woman for the ceremony.And
The afore-mentioned grumpy neighbour of the School Principal - obviously not a fan of Halloween - and his dealings with celebrating kids.Early on there are a few more fake scares than I would have liked, you know where the camera lingers, the music builds, the character's hand hovers
and nothing happens.
I started to worry that the release of the film was delayed with cause but thankfully that feeling was short lived.The plot interweaves "Pulp Fiction" style between the seemingly random events, and we gradually see how all these events are practically related, and often impact other character's stories later on, (or at times earlier on, there are a few flashbacks).There is also a little character in a sack over a pumpkin-head outfit who pops up in the periphery of all stories, he finally has his own scene near the very end in a scene that is worth the wait.How this wasn't released to cinemas is beyond me.
Somehow, it succeeds in being both terrifying and charming, like a dark old painting that still reminds you of home.TRICK 'R TREAT's story unfolds unlike a traditional anthology picture, with all of the movie's separate plots taking place together.
In its five overlapping stories, a couple discovers what happens when they blow out a jack o' lantern before midnight, a bullying child learns to check his candy before eating it, a young woman is stalked by a hooded stranger at a harvest festival, a group of pranksters uncover the ghoulish truth about a local urban legend, and an elderly Scrooge is visited by a pint-sized hellion who is far more interested in tricks than treats.Buffeted by wonderful performances from Oscar winner Anna Paquin, Emmy winner Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb, and Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett, TRICK 'R TREAT is the one and only genre film to have been released in the past decade that is already one of my all-time favorites.When its done, you'll feel sorry for the works of Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino, because TRICK 'R TREAT has taken the best of these auteurs, blended them with ten pounds of candy corn and razor blades, and shoveled the whole mess down your throat.TRICK 'R TREAT may not just be the best Halloween-themed movie ever made, but the finest example of horror cinema in decades..
From the acting to the effects to the direction - the whole thing is just masterful.The film itself basically is set on Halloween, and a bunch of stories interweave into one in a very clever way, it is sort of like the CREEPSHOW films but each story is'nt standalone, they are all going on at the same time and come together at the end.
Just when it looked like the anthology movie was dead, along comes Director/Writer Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat to not only breathe new life into this overlooked format, but also firmly establish itself as one of the best films to keep on the shelf and revisit each Halloween – if the folks at Warner Bros.
ever decide to release it, either in theaters or to DVD.Selected to close out Montreal's 2009 Fantasia film fest, Trick 'r Treat spins five intertwined tales featuring an assortment of classic critters and creeps, with each interlocking story carrying its own "Twilight Zone"-type twist.
The single constant throughout is Sam (Quinn Lord), a mysterious diminutive munchkin dressed in a pajama jumper and sporting a burlap sack for a head with buttons for eyes, who appears briefly in each segment and takes center stage in the final story.Borrowing a visual style from the classic EC horror comics, Dougherty deploys vintage on-screen graphic call-outs like "Later" or "Meanwhile" to let the audience know which scenes are running in order, concurrently, or previously in the film's timeline, which comes full circle at its conclusion, ending where it began.With exquisite art direction by Tony Wohlgemuth and lush visuals by cinematographer Glenn MacPherson (2008's Rambo, Final Destination) the segments tell the tales of a young wife who can't wait to ditch the trappings of Halloween, even though the film's mythology says it's taboo to blow out a pumpkin before midnight; a sinister school principal and single dad with a nefarious agenda planned for trick-or-treaters; a young virgin nervously seeking her first time with her pack of girlfriends; a group of kids in quest of the truth behind a local urban legend; and an aging recluse with a tortured soul who finds his quiet Halloween night rudely interrupted by Sam.Dougherty, whose last major credit was as co-screenwriter of Superman Returns, invokes a spirit of childhood fun borne from hours spent burrowing through editions of EC Comics, Warren Publishing's Eerie and Creepy, and DC's House of Mystery to create a fun, rollicking ride that is rare in movies today.The sad aspect of this is that while Trick 'r Treat has been enjoying a positive response from the festival circuit, it's still a guess as to when this gem will be released.
But considering what could be lacking from such a film, I ventured to the heart of the story and finally realized that Trick R' Treat is, simply put, devoid of any scares.Don't get me wrong: this movie is anything but boring.
Not only that, but each of the separate story lines (there are 4 total) are woven together so slickly that there are bundles of shocks you won't see coming.But none of this can make up for the fact that Trick R' Treat is, at its best, only creepy; a movie that used the same layout and attained the same tone as "The Twilight Zone Movie." I was eagerly awaiting the moment when it would break off from creepy and truly get scary, like John Carpenter's "Halloween." But sadly, Trick R' Treat's clever story never dishes out the scares..
Very soon boredom sets in, as the uninspired nonlinear story-lines progress.I had been led to believe that this would be an exceptional horror movie, judging by the numerous positive reviews and very high rating on IMDb. I was misled.The real problem is that the stories in themselves are weak and the scares are non-existent.I did enjoy parts of Dylan Baker's performance and it was good to see Brett Kelly on screen again but other than that the cast were pretty forgettable.This film reminded me of Neil Jordan's Company Of Wolves (1984) which is equally as boring and disjointed.I am left to wonder why this film is so highly rated.......
The film is an anthology of four stories occurring over Halloween night, with a introduction featuring the beautiful Leslie Bibb demonstrating what happens when you disrespect the spirits on All Hallows' Eve. The movie is R-rated, a pleasant surprise in a time where most horror movies soften their punches for the more popular PG-13 in an attempt to widen their audience.
In my favorite mini-story from the film, the ever-awesome Brian Cox is a curmudgeonly hermit who hates Halloween with a passion and comes face-to-face with a sack-masked little demon that I wish had been given the chance to become an horror icon in future anthology installments.
i just got done watching trick r treat and after reading tons of great reviews.well being a halloween/horror movie buff myself i thought this could be the one.
Each story revolves around characters who break these rules and are punished by the child-like, pumpkin-headed "spirit of Halloween." This is a fine setup for a horror film, and indeed, Dougherty had great ideas, but they are not fully developed in the final product thanks to the film's length.
I was so displeased with this movie i cant believe i actually finished it probably because the was a good looking girl or two in the film it ended up being a lame pumpkin head rip off its completely fictional with terrible acting if your a horror fan and even consider picking this up think twice and grab something else...
Separate these elements, and you've robbed the story of its power.On a more positive note, Dougherty does succeed in conjuring up some lovely Halloween themed imagery, making the most of his beautifully detailed set design and delivering a strong Autumnal atmosphere; his cast all give credible performances, doing the best they possibly can with the material; and seasoned horror fans will at least have fun spotting the many sly tributes to genre classics scattered throughout the film.But those who have heard that this is a modern masterpiece, destined to become a Halloween classic, should be prepared to be very disappointed.
Trick r Treat (directed by Michael Dougherty) is set in the small suburb of Warren Valley, Ohio and over the course of one Halloween night a series of sinister events occur from the different viewpoints of the local neighbourhood.The great aspect of the film is the way the story has been shot and told to the audience.
As a result, we have a straight to DVD movie, which in turn will possibly lead to it developing a cult following through fans of 'Halloween history' and as far as genre classing goes, i would call this as a light horror rather than a full blown one, which in essence is enjoyable for all to watch.Overall all the credit must go to Michael Dougherty for producing a slick Halloween treat.
There is a werewolf transformation scene late in the movie so frighteningly realistic that it alone makes the movie worth seeing.Trick 'r Treat takes place over the course of one Halloween night, in a small Ohio town that is practically obsessed with the season.A cross between Creepshow and Pulp Fiction, the movie tells five different stories that are connected in one way or the other.The first story involves a Halloween hating young wife (Leslie Bibb) who makes a big mistake in saying "I hate Halloween!" out loud; the second follows a school principal (Dylan Baker) who moonlights as a serial killer and plans to play a really nasty trick on the local trick or treaters; the third (and most haunting) tale follows five kids (Britt McKillip, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Samm Todd, Alberto Ghisi, Isabelle Deluce) as they go investigate an old town legend involving a school bus massacre; the fourth is a delightfully wicked tale of a young woman named Laurie (Anna Paquin) who ventures to the town parade with her sister (Lauren Lee Smith) and her two sexy friends to find some decent men (that's all I'm gong to say about that); and the final tale involves a cantankerous old hermit (Brian Cox) who is being stalked by a small child with a burlap sack over his head.Said child is identified in the press notes as Sam (played Quinn Lord), and he makes an appearance in every story, often times acting like the Angel of Death to anyone who doesn't uphold the traditions of All Hallows Eve.Michael Dougherty's screenplay is absolutely superb.
He brilliantly ties each of the five stories together's with a number of surprising plot twists, and he manages to keep the audience fully involved by writing up characters and dialogue that are surprisingly authentic.The terrific cast manages to bring the material all the more to life, with special mention to Dead Like Me's Britt McKillip, who brings humanity and depth to the role of the insufferable snob Marcy; Anna Paquin, who turns her character into a sweet yet somewhat sinister figure; and newcomer Samm Todd lights up the screen as the socially awkward Rhonda, who has a monologue about the history of Halloween that is actually quite amusing.Visually speaking, Trick 'r Treat is one of the most lush horror movies I've ever seen.
The musical score by Douglas Pipes is as original as it is chilling and atmospheric.One would be hard pressed to find anything to complain about with this wonderful movie, although the faint of heart should be warned: While the movie isn't as graphic as Saw or Hostel, there are numerous scenes of child endangerment and even a few instances where kids are killed.Thankfully, Dougherty films most of the graphic stuff off screen, but even still, there are instances where he makes you use your imagination, and sometimes the impact can be greater with that approach (there is one scene in particular that disturbed me greatly without ever showing an ounce of gore).Casting that aside, Trick 'r Treat is an absolute joy to watch.
The connections are so strong that in reviews, people talk about four stories, but I count at least six: the couple returning home from the Hallowe'en parade, the school principal (Dylan Baker) with a ghoulish secret, the virgin (Anna Paquin) looking for a Hallowe'en date, the kids playing a prank on an autistic girl, the story of the school bus crash told by the pranksters and the grouchy old man (Brian Cox) dealing with a home invasion.Because all of the characters intertwine with one story or another, the film ends up quite accidentally dealing with one of the favourite themes of Tales From The Crypt: the hierarchy of monsters.
It seemed like an interesting way to tell some scary stories.What I found, however, was that "Trick 'r Treat" is a lame excuse of a "horror flick", offering nothing new to the genre and completely underwhelming in what it did bring to the table.
This is a movie that pretends to be smarter than it really is by weaving together 5 or something different stories into one movie, which I don't mind usually, in fact "GO!" and "CRASH" are 2 of my favorite movies.But where those differs from this is that those have characters that you actually find interesting and care about where as in this one the characters does not feel like they exist outside of the movie and their sole purpose is getting killed with ZERO character development or any layers to any of the characters.Plenty of homages to better horror-movies that will surely entertain some but personally I didn't care for it.One thing it does have going for it is the soundtrack and the atmosphere, it also has a nice look to it BUT I prefer substance over style myself so yeah it doesn't really attract me much still.There are 2 and a half scenes that I thought were pretty good but that's really about it, as a whole it really doesn't have much of a plot.Overall this movie didn't scare me or make me laugh and most times I was just wondering where this was going to cause it seemingly wasn't going anywhere for the most part so no this was not a treat for me..
This movie must look beautiful on the big screen, and I hope that some of our local theaters which specialize in the offbeat bookings schedule this one for Halloween in the future.I was somewhat disappointed that my DVD didn't contain some of the extras found on the blue ray edition, but it does come with the cool short "Seasons Greetings." I am more than satisfied with my purchase, and would recommend buying to my friends.Is "Trick 'r Treat" scary like "Paranormal Activity?" Nope.
Trick 'R Treat has all the elements of any horror film,it has vampire and werewolves,killers,creepy story,great scares,some laughs and lots of fun.
I could really see several Trick 'r Treat sequels involving different stories each time (kinda like what Halloween 3 failed to do).Another pro, since Trick 'r Treat was supposed to be a theatrical release, what you end up with is a very GOOD LOOKING direct to video movie.It's major con?
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tt0115751
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Breaking the Waves
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BREAKING the WAVES
The story was about love, faith and confidence. A small coastal village in North Scotland, in 1970s.The village neighborhood didnt like foreigners, especially when those people worshiped different religions. The public of this village were very pious. In un-developed regions, women arent allowed to participate in the funeral ceremonies.
The film was the first film of a trilogy, the names of which Golden Heart series. The movie was recorded by a hand-held camera, that brings audiences into the place. This technique made the fiction more realistic.
The main character was Bess who had some mental problems and a childish manner. She had to be taken care of by her family members. She was talking with herself with a God Voice and tried to find a way to endure her pain. In the early chapters, we saw, Bess and Jan got married, had an incredible honeymoon and sexual experience. When Jan started to work, she missed him very much and begged God for the return her husband immediately. Everything changed with an accident. When Jan was in the oil-rig, he injured his neck and completely paralyzed. When Bess learned the accident, first she was very happy but then she started to blame herself. Their sex relations remained to fall down that situation. Jan asked her to take a lover and tell him the details. Because Jan knew Besss church wouldnt permit divorce. What do we think about Jans suggestion? Did he really want to get rid of her, for her sake? Or did he just think about himself? I think the story didnt answer this question. We should think about a man who was completely paralyzed and became selfish. Dodo, who was Besss sister-in-law, said sickness is a mighty power They quarreled about Besss situation. Jan believed Bess has more strength than them. Because of the whole painful process, Jan attempted to kill himself. When he failed, he asked Dodo for help for his own suicide. Dodo denied his request, she thought the second death would be very damaging for Bess. Bess had recently lost her brother.
On the other side, Bess started to commit adultery. She believed in God and convinced herself if she did some sacrifices, Jan would be able to recovered. When she mentioned her bus experience, Jans reaction was unclearly. Was he relieved or annoyed? I think the most impressive chapter was the sixth one called Faith. In that chapter she started to go cheap bars and chose the ugliest guys. She punished herself that way. Meanwhile her reputation had become very damaged in the small village. Only Jans doctor and Dodo realized her tough condition. Bess had attempted to seduce the doctor too. Maybe he also liked her too, but didnt want to use her case. Everyone around her started to become aware of her sinful behavior. They even didnt tolerate her attitude. Her church, her neighbors, even her mother, everyone around her rejected her. In those kinds of small villages, people can be very cruel about morality. Which is the biggest sin? Who are the biggest sinners in this condition? Social rules are pressure in a small society. Actually, in this story everybody suffered a lot but they pretended to remain innocent while they pushed her down the cliff. I think miracles arent always fair. They can cause some kind of miserable consequences. At the end of the movie the unexpected miracle happened; the man recovered but he also lost his wife. The villagers wanted to punish her body too. They refused to bury her appropriately. Jan stole the body and gave her a real funeral. She buried at sea with the sound of bells.
Here we have a story which argues what is right or wrong in love. If we were Bess, how many of us could be strong in love? ? To love a man and never hesitate to do some kind of tough sacrifices
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psychological, boring, bleak, melodrama, tragedy, romantic, sadist
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train
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imdb
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Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves is the kind of film that makes me proud to be a film-goer and exceeds anything I could have possibly expected from the man who made Element of Crime.
Anyway, you get the picture
The film stars Emily Watson as Bess, a shy and neurotic girl who is filled with joy to be with her new husband Jan (Stellan Skarsgard who is exceptional).
All of this works because of von Trier's passionate desire to understand how one can please God under horrendous terms; the epilogue, that takes the already-great material to a new level and shows how inspired von Trier is, starts with a moment of sad irony and then leaps to the skies with an image that fills the most atheistic person with questions and the more religiously spiritual people with hope.
Wherever you stand on the Dogme issue (personally I'm all for it as long as they continue to make movies as great as 'Festen' and 'The Idiots'), his brief alliance with the group has overshadowed amazing work like 'Element Of Crime', 'Europa' and 'Breaking The Waves'.
'Breaking The Waves' was made before the Dogme manifesto was formulated, but it can be seen as a step in that direction, with its use of documentary techniques as opposed to the flamboyant and highly stylized approach of von Trier's earlier films.
Stellan Skarsgard, a most underrated actor in my opinion,('Insomnia', 'Ronin') plays Bess's husband and is also superb, and the supporting cast includes the late Katrin Cartlidge ('Naked') as Watson's sister-in-law, and von Trier regulars Jean-Marc Barr (almost unrecognizable from his leading role in 'Europa'), as one of Skarsgard's work buddies, and cult legend Udo Kier ('Flesh For Frankenstein', 'The Story Of O') in a cameo as a very nasty piece of work who Bess has the misfortune to encounter.
To me 'Breaking The Waves' is a much better more than von Trier's better known 'Dancer In The Dark', and Watson's performance makes Bjork's look like that of an enthusiastic but not very talented amateur (which of course, is exactly what she is).
It will pull at every heart muscle that you have and really make you look at your significant other and truly feel the power of love.This is a love story, but not like one we have seen in a very long time.
Emily Watson had one of the best film debuts ever, and this is probably the most accomplished female performance I've seen since Julianne Moore in "The Hours".
Lars von Trier has a special talent to direct women: just remember Nicole Kidman's and Björk's remarkable performances in "Dogville" and "Dancer in the Dark", respectively."Breaking the Waves" tells the story of the pure Bess McNeill (Watson) and her unconditional love for Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgård), who is paralyzed after an accident at the oil-rig he works in.
Katrin Cartlidge (1961-2002), an extremely gifted actress ("Naked", "Before the Rain", "Claire Dolan", "Career Girls", "Topsy-Turvy" and "No Man's Land") who died too young, delivers a captivating, discreet supporting performance as Dodo, Bess' loving sister-in-law.I'd say "Breaking the Waves" and "Dogville" are opposite masterpieces: "Waves" being about love and goodness, "Dogville" being about hatred and evil, among other things, of course (nothing's easy or simple in Von Trier's universe).
Both films are extremely dark and hard to watch, but "Waves" shows that Von Trier has faith in mankind.
The first time I saw Breaking the Waves, I was astonished that Emily Watson had not acted for the cinema before her turn as Bess McNeill.
Director Lars von Trier is a true visionary, and the (largely hand-held) cinematography by Robby Muller perfectly defines the tone of the film -- in fact, the theatre where I saw Breaking the Waves posted a disclaimer that warned anyone who suffers from motion or sea-sickness to see the film at their own peril!.
Bearing in mind, you will feel devastated by the film's self-destructive nature and after viewing such an unforgettable story of heart ache and sadness you will have etched into the back of your mind.Breaking the Waves is a complicated story; it is one that studies love, regret, guilt, madness and religion.
Breaking the Waves is set in a small religious town deep in Scotland and tells the sorrowful story of the innocent Bess (Emily Watson) and her lover Jan (Stellan Skarsgaard).
Jan becomes paralysed in a freak accident at the oil-rig he is working on and asks his estranged wife Bess to have sex with other men and then tell him what it was like to keep their relationship stable.Lars Von Trier, the founder of Dogme film-making creates a drama that remains in a league of its own.
The film's general direction is one that feels like it has been shot with a hand-held style.The film studies many questionable elements of life, including topics such as death, terminal illness, spirituality, emotions and hypocrisy in religion.
A film about love, faith, religion and many other things, it is a draining experience but yet fascinating to watch, with superb acting and an intriguing main character.
Although Lars von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" is undoubtedly one of the most impressive films of recent years, I have delayed commenting on it until now, as my feelings about it are far from clear.
Both films have a supposedly mentally unstable central character, a young man who talks as Christ in "Ordet" while Bess, the young woman in "Breaking the Waves" talks to God who answers her in her own voice's deepest register.
From almost excessive visual stylization and remoteness, he uses an approach that is disturbingly documentary-like, heavily reliant on improvisation and incredibly intimate for the first time.Breaking the Waves is the story of simple-minded, good-hearted and slightly bonkers Bess McNee (Emily Watson in her first role!) of a secular Scottish community.
There had not been a lot of movies I'd seen in a very long time, where the act of embracing one's faith in a greater power, and an unselfish, all-encompassing belief in unconditional love and trust were so vividly and powerfully portrayed.
Yet in their love scenes as Jan and Bess, I believe we get our very first glimpse on film of what sex between two people is meant to be as the Man Upstairs intended; not something dirty or vile or wanton, or anything as icily clinical as the conditions prescribed by Mother Church, but as a gift to us to be enjoyed, and therefore in turn the greatest gift that any one person can give to another as a sign of love and affection.
Had director Von Trier seen her story in that way, this would've been a pretty short film.But when our love for another and our faith is all we have, no matter how misguided it is, no one has the right to question or debunk it, no matter how well-meaning they are.
(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.)Emily Watson's performance is extraordinary, and Stellan Skargard is very good, but this is without a doubt the most degrading, depressing and tragic movie I have seen in a long, long time.
And be forewarned, the sexuality is degrading, and the very essence of human love is willfully and repeatedly perverted.In making this movie, Director Lars von Trier no doubt sought a kinship with the tragedies of Shakespeare and the Greeks in which the fates destroy the protagonist because of a so-called 'fatal flaw,' a flaw the protagonist cannot help.
The making is really remarkable but the movie looks fake...the story keeps playing dirt with the audience making the characters act in unbelievable ways just to stimulate people's emotions.
Emily Watson became one of my favorite actors after this movie, she is truly amazing in the role of Bess McNeill.
I cannot stress this enough all people should watch this film, gives you a bit of happiness and also a lot of pain just like when you love someone..
It feels like von Trier has a little too high claims on himself, he really has to put in the lower-quality film in his camera to prove the audience that he isn't commercial, then he fill the whole movie with over-sentimental scenes to show his very view of artistry, an artistic view that is so pathetic that you rather laugh than cry at the sentimentality in the film.
When he is injured and paralysed in an accident and can no longer have sex, he decides to get his jollies by having his wife act as a prostitute and then tell him all about it - so HE will feel alive!Lars von Triers'jerky camera work (so innovative?, annoying) only comes to rest when Emily Watson is fully prone, naked, begging the Doctor to jump her bones for hubbys and Gods sake.
Chapter 1 – Bess Gets Married: In a backward religious village in the north of Scotland, the naive, immature, pure, susceptive, repressed and emotionally unstable Bess McNeill (Emily Watson) gets married with Danish worker Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgård) that works in a drilling rig.
But she believes she has a connection with Jan through spiritual love and the might power of love guided by God will heal Jan. She decides to prostitute to help Jan with tragic consequences along Chapter 5 – Doubt; Chapter 6 – Faith; Chapter 7 – Bess' Sacrifice; and Chapter 8 – The Funeral."Breaking the Waves" is a heartbreaking and cruel tale of intolerance, faith and unconditional love.
The introduction of each chapter uses a classic from the 70's, with "All the Way From Memphis"; "Blowing in the Wind"; "Pipe Major Donald Maclean"; "In a Broken Dream"; "Cross Eyed Mary"; "I Did What I Did for Maria"; "Virginia Plain"; "Whiter Shade of Pale"; "Hot Love"; "Suzanne"; "Love Lies Bleeding"; "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"; "Whisky In the Jam"; "Child in Time"; "Your Song"; "Siciliana"; "Gay Gordons"; "Scotland the Brave"; "Barren Rock of Aden"; "Happy Landing".I do not like to write extensive reviews but Lars von Trier usually shakes my emotions and in the end I write more than I wished.
A very Biblical piece on sacrificial madness as Bess, (played brilliantly by Emily), goes about whoring herself to cure her paralysed husband, Jan. So be prepared because anything goes when Lars von Trier is in control..
I was disappointed in this film, perhaps because I watched it on video, soon after having seen 'Dancer in the Dark' at the cinema which had whetted my appetite to see more of von Trier's work.I hesitate to say this, given how positively I responded to 'Dancer in the Dark', but 'Breaking the Waves' reminded me a little of the day-time tv hospital-dramas that I occasionally watched as a child in the 1950s.
So, whatever else this film might accomplish, it doesn't erode the stereotype of the bad' sex worker.And yet
'Breaking the Waves', like 'Dancer in the Dark', succeeds in bringing the audience face to face with a special, and disturbing, martyrdom.
The torture that Bess chooses to endure is supposed to be equally difficult, but the film doesn't make me feel that.I would recommend, to anyone who wants to think further about what it is that makes 'Dancer in the Dark' work better than 'Breaking the Waves', to read Stanley Cavell's essay Opera and the lease of voice'..
Von Trier's monkeying around with audience expectations, and his Brechtian distancing techniques - choppy editing, hand-held camera, digitalized landscape chapter headings (it's only a film duh!)- only serves to wreck great performances and an interesting plot.I laughed at the ending it was so schmaltzy, which really wrecked everything that was set up before - we live in a hard, sadistic world but miracles can happen (huh?).
I really do not understand people who can say that this is extraordinary film, in fact I can understand that someone likes so called "artistic" touch to the film, but this is over the top.Story- sick, dark and completely unrealistic Camera- free hand, like the kids were playing with it Editing- I can do it better on my PC Music- none Acting- Like in rehabilitation for mentally illSo someone could say that this one is good if he/she has no other argument in their life to call themselves exceptional, but to hope that no one in their right mind could understand this movie but them.Avoid at any cost!.
A story has to have sympathetic characters in order for the viewer to remain interested, and there were none in this film.The relationship between Jan and Bess was never developed.
Emily Watson does an excellent job of acting here (maybe too good, much as Ralph Fiennes annoyed me in "Spider"), but I just couldn't stand to watch her any longer.If this sort of plot interests you, then by all means watch the film.
The way the film is set out leaves you almost feeling like you've read an incredibly engrossing novel.It's an incredible story of outstanding faith overcoming even the most simple logic in the name of undying love.
The film has a unique picture that seems like a cheap hand-held camera.Somewhat irritating but again i thought that they want to emphasize the story and characters so i didn't mind.
Lars Von Trier's tale - of a woman who sexually humiliates herself in the hope of saving her paralysed husband - is an astounding and powerful film on any level, yet it may be hard work for some.
Although still far-out by the standards of mainstream cinema, 'Breaking the Waves' is perhaps his most conventional English-language film; and also his best, a movie of rare emotional power.
Dominated by a literally eye-rolling performance from Emily Watson in the lead role, the film also features a strong supporting cast including, among others, the late Katrin Cartlidge, unnervingly abrupt inter-cutting between scenes, the odd (but effective) division of the movie into chapters marked by musical interludes, and a fiercely imagined vision of life in western Scotland.
Although she is considered mentally unstable she analyses her feelings, speaks from her heart and communes with God in her darkest moments, in her hour of need.This is truly great film making..
Lars Von Trier's BREAKING THE WAVES is a pre-Dogme film, yet it still retains certain elements of Dogme 95 - the most obvious being the hand-held camera.
Some people have found that this makes them feel motion-sickness, but I found that as I became engrossed in the story, I forgot about the hand-held camera.Having said that, I have to admit I was disappointed with this film.
Emily Watson gives one of the all-time great performances in Breaking The Waves.
Bess McNeill (Watson) is a mentally troubled woman who has married an off-shore oil rig worker, Jan (Stellan Skarsgård-another great performance), after praying her entire life for true love, and has dedicated her entire existence to him.
Believe that, because it's true.There really isn't anything about this film that makes one want to watch it a second time, unless you get off on it, like the woman's husband.
The hand-held camera work by Director Lars Von Trier brings a gritty, documentary-style feel to the intense dramatic story line and performances.
Emily Watson gave a great performance in the style of character which we all can expect from her.The film was boring.
For in this case Bess, played by an unforgettably moving Emily Watson, is that character, a woman who prays everyday, and is married to a kind oil-rigger, Jan, played by an equally good Stellan Sarsgaard.
And, oddly enough despite von Trier's own feelings on religion, watching the film I get the sense that believers won't mind.
The film moved me in ways I thought not possible.It stars Emily Watson (Punch-Drunk Love) as Bess, who marries Jan, played by Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting).
With Breaking the Waves he moved away from beautiful pictures to a beautiful story, centring on young naive Bess (Emily Watson), who after marrying oilman Jan (Stellan Skarsgård) begins a life of constant love and passion.
Either way, Breaking the Waves is still one-hundred times better than most of the Hollywood hogwash, full of beautiful images and performances, and is a good chance to see a real film by one of cinema's greatest directorial talents...
Emily Watson's moving performance makes "Breaking the Waves" an unforgettable experience.
Emily Watson is a wonderful actress and Stellan Skarsgard is wholly convincing in his love for her character, Bess.It is a great story of how powerful love is for some people, and how overwhelming its consequences can be.Unfortunately this is not a movie for all, the other people who I have tried to introduce to it became restless and slightly bewildered.
Then Jan is injured at work and everything changes.A Lars von Trier movie that covers some interesting themes – obsessive relationships, euthanasia, manipulation, dogma and the lengths people go to for love.
What else could I expect from Breaking the Waves, one of the three films in the 'Golden Heart Trilogy' by Lars von Trier?
But Breaking the Waves surprised me, and wasn't predictable as I thought: in fact, it's another great film from the Danish director that, this time, added a religious touch to the tale.Breaking the Waves is about Bess McNeill (Emily Watson), a young woman who marries Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgard) and falls madly in love with him.
Bess believes that his return and his request are all God's actions for the good of everybody, so she listens to him: soon, she finds herself in a very difficult and painful position.As I said before, von Trier's goal here is to cause you pain while watching the movie.
But this is still a fine film, and see if you don't feel just as surprised as Bess late in the movie, when God doesn't talk to her for the first time..
More than any other film of the 1990s, and despite (or maybe because of) some truly disturbing subject matter, Breaking the Waves is the kind of movie to watch with someone you love..
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tt0082158
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Chariots of Fire
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In 1919, Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) enters the University of Cambridge, where he experiences anti-Semitism from the staff, but enjoys participating in the Gilbert and Sullivan club. He becomes the first person to ever complete the Trinity Great Court Run – running around the college courtyard in the time it takes for the clock to strike 12. Abrahams achieves an undefeated string of victories in various national running competitions. Although focused on his running, he falls in love with a leading Gilbert and Sullivan soprano, Sybil (Alice Krige).
Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), born in China of Scottish missionary parents, is in Scotland. His devout sister Jennie (Cheryl Campbell) disapproves of Liddell's plans to pursue competitive running. But Liddell sees running as a way of glorifying God before returning to China to work as a missionary.
When they first race against each other, Liddell beats Abrahams. Abrahams takes it poorly, but Sam Mussabini (Ian Holm), a professional trainer whom he had approached earlier, offers to take him on to improve his technique. This attracts criticism from the Cambridge college masters (John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson), who allege it is not gentlemanly for an amateur to "play the tradesman" by employing a professional coach. Abrahams dismisses this concern, interpreting it as cover for anti-Semitic and class-based prejudice.
When Eric Liddell accidentally misses a church prayer meeting because of his running, his sister Jennie upbraids him and accuses him of no longer caring about God. Eric tells her that though he intends to eventually return to the China mission, he feels divinely inspired when running, and that not to run would be to dishonour God, saying, "I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure."
The two athletes, after years of training and racing, are accepted to represent Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Also accepted are Abrahams' Cambridge friends, Lord Andrew Lindsay (Nigel Havers), Aubrey Montague (Nicholas Farrell), and Henry Stallard (Daniel Gerroll). While boarding the boat to Paris for the Olympics, Liddell learns the news that the heat for his 100-metre race will be on a Sunday. He refuses to run the race – despite strong pressure from the Prince of Wales and the British Olympic committee – because his Christian convictions prevent him from running on the Sabbath.
Hope appears when Liddell's teammate Lindsay, having already won a silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles, proposes to yield his place in the 400-metre race on the following Thursday to Liddell, who gratefully agrees. His religious convictions in the face of national athletic pride make headlines around the world.
Liddell delivers a sermon at the Paris Church of Scotland that Sunday, and quotes from Isaiah 40, ending with, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Abrahams is badly beaten by the heavily favoured United States runners in the 200 metre race. He knows his last chance for a medal will be the 100 metres. He competes in the race, and wins. His coach Sam Mussabini is overcome that the years of dedication and training have paid off with an Olympic gold medal. Now Abrahams can get on with his life and reunite with his girlfriend Sybil, whom he had neglected for the sake of running. Before Liddell's race, the American coach remarks dismissively to his runners that Liddell has little chance of doing well in his now far longer 400 metre race. But one of the American runners, Jackson Scholz, hands Liddell a note of support for his convictions. Liddell defeats the American favourites and wins the gold medal.
The British team returns home triumphant. As the film ends, onscreen text explains that Abrahams married Sybil, and became the elder statesman of British athletics. Liddell went on to missionary work in China. All of Scotland mourned his death in 1945 in Japanese-occupied China.
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inspiring, historical, flashback
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train
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wikipedia
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tt0096283
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Tonari no Totoro
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On a warm, sunny day, 10-year-old Satsuki (English: Dakota Fanning; Japanese: Noriko Hidaka) and 4-year-old Mei (English: Elle Fanning; Japanese: Chika Sakamoto) Kusakabe drive with their father, Tatsuo (English: Tim Daly; Japanese: Shigesato Itoi), along a rural road towards their new home. The girls are excited about the move since it will bring them closer to their mother, Yasuko (English: Lea Salonga; Japanese: Sumi Shimamoto), who is ill in hospital (it is implied that she has tuberculosis).Their house is old and falling apart in places, but the girls find it charming and set out immediately to explore. They open all the windows and doors before daring to venture up the stairs into the attic. Faint rustling is heard in the darkness above before an acorn falls down the steps. Intrigued, the girls go up and yell at the darkness. When nothing responds, Satsuki runs to the opposite end of the attic to open the window as Mei notices dark, fuzzy things in the wall, staring at them intently. Satsuki goes back downstairs but Mei's curiosity is piqued. She reaches a tentative finger into a crack in the wall and startles a mess of black sootballs, one of which she is able to capture between her hands. Back downstairs, she runs into Granny (English: Pat Carroll; Japanese: Tanie Kitabayashi), an elderly next-door neighbor who's been watching over the house. Granny notices Mei's and Satsuki's hands and feet covered in soot and exclaims that they must have stumbled upon susuwatari, or soot sprites, which will most likely leave soon now that people are in the house. Her grandson, Kanta (English: Paul Butcher; Japanese: Toshiyuki Amagasa), emerges outside and shouts that the house is haunted. Granny scolds him and he runs off.That night, the family enjoys a bath together while the house moans and creaks from the wind. The girls become anxious, but their father encourages them to laugh, saying that their laughter will encourage any spirits in the house to disperse. Sure enough, as they laugh together, the clan of susuwatari leaves the house through the roof and drifts away on the wind.The next morning, Satsuki cooks and assembles lunch for her family. She places Mei's lunch in a bento box and says farewell as she heads off for school. Tatsuo, a professor at a local university, works from home while Mei plays outside. As she plays, she notices two white, rabbit-like ears poking out of the grass. She watches as the figure, a small, semi-transparent creature, walks past her towards the house. She follows it until it runs off and hides under the porch. It emerges with a larger, blue companion carrying a bag full of acorns, and they attempt to sneak past Mei. However, she quickly notices them and chases them to the edge of the woods. She follows them up a path through the shrubbery, losing her hat in the process, to a large camphor tree where they disappear into a hole beneath the roots. Mei falls into it and lands in a mossy hollow where she meets a large, slumbering version of the creatures she followed. It identifies itself with a series of roars that Mei interprets as Totoro (a mispronunciation on her part of tororu, the Japanese word for troll). Mei falls asleep on Totoro's furry belly. (Mei's adventure -- following rabbit-like creatures and falling down a hole, like Lewis Carroll's Alice -- is one of several references the movie makes to older children's stories.)Satsuki arrives home from school to find Mei missing. She and her father search for her until Satsuki finds Mei's hat near the edge of the woods. Following the same path Mei took, Satsuki and her father find her sleeping in a clearing within the bushes. Confused, Mei tries to retrace her steps back to the tree where she found Totoro. When she becomes upset that she can't find it again, Tatsuo explains that she must have come into contact with a spirit of the forest who probably doesn't want to be found right now. They walk together around the property to the large camphor tree that Mei fell into and offer their respects to the spirits for watching over Mei.That afternoon, the family takes a bike ride further into town to see the girls' mother. They pass Granny and Kanta working in rice paddies, and Kanta and Satsuki exchange raspberries. Arriving at the hospital, the girls tell their mother how wonderful the new house is, and Mei brags that when Yasuko is well enough to come home she will sleep with her in her bed. The family enjoys their time together and Yasuko brushes Satsuki's hair.One day while at school, Satsuki is surprised to see Mei and Granny waiting for her outside. Although Mei was given into Granny's care that day while Tatsuo went to university, she wants to be with no one but Satsuki. Satsuki agrees to let Mei stay in school with her, with the teacher's permission. As they walk home that afternoon, a rainstorm comes upon them unexpectedly. Satsuki and Mei take shelter under the roof of a small shrine until Kanta approaches them and silently offers his umbrella to them, though he does so with a little abrasiveness to hide his kindness. Later on, Satsuki and Mei return the umbrella to Kanta's mother (who had not known about Kanta's kind act, though he was pleased with himself) before walking to the bus station to wait for their father.While waiting in their rain gear, with an extra umbrella, Mei grows tired and Satsuki places her on her back to sleep. As she waits, Satsuki suddenly sees two clawed feet stand next to her. She looks up to see none other than Totoro waiting beside her. When she sees that he has nothing to shelter him from the rain besides a large leaf, she offers him the extra umbrella. Pleased with the shelter and the noise the raindrops make on the umbrella, Totoro roars with joy as headlights appear down the dark road. Satsuki becomes puzzled, however, when the headlights start to bounce. A bus does appear, but one that is mainly a large cat. Catbus grins widely at them as Totoro hands Satsuki a leaf-wrapped package before getting on and departing. (With its wide mouth and face, striped body, and ability to disappear, Catbus bears more than a passing resemblance to Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat.) Tatsuo arrives on the regular bus, apologizing that he ran late. The girls walk home with him and open their package to find that it is filled with acorns. They go outside to the garden and plant them.That night, Satsuki and Mei are awakened by sounds outside and discover Totoro (who has Tatsuo's umbrella) and his company of smaller totoros walking around the garden in a procession. They join them outside and mimic their dancing to encourage the acorns to grow. Saplings spring and quickly grow larger before merging into one giant tree (à la Jack and the Beanstalk). As the girls cheer, Totoro pulls out a large, spinning top and stands on it. The girls cling to the fur on his belly and he flies into the air (still carrying the umbrella, like Mary Poppins), up the trunk of the tree. They sit on the high branches together, making music with hollow gourds.The next morning, the girls wake up to find the tree gone. However, they notice that the seeds they planted have already started to sprout.During one afternoon, the girls enjoy a picnic with Granny, who has prepared a fresh meal of vegetables grown from her garden. She tells them that fresh vegetables will help their mother get better. A telegram arrives for Tatsuo from the hospital. Worried for her mother, Satsuki rushes to Kanta's house to phone her father. He calls her back after contacting the hospital to tell them that their mother is fine, but won't be able to come home that weekend due to a set-back in her treatment. Despite his assurances, Satsuki takes the news hard and yells at Mei when she fails to understand why their mother can't come home. Granny explains to Satsuki that their mother should be fine but Satsuki begins to cry and fears that her mother will die. Mei sees this and decides to go to the hospital to give her mother an ear of corn so that she will feel better. No one sees her go.By the time Satsuki notices that Mei is missing, she is long gone. The entire neighborhood pitches in to search for her while Satsuki runs everywhere, remorseful for having yelled at her. One tense moment yields to relief when Satsuki identifies a shoe found in a nearby pond as not belonging to Mei. Still desperate to find Mei, Satsuki runs home and asks permission to enter Totoro's realm. She finds the hole in the roots where Mei fell in and stumbles upon Totoro. She tearfully begs him to help her find Mei. Happy to be of assistance, Totoro takes Satsuki to the top of his tree and summons Catbus, who takes her straight to Mei, sitting alone by the side of the road. After hearing that Mei got lost on the way to the hospital, Catbus offers to take them there.Perched in a tree outside their mother's window, the girls see their father visiting. They leave Mei's corn on the windowsill and write a get-well message on the husk. Catbus takes them homeThe end credits show Mei's and Satsuki's mother finally coming home, with scenes of the children playing with friends while Totoro and the other spirits watch them, unseen.
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cute, fantasy, magical realism, boring, feel-good
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train
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imdb
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There are points that it is hilarious, a few points where it makes one slightly nervous, the animation is outstanding (as with all Miyazaki films), and aside from lacking a little bit in plot (what movie doesn't nowadays?), the story is wonderful.One of the things that makes this film shine, at least for me, is that there is absolutely no antagonist role.
We learn to love children's world.Every one of us will have a smile on this face, from the beginning to the end of this movie.My favorite scene is the first encounter between Mei and Totoro.
Featuring stunning animation, endearing personable characters, and a heart-tugging storyline that's simple, enchanting, and even dramatic.Sometimes you feel like you're not watching an animated children's movie, because the characters (particularly the children) and the storyline seem so realistic.
Mei and Satsuki act like little girls, not like kids who are smarter than adults (a routine toons today are guilty of).I loved Totoro when I was a small child and I always will.
Some parts are reminiscent of Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away (and Alice in Wonderland by extension), but Totoro stands out as probably the most unique of them all.The premise is nice and simple, which works brilliantly because the plot is established as a foundation without hindering the experience of the movie itself.
From community building to the love of a family to sibling relationships to facing the unknown; everyone can take away something personal from this movie.Perhaps the most sacred aspect of the film, however, is that it reminds us that life is magical.
I first saw "My Neighbor Totoro" when I was maybe seven.At the time, I thought that it was really boring(that was still when I liked Disney movies).
The best example IMO is the scene where Mei falls asleep on Totoro's stomach.It's fruitless to try and describe it;you have to see it for yourself.In closing, I would just like to say that I can't wait for a decent DVD to arrive so I can view this quiet masterpiece in widescreen in Japanese with subtitles..
Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro is a film that should be able to put a smile on any viewers face, and without a doubt, it'll take you on one of the most whimsical and fantastic journey's ever.My Neighbor Totoro is a story that definitely something children can relate with, as i watched this with someone, they immediately paused the film and asked if this reminded me of being 4 years old again.
But it's far from a quality nostalgia piece, it's well animated, beautiful, avoids cliché stereotypes (from both typical of the Anime genre and Children's Fantasy films), and is beautifully filmed (see scenes such as the girls waiting for the bus with Totoro and the scene where the magic nuts and seeds grow with the help of Totoro).Even the English dub done by Fox isn't as bad everyone states.
Disney is said to be releasing a re-dub in mid-to-late 2005, so perhaps that will even out the controversy.This film may not reach the heights of other Anime classics (mainly it's double bill with Grave of the Fireflies, or Miyazaki's other masterpieces Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away), however this will definitely be high on any film lovers list, and is definitely a high water mark of it's genre.A solid 9/10, This film is next to impossible to watch without it pushing a smile out of your face..
So, after watching it again as an adult I realized why this movie stay within me: Totoro is a rare film that manages to capture the essence of a child's emotions and vision without being filtered through the adult's tendency to editorialize it, to insert a moral judgment, or to sugar coat it.
This effect cannot be described during a script meeting with a committee of marketing execs.A typical American studio would be worried about presenting its main character as frightening, would redesign Totoro as a "cuter" character as a safe strategy, and would certainly make the father more of a one-dimensional, stereotypical "adult" character for dramatic purposes.But in this movie, we see the background story of the characters by deceptively simple closeup shot of the pebbles in the stream, or the details of the bathtub.But the most telling moment of the movie is actually early on: when the girls tried to push down the rotting wooden support of the house.
This movie, set in Japan in the early fifties, is director Miyazaki's tribute to his mother (who suffered from tuberculosis, just like Satsuki and Mei's mother), his childhood home, and childhood innocence.
Although some people who watch this movie wonder where the Americans are (this is post-WWII Japan, after all) and why so little screen time is spent on the girls' mother, but that may be partly due to the dubbing.Americans: First of all, the house the girls move into is rather European in design (with doorknobs, and an attic, and a front porch) despite the Japanese style bath and occasional sliding door.
This is why an accurate dubbed version is nearly impossible (like any little girl, Mei mispronounces a lot of words).The Mother: I think this movie is entirely about the mother.
There's a little bit of both in the culturally-shocking--though completely innocent--bath scene (both girls take a bath with their father during a wind storm).Really, though, My Neighbor Totoro is less about story than it is about the imagination of children.Although the animation is a little dated and a bit jerky at times, the direction is absolutely top notch.
How much happier we all are knowing that Hayao Miyazaki exists and makes his amazing films at the Studio Ghibli for which King Totoro is the mascot..
Miyazaki has refused to follow in the footsteps of other Japanese film-makers and do those awful anime movies that are, unfortunately, popular among many of my friends.
I love how he did the fantasy element in this movie, with the totoros flying and doing magical wonders and Satsuki and Mei looking like they're having the time of their life.
Exciting and rather good film set in the fifities about a Japanese family moves to country , being formed by the University professor father and his children : Salsaki and her younger sister Lucy whose new house in the country is filled with magic , including strange creatures as some black dusty balls and especially by Tororo .
I've watched it every year since i was 4 and it's the kind of movie that just puts this massive smile on your face.The protagonists are sisters Satsuki and Mei. They have just moved from the city with their father into the countryside while he writes a book and their mother is suffering from an unknown disease in a hospital nearby.
Everyone has their good and bad points and Hayao miyazaki does a great job of showing them.Though the movie is about the imagination of little kids, it has this incredible sense of reality.
I just hate kids, but every single time after watching this movie, I just feel like hugging every little girl I see.
The otherworldly in this film, comes in the form of Totoro, an animal spirit who is the guardian of the forest near the girls home.
The lethargic pace, along with Miyazakis expressive camera pans and attention to detail lend the girls discovery of their home/the forest, the famous cat bus scene, and every moment with Totoro a very 360 degree, hypnotic feel.
Although this could just be a story about kids meeting the magical residents of their rural community, the story deals a lot with the relationship between the two young sisters and their parents as well.One thing that's absolutely charming about this film is the realness of the relationship between the sisters, with the younger Mei commonly copying her older sister Satsuki, getting upset and bratty and unreasonable in addition to being ridiculously cute at times, while Satsuki gets worried and dutiful.
As a fan, it is IMO a must to see all of his films.My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is one of his most beautiful and charming works, and I recommend this particular piece to first-time Miyazaki-viewers as an introduction to one of the greatest storytellers in the history of cinema.While this story is simple and not as wildly imaginative as some of Miyazaki's recent works, the storyline has a slightly more emotional touch.The story is about two sisters who are moving to the country side with their father the mother being permanently in the hospital.
This is also most certainly the case with My Neighbor Totoro.I give this movie 9/10, as it is one of the best family films ever made..
The drawings of the landscape are fantastic and are alone worth watching this movie: the reflection of the sun on the leaves of the trees, the reflection of the sky in the rice paddies, the high summer clouds, the flowers detailed and colorful.Two girls, maybe four and ten, move with their father into their new house in this landscape.
I have never sat through a complete Hayao Miyazaki animated movie despite all the good vibes, reviews, recommendations I got from friends.
Well, a good friend from up north passed me THREE Miyazaki DVDs, and given I'm going to where he is tomorrow visiting someone who mentioned during a visit to the previous movie set, how the scene was reminiscent of My Neighbor Totoro, I thought I'll pop that DVD and give it a watch.I was blown away.
It's not just Totoro itself which is out of this world, but I totally like that grinning cat-bus.This is the kind of animated movie that our local animation production houses should be looking at.
While it doesn't contain huge battle sequences, complex or multiple characters for the sake of stuffing the movie, it goes to show that the story matters, in its ability to touch and resonate with audiences young and old (while the young ones go to the cinemas, don't forget the adults have to bring them too, and somehow you have to entertain them as well without being too complex for the little ones to understand).The character designs are also kept simple, but nonetheless effective.
You can be sure however, I will be back and complete watching them all real soon!I like Tonari no Totoro, certainly one of the best movies I've seen!.
I took my six-year-old son to see "My Neighbour Totoro" at a film festival recently and about halfway through he loudly announced to the full house that "This is a GREAT movie".
The scenes are magnificently detailed, and the action portrays real humans of the kind we all know and love, seamlessly moving into the fantastic realms that we would all _like_ to know and love.Aside from the beautiful artwork, the music supports the action all the way through, and there are several good stories woven into the movie as well.The copy I saw was subtitled in excellent English and some of the younger audience may have trouble with that, although they would probably still find the movie very enjoyable..
Hands down, 'My Neighbour Totoro' is far superior to any film ever produced by Disney and that's including my personal favourites 'The Lion King' and 'Hercules'.It revolves around two young girls Satsuki (aged around eight) and Mei (aged around three) who move to a new house while also coping with their mother's illness in the resilient, sweet way young children have in dealing with problems.
They then discover these furry totoro creatures only ever seen by children and through their new friends, they are able to face their fears.You can actually feel the magic when you watch this.
They are drawn a frame at a time, the time-honored way, with the master himself providing tens of thousands of the frames.Miyazaki's films are in particular viscerally entrancing, using a watercolor look for the backgrounds and working within the unique anime tradition of characters with big round eyes and mouths that can be as minute as a fleck or as enormous as a cave.
It is a beacon of great hope and pleasure to me that family films are the rudimentary place where cultural difference is easiest to discern in the movies.My Neighbor Totoro is made of existence, location and expedition, not on rivalry and danger.
He loves the music, the tree, the baby girl Mei, the Dad, the catbus, and especially the totoro (although this is also the scariest part for him).I would highly recommend this film for anyone except adolescents, who might find it sort of dull and goody-goody..
Unfortunately that was not the case and I was left wondering when the movie was going to climax or what adversity the characters are going to face.I was left disappointed that the characters that i started to like during the beginning of the film never really changed or learned some sort of lesson.
There is no set plot, structure, nor is there much conflict; the film simply follows the lives of two little girls that meet the King of the Forest, Totoro.
Hayao Miyazaki is really, truly in touch with these feelings that go about with kids like these.If anything might be lacking in the film it's a 'plot' or sorts, as there really isn't any- a story it does have, however loose with what goes on.
It's a pure kind of feel-good story about two young girls who have moved into a new house with their father so they can be closer to their mother who's at a hospital.
If some American kids might not get it or latch on to it like the homegrown animation of late, it might still work for their parents probably watching it with them.And this message I mentioned- which is also connected with Winnie the Pooh on some fundamental level- is that its essential to have this kind of lively dream-life for children, to have a section of the world just for them where nothing bad or upsetting can protrude through.
The movie is a simple story with normal circumstances of daily life, about a family with 4 members, the father is a university professor, the mother is in hospital because of suffering from a disease unknown and the two children of 10 and 4 years old are still very innocent.
In a nearby forest, they find a large, somewhat pear-shaped, friendly magical forest creature they name Totoro and two much smaller similar creatures.The movie deals with their adventures in their new home, with Satseki's school, with adventures while waiting for their mother to recover, etc.Lovely to watch.
he hasn't lost touch with the innocence and wonder of being a child, which is why he's so perfectly able to represent Mei and Satsuki's emotions and draw you into their world in this movie.It isn't action packed or epic, but it doesn't need to be because it is far more special, individual and unique than any "children's" movie created in the last twenty years.
Bland, boring, predictable animated pseudo fairytale of two Japanese girls and their father who move to the country to be nearer to their ailing mother's hospital.One day, they meet a forest spirit whom they call Totoro.Looking like an overweight rabbit with short prick erect ears, this non-threatening harmless character leads them through a series of bland, Disney like adventures that makes even "Dora the Explorer" look like Shakespeare's " Mac Beth"-and we don't even get to see Totoro until a half hour into the movie!
I felt it needed to be longer (which would take away from the appeal to children), or have a sequal, which i dont see any reason for it not to.I did enjoy a film on a certain level, but would not recomend it to an adult unless they were a fan of animation or Miyazaki's work.
The original American version of the film done by Fox, I would rate it a 10/10 as a movie your children can enjoy and love.
Second,all the characters are attractive.In particulars,TOTORO is so cute!When Iwas a child I really wanted to meet them.And it also has wonderful pictures and music.I like the scene they fly in the blue sky together.I can recommend this movie to everyone of all ages.I rate this movie at 9/10.
I think,Tonari no Totoro's theme is "importance of Family and nature." I love the scene Mei goes to deliver corn for mother,and I also like the one.
I like Disney movies, too, but when I watched Lilo & Stitch ,I thought that it is somewhat different from My Neighbor Totoro.
My neighbor Totoro is one of the best movies among Hayao Miyazaki's film.
"My Neighbor Totoro" movie of 1988, directed by "Hayao Miyazaki" and produced by "Studio Ghibli"; as well as a symbol of the aforementioned animation studio.
Tonari no Totoro is an animated film which tells the story of Satsuki, Mei and their father Tatsuo who just moved into a new place, a little house in the Japanese countryside, so that the girls are closer to their mother's hospital.
Yes I've been engaged again and invested in the story with its plot because I cared about every single character, but it took me a little time, and I really felt disturbed and annoyed with this inconsistency.Overall, I can say that My Neighbor Totoro is an imaginative tale that every parent should take his child and watch it with him or her.
Even after 25 years, My Neighbor Totoro remains an instantly watchable animated masterpiece that holds new surprises from every time I watch it.Satsuki and Mei are sisters who move to the Japanese countryside with their father.
The anime movie My Neighbor Totoro is cute and funny, yet somehow still realistic.
I saw My Neighbor Totoro for the first time yesterday and loved everything about the movie.
The movie truly captures what it means to be happy, adventurous, and a kid again, which is how I felt while watching My Neighbor Totoro.Totoro, Satsuki, Mei and the other characters have a special place in my heart now and I love them all.Thank you Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli..
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tt0055018
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The Innocents
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The film begins by showing a pair of clasped hands, and a woman's voice is heard, whispering that all she ever wanted was to help the children, not hurt them, and that more than anything, she loves children.In the first scene, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) is applying for a job as a governess. It is her first position, but the wealthy bachelor interviewing her (Michael Redgrave) is unconcerned with her lack of experience. He values his freedom to travel and socialize and unabashedly confesses that he has "no room, mentally or emotionally" for his niece and nephew, who were orphaned and left in his care as infants. His previously employed governess, Miss Jessel, died suddenly less than a year ago and he is desperate to find someone else to teach the children and keep them company. He says that all he cares about is that she accepts full responsibility for the children and does not trouble him with whatever problems may arise. Miss Giddens is instantly charmed by her suave employer and promises to do her best, assuring him that she loves children above all else and that she has an "imagination," making her ideal to work with children.Upon arriving at Bry, the sprawling English estate where The Uncle keeps the children, Miss Giddens hears a woman's voice calling for Flora, the little girl. Moments later, she meets Flora, and is instantly taken with the bright, quirky child. She also forges a fast friendship with Mrs. Groce (Megs Jenkins), the kindly housekeeper. The boy, Miles, is away at boarding school, though Flora delightedly insists her brother is coming home. Sure enough, Miss Giddens receives a letter saying that Miles has been expelled from school because of his bad influence on the other boys. Mrs. Groce says she can't imagine Miles being a bad influence, and when Miss Giddens meets the boy herself, she too feels sure his teachers must have exaggerated. Apart from evading all her questions about his experience at school, she finds Miles as enchanting as Flora. At first he seems polite, composed, and mature -- perhaps even too mature, with his flirtatious flattery toward the pretty Miss Giddens.While tending to the rose bushes the next day, Miss Giddens sees the shadowy figure of a man standing atop one of Bry's towers. When she climbs the stairs to investigate she finds only Miles, playing with the pigeons, who insists he saw no one.On a rainy day Miss Giddens forgoes the day's schooling to play hide-and-seek with the restless children. While searching for them, she sees a woman cross the hall in front of her and disappear. Searching the attic, she stumbles across a photograph of a darkly handsome man, and is gazing at it when Miles sneaks up on her and wrestles her playfully. Miss Giddens tells him to stop, that he is hurting her, but he doesn't stop until Flora bursts in on them and tells Miss Giddens to go hide. She goes to hide downstairs behind the curtains, and through the window she sees a man leering at her. The figure is gone by the time Mrs. Groce comes to investigate her screams. When describing the man to Mrs. Groce, Miss Giddens realizes the man in the window was the same she saw in the photograph. Mrs. Groce explains that the man in the photograph is Peter Quint, who served as valet there before he died, presumably of head trauma from tripping on the stairs outside. She mentions that Miles was intensely devoted to Quint, that he absolutely "worshipped" him and trailed him everywhere like a dog, much as Flora latched onto Miss Jessel.Miss Giddens is yet more disturbed when she sees a mysterious woman from across the pond. She is certain that Flora can see her as well, though the little girl evades her questions. When Miles recites a monologue invoking a "lost lord" to rise from the grave, Miss Giddens believes this confirms that the children are possessed, and presses Mrs. Groce for more information about Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. Mrs. Groce reluctantly tells her that the two were entangled in a perverse relationship: Quint was physically and emotionally abusive to Miss Jessel, but the more he beat and scorned her the more she seemed to adore him. They were also obscenely indiscreet with their relations, performing sexual acts in plain sight of the other servants and even the children. After Quint's fatal accident, far from being relieved by her tormentor's death, Miss Jessel went into a deep depression and, as Mrs. Groce grudgingly reveals after days of prompting from Miss Giddens, soon drowned herself in the lake where Miss Giddens believes she saw her.Miss Giddens rapidly develops her theory of the children's possession by their former caretakers. She confides to Mrs. Groce that she believes the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel inhabit the bodies of the children so they can carry on with their sexual acts. The behaviors she once found charming and precocious in the children she now finds suspicious and unnerving, but is determined to rescue them from this hell she is sure they are trapped in. She tells Mrs. Groce that she must go to see the children's uncle to tell him of the haunting, insisting, before Mrs. Groce can even accuse her of such motives, that this is not a subconscious trick to get the handsome uncle to notice her.However, when Miss Giddens is about to leave, she sees Miss Jessel again, sobbing. Miss Giddens changes her mind then, afraid to leave the children alone with their tormentors. That night from the dark hall she hears unearthly noises, including malicious laughter from the children. When she checks on Flora she finds her at the window, and Flora says there is someone down in the garden. It turns out to be Miles. When Miss Giddens crossly sends him to bed, he cheerfully tells her that he was out of bed because he was afraid he was becoming "boring," being so well-behaved, and hoped to impress her with this small act of rebellion. Miss Giddens then finds a dead pigeon under his pillow, its neck having been snapped. Miles says he plans to bury it the next day, and before Miss Giddens leaves, he kisses her goodnight, deeply and passionately on the lips as a grown man would.The next day, Miss Giddens writes a letter to the children's uncle, and while she is writing it Flora sneaks off. Miss Giddens finds her dancing with an imaginary (or invisible) partner down by the lake. While she is asking Flora how she rowed across the lake by herself, Miss Giddens again sees the figure of Miss Jessel staring mournfully at them from across the lake. Convinced that the children will be freed from the possession if they will only admit what is happening to them and who is doing it, Miss Giddens frantically begs Flora to admit that Miss Jessel is there. Flora begins to scream and cry, calling Miss Giddens wicked and insane. Mrs. Groce comes to investigate and escorts the child to bed. Hours later, Flora is still hysterical, and when Mrs. Groce finally leaves her bedside, she says she can't imagine where Flora learned such obscenities. Mrs. Groce then says that she did not see the figure at the lake and that the children were sweet and well-behaved until Miss Giddens came. Though deeply hurt that her one ally now doubts her sanity, Miss Giddens reminds Mrs. Groce that the uncle left her in charge and orders her to take Flora away and tells the other servants to leave. She feels certain that Miles is on the brink of confessing his ordeal to her and that she must be left completely alone with him. She cannot find her letter to the uncle, and accepts that Miles must have stolen it. When Mrs. Groce asks what she is to tell their uncle, Miss Giddens responds that of course she must tell him the truth, and Mrs. Groce agrees sadly, clearly intending to tell the uncle of Miss Giddens' instability.That night when alone with Miles, Miss Giddens tries to get him to talk about the ghosts, but he is his usual glib self. She then asks again why he was expelled from school, and Miles eventually admits that he frightened the other boys with his strange outbursts of violence and vulgar language. Miss Giddens asks repeatedly who he learned this language and behavior from, tearfully promising that all she wants is to help him, that her caring nature demands her to help others "even if it hurts them." She soon pushes Miles too far, and he begins yelling that she is nothing but a "hussy" and laughs maniacally. While he is ranting, Miss Giddens sees Peter Quint's face appear in the window behind him, joining in the boy's laughter. Miles then hurls Flora's beloved pet turtle through the window and runs outside. As Miss Giddens chases him, he trips on the stairs outside and hits his head. Miss Giddens catches up to him and cradles him gently, and he whimpers humbly for her to forgive him. She tells him it's not his fault, that all he has to do is "say his name" and it will all be over, she alone will "have" him. Miles tries to run away in horror but she catches him and will not stop begging him to say the name. She sees Peter Quint appear standing on the hedge beside them, but Miles does not seem to see him and is screaming that she is insane. He finally shouts Quint's name, and the figure disappears. Miles frantically asks Miss Giddens where she saw him, and then immediately falls to the ground. Miss Giddens again cradles him and assures him that it's over, he is free. She then realizes that Miles is dead. Screaming and sobbing in horror, she then leans over him and kisses him passionately on the lips. The film ends on the image of her clasped, shaking hands, the same image it began with.
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cruelty, gothic, horror, atmospheric, haunting, suspenseful
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train
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imdb
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tt0120902
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The X Files
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The film opens in 35,000 B.C., in what will become North Texas. Entering a cave, two cavemen hunters stumble upon a large extraterrestrial life form. One is killed by the alien; the other fights back, stabbing the alien to death, but is infected by a black oil-like substance that crawls into his skin. In 1998, in the same area, when a group of boys are digging a deep hole, a young boy named Stevie falls down the hole and finds a human skull. As he holds it, black oil seeps into his body until it reaches his head, causing his eyes to turn black. Later, four firefighters descend into the hole to rescue him, but do not come out. A team of biohazard-suited men arrives on the scene. The boy's body is brought out.
Meanwhile, FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have been assigned to other projects since the closure of the X-Files. They are helping investigate a bomb threat against a federal building in Dallas. Mulder inspects a building across the street from the supposed target and discovers the bomb in a vending machine. Special Agent in Charge Darius Michaud stays behind to disarm the bomb as Mulder and Scully evacuate the building. Unknown to the agents, Michaud makes no attempt to disarm the bomb, which detonates. The building is partially destroyed.
Returning to Washington, D.C., Mulder and Scully are chastised because, in addition to Michaud, four people were apparently still in the building during the bombing. There are scheduled separate hearings at which their job performances will be evaluated. That evening, Mulder encounters a paranoid doctor, Alvin Kurtzweil, who explains that the victims were the firefighters and boy, that they were already dead, and that the bomb was allowed to detonate in order to destroy evidence of how they died. At the hospital morgue, Scully is able to examine one of the victims, finding evidence of an alien virus.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully's enemy, the Cigarette Smoking Man, meets with Dr. Ben Bronschweig in Texas, where they locate one of the firefighters who contains the same alien virus, but with an alien organism residing inside the body; the Cigarette Smoking Man orders to administer a vaccine to it, but should it fail, have the body burned. Later, the alien organism gestates and kills Bronschweig, who is locked inside the area by his teammates.
Mulder and Scully travel to the crime scene in Texas. They come across a strange train hauling tanker trucks and they follow it to a large cornfield surrounding two glowing domes. They enter the domes, only to find them empty. Suddenly, grates leading to an underground area open in the floor and a swarm of bees chases the agents out into the cornfield. Black helicopters appear and begin to chase them, but they escape and head back to Washington.
After returning, Mulder unsuccessfully tries to get help from Kurtzweil, while Scully attends her performance hearing and learns that she is being transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah. Mulder is devastated to lose Scully as a partner. The two are about to share a kiss when Scully is stung by a bee which had lodged itself under her shirt collar. The sting causes Scully to quickly lose consciousness. Mulder calls for the paramedics but when an ambulance arrives, the driver shoots Mulder in the head and whisks Scully away. Waking up in hospital, Mulder is told the bullet only grazed his temple and leaves with the help of The Lone Gunmen and FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Mulder then meets a former adversary, the Well-Manicured Man, who gives him Scully's location in Antarctica, along with a vaccine to combat the virus that has infected her. The Well-Manicured Man then kills himself in a car bomb, before his betrayal of The Syndicate is discovered.
Mulder travels to Antarctica to save Scully, and discovers a secret underground laboratory run by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Mulder uses the vaccine to revive Scully, disrupting the stable environment of the lab and reviving the cocooned aliens. The lab is destroyed just after Mulder and Scully escape to the surface. It turns out to be part of a huge alien vessel lying dormant beneath the snow; the vessel pushes up through tons of ice and snow and travels straight up into the sky. Mulder watches the ship fly directly overhead and disappear into the distance, as Scully regains consciousness.
Some time later, Scully attends a hearing, where her testimony is ignored and the evidence covered up. The only remaining proof of their ordeal is the bee that stung Scully, collected by the Lone Gunmen. She hands it over, noting that the FBI does not currently have an investigative unit qualified to pursue the evidence at hand. Outside, Mulder is reading an article that has covered up the domes and crop field in Texas; Scully informs Mulder that she is willing to continue working with him.
At another crop outpost in Tunisia, the Cigarette Smoking Man warns Strughold that Mulder remains a threat, as he explains what Mulder has found out about the virus. He then hands him a telegram revealing that the X-files unit has been re-opened.
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cult, action, psychedelic
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train
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wikipedia
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tt2937696
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Everybody Wants Some!!
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Thursday, August 28, 1980Jake Bradford (Blake Jenner) arrives at his college three days before the start of classes. He enters the baseball house to the members of the team. He first meets McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin) and Roper (Ryan Guzman), who both razz Jake for being a pitcher. He goes upstairs and meets Niles (Juston Street), Finnegan (Glen Powell), stoner Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), Dale (J. Quinton Johnson), fellow freshman Plummer (Temple Baker), and his roommate Billy, aka Beuter (Will Brittain). He's called that by the other guys to have the most "country bumpkin" name they could think of.Jake joins McReynolds, Plum, Finn, and Dale as they go around campus inviting girls to a party at their house. The guys drive by a girl named Beverly (Zoey Deutch) and her roommate (Sophia Taylor Ali). Although neither are taken by the guys' attempts to hit on them, Beverly comments that she likes "the quiet one in the back" (Jake).The guys then go to the nearby bar, The Fox, where they meet other players on the team, Nesbit (Austin Amelio), Brumley (Tanner Kalina), and Coma (Forrest Vickery). They all drink and exchange banter.The team meets with the coach to discuss the rules of the house. That is mainly no drinking and no girls allowed in the rooms, which all the guys find lame.The guys go out to the nightclub 'Sound Machine' and dance with some girls. Dale points out that Finn has a move where he tells girls that he has an average penis size to seem humble, as opposed to guys that love to brag about their size. They end up taking the girls back to the house for a party. McReynolds, Roper, Jay, and Finn all go to their rooms to hook up with girls. Jake wants to bring his girl up to his room, but Beuter and his buddies don't wanna leave, so Jake takes her to his car.On Friday morning, Beuter heads back home for a couple of days because he worries his girlfriend might be pregnant. Later, the guys hang out around town, such as at the arcade where Jake shows Dale the trick to winning at Space Invaders, which is to get the aliens when they reach the last row since they won't shoot at the player.The guys go back to Sound Machine that night, but they're forced to leave when Niles gets drunk and rowdy, attempting to pick a fight with a bartender. The team heads to a country music club without Niles, for fear that he'll scare away the ladies. At the country club, Jake feels out of place, but Willoughby tells him that he has to embrace his inner weirdness, and not be the person that the others want him to be.Come Saturday, Jake joins Willoughby, Dale, and Plum in Willoughby's room as they take hits from his bong and discuss "The Twilight Zone" and Van Halen, among other things. They try some "telepathic stuff", with the guys trying to guess what Willoughby is thinking of.Jake plays ping-pong with McReynolds with some of the other guys watching. Jake beats McReynolds, who gets angry and chucks his paddle at the wall, breaking it. The other guys start to chant Jake's name.Jake, Plum, Finn, and Brumley walk around the neighborhood and run into Jake's high school buddy Justin (Michael Monsour). He invites the guys inside his home for some beers, and he later brings them to a punk rock club where the guys watch Justin's band play a punk rock version of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song.The guys throw another party at the house that night, wherein some girls participate in a mud-wrestling event, with Finn joining in and getting slammed into the mud by one of the girls. Meanwhile, Jake leaves some flowers and a note on Beverly's door.On Sunday morning, Jake receives a phone call from Beverly, and the two are now properly acquainted. She is surprised to learn that he is on the baseball team, as she originally believed that athletes were dumb, but she sees him differently. The two arrange a meeting for that day. Jake takes Beverly out for ice cream, and he learns that she is studying performing arts and has experience at an acting school.In the afternoon, the team gathers for baseball practice. Niles once again goes overboard with his behavior, such as throwing the ball into the parking lot and just acting like a jerk toward the other guys. After practice, the older teammates tape Jake, Plum, Brumley, and Nesbit to the wall as a freshman hazing ritual where they throw baseballs at the guys, one of which hits Plum in the nuts. After that, the team heads down to the lake for a swim.The guys go to the cafeteria for some grub. Dale comments to the freshmen that the older guys like McReynolds and Roper don't really care about the freshman and would love to see them fail. Plum and Nesbit then come in to tell the guys that Willoughby got kicked out of school after it was learned that he is really a 30-year-old guy that frequently transfers to different colleges to play baseball, and that his name isn't even Willoughby. The only thing they found in his room was a Pink Floyd album with a big joint on top of it (which Plum and Nesbit smoked). The guys figure that "Willoughby" was just a guy that didn't have what it took to go pro, but loved baseball so much that he wanted to play however he could.That night, the guys go to a party at another house, which happens to be a costume party. Jake finds Beverly dressed as Alice (in Wonderland). Finn tries his "average penis" bit on one girl but gets cock-blocked by the other guys. Later, the guys watch Beverly act out a "Dating Game" improv show as Alice, with two other guys as The Mad Hatter and The Queen of Hearts. Jake steps in as The Cheshire Cat. Afterward, he and Beverly hang out into the early hours of Monday by the lake and have their first kiss.As classes are about to begin, Jake sleeps in Beverly's room for a bit as she gets ready. They walk to their classes together before separating and kissing again. Dale and Finn see this and tease him. Jake then heads to his first class and sits next to Plum. The two are confident about what college will bring them. As class starts, Jake puts his head down on his desk to sleep and he smiles.
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was a perfect film for this moment: it consists of little more than a bunch of overly-competitive jocks joking with each other, partying, and trying to get laid over the course of three days before school even starts.
Always did, when I was younger, avoid the bullying sexist jock and unless you are enamoured, you may not want some of a film that celebrates them off the Richter scale.There is also the fact that in this Mudville there are only shiny happy people out of Hollywood wardrobe department and there's little resemblance to reality.That shouldn't stop those who want college and youth myths big on All American ball-whacking, drinking, weed-smoking, look-how-crazy-we-all-are high spirits.
Whereas Dazed was a "generalized" version of the 70's (with a bit too much 90's still in the lens), this movie is about a highly specific group of people (college baseball jocks) at a very specific moment in time (3 days before the start of fall semester 1980, which any nerd can tell you is still technically, not to mention stylistically still very much part of the 70's) at a Texas university (presumably UT Austin).
Where Dazed featured over-the-top wacky 70's characters who repeated "catch phrases", this movie is about some very real guys dealing with the transition from being the best athlete in their high school to just an average player at the bottom of the heap who has to get used to being humble and proving himself.
It's as needless as those two exclamation points in the title and as alluring as running into an old high school friend who wants to drag you to his house and show you old home movies for two hours.I think I understand what Linklater was going for here, but it's still not an excuse for the snoozefest he delivers.
Obviously this comes from Linklater's own experience but that alone doesn't make it interesting.The fact that it shares many similarities with Dazed and Confused is only going to mystify and irritate most people, especially fans of that earlier film, which was a much more involving and true-to-life portrayal than anything you see in this film.
This isn't the first time Linklater's used a cast of unknowns (Dazed and particularly Slacker were exactly that) but Everybody Wants Some's crew is distinctly lacking in both style and charisma.I don't think I've been as disappointed by any movie this year.
It looked like a complete loser, but how could it be that bad if it was made by Richard Linklater who made Boyhood that we loved.When the critics' reviews came out, they were almost universally positive with a Metascore of 84, and the IMDb user score was around 8.0 The time was convenient, the theater (Arclight in Bethesda) was our favorite, the Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday (who has lost a lot of my trust) gave it three stars and a good writeup.
Richard Linklater splashed on the scene with Dazed and Confused, a movie that depicted the wild late 1970s from the high school and early college perspective.
into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first, this is the latest movie from Texas writer-director Richard Linklater, who most recently brought us the brilliant "Boyhood", and much earlier "Dazed and Confused" (set in high school in 1976).
Director Richard Linklater, coming off his Oscar-nominated Boyhood, in which he showed unique insight into a growing boy, now paints a portrait of young men quickly transitioning into men who know what's up.During this coming of age story, the players play at college life with the same gusto they show for their sport, not always scoring but always in pursuit, as if both games were evidence of their right to success, an American characteristic to be sure.
There is no sense that this characters are actually living this era, it just seems fake and ends up failing as a film that tries to capture one point in time (the 80's) and one moment in life (college)..
To believe director Richard Linklater's "spiritual sequel" to DAZED & CONFUSED, you'd think going to college was a free ticket to girls, beer and nightly all-niters.
I guess those wouldn't have made for such an entertaining movie though.All of that is to say that while EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is fun, it isn't exactly true to life, even while offering an authentic look at 1980- era young adulthood.
Still, the team members work well and play off each other, and again Linklater demonstrates his ability to assemble a great cast of mostly unknown actors who not only gel, but come off as fun, likable dudes.The problem is this: there's no real story.
Entertaining enough, maybe (especially if you're a hot dude), but compared to DAZED & CONFUSED (or this movie's *real* spiritual partner ANIMAL HOUSE), it comes off a bit one-dimensional.
This movie takes place in 1980 (and rightly, retains a lot of the 70s in its look/feel), so if you judge its story and characters by the kinds of flicks college kids flocked to back then -- PORKY'S, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, ANIMAL HOUSE -- it comes off as intelligently written with good performances.
This is one of those movies.There's not really much of a story line going on here.Say what you want about the frat films in the 80s, like animal house and porky's.But at least they had a story line you could follow,and funny characters.
This movie, has none of that.It's about a baseball team fraternity and how they pass the days before starting school,with drinking ,smoking and partying,and a lot of awful cheesy dialogue,that just make you cringe.their jokes ain't funny,the chemistry is none existent and the acting is just horrible.
The performances here aren't bad (with the exception of one character who, to me, seemed like a parody) and it's not a terrible movie, it just lacks the magic of Dazed and Confused and in the end it's really just a flat film that never really gets the viewer excited or delivers.
However, if you expect to find those qualities in Linklater's latest film Everyone Wants Some (2016) you are in for a shock.As far as plot goes, the film looks at a group of young baseball heroes in the three days before collage starts in 1980.
It is lighthearted, and just like Dazed and Confused, it does not rely on plot but of the joy of following these characters in their day-to-day lives (or in this case the first couple days before college classes start).
It's like a lost gem of the 1980sProving that slapstick comedy, hot girls, and stoners are ageless, Dazed and confused director, Richard Linklater created a relateable comedy about male bounding and sets it in the 1980s.A freshmen baseball player experiences the best first three days of college possible.It may look like it came out at the same time as such slapstick comedies as Porky's and Animal House, but just like those screwball comedies, Everybody wants some is timeless.This is bound to be one of those movies that everyone will put on their greatest teen comedies list.Everybody Wants Some is littered with with distinguished and thought out characters and it's a never ending list of them all the way down to those who appear once just for a one-liner.
I thought it was going to be a more acidic comedy, but it's not a dummy comedy, adds nothing, is the typical life of baseball players Statians state, who know the custom, party, alcohol and girls, it is the only thing it brings, in general, I think that has a course the film does not engage me at all, jokes are terrible, I could not finish see the film to remove the remaining 30 min, to please I recommend watching another movie and not bad to spend your time on this film which it is just filler ...by the fact that appear many characters (all team members, there is a prominent character, this makes the story aimlessly so, the time that is handled is the era retro disco, country and punk, I insist is a bad movie.
It's just plain fun to watch, you got a smile from the beginning to the end.The actors did an amazing job, they are less known for the moment, but you can but sure that we will see them in the future, especially Glen Powell, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, and Zoey Deutch !!Every Character is funny as hell, but like I said, if you play/played baseball, or you had a good experience during the 80s with your friends in college, you will love this movie.
- a title taken from a Van Halen song - follows a group of baseball jocks in college over the course of 3 days before class, and arguably real life, finally starts.It's Texas, 1980, and freshman and promising pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) arrives at one of the two decrepit neighbouring houses set aside for the college baseball team, where he is greeted with a mixture of both excited curiosity and suspicious disdain.
Having been born in 1984, I sadly wasn't there for the 1976 of Dazed or the 1980 of Everybody Wants Some!!, but the two films feel as if you're watching something made at the time rather than a period piece.
I also liked that you don't need to know anything about baseball to watch this movie about baseball players.The soundtrack is also amazing.Featuring great dialogue and a narrative that is very (almost too) in-the-moment, this is Linklater's new film and his signature style slightly suffering from the post-Boyhood effect.Though hardly a patch on Linklater's decade-defining Dazed and Confused, there's actually enough here in Everybody Wants Some to make us all want to relive the '80s Everybody Wants Some isn't quite the disaster I was expecting (hoping?) it would be.
It's about finding your place in a place where everyone is doing that exact same thing (what happens when the best baseball player from every high school in the state goes to the same college?) The evolution of expectations into a more cogent and adult understanding of your place in the world and the beauty inherent in that.This is a cheekier film than Dazed and Confused but in the same way that film was about nostalgia and the best years of your life before it could be understood, this is about the slow dawning of that realization.
'Everybody Wants Some!!' is said to be the spiritual sequel to 'Dazed and Confused', another great Linklater picture.
Whilst with all of that I could not possibly agree more, after watching so many films from him I have realized he doesn't just stop looking with people, Linklater takes it to a whole other level where the characters aren't being judged or manipulated in any way, where everybody is celebrated in their own world, he finds this incredible balance of humanity and beauty within the most insignificant moments on the surface, that yet mean so much and thematically bear a sprawling amount of significance.
The movie nails it, the feel of comradely and love between friends, the vibe of parties and life in one's twenties, it just gets it perfect and the fact that it is set in the 80s doesn't matter and just further proves Linklater's love for character whom we relate to no matter the setting, this was a blast in every possible way and whilst there are flaws that can be found if one really thinks about them I cannot even care to mention them for how fleeting and insignificant they are in the big picture.
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME feels much less a companion piece to BOYHOOD (as Richard Linklater has stated) than a reshaping of the iconic DAZED AND CONFUSED.
The different characters from Everybody Wants Some (and the actors they play them), however, aren't as vibrant as the ones from Dazed And Confused, making it a far from a masterpiece.
Starkly in contrast with his twelve-year-in-the-making passion project BOYHOOD (2014), Richard Linklater's newest feature is a nostalgically buoyant jock romp demarcates its time-line strictly within a stretch from Thursday to Monday before the college starts, and conceptually also spiritually a continuation after BOYHOOD or even DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993).Linklater steps into a familiar adolescent territory with the arrival of a freshman Jake (Jenner) in the fall of 1980, who moves into the boarding house shared with other baseball team members, either freshmen or seniors.
Partying, bar-dancing, flirting with and bedding college girls, fraternal bonding and competition, booze and marijuana, hazing and of course, baseball training, routinely constitute their entire life, it is hearty for Linklater to revisit that particular time with a dedicative detail and nonchalance, but our inner voice demurs, because, by a larger extent, when we look back that particular phase dominated by youthful, hormone-driven tomfoolery, what overwhelms us is how gormless and clueless we were, yet most people cannot avoid it, do the exact stupid things and learn from the experience afterwards, which in the movie's context, looms even larger among the male-exclusive athletic clique, the whole devise doesn't attempt to construct a more empathetic appeal as BOYHOOD masterfully did, only those who experiences the similar scenario and enjoys it can true appreciate the story just because for the old time's sake, otherwise, the rambunctious frolic fails to find a requisite resonance with a wider, maturer audience.Another wanting nugget is Linklater's insightful dialogue, which has inexorably coursed his BEFORE trilogy into transcendent gabfest, but in EWS!!, scarcely any remotely cerebral or intriguing conversation can be generated among these jockstraps, only Wyatt Russell's Charlie Willoughby tries to act like a wise-man, then it turns out that he is long in the tooth to stay put in that age group.
In advertising among my design friends we call exclamation marks dogs' ccks I think because they just look rotten.I like that Richard Linklater uses two of them in the title of his Jock movie.It's appropriate as the central focus of it is 16 baseball players looking to put that part of their human anatomy to good and frequent use.As in Boyhood Richard Linklater is light on narrative, big on meaning, and the meaning of this rocking great movie is the three days before term starts when partying on campus for Freshmen, Sophomores, in fact right up to thirty year old ball players, is the actual meaning of life.And partying means pulling.But this is no Animal House or American Pie. Sure it's hilarious in parts, but naturalistically so, not slapstick and not gross out.
I love most Richard Linklater films, and I loved "Dazed and Confused", but this one was made to look like a dumb frat comedy, and while there are elements of that, it's actually deeper than it may seem.
In what he has termed a "spiritual sequel" to his cult classic Dazed and Confused, the filmmaker takes us down memory lane to a college campus as the 1970's devolved into the 1980's.Many of these characters and moments are undoubtedly snatched from Linklater's own experiences as a college baseball player at Sam Houston State (after graduating from Bellaire High School).
Richard Linklater writes and directs this (loose) follow-up to his 1993 film Dazed & Confused.This film takes place in late August 1980 and follows a college baseball team in the three days in the run up to the beginning of term.With a great soundtrack working it's way from Disco, Funk, Country & Western, Rock, Punk and Electronica, this was an unexpectedly entertaining film.While Dazed & Confused is a movie with a cult following, I found some of the characters felt like over the top caricatures(not having been to an American High School in the mid 70s, I may be wrong).
What's more, "Boyhood" follows its central character from the age of 6 to the age of 18 in real time, leading Linklater himself to say that the theme of "Boyhood" is continued in "Everybody", whose poster also calls it the "spiritual successor" to "Dazed and Confused".
"Everybody Wants Some!!" has some(thing) for everyone but mostly a great time at the movies!
'EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Richard Linklater's new nostalgic coming-of-age flick; this one is about a Texas college baseball team, in 1980.
I enjoyed the movie, and think it's classic Linklater!The film is set in 1980 Texas; at an old house, that college baseball players live in (due to the school's dorm facilities being overfilled).
Bursting with fun, flavour & flamboyance from the first frame to the last, the spiritual successor to Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused finds the affluential filmmaker applying the same formula that made his 1993 coming-of-age comedy an instant classic and is an incredibly refreshing, delightfully amusing, thoroughly entertaining, effortlessly endearing & endlessly nostalgic cinema that's definitely amongst the best films of the year, so far.Set in 1980s Texas, the story of Everybody Wants Some!!
After getting acquainted with the rest of his teammates, he heads out with them for fun and, over the course of the next three days, gets a brief taste of the freedom & adventures that lie ahead of him in the freewheeling, unsupervised & experimental years of college life.Written & directed by Richard Linklater, the film successfully lives up to its "spiritual sequel" claim, for it shares a striking similarity with Dazed and Confused in content, contains equally colourful set of characters, and captures the vibe of its decade with precision.
Another really enjoyable Linklater film - very different to 'Boyhood' and almost a sequel to the high school-set 'Dazed and Confused' - 'Everybody Wants Some!!' is the story of college, as seen through the eyes of baseball pitcher Jake (Jenner).
Word around town has been that Richard Linklater's "Everybody Wants Some!!" is a "spiritual sequel" to 1993's "Dazed & Confused," his seminal work of nostalgia set on the last day of high school in May 1976.
But no matter, all of these characters are in an incredible point in their lives, where trial and error is how you figure out who you are."Dazed & Confused" was the nostalgic love letter to those waning high school days, and this is Linklater's love letter to college life.
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tt0122151
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Lethal Weapon 4
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In this installment of the Lethal Weapon series, Lorna Cole is pregnant with Martin Riggs' baby; they are not married but both are thinking about it and have misgivings and fears. Murtaugh's daughter Rianne is also pregnant and has secretly married Lee Butters, a young cop who works at the same precinct as Murtaugh and Riggs, though she cannot tell her father because he doesn't want her to date cops. Butters has been doing all kinds of things for Murtaugh around the police station, which Murtaugh incorrectly suspects is due to some kind of homosexual attraction to him, when in reality, Butters is actually trying to stay on his father-in-law's good side.The opening scene is an unrelated sequence in which Riggs and Murtaugh confront a man wearing a flame-retardant armored suit and wielding an automatic firearm and a flamethrower. The unidentified man is destroying cars and shops along a city street. Aside from some comedic value and a reminder to the audience of Riggs marksmanship skills, the scene mainly serves to show the two partners informing each other of Lorna's and Rianne's pregnancies. After this scene, a title card shifts the story to "almost nine months later."The rest of the movie revolves around Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters' investigation of a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring, which begins after a vessel is captured with a cargo hold of slave labor. That night, Murtaugh, along with Riggs and Leo Getz (Pecsi) (who had now become a private detective) finds a small dingy alongside with an entire Chinese family who he 'rescues' and provides shelter for at his house, claiming to be 'freeing slaves'.Information about Uncle Benny (Kim Chan) then leads them to Chinatown, where they are introduced to their new arch-nemesis, a high-ranking Triad negotiator named Wa Sing Ku (played by Jet Li). Wa Sing Ku is organizing the release from prison of four overlords or Triads, called the Four Fathers, from a corrupt Chinese general in exchange for counterfeit money. The captive artist working on the master-plate to create the 'funny money' is the elder uncle to Hong, the father of the Chinese family Murtaugh has rescued.Riggs and Murtaugh decide to hire Leo to follow Uncle Benny around. When they get too close, the Triad gang decides to strike back. When Hong contacted his uncle, Riggs and Murtaugh come home to find Wah Sing Ku there with the other gang members holding Lorna and Murtaugh's family hostage and that Hong and his family were already taken away. After a brief skirmish (where Wah Sing Ku dismantles Riggs' gun with a flick of his wrist), the entire family is tied up and the house is set on fire with everyone inside, including both pregnant women. Little Ping, the smallest of the Chinese children, who had evaded capture earlier manages to escape and frees them just enough to break out through the living room window.Riggs takes a radio from Lorna's car and the pair set off with Rianne's car in hot pursuit of two of the Triads. Reaching them on the freeway, Riggs passes the wheel to Murtaugh, climbs out of the car and leaps over to a mobile home. He pulls one of the thugs through the car window into it, demanding to know where the Hongs are. After engaging in a fight they crash onto the road; Riggs, sitting on a table holds onto the trailer by the plastic covering they fell through, and the Triad is run over by a bus. His partner accelerates and attempts to kill Riggs, who is forced to throw one of the table legs at the assailant. Murtaugh rams into the Triad car and, hearing sirens, the thug makes an escape. Riggs climbs back beside Murtaugh, and they chase the thug, trying to find answers. However, they accidentally fly off a ramp into a building, driving through one of the floors and driving out back onto the road. Then the last Triad they know of is killed by a truck.Leo alerts them that he had tracked down Uncle Benny at his dentist and while using Leo as a distraction to keep the dentist busy, the three use laughing gas to extract information from him. Here Murtaugh inadvertently learns that Butters is Rianne's husband and the father of her baby, but puts it aside until later. In a comedic scene, Uncle Benny mentions the Four Fathers, which initially is mistaken as 'forefathers'. Benny is later strangled to death by Wah Sing Ku for this indiscretion, and Hong is killed as an example to get his uncle to cooperate, whom is also murdered when his work is complete. After locating the area where Hong's family was held, Ng, one of Riggs and Murtaugh's detective friends, an expert of Chinese society is able to identify the Four Fathers after Murtaugh mentioned them and they are able to figure where the meet was taking place.Riggs, Murtagh and several other detectives disrupt the exchange and expose the money that is being used to buy the prisoner's release as counterfeit. As a result, the Chinese general personally executes the Four Fathers. Wah Sing Ku shoots and kills the general and a three way gun battle breaks out between the cops, the Triads and the general's private army in the foreign trade zone, presumably down by the docks. During the fight, one of the Triad leaders and older brother to Wa Sing Ku is killed by Murtaugh, and Butters is injured while protecting Murtaugh, but is not critical, to which Murtaugh passes him off to Ng to get him to safety. The climactic scene takes place on a pier where Riggs and Murtaugh, both unarmed, take on Wa Sing Ku who is enraged by the death of his brother. Eventually, Murtaugh is knocked out and Riggs and Wa Sing Ku fall into the water as the concrete pier begins to collapse. In desperation, Riggs finds a AK-47 and kills Wa Sing Ku underwater, but becomes trapped under part of the broken pier. Murtaugh comes to, realizes Riggs is in the water and dives in to free him. Murtaugh tells Riggs that he could hear Riggs willing him to save him.The movie ends with Lorna and Martin marrying, and Roger accepting Lee and Rianne's marriage. Two babies are born to Rianne and Lorna, as Martin Riggs is finally settling down. The Hong family is granted asylum. The end credits feature a collage of screen shots and snapshots taken during production from all four movies in the series.
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comedy, murder, cult, violence, action, entertaining
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train
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tt0094291
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Wall Street
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New York City, 1985. Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is an ambitious, young junior stockbroker at Jackson Steinem & Co. a local Wall Street stock and trading firm, desperate to get to the top. He wants to become involved with his hero, the corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), a ruthless and legendary Wall Street player.After work, Fox's meets with his father Carl (Martin Sheen), at a bar in nearby Queens for drinks. Carl Fox is a blue-collar maintenance foreman for a small and struggling airline company called Bluestar Airlines. In a casual conversation, Carl tells Bud that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has cleared Bluestar of responsibility for a major incident in which it was involved.Some days later, Bud Fox visits Gordon Gekko on his birthday and, granted a brief interview, pitches him stocks of a few promising companies, but Gekko is unimpressed. Realizing that Gekko may not do business with him, a desperate Fox provides him with the information about Bluestar which the FAA has yet to make public. Gekko tells him he will think about it. A dejected Fox returns to his office where Gekko places an order for Bluestar stock, becoming one of Fox's clients.Over the next few weeks, Fox makes more stock deals with Gekko which fall through, but the corporate raider has taken a liking for the young man and takes him under his wing. However, Gekko makes it clear that he does not want just a few tips on the stock market: he wants inside information of the sort that should be confidential, obtained by any means necessary, even if it involves using unethical and illegal methods. Desperate to advance in life, Fox agrees.One of his first assignments is to spy on British corporate raider Sir Lawrence Wildman (Terence Stamp) and discern his next move. By following Wildman through New York, Fox discovers that he is out to take control of a major steel company, Anacott, in Pennsylvania and informs Gekko who leaks the news to the press and then and buys the controlling shares.On that weekend, Gekko invites Fox to his house on the Hamptons in Long Island where Fox gets a look at the corporate raider's family life and gets to meet his wife Kate (Sean Young), the mother of Gekko's two-year-old son Rudy and infant daughter. Fox also has a run-in with an attractive blond lady who introduces herself as Darien (Daryl Hannah). Over drinks, Darien tells Fox that she works as an interior decorator in New York and she knows Gekko because he is a frequent client of hers and has done work on his house and city apartment. Fox asks Darien out on a date for later, and she agrees to one. A little later, Wildman arrives uninvited and confronts Gekko about the takeover of the steel company. Wildman claims that he is not out to "asset strip" the steel company but to improve its infrastructure and make something of it. After trading some personal insults, the two men agree to a deal where Gekko will sell it back to Wildman for a large cost.Over the next year, Fox's star is on the rise. He makes good money and enjoys Gekko's perks, including purchasing a penthouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side and Darien becomes his trophy live-in mistress. However, it is hinted that Darien is a former lover of Gekko's. Still employed by Jackson Steinem, Fox is promoted as a result of the large commission fees he is bringing in from Gekko's trading and is given a corner office with a view. He continues to maximize insider information, going so far as disguising himself as a cleaning company supervisor and breaking into the offices of lawyers and businesses after hours in order to obtain necessary data.Fox believes that the Bluestar Airlines can be improved and made a commercial success. He persuades Gekko to buy Bluestar and expand it using savings achieved by union concessions. The union leaders, including Fox's father Carl, are invited to Fox's apartment in order to discuss the proposal. Only Carl Fox proves to be hostile to the idea since he does not trust Gekko and feels that Gekko only wants to buy up and then liquidate the airline, but, after a row with his son, he agrees to put it to his men.Things seem to be going well, but then Fox learns at a shareholders meeting that Gekko has indeed double-crossed him and in fact intends to sell off all of Bluestar's assets leaving Carl and the entire Bluestar staff unemployed once the stock peaks at it's price. Fox himself stands to make a fortune on such a move but is racked with guilt since it was never his intention to break up Bluestar, especially since many of the staff happen to be friends whom he has known for a long time and friends of his father's. Just then, Fox learns that his father has been admitted to the hospital from a heart attack. At his father's bedside, Fox apologizes to his father for doubting him.From this point onward, Fox resolves to destroy Gekko's plans to take over Bluestar. Darien tries to talk him out of it, pointing out the money that they are going to earn and the danger of making an enemy out of Gekko. Fox refuses to listen to her arguments and they break up, leading her to walk out on him for good.A few days later, Fox and the union leaders privately meet Gekko's rival, Sir Laurence Wildman, who agrees to take over ownership of Bluestar, and, in return for union concessions, save it from being stripped. The next day, Fox then gets his colleagues at Jackson Steinem to persuade their clients to invest in Bluestar. Using Gekko's own methods, he leaks the news of Gekko's takeover of Bluestar which sends the share price up. The union leaders then confront Gekko, warning him that they know of his plans to liquidate the company (which of course he calmly denies) and threatening to make life so difficult for the customers that by the time the company is broken up it will be next to worthless.Gekko decides to cut his loses and pull out of Bluestar - "What the hell. So we only make 10 million instead of 20 million." - but Fox then gets his contacts to dump their Bluestar stocks... which sends the share price down! Gekko is unable to find buyers for his own stock, "I am losing millions!", and is forced to sell at a loss. Once the share price has gone down as far as it can, Wildman buys it up, taking over Bluestar. Gekko is furious and knows who to blame.The next day, a triumphant Fox arrives at work at Jackson Steinem & Co. where he is confronted by the police and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Apparently Gekko tipped them off about Fox's insider dealings which they themselves have been investigating for some time. Fox is arrested, handcuffed and led out of the office in tears.Some time later, Fox confronts Gekko in rainy Central Park. Gekko berates him for his betrayal. He then viciously assaults Fox, but not before mentioning several of their illegal business transactions. Unknown to Gekko, Fox was wearing a wire which he then turns over to the federal authorities.A few days later, Carl Fox drives his son to the New York City courthouse where he will face the consequences for his insider trading and securities fraud charges. After having a few words with his father, Fox exits the car and walks up the steps to the courthouse alone as the image pans back to the skyline view of New York. It is strongly implied that Bud Fox will go to jail for his greed, but his co-operation to implicate Gekko with him in their insider trading schemes could mean a lesser sentence and Wildman has offered him a job at Bluestar upon his release... whenever that will be.
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revenge, cult, comedy, violence
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train
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imdb
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Michael Douglas's performance as Gekko won a deserved Oscar in 1988 and makes "Wall Street" required viewing.There are two schools of thought when it comes to money.
"Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred," he tells his young protégé Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen).No question writer-director Oliver Stone feels the same way, as he presents this tale of wealth acquisition at its very apex, lower Manhattan circa 1985.
Deceptively deep and complex picture from co-writer/director Oliver Stone paints a vivid portrait of 1980s over-excesses as the age of "Me, Me, Me" (otherwise known as the 1980s) is explored through the eyes of a young, eager and impatient stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) who moonlights as a liaison to a heartless, ruthless and crazily greedy mega-millionaire (Michael Douglas in a smashing Oscar-winning turn) who seemingly has his hands on most every aspect of big business.
The film follows a low level day trader (Charlie Sheen) who strives to become a very powerful figure on Wall Street like his idol Gordon Geckko (Michael Douglas).
Michael Douglas deservedly won an Oscar for his portrayal of the ruthless, chain-smoking capitalist guru, Gordon Gekko, who leads Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox down the garden path to Wall Street's hidden abyss.
So did Charlie Sheen, who is actually the star of the film despite the fact that most people remember "Wall Street" for Douglas as Gordon Gecko.
First of all, it's amazing now to see how young, baby-faced and gauche Charlie Sheen looks from this distance in time, particularly when he's trying to hit on Daryl Hannah.In today's dumbed down movie world, Gordon Gekko could have been scripted and played exactly the same except for one thing: you'd never see the scene when he suddenly stops to admire the ocean at dawn.
Other infelicities in the script include the moment when Stone wanted to signal that Bud Fox has reached the peak of success and found it empty: following the montage of the condo purchase and decoration, the perfect meal for two, culminating in making love to Daryl Hannah, Stone has Fox standing on his balcony, and apropos of nothing at all, he just says, "Who am I?" It has to be said that Sheen wasn't really up to the task of delivering this atrocious line.I've rarely seen a film in which the female lead was so comprehensively abandoned by the director.
Only this time instead of caught between two opposing sergeants in the jungles of Vietnam, he's a Wall Street broker and his opposing sides he must choose between are his father played by his real-life father Martin Sheen and a conniving and greedy corporate executive played by Michael Douglas, who won the Oscar for Best Leading Actor the following year."Wall Street" shows Oliver Stone's skill and craftsmanship as a filmmaker.
With intense aspirations of being a Wall Street "player" like his personal hero Gordon Gekko (an unforgettable Michael Douglas), his pursuit of cash, women and expensive suits lead him to a moral dilemma between his father (Martin Sheen) and Gekko and ultimately to a confrontation of ethics within business and personal redemption.
With its case study of corporate ethics, and its comments on the concept of insider trading within the American stock-broking community, this film is a success on the professional level of looking at business as well as the more personal elements, including the hard-line philosophies of Gordon Gekko and furthermore the nature of the ambition that eats away at Bud Fox. The acting is excellent on the part of both Charlie and Martin Sheen as their respective roles as father and son, however the clear stand-out performance throughout the picture is clearly that of Michael Douglas in his brilliant, Oscar-winning portrayal of the ruthless Gordon Gekko.
Daryl Hannah, however, remains a substantial dent to the film's overall credibility and poses a serious case of mis-casting on the part of Oliver Stone that is essentially unforgivable when watching Hannah's pathetic attempts at working alongside such greats as Martin Sheen and Michael Douglas.
My favorite has to do with the "illusion of wealth."The other great quote that comes to mind is when Martin Sheen tells his son to "go out and produce something instead of making money on people's buying and selling."Of course, you then have the "abyss" speech "when you look into the abyss and nothing is staring back..." was great too."Congratulations buddy boy you just made things twice as tough as before," really hits home regarding the pressure to make quota."It's a dog with fleas." will live forever."Blue horseshoe loves it," is another quote that stands out.The screenplay was written outstandingly well.
The visuals are far from impressive, even though there are some pretty pictures of New York to look at, and the way the camera becomes a bit unsteady when something particularly intense is going on is interesting until Stone takes it too far, like when he turns a scene between Charlie and Martin Sheen that could have been great into something resembling a tennis game.
In other words, Wall Street has aged badly in some aspects.That being said, the film does feature some highly memorable performances, Michael Douglas' deliciously sleazy Gordon Gekko being the highlight.
Michael Douglas is so bad that he is so good in his role as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street." With this performance, I can see why he is an academy award winner.Michael Douglas's performance in "Wall Street" made me realize that each role he turns in will turn into gold.I must give credit to Charlie Sheen for his part of making "Wall Street" a success." This movie was not only his breakthrough film of his career, but the best one to date.
Let's just say Martin Sheen almost steals the thunder from Michael Douglas and his son.After watching awful movies dealing with the same subject, such as "Boiler Room" and "Glengarry Glen Ross," I didn't want to watch "Wall Street." However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this film turned out to have a different plot.
Sheen's Bud Fox character eventually has an epiphany, augured by the coincidence of real-life and cinema dad Martin copping a heart attack and turns on and indeed turns in his guru to the authorities to bring ultimate closure to the piece.The film has its faults; I didn't quite buy into Douglas surrogate-father figure appeal to Sheen Jr., the coincidental heart attack of Sheen/Fox Sr is a bit too pat and some of the supporting characters come on like mere ciphers, including Terence Stamp as the UK magnate-cum-nemesis of Gekko and Daryl Hannah as a Gekko cast-off girlfriend/groupie who becomes young Sheen's trophy girl-friend.
al to the addictive drug of big-bucks capitalism.Stone's camera is constantly on the move, capturing the frenetic-ism of dealers on the trading floor as market frenzy takes hold, with the dialogue razor-sharp throughout, so many of the phrases of course having become clichés for that era, almost entering common parlance the language, such as greed is good, lunch is for wimps and more.In the end, young Sheen would have done well to be careful what he wished for, but if he's the Little Red Riding Hood to Douglas' Big Bad Wolf, this particular out-sized fairy tale reaches its conclusion fittingly and satisfyingly, opening up a seamy, selfish world that you know is out there still, now more than ever..
He spends his time idolizing and trying to get in touch with billionaire Wall Street tycoon, Gordon Gecko(Douglas in a good, but heartless Oscar winning performance.) He finally gets in touch with him and soon begins working for him, giving him inside tips about his father's(Martin Sheen, as an aircraft mechanic) company and helping him buy up other company stocks.
As Bud learns, money isn't the only way to measure success, and greed and heartlessness aren't for everyone.Charlie Sheen gives a very good performance - he's well cast as is, of course, Martin Sheen as his wise father who has a different set of values and recognizes Gecko's motives even if his son doesn't.
Until she got her eye plucked out of her skull in Kill Bill Volume 2, Daryl Hannah brought lifelessness to every role she was in, including her performance as Darian Taylor, the "great spender of OTHER people's money", in Oliver Stone's otherwise good movie, Wall Street.
You really felt the greed in Michael Douglas' Gordon Gecko and could feel the changes in Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox, but whenever Daryl walk on the screen, the entire energy flow that was present beforehand, was completely obliterated by her presence.
Wall street is one of those movies you can watch over and over again.While it might not be as appealing to those who are less interested in the fields of economics and business, it's still worth a watch.The acting is mostly outstanding, Michael Douglas makes a legendary appearance in his role as Gordon Gekko.
It's a story of manipulation and betrayal, and stocks...There will most likely be a bunch of words in this movie which the average viewer won't understand, this might hurt the immersion of the movie but probably won't detract you too much from the story.One thing that makes this movie so rememberable is the characters, the acting and ofcource some of it's dialogue, it's really hard to get tired of watching Gordon Gekko delivering his at time inhumane lines.Too sum it all up;Pros:-The Acting is (aside for my dislike of Sheen) top-notch-The story, while not original is played out in a rather different fashion.The Dialogue which is also top notch.The characters in the movie are all rememberableCons:-A lot of "Wall-street" words, which some might not understand, which can make the movie less immersive.Charlie Sheen.
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is a big-shot in the business and soon Bud Fox is treated to the wonders of big finance, but also to it's less flattering sides.I would not call this movie a masterpiece (like some people do).
Trying to make it with the big boys on Wall Street young stock-broker Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen, has been leaving massages to his hero corporate raider Gordon Gekko's, Michael Douglas,office every day for two months to get an interview with him.
Working at a brokerage house on Wall Street is slowly draining Bud of his life and money with him going nowhere and having to worry every day if he's called into his boss' office and given his walking papers.Bud wants to be independent like the great Gordon Gekko and the only way he can do that is by having some of that Gekko charm rub off on him by being a member of his team.
Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox is perfect as the up and coming Wall Street Whiz Kid who's being used by his mentor, Gordon Gekko, to make the big bucks and then, if the time comes, take the fall for him.
Martain Sheen is also perfect as Bud's dad, he is in real life, and the person who put his star struck and confused son straight on what Gekko's intentions really are and not to fall for his line of BS about caring for the working people of America.There's also Terence Stamp as Sir Larry Wildman Gekko's biggest rival on the street who together with Gekko makes the world of corporate raiders look like the dog-eat-dog world that it really was back then in the 1980's and even now: A world where human feelings are as scarce as greed is plentifully..
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." This quote is said by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas in his Oscar- winning, trademark performance), and more or less is an ethical representation of his character.
Strangely Oliver Stone thinks the worst thing of the decade was yuppie culture Charlie Sheen ( Straight from his star turn from PLATOON ) plays Bud Fox the hero of the story who seeing that Gordon Gekko wants to buy and asset strip his father's aircraft company goes out of his way to bring down the Gekko empire This is where I got confused .
Charlie Sheen is every bit as good here as he was in PLATOON ( Though these are probably the only two movies where he gives very good performances ) while Michael Douglas is superb as the amoral Gordon Gekko , and Terence Stamp and Martin Sheen are always worth watching , and considering the movie mainly revolves around a bunch of people in offices making as much money as they can the story is compelling in parts.
Wall Street takes that same template - and the same leading man, Charlie Sheen - and applies it to 1980s corporate America, again with a more personal connection for Stone: his father Lou was a stockbroker during the 1929 market meltdown, and the filmmaker dedicated his attack on capitalism to his recently deceased parent.Not surprisingly, father figures play a major part in the movie's script, as the young and ambitious Bud Fox (Sheen), a young broker who, in his desperate quest for the top, is torn between the values of his father Carl (the actor's real-life dad Martin), a blue-collar union president, and those of his personal hero, one Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), whose ethos is best summed up by the famous phrase "Greed, for want of a better word, is good".
Its sharp look at the more cynical attitude of the '80s remains very relevant to this day, adding to the timeless feel of the story while at the same time grounding the content in a very specific context, paving the way for some heavy criticism of the yuppie mentality (see also a rather different take on the matter, namely Bret Easton Ellis' ferociously satirical American Psycho).And there lies the movie's greatest paradox: its open critique of quick-buck traders was (and is) misinterpreted by people who claim to have begun a Wall Street career because of the Gekko character, an ironic fact since he's the "villain" of the piece.
Basically, it is the working out of a moral struggle within young Wall Street trader Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) between the values with which he was raised of hard work and success through actual creation, versus those of his mentor Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) who succeeds through corporate raiding and "creative destruction".
Michael Douglas is so bad that he is so good in his role as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street." With this performance, I can see why he is an academy award winner.I must give credit to Charlie Sheen for his part of making "Wall Street" a success.
Michael Douglas or i should say Gordon Gekko- the ruthless and greedy millionaire for whom money was everything and he showed that millionaires cant except loses and they make sure they don't get it.I have heard a saying that "SMELL OF MONEY IS REALLY BAD"and it proved right for Bud Fox. I just wonder sometimes whether there was Gordon Gekko in reality and if there was, i bow to him and really would have loved to see such a man.And thanks to Oliver Stone for making such a beautiful movie cos otherwise, people wouldn't have seen such a great actor putting himself into Gordon Gekkos shoes.
Maybe watching this back in the day would have made a greater impression, I think Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas is a great performance, and the green Bud Fox by Charlie Sheen fits in very nicely.I don't get the Wall Street world and never will I guess, but I can see the glamor and money and esteem by the peers if you do it well.
Oliver Stone directed this interesting drama that stars Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, a young but ambitious stockbroker in New York whose time is taken up entirely by his job, though in off-hours he tries to impress powerful and wealthy, but also ruthless and greedy corporate raider Gordon Gekko(played by Michael Douglas, who won the Academy Award for best actor) Gordon will eventually take Bud under his wing, and guides him to helping Gordon get inside information he can use, which involves his father Carl(played by his own father Martin Sheen) who ends up feeling betrayed by this, and Bud's life will spiral out-of-control as the authorities threaten to indict him if he won't testify against Gekko in court...
If you can get past Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox, ignore Daryl Hannah's lack of talent and just Oliver Stone (in general) what you have left is one of the greatest screen characters in power broker Gordon Gekko.
Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox a very young stock broker wanting to make it big time in the Wall Street world.
That film was WALL STREET, released in late 1987, and extremely timely in its day as it came out shortly after what was then the biggest financial crash in America since 1929.There's no real need to recite too much of the plot details, only to say that a hotshot young stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) falls under the spell of corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, in a steely performance that rightly won him the Best Actor Oscar for 1987) and thus sells out everything about himself, including the pride of his own father (Martin Sheen), for the love of money and greed.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.¨Oliver Stone's Wall Street is a memorable film with some great performances from Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen.
I'm no expert in economy, but I still found this movie very interesting thanks to a good screenplay written by Stone and Stanley Weiser, and some great performances from the cast (excepting Daryl Hannah who was miscast in this film).Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a young stockbroker who is having a difficult time making it to the top of the firm he is working for.
Michael Douglas is at his best playing Gordon and the scene where he gives the speech about money and greed is just memorable, Charlie Sheen is also great in his role as an aspiring stockbroker who wants to succeed in what he does.
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Bad Lieutenant
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After dropping off his two young sons at Catholic school, an NYPD Lieutenant (who is never named) takes a few bumps of cocaine and drives to the scene of a double murder in The Bronx. Wandering away, the Lieutenant finds a drug dealer and gives him a bag of drugs from a crime scene, smoking crack during the exchange; the dealer promises to give him the money he makes from selling the drugs in a few days. At an apartment, the Lieutenant gets drunk and engages in a threesome with two women. Meanwhile, a nun is raped inside a church by two young hoodlums.
The next morning, the Lieutenant learns that he has lost a bet on a National League Championship Series game between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He tries to win back his money by doubling his wager on the Dodgers in the next game. At another crime scene, the Lieutenant rifles through the car and finds some drugs which he stashes in his suit jacket. However, he is too impaired to secure the drugs, and they fall out onto the street in front of his colleagues. The Lieutenant tries to play it off by instructing them to enter the drugs into evidence.
At the hospital, the Lieutenant spies on the nun's examination, and learns that she was penetrated with a crucifix. Later that evening, he pulls over two teenage girls who are using their father's car without his knowledge to go to a club. As they have no driving license, the Lieutenant tells one of the girls to bend over and pull up her skirt, and the other to simulate fellatio while he masturbates. The following day, he listens in on the nun's deposition, where she says she knows who assaulted her but will not identify them.
While drinking in his car, the Lieutenant listens to the final moments of the Dodgers game and shoots out his car stereo when they lose. Despite being unable to pay the $30,000 wager, he doubles his bet for the next game. Eavesdropping on the nun's confession, he hears her state that she has no anger about what happened, and he begins cursing at God before breaking down in tears and sobbing that he wants to redeem himself. The Lieutenant drinks in a bar when the Dodgers lose again. After scoring cocaine in a nightclub, he tries to double his bet yet again. His friend refuses to make the wager, insisting that the bookie would kill him.
Continuing his drug use, the Lieutenant picks up his $30,000 share from the drug dealer and calls the bookie personally to place his bet. He then visits a woman (Zoë Tamerlis Lund) and does heroin with her. At the church, he tells the nun that he will kill her attackers, but she repeats that she has forgiven them and leaves. In the resulting emotional breakdown, the Lieutenant sees the crucified Christ and tearfully curses him before begging forgiveness for his crimes and sins. The figure is revealed to be a woman holding a gold chalice, which turns out to have been pawned at her husband's shop.
The Lieutenant tracks down the two rapists with the help of the woman, to a nearby crack den in Spanish Harlem and cuffs them together. He holds them at gunpoint and smokes crack with them as the Mets win the pennant. Instead of booking the two rapists, he drives them (mirroring the drive in the opening scene) to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and puts them on a bus with a cigar box containing the $30,000. He demands that they take the bus and never come back to New York. After he leaves the terminal, he parks on the street in front of Penn Station. Another car drives up beside him, and a voice yells, "Hey, cop!" before two shots ring out. The film closes as bystanders gather around the car, followed by police, realizing that the Lieutenant has been murdered.
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dark, depressing, realism, neo noir, murder, cult, violence
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People are probably right enough when they comment that this entire film essentially hinges on Harvey Kietel's impassioned performance as the corrupt and deeply troubled lieutenant of the title.
The exact identity of his character is never revealed, but the title informs us he's a 'bad lieutenant', a label seemingly confirmed by his tendency to indulge in substance abuse, work up heavy gambling debts and even, on occasion, pull over a couple of young female drivers and use them as motivation for his own self-pleasure.
It's this alone that enables 'Bad Lieutenant' as a whole to reach the true extent of its potential - what could easily be read off as a plethora of fury, drug-taking, masturbation and full-frontal nudity in practice translates very aptly into a sad and striking depiction of a despondent man who's lost his ability to see goodness in anything in life, and who's sinking ever deeper beneath the weight of all those answers being continuously sought in the wrong places.
As you've probably worked out by now, this isn't exactly the balmiest movie you could spending your time with (might be wrong, but I don't think there's a single light-hearted moment to be found in the entire screenplay), but if you can bring yourself to look past the sourness on the surface and instead feel sympathy for this bad lieutenant, as Kietel's involving performance invites us to do, then you'll find some considerable power lurking in its bleakness.So, while it's Harvey Kietel who really (and rightly) brings things together in 'Bad Lieutenant' and makes it the affecting near-masterpiece that it is, it would be unfair of me to completely overlook Ferrara's role in this equation.
Instead, he and Kietel have put together a polished and powerful piece of film-making that, though it deals with some pretty disagreeable and, at the time at least, controversial subject matter, is so rich in great acting (well, one great performance, but it's easily worth the input of an entire cast) and slick atmospherics that it becomes entirely captivating.
All this would be so much hogwash if it wasn't for the stunning lead performance of Harvey Keitel, certainly taking his acting talent right to the edge to give us a nothing-held-back portrait of his character.
At the core of this extremely well made, unconventional film is the best performance Harvey Keitel delivered in the nineties, a bravado piece of work in which he bares all of the qualities that can make up the badness in the lieutenant.
But just by the way Ferrara and Keitel bring us into his world, and the details of his existence, a viewer can start to understand that the film works on other levels besides those of a conventional "all around bad-cop" story..
The movie is about a cop who is probably the lowest scumball in the history of modern cinema and how he tries to find redemption in solving the case of a nun who is raped inside a Catholic church.
His performance is one of the best in recent movie history and this film is worth watching just to see how far Keitel will go for his art..
Harvey Keitel plays a character whom the movie calls only "Bad Lieutenant." He's at a stage in his life when human characteristics no longer matter.
In New York, a corrupt and abusive NYPD Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel) is addicted in drugs and gambling and has a great debt with a shark.
"Bad Lieutenant" is one of my favorite films by Abel Ferrara with a great story of addiction, corruption, forgiveness and redemption.
Last time I had seen this film was on 27 September 2000 and after seeing once again, I realize that "Bad Lieutenant" is a timeless movie that has not aged.
Harvey Keitel has one of the best performances of his successful career in the role of a dirty cop that finds redemption in the end.
A depressingly underrated character study, Bad Lieutenant is truly Abel Ferrara's masterpiece, and a high point in independent cinema of the 90's.Harvey Keitel plays a New York cop who, to put it bluntly, is a pretty awful person.
But, "Bad Lieutenant" is Ferrara's baby, and we should thank him for making a truly "Christian" film about a man's descent-into-the-muck, and his final-redemption in our urban hell.
If there is at least one thing to admire in BAD LIEUTENANT, it's Harvey Keitel's method performance as the corrupt cop without a moral compass who goes through the film indifferent to everyone but himself, getting high whenever he's in the need of a fix, intimidating anyone under his charge--including teen-age girls in the film's most exploitational scene--and upset through the entire film over the rape of a nun who has forgiven her attackers.Keitel throws himself completely into the role, gnashing his teeth and clenching his jaw effectively whenever stirred to emote, crying like a wounded animal when he feels no justice in a world where injustices are free to roam.
Leading to a movie in my opinion one of the best tragedies ever put on film.Now Harvey Keitel is an actor I have the utmost respect for.
I've been wanting to see this film for a long time, as I have heard nothing but good things about it, but have found myself feeling sorely disappointed with it.The story revolves around a drug addict/alcoholic/gambler/pervert cop who is investigating the violent rape of a nun and seeking some form of redemption in the process.
It is certainly controversial, though a good deal less shocking the one expects it to be, given the pretext.It feels like Ferrara and Keitel simply thought of all the vices they could and threw them into this character in order to make him as shocking and deplorable as possible without actually giving any thought to why he is this way.
This provocative film has an almost documentary-like feel in its depiction of New York lowlife, and another credible performance by Harvey Keitel, but at times it's as stagnant as the "hero's" life - Ferrara holds the shots too long, as if we're supposed to look for something more into them than what is actually there.
even such a man can be redeemed by the example of a saintly nun, with the help of Jesus Christ, who climbs down from his crucifix and watches Harvey Keitel whimper, cry and groan, demonstrating what a lost soul he is, and generally chewing the carpet like a ham actor possessed.
In one of the bravest performances you'll ever see, Harvey Keitel plays the unnamed Lieutenant, a drug addict, bully, and gambler who begins to find redemption through his investigation of a nun's rape.
This is not a film for the squeamish - although it's not particularly violent and if you can't deal with Keitel's nudity you shouldn't be watching movies above a PG-13 level - but it has so many uncomfortably stark scenes and the Lieutenant is so despicable it might result in people hating this film.
No other movie in contemporary cinema so perfectly conveys what New York City actually feels like; and even Scorsese himself was moved to comment that Ferrara had taken his unlikely-road-to-redemption theme to the ultimate outer limits.Flat as a home movie, or a porno, BAD LIEUTENANT exerts a stranglehold fascination.
Every clunky detail is amazing: a nun raped on the altar is interrupted by images of the Lieutenant's preschool kids watching a WW2 cartoon that chirps, "We did it before and we can do it again!" Keitel's performance convinces you that in every scene he knows exactly which internal organ is failing and why, even when the audience is left in the dark.
Sadly, the only question Bad Lieutenant is just what the hell a good actor like Harvey Keitel was doing in it.Fittingly for such a drearily exploitative movie, Keitel's performance is hilariously bad, pulling out of the hat a lot of sub-de Niro cliches and, in his character's most angsty moments, letting out a loud feral howl which made me crease up every time he started.The main problem is that the film goes nowhere.
Just in case you think he's painfully misunderstood Lt Scumbag is seen indulging in drug taking again later on So in order to let the audience know that this law enforcer is worse than many of the people he arrests Ferrara continually shows disturbing character scenes .
The plot centers around the titular Bad Lieutenant played by Harvey Keitel as we witness the sorry state of his life and the self destructing nature of his psyche.
The character like Jake Lamotta in 'Raging Bull' is certainly despicable, but the script, Ferrara's direction and certainly Keitel's performance gave the character depth, layers and a degree of humanism.'Bad Lieutenant' is a tough film to watch.
Abel Ferrara's ultra gritty classic Bad Lieutenant holds up and in my opinion is Harvey Keitel's best performance ever.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsIntently focusing on the seedier side of life,Abel Ferrera's deeply controversial 1992 bad cop thriller is estentially a movie stabbing at an awkward character study which seems to have come at the expense of an engaging story.The CS in question being the central protagonist,Harvey Keitel's sleazy piece of sh*t corrupt cop who gradually finds redemption whilst searching for the brutal rapists of a young nun.There is some very unflattering,disturbing imagery on offer and you are never left without the impression that Keitel's character really is the sort of twisted bent cop who probably would steal drugs off a dead man's body or force two underage girls without a driving licence to simulate oral sex in front of him to let them off being taken down the station,but on the flip side of the coin,the story lacks structure and Keitel's soul finding seem sto come from the overuse of some rather nauseating whining scenes which grate on the viewers nerves somewhat.The movie seems to rely overly on shock value and that alone won't steer a movie to greatness for everyone.**.
Bad Lieutenant would be one of Abel Ferrara's most powerful movies and best too.
The 1992 film Bad Lieutenant was and still is a very controversial film that easily divides film fans and critics.Harvey Keitel stars as the Lieutenant in question, a police detective who is addicted to hard drugs, has sex with prostitutes and has heavy gambling debts.
He attempts to get out of debt by betting more money on the World Series Games between the New York Mets and L.A. Dodgers, falling into a deeper void of drugs as he investigates the brutal rape of a nun (Frankie Thorn), a nun who is willing to forgive her attackers.Bad Lieutenant is a very dark, bleak film, centred around an excellent performance by Keitel.
This is amplified by the style of direction, using plenty of wide shots and long takes, letting scenes play to their shocking conclusions and giving the actors mostly uninterrupted performances.Bad Lieutenant is very much an art house film about the decline of a man in a world of sin, embarking on sin and someone willing to forgive the people who did the most horrific act possible.
It is a brutal, unpleasant work and Ferrara takes very surreal turns with his use of Catholic iconography.Bad Lieutenant is deserving of its controversial status with its violence, sex and it notorious rape scene.
Lasting only ninety-six minutes but feeling much longer, "Bad Lieutenant" sucks you in to what you believe at first to be the tale of a crooked cop before the realisation slowly dawns upon the viewer that this is going to be much more unpleasant than any "gritty" 'corrupt police officer' film that you'll have seen before.
Harvey Keitel is awesomely sinister as nameless police lieutenant who spirals deeper and deeper into the world of drugs and gambling and obscene behavior (the scene where lieutenant pulls over the two girls with broken taillight probably shows best how messed up his thinking is).Ferrara has never been afraid of shocking the audience.
Abel Ferrara directs this dark tale about a corrupt, drug addicted cop(Harvey Keitel) who tries to find redemption by investigating the rape of a nun, while dealing with his own personal issues.Now I have to first say that this movie is a true adult movie, filled with violence, drugs, sex and the very mature themes of Keitel's character.
The movie is very hard to watch at times, as Keitel goes through a lot of pain as his problems take control of him.The whole film is held together by Keitel's performance which is absolutely brilliant from start to finish and was criminally under-rated on release.
His character is very complex both being an evil and hard to relate to cop, while at the same time a person who's made mistakes and doesn't deserve to go through all this.One thing to note about Bad Lieutenant is that it's not the sort of film that you will watch and think of as and instant classic, its a very deep movie that you need to think about and will most lightly need a second viewing at some point.The movie's camera work is also praise worthy, having a gritty and realistic feel that very much represent the character in the film.
Although it's hard to write a complete review here without spoiling the ending, I can say that just like the rest of the film, the ending feels a bit strange and out of place but it ultimately fits perfectly into the film and properly concludes the story.A great film that is a dark study of an interesting character played superbly by Harvey Keitel..
Harvey Keitel does strong work playing a hard-drinking and drugging police detective in New York City whose attempt to bring in the two teenage thugs who violently raped a nun is stymied (both physically and psychologically) by the victim herself, who sees it as her duty to forgive and protect them.
The only reason I gave this 3 stars was because Keitel was very convincing and did some good acting...however, as a movie, this is awful.Aside from there being no character development, there is very little story line aside from learning how to smoke crack and shoot heroin.I could very well be missing some deep meaning underneath the movie, but all in all it's not worth the money I paid for it..
In this film called " Bad Lieutenant " written and directed by Abel Ferrara, Harvey Keitel is The Lieutenant and gives such a powerful performance in this role, it will be difficult to top himself.
"Bad Lieutenant" features what may be the best performance of Harvey Keitel's distinguished career as a NYPD Lieutenant who struggles with just about every vice imaginable: drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling, prostitutes...
It is offensive, depressing, yet still has got a positive religiously inspired message in the end, because catholic faith is the red line in this story about forgiving someone elses sins."Bad Lieutenant" starts out as a bleak story about a junkie new york city cop (Harvey Keitel), who is a gambling addict and a drug addict, who is getting deeper and deeper into debt with the mob, but this movie surprisingly ends as a religious moral tale.
Bad Lieutenant (Director Abel Ferrara) "90 mins, starring Harvey Keitel, NY cop,
hopelessly addicted to drugs, gambling, and sex, in this intense, hallucinatory portrait of sin and redemption
"So says the blurb.
Abel Ferrara's heavyweight portrait of sin and redemption,featuring a truly astonishing performance by Harvey Keitel as aseriously out-of-control New York police officer, consumed by ablack hole of addiction and vice, gambling tens of thousands ofdollars on The World Series to pay off mountainous debts andfeed a spectrum of drug habits until the brutal rape of a nununexpectedly instills the morally corrupt lieutenant with a glimmerof humanity..
Harvey Keitel is the titular "Bad Lieutenant," a nameless character whose moral self-degradation becomes the focus of Abel Ferrara's controversial 1992 motion picture.
What follows is heavily responsible for the MPAA's NC-17 rating."Bad Lieutenant" follows this man through his own personal hell drug addiction, alcoholism, self-loathing and sexual perversity in an effort to examine the inner workings of a corrupt cop on the brink of death.Keitel gives a good performance, his eyes lost somewhere in between hope and despair, but is too much of an exhibitionist his seemingly mandatory full-frontal nudity is unnecessary and showy.
This film takes too long to do nothing of any real importance.It sets up Keitel as the Bad Lieutenant.
I give the film a 2 out of 4 star rating for Mr. Keitel's strong acting, but I must say that writer/director Abel Ferrara's vision of a bad Liutenant in the city of New York's police force has been done many times before with better results than in this film..
While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective (Harvey Keitel), with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.Desson Howe called the Lieutenant "a notch nicer than Satan" in the Washington Post, and he cites Keitel's work as the film's saving grace, writing, "It is only the strength of Keitel's performance that gives his personality human dimension." This is completely the truth.
One of the most chocking films I ever seen that takes place in New York, a story about the baddest police lieutenant in the NYPD, a man who drinks, smokes, takes drugs, takes ridiculous bets on baseball games, sells drugs and destroying himself, Harvey Keitel is incredible, I should think that he deserves some oscar or something because of his incredible role as a alcoholic.
Ferrara is not asking for sympathy for the character, nor is he trying to 'convert' the audience in any way: He's just telling a story of man's need for forgiveness and redemption."Bad Lieutenant" is by far Ferrara's best work, and Kietel has never been better.
Harvey Keitel plays a Lieutenant who is heavily into drugs, sex, and gambling.
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tt1781922
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No Escape
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In an unnamed country in Southeast Asia, the prime minister is in a meeting with a diplomat about a crisis. Moments later, gunshots are heard. A security agent runs toward the sound and sees both the prime minister and diplomat dead, murdered by a group of rebels. The man encounters the armed rebels, and, realizing he is outnumbered, he grabs a dagger and slashes his own throat.17 hours earlierJack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) is flying with his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and young daughters Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare) to the same Southeast Asian location where he will start working for a new company, Cardiff. On the plane, the family meets an Englishman called Hammond (Pierce Brosnan). Beeze asks him about the scars on his hand and face. He claims they came from a tiger fight (in which he pulled out the tiger's tooth) and from falling down the stairs. At the airport, Hammond offers to share a ride with them provided by his friend Kenny Roger (Sahajak Boonthanakit), which he says is his nickname because he looks like the singer.The Dwyers make it to their hotel. A little later, Jack finds Annie crying in her room, unhappy about uprooting their lives here. He tries to turn on the TV but there is no signal. Jack learns from the clerk downstairs that all the cable and internet across the city is down. Jack then goes to a nearby bar where he finds Hammond and Kenny drunk and singing karaoke. He shares a drink with Hammond, who assures him that he will enjoy it there.The next morning, Jack tries to get a newspaper. The clerk tells him to go to a nearby store to find one. Jack walks to the store and the clerk there sells him an American paper from three days ago. When Jack walks outside, he sees a huge mob of armed civilians walking toward an equally large group of police in riot gear. One civilian throws a rock, and the cops start shooting at them. Jack is caught in the middle of the chaos and runs toward safety. Everywhere he runs, he finds rebels killing innocent people. Jack runs back to the hotel and sees the rebels seize and execute an American man who also works for Cardiff. The rebels spot Jack and chase him, but he climbs up a fire escape and escapes.Jack runs back to the hotel and sees the rebels have started breaking in and are killing the staff and other guests. He runs back to his room to get Annie and the girls, but Annie says that Lucy went to the pool by herself because she was acting out. Jack runs to get her while Annie stays in the room with Beeze. The rebels are knocking down doors and storming into rooms to kill foreigners. Annie holds the door back while telling Beeze to stay hidden. Meanwhile, Jack finds Lucy and grabs her just as the rebels start running into the pool area. Jack runs back toward the room and is almost attacked by a rebel until Hammond comes in at the right moment to kill the rebel. He tells Jack to take his family to the roof.Jack gets Annie and the girls up to the roof where other foreigners are gathered. Outside the hotel, the rebels are chanting "Blood for water" due to Cardiff taking over the water supply, leading to the coup d'etat. A helicopter then flies up over the roof, making everyone think that they're being rescued. Unfortunately, the helicopter is carrying more rebels. Jack and Annie grab their girls and run as one rebel opens fire on the foreigners. As they run for cover, the helicopter gets tangled in some wires and is pulled to the roof, causing it to explode, killing all the rebels onboard.The other rebels start to make their way up to the roof and kill anyone in their path, both foreigners and locals. Jack tells Annie they need to get to the roof on the next building, which means making a huge leap. Annie hesitates but runs over and lands on the roof, scraping her knees and elbows. Jack throws Beeze without warning, but Annie catches her. He is about to throw Lucy next, but she stops him mid-toss and nearly causes both her and Jack to fall over the building until he pulls her up. Lucy gets thrown and Annie catches her, and then Jack makes his leap. They get inside the building, but the rebels start attacking it with a tank. Jack gets his family hidden inside one of the empty rooms as the rebels continue killing people. Jack assures the girls that he loves them.Some minutes later, a rebel walks into the room as it's become quiet. He spots Jack and starts to call to his comrades. Jack tackles him and tries to keep him quiet, but the rebel continues to shout, leaving Jack with no choice but to bludgeon the man to death, to Annie's horror and his own.As nighttime comes, the Dwyers and Kenny disguise themselves at local civilians and make their way toward the American embassy while trying to remain undetected. They ride past a mob of rebels and get knocked down, but still manage to ride on safely (somewhat). One of the rebel protestors notices that they are foreigners, but out of sympathy after seeing the Dwyers two young children, he says nothing and allows them to pass by him. The Dwyers reach the embassy, which has a blockade on both sides. Jack climbs over the wall and sees all the Americans dead. A mob of rebels and protesters had apparently stormed the building earlier and killed everyone. He sees a small group of rebels run out of the embassy as it explodes. Jack runs back to his family.The Dwyers seek shelter in a Buddhist shrine after pleading with the caretaker to let them stay. But, predictably, a squad of rebels show up. They kick the caretaker around and then try to find the Dwyers. Jack sees one rebel left his gun unguarded, so he tries to go for it. When it looks like he's about to get caught, Annie stands up and calls attention to herself. The rebel leader punches her and lays her down to rape her, until Hammond shows up. He and Kenny shoot the all rebels dead, except for the leader, who gets away.Hammond takes the family and Kenny to a local brothel, since it's apparently the one place the rebels do not appear to want to tear through. Hammond explains to Jack that the people he works for are responsible for bringing American companies like Cardiff out there to control the water supply, so Hammond feels he must redeem himself by helping the Dwyers. He tells them that they need to take a boat toward the Vietnamese border where the rebels cannot touch them.As the group makes their way to their destination, more rebels appear and attack from a gun tower nearby. The Dwyers get away, but Kenny is killed while Hammond shoots and kills most of the rebels, but he gets wounded. Knowing he is dying, Hammond tells Jack to keep going, just as a rebel comes riding in a truck. Hammond musters enough strength to shoot the rebel dead, just as the truck plows into him and crashes.The Dwyers make it to the riverbank where Jack trades his watch and shoes to a fisherman for his boat to take him across the borther. Annie and the girls hide as a group of more rebel troops appear and begin shooting. Jack fights back, but he gets overpowered and is shot in his arm. Lucy runs toward him, and the rebel leader grabs her. He gives her a gun and forces her to shoot Jack, and then holds a gun to her head as an incentive. Annie runs in and whacks the leader over the head and beats him to death while Jack grabs the gun and kills the rest of the rebels.The family gets on the boat where Jack and Annie paddle toward the Vietnamese border. The Vietnamese border troops spot them and order them to stop, but Jack says he will not and pleads with them to let him and his family in as another group of rebels show up in a truck and drive near the family. Before they can do anything, the boat passes through the border, officially entering Vietnamese territory. The Vietnamese troops order the rebels to stand down, finally ending the family's trouble.The Dwyers are recovering in a hospital bed together. Lucy asks her parents to tell the story of how she was born. Jack says how he told Annie to push until Lucy came out, but she didn't start breathing when the doctors spanked her. Annie had told Jack to speak to Lucy since she would know his voice. Jack spoke to her until she started breathing. Jack then holds his family closely.
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revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence, flashback
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt0221027
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Blow
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The film opens to a young George (Jesse James) and his parents Fred (Ray Liotta) and Ermine (Rachel Griffiths). Fred files for bankruptcy and loses everything. Fred tries to instill George with a belief that money is not important.A grown-up George (Johnny Depp) moves to Southern California with his friend "Tuna" (Ethan Suplee) and they plan to earn a living by selling marijuana with the help of an airline stewardess, Barbara Buckley (Franka Potente), and a girlfriend of George who introduces them to her friend/entrepreneur Derek Foreal (Paul Reubens), the main dealer, who also runs a hair salon. With Derek's help, George and Tuna make a lot of money. Kevin Dulli (Max Perlich), a college student back in Boston who is a friend, visits them and tells them of the enormous demand for pot in Boston. With the help of Barbara, they start bringing the drugs to Boston.As the demand grows, they decide to start buying the drugs directly from Mexico with the help of a few Mexican drug lords. George then proceeds on to Chicago to do business, but is caught trying to import 660 pounds of marijuana and he is sentenced to two years. George skips bail (after trying to plead his innocence by reciting It Ain't Me Babe) to take care of Barbara, who is suffering from, and eventually succumbs to, cancer.While hiding from the authorities George visits his parents back in Massachusetts. While he is having a heart to heart talk with his father, George's mother calls the police who come and arrest him.George is now sentenced to twenty-six months in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. His cellmate Diego Delgado (Jordi Molla) has contacts in the cocaine trade in Colombia and convinces George to help him go into business. When George gets out of prison, he violates his parole conditions and heads down to Cartagena, Colombia to meet up with Diego. They meet with Cesar Rosa, to negotiate the terms for smuggling 15 kilograms for "good faith". As the smuggling operation grows, Diego gets arrested, leaving George to find a way to sell 50 kilos (110 lbs) of blow and get the money in time. He reconnects with Derek in California, and the two successfully sell all of it in 36 hours, amassing a $1.35 million profit. George is then whisked off to Medellin, Colombia, where he finally meets Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis) who agrees to go into business with George and Diego. With the help of main middleman Derek, the pair becomes Pablo's #1 importer. After an altercation with Diego over his "connection", who happened to be Derek (Diego pressured George to reveal his connection), and a drug-related collapse, George returns home and vows to leave the drug business forevermore, especially as he now has a daughter.All goes well with George's civilian lifestyle for five years, until his wife Mirtha (Penelope Cruz) organizes a 38th birthday party for him. Many of his former drug business associates attend, including Derek who reconciles with George after it is revealed that Diego cut him off of their deal. The party is raided by police and George is arrested. Following his conviction, he becomes a fugitive dodging his court date. Meanwhile, his large Panamanian bank accounts have been seized. His wife Mirtha causes him to be arrested while driving one night. He is sent to jail for three years and during that sentence Mirtha gives him the news that she wants a divorce and she wants custody of their nine year old daughter, Kristina Sunshine Jung. On his release he finds himself struggling to keep a relationship with his daughter on good terms.George promises his daughter Kristina (Emma Roberts) a vacation in California and goes into one last deal to garner enough money for the trip. On the deal, he is set up by the FBI and DEA, along with old accomplices, and sentenced to 60 years at Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He explains in the end that the sentence did not bother him, nor did the fact that he was betrayed by his accomplices "to save their own asses" bother him. What bothered him was he broke a promise to his daughter, in addition to the emotional damage he caused on those he loved (especially his daughter) and how his ambition exceeded his talent.In prison, his lawyer says that his request for a furlough for George to see his dying father was squashed by his unforgiving mother, who says it would only upset him. He is given a tape recorder to record a final message to his father. In the message, George recounts his memories of working with his father, his run-ins with the law, and how finally, too late, does he realize what his father meant when his said that money is not "real".The film closes with George being an old man in prison, imagining that his daughter finally comes to visit him and conversing with him. She slowly fades away as a guard calls for George indicating that she is not real and just an illusion. The film concludes with notes indicating that Jung is still in prison, his sentence not to expire until 2015, and his daughter yet to visit him, with the final imagery being a photograph of the actual George Jung.
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flashback, romantic, murder, violence, home movie
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train
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imdb
| null |
tt0105462
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Stalin
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Siberia, 1917. Russia is mired in the third bloody year of the First World War, fighting against Germany. The brutal war and the Tsar's inept, autocratic rule have created an atmosphere ripe for revolution. Josef Dzhugashvili (Robert Duvall), a 38-year-old Georgian using the revolutionary nickname of "Koba," has been exiled to Siberia yet again for his violent activities including bank robberies, kidnappings, and killings. In his writings, he has begun using the name Stalin- Man of Steel. Stalin is drafted into the Tsarist army but fails his physical due to a damaged left arm and a deformed foot. A devoted follower of Vladimir Lenin (Maximilian Schell), Stalin is present when the exiled Bolshevik secretly returns to Russia. Stalin meets his future wife, Nadya (Julia Ormond), while in Siberian exile. She is only seventeen and the daughter of a revolutionary friend. Stalin employs her as a personal secretary but soon takes her as a mistress.After the Tsar is toppled and murdered, Stalin's ruthlessness is fully unleashed in the service of Vladimir Lenin. He confines two dozen "unreliable" former Tsarist army officers on a prison barge and orders it sunk, enraging his chief rival for Lenin's favor- revolutionary Leon Trotsky (Daniel Massey).Stalin and young Nadya are married in 1919. Nadya serves as Lenin's personal secretary while Stalin agrees to serve as Party General Secretary. His fellow Politburo members look down on him as an uneducated, unsophisticated thug, but it is a fatal mistake. Stalin's sheer ambition and ruthlessness make him a supremely dangerous adversary. Shortly after the birth of Stalin and Nadya's first child in 1921, Lenin suffers a debilitating stroke. Lenin's worried followers cannot help but notice the look of steely resolve on Stalin's face. Stalin stays close to Lenin as he recuperates, but they quarrel over Stalin's ruthless tactics and ambition. Stalin is also hated by Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya (Miriam Margolyes). In Lenin's prolonged absence, an anti-Trotsky power troika of Stalin, Zinoviev (Andras Balint), and Kamenev (Emil Wolk) is formed. When Lenin dies in 1924, Stalin plays the loyalist, directing that his body be embalmed and permanently displayed in Red Square. Stalin seeks to inherit Lenin's mantle, but It turns out that before his death Lenin had dictated a letter to the Central Committee condemning Stalin for his cruelty and encouraging his removal as General Secretary. Lenin's damning political testament is later suppressed at Stalin's orders.Fearing a conspiracy between Trotsky and the other Central Committee members, Stalin decides to strike first. He has Trotsky purged from the party and eventually exiled. Stalin's extreme paranoia leads him to systematically purge his ranks of other old comrades who might be potential competitors, first replacing Zinoviev. The unscrupulous and sexually perverted Georgian, Lavrentiy Beria (Roshan Seth), becomes Stalin's right hand man. Nadya begins to recoil at her husband's increasingly vindictive and sadistic personality.Stalin cements his iron grip on even the most remote parts of the Soviet Union, jailing or killing all who oppose him. Stalin's monstrous nature is increasingly revealed through his relationship with his son from a previous marriage, Yakov. Stalin's first wife had died from typhus at a young age, and Stalin had subsequently abandoned the young boy. When Yakov arrives in Moscow seeking a relationship with his estranged father, Stalin is cruelly contemptuous of him. Later, when Yakov asks permission to marry a Jewish girl, the harshly anti-Semitic Stalin refuses. His distraught son flees to another room and shoots himself. Stalin, seeing that the boy has only succeeded in wounding himself, sneers, "Idiot! He can't even shoot straight." It is the last straw for Nadya, who leaves Stalin and flees to her parents' home in Leningrad. Receiving little moral support from them, Nadya returns to Moscow, witnessing mass deportations and evidence of widespread starvation along the way. She publicly confronts and shames her husband at a banquet celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Stalin responds by burning her with a cigarette. In the morning, Stalin is awakened after a night with his mistress to discover that Nadya is dead- ostensibly from appendicitis, perhaps a suicide, but most probably murdered on Stalin's orders. Now the sole parent of two small children aged eleven and six, Stalin once again declines to be a father.A new rivalry draws the attention of Stalin in late 1934. Sergei Kirov, a loyal Stalinist and head of the Communist Party in Leningrad, has become increasingly popular, to Stalin's dismay. Under suspicious circumstances, Kirov is killed by a lone assassin in Leningrad. Though Stalin's involvement is widely suspected, no direct evidence emerges to implicate him. Stalin's wholesale purges are just beginning. Despite Stalin's assurances to the contrary, Zinoviev and Kamenev are soon liquidated in Lubyanka Prison by Beria and the NKVD. Upon reporting the executions to Stalin during a dinner gathering, Beria amuses the bloodthirsy attendees with a ghoulish imitation of the condemned men's last moments. Another of Stalin's old comrades, Bukharin (Jeroen Krabbe) soon fears that his turn has come when the NKVD comes for him at his home. Stalin "just happens" to place a phone call to Bukharin as he is being arrested and feigns surprise at the police intrusion. Stalin calls off the secret police, but a terrified Bukharin gets the message. Stalin soon attempts to coerce another old ally, a man named Sergo, into betraying Bukharin. When Sergo refuses and makes the mistake of threatening Stalin, Stalin makes it clear that suicide is his only option. He will be given a hero's burial within the Kremlin walls. Sergo complies. Bukharin is soon framed and put on trial in one of the infamous "show trials" of 1938. The verdict is a foregone conclusion. Like the others, Bukharin is taken to a dark prison cell and shot by Beria. Stalin also orders the murder of exiled Leon Trotsky, who is now living in Mexico City.After Stalin cynically concludes a 1939 non-aggression pact with Hitler, the massive German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 comes as a nasty surprise. Stalin is panicked and angry, accusing his generals of gross incompetence. General Voroshilov (John Bowe) reacts angrily, accurately charging that Stalin's purges of the Russian military leadership during the 1930s were responsible for the failure of the Russian defenses. Stalin seemingly has a nervous breakdown, disappearing from view for ten days. When he finally recovers his wits, he takes complete charge and predicts in a radio address, "Hitler will go the way of Napoleon...to defeat, to despair, and to his death." Stalin's son, Yakov, is soon taken prisoner by the Germans. When informed of his capture, Stalin callously replies, "I have no son Yakov." Yakov is later killed trying to escape from a German prison camp. Stalin ruthlessly leads the Soviet Union to victory over the next four brutal years. Twenty million Russians die during the conflict. Fearing infection from Western political ideas, Stalin sends hundreds of thousands of returning Russian POWs to Siberian prison camps after the war.Stalin's sadistic sense of humor continues until the very end. A 1953 dinner gathering includes Beria, Molotov, Kruschev, Voroshilov, and Stalin's grown daughter Svetlana. Stalin, increasingly frail and suspicious (even of his doctor), notices that Beria refuses his soup. He insists that Beria taste the soup first, apparently suspecting it is poisoned. Beria tries to beg off, but Stalin forces the issue. After his guests have eaten their soup, Stalin poses a question: who will follow him as Russia's leader? In response to the stunned silence, Stalin suggests that since none of them are worthy of succeeding him, he wishes to be rid of them all. He points out that he didn't eat his own soup, since he had the soup poisoned. His horrified guests giggle nervously and uncertainly while Beria rushes from the room to throw up. After Beria leaves, Stalin chuckles, dips his spoon into his soup, and begins eating. The relieved diners laugh heartily, but none of them doubt that it could have been true. Dinner ends abruptly when Stalin grabs at his temple, having suffered the first of many strokes.Soon after, Stalin is on his deathbed, surrounded by Beria, Molotov, Kruschev, Voroshilov, and his doctor. He is suffering from congestive heart failure after years of smoking and stress. At one point, the doctor tearfully points out that he is struggling to breathe. Beria replies, "Let him suffer- the murdering bastard!" To Beria's horror, Stalin opens his eyes and stares at him. Beria drops to his knees, kisses Stalin's hand, and begs his forgiveness. When Stalin fades out again, Beria spits scornfully on the floor. Svetlana arrives just in time to bid him goodbye, then faints. In another room, Kruschev and Molotov quietly discuss Stalin's legacy. Kruschev bitterly condemns Stalin's atrocities and their effect on Russia, but Molotov rebukes him. He points out Russia's modernization and industrialization under Stalin, and argues that Stalin allowed Russia to take its place as a great nation. "Our history required Stalin."
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suspenseful, intrigue, cruelty, murder, sadist
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train
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imdb
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To appreciate this film you might read any one of the best accounts of Stalin's dictatorship by Roy Medvedev, Dmitri Volkogonov, Edvard Radzinsky, Simon Sebag Montefiore, or Donald Rayfield.
Other reviewers on this site have noted how well Robert Duvall captures Stalin's surly, crude, cunning, sadistic, paranoid personality.
One reviewer has questioned whether Voroshilov would have dared to shout at Stalin, as he does in this film, at the start of the war.
However, Donald Rayfield cites an example of the normally slavish Voroshilov doing something very like what is portrayed in the film, shouting at Stalin as war with the Nazis was looming for murdering most of the Red Army high command and so crippling the defences of the USSR.
He was one of the few men to do anything of the kind and survive StalinThe film is shot at the scenes of the crimes - the Kremlin at Stalin's Kuntsevo dacha - and is sumptuous watching as a result.
For example, Stalin's second wife Nadya was not quite the principled heroine seen here who apparently took her own life because she saw no other escape from the evil that her husband was bringing to the country.
But Stalin, like Hitler and any other dictator, was only possible because those around him saw advantage for themselves in supporting him.
But the only innocents were the people of the former Soviet Union, those far from power whose lives were destroyed according to the requirements of a command economy - so many deaths and so many slaves were required from every walk of life, like so many tons of iron, to meet quotas.
This is perhaps something to bear in mind in watching a generally excellent and historically accurate film.
I could watch this film over and over again - why It was a TV Movie rather than a box-office smash I will never know.
Robert Duvall Is absolutely flawless In his portrayal of Stalin - we're talking Oscar-deserving acting here!
Roshan Seth as the creepy,selfish, arrogant Laventy Beria Is superb;Colin Jeavons as Yagoda;Jim Carter as Sergo;the great Maximilian Schell as Lenin (what fantastic make-up;I thought Lenin had been reincarnated)!The list goes on,a marvellous mix of International actors who blend beautifully to recreate the lives,times and crimes of Stalin,his entourage and his enemies,both real and Imagined.
I've studied Stalin a lot over the years and this film Is about as historically accurate as one could get.
I re-watched this film in order to put faces to the names, as I was studying for a Soviet History midterm.
However, the tendency of the film to separate the good guys (e.g., Bucharin) from the bad (es.g., Stalin, Beria, Ezhov) is not great historiography, but makes the film easier to digest.It is hard to know what effect the death of Stalin's wife had on him.
Duvall's performance is masterful, I think, because he manages to capture the LACK of essence of Stalin.
This movie details the life of Joseph Stalin, the notorious Communist leader, brought to life by a stunning Robert Duvall who brings out his greatest performance ever.Narrated by Stalin's daughter Svetlana, this begins with Stalin joining Lenin and the Bolsheviks in their fight against the government, eventually setting up their own government themselves.
Most of his biography is well known to us, however this movie brings out the character of Stalin as a psycho villain who did not trust a single person, not even his associates and took extreme measures to exterminate them all.
But in the end, he does not change and this leads to his downfall and death.Although the film does suffer in pacing, it is the performance of Robert Duvall that makes it worth watching.
His performances are real and endearing as he simply becomes Stalin by portraying the ruthlessness and paranoia of the mad Communist dictator; a man who could not be solved by his friends or family, and who could not be controlled by anyone even himself.
The supporting cast headed by Julia Ormond as Stalin's wife, Maximillian Schell as Lenin and Roshan Seth as Berin do well, but it is Duvall's show all the way.
History buffs will enjoy watching this, trying to put the pieces together about the madman known as Joseph Stalin.8 out of 10..
Over three hours long, the movie covers the dictator's life from his exile in Siberia when he took the name Stalin up to his death in 1953.
And the filmmakers remain more-or-less true to the facts, giving neither imaginative shock moments nor just plain history.Robert DuVall looks nice as Stalin,and his performance is also satisfactory.
Duval performance is really extraordinary and unforgettable as Stalin, and Julia Ormond (Nadya), M.
I'm not a great fan of biography films, but Stalin is an exception.
This film basically showcases the important aspects of the life the Russian leader Joseph Stalin.
Stalin features a powerful and riveting performance by Robert Duvall, as well as similarly great performances from the supporting actors including Maximillian Schell and Julia Ormond.
Overall, Stalin is must-watch film for those interested in biographies, historical figures and well, good movies..
First of all, this was the first movie I ever saw Robert Duvall in, and he does an exceptional job as he has done in every role he has ever had.
Also, it gave me a decent historical picture of Stalin which led to years of fascination with the man.
If you like Robert Duvall and great dialogue, I highly recommend it..
Robert Duvall manages to do a credible job in portraying the title character - Stalin.
The movie also shows what was Stalin's fundamental character flaw - his inability to trust, the cause of which remains unknown.
The movie shows that one had to be careful as to how they acted and what they said around Stalin, because Stalin was looking for any excuse to prove you an enemy of the revolution, which in turn meant being his enemy.
If one is interested in learning something about Joseph Stalin the person, then watch this movie..
I won't even go on about why Molotov's portrayal is an historic injustice (a scrawny nothing referred to in the film not as "Iron Arse" but rather "Iron Pants") or how Voroshilov's public denouncing of Stalin's actions to his face is absolutely ludicrous- the man widely-acclaimed as stupidest man in the whole Soviet Republic who facilitated the purge of the Red Army, accommodation with Hitler et cet.
I teach Soviet history in Communist China and ironically I have to use a proxy just to offer my thoughts as the ruling fascists have seen fit to block IMDb because it refers to a single film no-one has heard of.
Considering that he speaks and acts as if he is in one of his Godfather movies, the overall effect is extremely weird and rather one-dimensional.Perhaps Stalin was indeed simply a very nasty paranoid despot who murdered everyone in sight, but if so this film is much too long, since we get the message very early on.It might have helped if we could have had more of the history involved - for example how exactly Stalin managed to take power after Lenin's death and his tactics in playing off the right against the left (and vice versa).
The show trials could also have been exploited more, as could the wide extent of the purges - and also the minor matter of the Second World War, which is largely glossed over.As it is, just seeing Stalin liquidate the rest of the film's cast one by one is horrifying but rather monotonous..
After viewing this film it should be difficult not to place Duvall amongst the present day acting legends (DeNiro, Nicholson, Pacino, Hopkins, etc).
My whole point in this being, "Stalin" IS Duvall's picture.
If you enjoy well made, historically accurate films and Robert Duvall both you're in for a treat.
Robert Duvall gives his best performance ever, which is amazing, considering the stellar acting by the international cast.
People like him, like Hitler, like so many other embodiments of evil are exceedingly easy to dehumanize, to make them a devil and not a man.Stalin does a pretty decent job of showing the blindingly evil side of the man and still giving him a human feel.
It is cut short and anyone with even a simple enough grasp of Stalin to vaguely know who he is gets the feeling that they are missing out.They made Che, years later, into two epic films.
A life as important--and evil--of Stalin deserved more than a made-for-TV movie despite the quality..
Hollywood with the help of Czechoslovakian immigrate Ivan Passer and famous movie stars offers quite a simplified vision of a terrible man Stalin and his crimes.
I watched Stalin and think that it is a good portrayal of Stalin's life.
I would have liked to see more actors such as people playing Hitler instead of showing stock footage.
I would have liked to see more of Stalin's childhood in the movie and maybe some cold war clips near the end of his life.
This gives the movie a more personal touch to what his life was really like.
The movie also used Robert Conquest as one of the contributors, which is good because he wrote Stalin: Breaker of Nations in 1992, also at the time of this movie..
Much of the film focuses on Stalin's relationship his first wife, Nadezhda Alleluieva, which tends to dilute the more interesting plot elements.
The film also tends to humanize Stalin a bit too much, trying to show his 'tender' side, as well as many of the old Bolsheviks without discussing their own crimes.The filmmakers seem to be quite ignorant of the way many of the main characters looked and acted - strange given the tremendous access to research materials.
Robert Duvall's Stalin is highly reminiscent of an Italian gangster.
This is one of my favorite movies and Robert Duvall does an excellent job in his portrayal of Stalin, the most cruel dictator of the 20th century.
Personally, I did not think it was possible to make a rather objective film about Stalin.
Anyone with knowledge of Stalin and his cohorts will appreciate how well all the main characters are portrayed by the mainly British cast but with American Duvall at his very best.
I always appreciate historical accuracy and while some major events are missed and (perhaps through poor editing) not every situation and relationship between characters Is properly explained, this Is nevertheless a marvelous historical film almost on the scale of epic - It deserved general release and an extra half-hour would have gone a long way In tidying up the gaps In the story.
Duvall does a great Job as Stalin - the mannerisms, his icy coldness behind the smile - okay so his Russian accent Is a bit "off" In places but to criticize his performance Just for that would be grossly unfair.
TV movies are by nature generally "mild", being as they are aimed generally for family viewing, but a lack of bad language and sex scenes, and Indeed only a little blood (and no gore) Is a breath of fresh air - besides, none of that stuff Is needed here; we don't have to see the terror, we can feel It, we see It In the faces, hear It In the voices and Insinuations - It grows and pervades the whole film.
This Is the best TV Movie I have ever seen and Is definitely In my top 100 films..
and that is the motif for know few basic things about Stalin before see the film.
because Robert Duvall does a great job.
When it comes to mass murderers, they don't get much bigger or worse than the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
One of the few films from the west about him is the HBO produced docudrama "Stalin".
Made not long after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, it pretty accurately chronicles Stalin, from his rise in the Bolshevik party to the height of his monolithic power at the end of World War II.
Playing Stalin is Robert Duvall.
However, believe me when I tell you that not only does Duvall look and sound like Stalin through the use of good makeup and an accent, he BECOMES Stalin.
In fact, the more the movie went on, the less and less I saw him as Duvall and the more and more I saw him as the real Stalin.
It's a real testament to Duvall's ability as an actor, especially considering that Duvall is about as far away from an ethnic Georgian as you can get (Stalin was from the former Soviet Georgia).
I would even go as far to say that Duvall's portrayal of Stalin is perhaps the closest we have as to who the real Stalin was, a paranoid mass murderer who was just as much at ease condemning his former close comrades to death as he was starving the Russian peasants in order to pay for the industrialization of the Soviet Union.
Of course, Duvall's performance is the not the only good one here; the epic drama boasts an amazing supporting cast in the form of the late, great Maximilian Schell as Lenin, Julia Ormond as Stalin's suffering wife Nadya, Joan Plowright as Nadya's mother Olga, Roshan Seth as the treacherous Beria, and many more that I don't have the space for.
The film crew was granted unprecedented freedom to the Kremlin buildings after the fall of Soviet Union, as well as the dacha just outside Moscow that Stalin stayed at the most.
Some people have expressed disappointment that the film did not pay as much attention to Stalin's atrocities as maybe it could have and it is indeed true that we barely get a brief look at World War II from Stalin's viewpoint, the war that propelled him to his greatest heights of power.
Furthermore, I would argue that we do get a look at Stalin's crimes, albeit a subtle one, be it the scene where Nadya witnesses people being herded into cattle cars while passing through a train station or the general talk of people disappearing left and right throughout the film.
In short, "Stalin" is a film that one should watch, not only because of the importance of history but as a warning to future generations of what can happen when people collectively give up freedoms, checks and balances, their faith in God and what's right, and instead put all their hope in one man with absolute power over life and death.
I was worried that this film would have portrayed Glorious Comrade Stalin in a bad way, but, instead, it shows him in his true glorious light: he loved his kids and he knew how to deal with counter-revolutionary traitors.Unfortunately, the movie didn't explain well enough why it was necessary to have enemies of the people like Kirov, Bukharin, Yagoda, Zinoviev and Kamenev executed.While they mentioned that Svetlana was living in England, they should have mentioned that she defected to the west like the traitor to the Motherland she was..
Technically the film is a documentary; there is narration by the supposed daughter of Stalin, and there are a few minutes of real-life footage from the USSR However, it stands out more as a bio-drama.Stalin appeals as a protagonist in the first years of his Soviet leadership.
Robert Duvall is a stinky actor with a smelly accent..
A movie about Stalin should be a lot more interesting but Duval just has no clue how to portray such a complex character as Stalen.
They should have better explained at the beginning of the film how Stalin goes from being rejected by the army to being his hero Lenin's right hand man.
Robert Duvall is a marvelous actor and he delivers an extraordinary performance as Stalin, one of the most bloody dictators of the 20th century.
Stalin killed 50 million of people, twice as Hitler, and it has called my attention the fact that we have many movies depicting the cruelty of the Nazis (which I think is good because the victims deserve that tribute and I identify with their suffering), and just a few films depicting the cruelty of the Communists.
"Josef Stalin's crimes caused the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet Citizens," the epilogue tells us, but you might not know it from watching this film.
But Robert Duvall slogs through the role of Stalin as he would a puddle of mud.
Duval absolutely nails Stalin.
One big one that comes to mind right off the top of my head is the time when Voroshilov screams at Stalin for killing off all good generals and now losing to Hitler because of that.
I think it's worth a 7/10 but given the focus on Stalin's way of thinking, I give it a 8/10.Some actors play well, others more like on a theater stage.
With Stalin HBO outdoes itself and it can be attributed entirely to Robert Duvall -which is not to say that the rest of the cast is not top notch, it is.
Robert Duvall captures this and make the character likable while he goes on his merry murdering way.
Austrian beers?" "Yes, but I like Triple X." Kristl had said."No, he wasn't even though the movie is more focused on his private life than I would have expected.
" "Yeah." "The pity with this movie is that you somehow does not get to grips with the person of Stalin..
Even though Stalin is the subject of the movie, it feels like you are watching him from the outside, but never get in his inside.Never find his motivation or his side of the story.
It looks like Duvalls is wearing a mask.
His facial expression is almost non-existent." "I like Robert Duvall, he is a good actor, but they hamstrung him with that mask and thus the movie suffers.
Robert Duvall Does Not Look in any way remotely like Joseph Stalin.
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tt0060174
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Blood Bath
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Antonio "Tony" Sordi [William Campbell] lives in a studio under an old belltower where he spends his time painting, just as his ancestor Erno Sordi did five hundred years ago. The only difference is that Erno Sordi was convicted of conspiring with the devil and was burned at the stake, whereas Antonio Sordi sells his paintings at prices that the local beatniks can only dream about. What they would never dream is that the Erno Sordi of legend is the same Antonio Sordi of the 20th century [or maybe Antonio is possessed by his ancestor? The movie never explains this little detail.] and that Sordi is a vampire. After feeding on his victims, always young and beautiful women, Sordi takes them back to his studio, places them in various poses from which he paints his popular "dead red nudes," and then tosses their bodies into a bubbling bath of some sort (acid?).Tony's new girlfriend of two weeks, an aspiring dancer named Dorean [Linda Saunders], doesn't know the sordid side of his character, mostly because Tony refuses to let her visit him at his studio. Instead, they meet on the beach where no one knows them and where Dorean can dance in the sand while wearing tights or bikinis. Tony doesn't want Dorean to find out about his pursuits lest the same thing happen as it did in the 15th century. It was his lover Melissa who complained to the ecclesiatical council that he had cast a spell on her and captured her soul on his canvas. Melissa stood laughing at him as his body burned.Max [Karl Schanzer], one of the local beatniks, has been experimenting with new artforms. His latest invention, the quantum gun, has his friends excitedly discussing this "formal" method of painting. But when his model, Daisy Allen [Marissa Mathes], disappears and shows up in one of Sordi's newest paintings, Max asks Daisy's sister Donna [Sandra Knight] to pay Sordi a visit and see if she can find out where Daisy has gone. Sordi denies knowing Daisy, of course, and slams the door in Donna's face. As Donna leaves, an old-timer reminds her about the legend of the belltower. That night, concerned that Sordi might be an actual vampire, Donna follows him on his wanderings, but they are intercepted by a group of costumed party-goers. When Donna sees Sordi's face and gets a look at his fangs, she screams in horror and tries to run away. She comes upon a carousel and "escapes" by riding round and round on one of the horses. When the carousel stops, Donna is dead.Dorean is starting to feel inscure in her relationship with Tony. The fact that he won't invite her to his studio is a red flag, and she begins to question him about how many girls he's making love to and why he won't make a pass at her. Tony responds by running away while shouting, "You have to give me time!" With tears in her eyes, Dorean collapses on the beach until she notices someone watching her. When she gets up to leave, he follows her. She starts to run, but he stays on her tail. Fortunately, Dorean runs into Max and some of his friends. While they pursue her follower, Dorean goes over to Tony's studio where she thinks she will be safe. Max catches up with Tony, they struggle, and Tony falls off a roof. As Max is telling his buddies how the face looked like that of a vampire, they notice the body has disappeared.Somehow Tony has gotten back to his studio before Dorean, and he's really flipped out. He's talking to a painting of Melissa, telling her that he needs her and that she has to come back to work with him one more time. Unfortunately for Dorean, that's the moment she arrives. Dorean is horrified when she sees the dank, cobweb-ridden studio with rats and dead bodies in various states of decay, but it's too late. Tony has caught her in a net and is waving a straight-edged razor in front of her face, telling her how he's going to cut her so that he can paint Melissa as Enro Sordi one more time. As he places the razor against Dorean's neck, all the dead bodies begin to awaken [No reason given]. They crawl toward Sordi and push him into the vat of whatever. Dorean faints, and that's how Max and his buddies find her. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]
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murder, flashback
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train
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imdb
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tt0343788
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The Hillz
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The film follows the experiences of a promising athlete named Steve and his friends who live in a small southern California town. Steve's three friends, Duff, Seb, and T, all come from wealthy families and spend most of their time getting high, drinking at parties, and harassing Ahkmed, a convenience store clerk. After finding a gun in a girl's house, Duff starts violently pursuing a life of crime with T, the loudmouthed instigator with a Napoleon complex, at his side.
After Duff kills a kid who volunteers at the police department, the story fades away and we come back to find Steve returning home from college a year later just after being successful in college baseball. Steve came back to get his dream girl, Heather Smith, who told him that if he made it as a baseball player she would consider dating him. Steve runs into Duff's gang. Things spiral out of control for Steve as we learn that Duff and T have become submerged in what they think is one of the hardest gangs ever. In fact, shortly after Steve joins up with Duff and T, he witnesses them kill a man in broad daylight in the middle of the street over $80.
As the story unfolds, it is clear that Heather is being used and abused by her new boyfriend Todd, whom she is reluctant to leave for Steve. Later Steve convinces Seb, who broke his ties with Duff's crew, to come out and party with Duff and the old gang for a night. T insults two Korean men by calling them Gooks, who then fire an Uzi into Duff's car, killing Seb. Duff and T were later sold out to a crooked undercover cop and the older brother of the man who was previously shot over $80. They killed T and then a narcotics officer, and his team busted the door down and were all killed.
The end of the movie has Steve and Duff driving along the street when a couple of young kids throw something at Duff's car causing the two get to out of the car and chase after them. As they get near the kids, one of them turns, pulls a gun, and shoots Duff and Steve, killing them both.
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violence, comedy, murder
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train
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wikipedia
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tt2326612
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The Captive
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(NOTE: The story is told in a non-linear fashion. Many scenes in the movie are flashbacks, which are likewise not in chronological order.)The camera pans along snow-covered landscape and into the home of Mika (Kevin Durand), who stands near his window while Japanese Kabuki opera plays on a wall-mounted TV screen. As Mika walks downstairs, we can see his home is an expensive luxury house in a secluded area, but with a lot of state-of-the-art security and technology. He looks into the monitor of a desktop computer, which appears to show the view of several security cameras. He slides aside a wall panel to reveal a hidden door locked by a numerical code. Mika enters the code on a keypad and opens the door, revealing a room where a teenage girl (Alexia Fast) sits, playing a piano and singing. She looks up at Mika apprehensively, and he says he'll think about a request she's made of him: "Maybe; just this once."A woman named Tina (Mireille Enos) enters a diner, sitting at a table opposite an unseen woman. Tina didn't show at a planned meeting, which the unseen woman asks if it's because of "her 13th birthday." Tina is living alone in a house and hating it. She misses two people in her life: Matthew and Cassandra, and she misses living.A bearded man watches a younger man skate at a rink. The skater notices the bearded man, and they both nod in greeting.The bearded man is Matthew (Ryan Reynolds), and he drives down a road, picking up a hitchhiker named Paige. As Matthew continues driving, Paige turns her head and notices a photo of a boy and girl posing together in skating outfits, hanging from his dashboard. The boy in the photo looks a lot like a younger version of the young man Matthew recognized at the skating rink.Matthew drives Paige to her house in town, and watches as she closes the door behind her. Just then he gets a phone call from Tina, asking if he's coming to a meeting with another woman, who's asked to meet both of them. Matthew cites the heavy snowfall as to why he can't make it. Tina tells him he always has excuses. Tina mentions she's noticed a brush like the one her mother gave Cassandra, "in one of the rooms;" Tina works as a chambermaid in a hotel. As she sits, puzzling over the brush, Mika is seen watching her on his computer monitor.Mika is at work talking with his boss, Vince Grey, a real estate developer. Mika watches Grey give a sales pitch to a man standing near a wall display advertising a new development, and listens with interest as he finds the man is a police detective, Jeff Cornwall (Scott Speedman). Cornwall asks Grey about his wife, who was the last person seen with another detective named Nicole Dunlop (Rosario Dawson), who has gone missing. Grey says he'll ask his wife to return Cornwall's calls and speak to him on the matter. He also gives Cornwall two placards advertising a charity ball that recently took place; the placards have a large inset photo of Dunlop in dress uniform. She was keynote speaker at the charity ball.Dunlop is shown to be the woman speaking to Tina at the diner. Dunlop asks if there's any hope of Tina getting back together with Matthew. Tina says he calls and they talk, a lot, but he never comes to see her in person. Tina believes Matthew is guilty of doing something bad, and she wants him to feel that way.We see Dunlop interviewing Cornwall for a position in her unit with the Niagara Falls PD. Dunlop's unit deals with stopping child predators and pedophiles. She shows him a video seized from an online child porn site to judge his reaction, telling him their job is never to look away from victimized children. Dunlop introduces Cornwall to the rest of the unit.Matthew and Tina are watching Cassandra and the boy from the photo, Albert, skate together. Cassandra asks Albert to 'pinky promise' he'll never skate with anyone else. While Tina goes to work, Matthew drives Cassandra to a roadside restaurant, and she lies down across the back seat while he places a dinner order to go for the both of them. The camera pans in on the door, and then Matthew is seen returning to his vehicle-- and his daughter is missing. Matthew's voice becomes more frantic as he runs all about the area, calling her name.The teenage girl is shown to be Cassandra at her current age; she's Mika's captive, and has been since she disappeared; now eight years ago. Mika is offering her a chance for a few moments' conversation with her father. Cassandra notes Mika doesn't like the idea, and reminds him that he's never told her his name, and she has no idea where the house containing her prison, is. Cassandra has not attempted to escape or contact her parents (she is also able to watch Tina at work in the hotel, on her own computer) because Mika has threatened to kill both Matthew and Tina. Cassandra wonders if it wouldn't be easier for Mika to kill her, now that she's reached young adulthood and Mika is interested in young kids. Mika tells her only that she's still very valuable to him, 'doing exactly what she's doing.'Dunlop and Cornwall are interviewing Matt three hours after Cassandra's disappearance. He's disgusted and astounded at how closely they pay attention to his first saying her still-current age (nine years) and then shortly after, her soon-to-be-age (ten years) and whether the name of the diner's hostess was Linda or Lesley.Tina is cleaning a bathtub while at work, and sees a skating trophy in the room; one looking a lot like one that Cassandra and Albert won together as kids. As Tina stares tearfully at the trophy, Cassandra speaks into a microphone about when she won it. Mika, listening in, commends her on the performance, but asks her to repeat it 'with less self-pity.'Tina is brought to the station. She becomes hysterical as Matthew tries to talk to her about Cassandra's disappearance. She hits him several times, and doesn't resist as he grabs on to her and holds her. Dunlop takes Tina into a room to speak to her alone. As Dunlop speaks to Tina, Cornwall baits Matthew about an assault charge tied to a barroom brawl over Tina when Matthew was 18 years old and Cassandra was a baby. Because of this, he quit school, started working, and now, nine years after that, his landscaping business is about to fail and he's on the verge of bankruptcy. Cornwall also questions why Cassandra would be resting in the back of the cab when Matthew was buying her favorite dessert pie for her with dinner. Cornwall finally drops a rude and crude bomb about the possibility of Matthew "loaning" Cassandra to a demented pedophile for a few days in return for a lot of money. Outraged, Matthew tries to hit Cornwall, but the detective shoves him to the ground. As Matt leaves, Dunlop admonishes Cornwall over his behavior.We see Dunlop meeting Tina in the diner again; Dunlop telling Tina that she doesn't excuse the way Cornwall acted toward Matthew, but trying to explain it from Cornwall's point of view. Tina still hates it, defending Matthew's love of Cassandra. She leaves the diner, very upset.Mika again watches Tina at work. As she changes bedsheets, she finds a ring box on the bed, which contains a baby tooth. Tina breaks down and cries as she suspects it's one of Cassandra's baby teeth. Meanwhile, Cassandra makes a recording about it. As she speaks into the microphone, she finds a way to slip something into the narrative; part of a word play between she and her father the day she disappeared. She smiles to herself.Tina meets with Dunlop in her office. Dunlop asks Tina about her relationship with Matthew. Tina says she can hardly look at him without seeing their daughter and saying terrible things; he didn't show up for this meeting because he was sure Tina would scream at him in anger; something Tina admits she would probably have done. It's clear by this point that Matthew is still suspected of at least negligence in Cassandra's disappearance, and even Tina holds him responsible; thus their estrangement and separation.Dunlop takes Tina to a back room where Cornwall sits at a computer. Dunlop and Cornwall tell Tina about some of the work Cornwall does, posing as a pedophile to study footage of internet chat networks where child molesters trade in images and live video feeds of children being abused, in hopes of tracking down the perpetrators. Cornwall believes he may have seen some images of Cassandra among the feeds. The pictures look very recent, showing what Cassandra is believed to look like in the present, which Tina understands, with great relief and delight, means her daughter is most likely still alive.Tina studies the images and says that she believes the photos look like Cassandra. She calls Matthew and tells him about it. She says that Dunlop and Cornwall told her that in the images, Cassandra appears to be speaking to another girl, younger than Cassandra would be in the present. Tina puzzles over something else Dunlop and Cornwall told her: that Cassandra is like a welcoming face on a gateway... to a ring. Tina's voice goes quiet as she figures out what they meant: Cassandra is being used to lure other, younger children to the attentions of Mika and other child molesters. This enrages Tina and she again cuts into Matthew with her belief that he is responsible for 'losing' their daughter.Cassandra is reading aloud a poem, which Mika tells her is from an opera composed by Mozart. Cassandra asks how it's supposed to help bring in other kids, and he says it isn't; it's part of 'story time.' Disturbed, Cassandra turns to her piano and tries to comfort herself by playing and singing.Tina, at work, finds another memento of Cassandra in one of the rooms under her charge: a play teacup and saucer. It's clear by now that both Mika and Cassandra are able to watch her regularly on their computer monitors via some kind of camera feed, and that Mika has been leaving these items to torment her.Dunlop's team are photoshopping an image of her during her adolescence, to optimize her attractiveness. They catch the attention of Willy (Ian Matthews), a pedophile to whom Cornwall has been talking via internet chat, posing as a girl. Willy bites at the bait; he asks "Nikki" if they can meet.Dunlop sits at a coffee shop, her hair and the hood of a bubble-gum pink sweatshirt obscuring her face. Willy walks in and initiates contact. As soon as Dunlop looks up at him, he can see she's much older than the photos indicated, and he tries to make a break for it, but Dunlop's men are waiting and they swiftly arrest him.Dunlop and her team come to a good deal of acclaim and prestige for their work in the Niagara area, and she's interviewed by the local TV press. Dunlop and Cornwall are seen watching this on the TV news station, and it's seen they've entered a romantic relationship.Mika also sees the news report, and goes to see Willy in prison. He insists that only the first ring has been cracked, and the 'hub' he operates is safe. He tells Willy to deny all accusations and refuse any deals offered him. Willy insists he will only do this if Dunlop is punished for setting him up. Mika says this is infeasible, but Willy insinuates that he will turn rat if his demand is not met. He wants her buried, but alive, and made to tell all her stories.Cornwall is also doing another sting operation: his young niece, Jennifer, is web-chatting with Cassandra. As soon as Cassandra tells Jennifer that she's willing to meet with the girl and show her how to write a note for the tooth fairy, Cornwall's head snaps up and he believes he's ready to hit paydirt. But suddenly Dunlop arrives, earlier than expected, and even when Cornwall tells her that his brother (Jennifer's father) knows of Cornwall's plan and has given permission, Dunlop gets very upset. Mika sees Dunlop come into view of Jennifer's webcam, recognizes her, and immediately terminates the chat connection. However, a green LED remains lit, showing that Mika can still see and hear everything happening in the room via Jennifer's webcam. He watches and listens as Dunlop tears into Cornwall over the sting, and using a young girl as bait, potentially endangering her. Mika also learns that Dunlop's unit knows what Cassandra is being used for. Most important, he overhears Dunlop telling Cornwall she no longer wants him to accompany her to an event happening that night; she's going alone.Cassandra also overhears the whole argument between Dunlop and Cornwall, and she starts to cry.Dunlop arrives via taxicab at the charity ball honoring her. She's wearing a pink evening dress and looks beautiful. She's met by Diane Grey, wife of Mika's boss. Dunlop has been given a seat at Mrs. Grey's table. Mika comes over to say hello to Mrs. Grey, and he plays along as she introduces him to Dunlop. Mika now has a perfect cover as a known acquaintance of Mrs. Grey.A mysterious woman with long dark hair enters the ball. She takes a powder out of her purse and puts it in her drink as she listens to Mrs. Grey introducing Dunlop as keynote speaker of the charity ball. The only empty seats are Dunlop's (she's on stage) and another at the same table. As Dunlop is speaking, the mysterious woman sits at Dunlop's seat and puts her drink down. Mrs. Grey whispers to the woman that the seat is taken, so the woman moves to the other empty seat... discreetly taking Dunlop's drink instead of the one she just put down right beside it.Dunlop's speech earns a standing ovation and a high number of pledges. Seated again at Grey's table with Grey, Mrs. Grey, Mika and the mysterious woman, she talks about the technology she and her unit work with; something Mika takes the opportunity to ask her about. In the meanwhile, Dunlop has finished her drink and Grey has poured her a second. The powder starts taking effect.The mysterious woman helps Dunlop downstairs and out of the center, and offers her a ride. She helps Dunlop into a limousine and sits beside her in the back. There, she pulls off a long dark wig, revealing short, blonde hair underneath. The woman is Mika's accomplice, Vicky (Christine Horne). Dunlop realizes she's been drugged and is in serious trouble, but can do nothing as Vicky crades Dunlop over her lap and watches her slowly black out.Matthew is delivering a shipment of evergreen saplings to a work site, only to find the foreman has sent everyone home due to the snowstorm. He tells Matthew that there's a roadsite motel a very short distance down the highway where he can spend the night; if he brings a receipt back to the camp the next day, the foreman will reimburse him the cost.But when Matthew checks out the next morning, he finds the trailer has been stolen, and one of the trees lies on the ground near his truck. When he happens to look in the direction that the top of this tree is pointing, he sees a number of the trees stood up in the snow along the road, forming a trail. He gets in his truck and follows it. As he reaches the end of the trail, where a barricade has been placed, he fails to notice a camera in the top of a nearby tree.Matthew follows the last couple of trees on foot to a clearing where a young woman stands near the trailer. It's Cassandra. Matthew is overcome with relief and joy as he hugs his daughter. Cassandra tells him cryptically that the people who took her arranged for this meeting because she's precious to them, but she only shakes her head silently when he tries to press her to say who these people are. Matthew doesn't understand when Cassandra begins repeating bits of the conversation they had in the truck just before her disappearance, saying a promise was made, and asking if it was kept-- a cryptic reference to whether Albert kept his promise never to skate with anyone else. Finally Cassandra says the visit is over, and she has to go, and Matthew has to forget her. He refuses, grabbing her in a tight hug and insisting he's taking her home. Mika, coming out of hiding behind the trailer, aims a rifle and fires a tranquilizer dart into Matthew, knocking him out. Cassandra doesn't resist as Mika helps her to her feet and leads her away.Mrs. Grey meets with Cornwall to discuss Dunlop's disappearance. The only lead is the mysterious woman who showed up at the ball. Mrs. Grey mentions she took the only empty seat at the ball-- the seat that Cornwall was supposed to occupy until Dunlop decided not to bring him. Cornwall lets this slip, and Mrs. Grey asks if the mysterious woman knew this. She thought nothing suspicious about the mystery woman offering Dunlop a ride, because Dunlop needed one and was traveling alone.Driving down the road, Matthew figures out why Cassandra was repeating snippets of their conversation from the day she vanished; she was making references to Albert. He understands Cassandra wants him to pay attention to Albert; hence why he watches Albert practicing at the skating rink.Dunlop awakens to find herself locked inside an empty van with heavy wire grates preventing her from escaping via any of the windows or doors; a van meant to remind her of one she had talked about having to sleep inside on her 14th birthday when she had been homeless and alone. Mika falsetto-sings the notes of an opera that Dunlop can hear through strategically placed speakers. Although Dunlop cannot see it from her vantage point, the van imprisoning her is in a garage or large storage room.On duty at work again, Tina find yet another memento of Cassandra's childhood; a series of pinwheels attached to the railing of the balcony for one of the hotel rooms. Tina breaks down and starts to come apart.Mika torments Dunlop further by pressing her to start talking more about her stories, including how she had to sleep in the abandoned van when she was 14. He warns that if she doesn't talk, he might stop returning, and leave her to die of thirst and starvation.Tina has called Niagara police. She's with the hotel manager in the room where she found the pinwheels, and Dunlop is studying the room. An air vent catches her attention, and she pries off the cover to reveal a hidden camera.Dunlop's men have found an elaborate series of hidden cameras in all the rooms in the hotel where Tina works, and are discussing why they were put there. They theorize that Tina may have been watched for a long time, even though the mementos of Cassandra have only started showing up relatively recently. They theorize that people involved in the child-abuse network pay to watch the footage of a missing girl's mother gradually freaking out.Matthew arrives home where Tina waits with Dunlop and Cornwall. When they tell him about what's been going on at Tina's job, Matthew only becomes angry, thinking they suspect him. He challenges Dunlop to arrest him if she thinks he's involved in any criminal activity. As Matthew leaves, he finds Cornwall taking pictures of the inside of Matthew's truck, which is still decorated with many items related to Cassandra's childhood; including the picture of her and Albert, and the blanket Cassandra had lay on when she was taken. Cornwall asks why the truck resembles a shrine. Matthew's only response is a punch that knocks Cornwall to the ground, before Matthew gets in his truck and storms off.In her room, Cassandra is telling Mika she needs to feel new experiences, now that she can't watch her mother anymore. She reminds Mika of a particular story she told him about when she won the trophy and showed it to her mother, how Mika said it was the most moving story she told him. Cassandra suggests making it better. Interested, Mika asks her how.Vicky goes to the skating rink where Albert still practices, and poses as a journalist writing an article about missing children and the people involved in their lives before they disappeared. She tries to ask Albert about his time skating with Cassandra, and whether he kept the trophy they won. Albert is hostile to this questioning and refuses to speak to Vicky. As Vicky leaves, Matthew, seeing Albert demand that Vicky leave him alone, goes to him and asks why Vicky was bothering him.Matthew begins tailing Vicky and sees her van pulled up beside a small roadside diner. He calls Dunlop's office and tells Cornwall about the van, and that he's going to secrete his cell phone in it. He gives Cornwall the phone's number, which will allow others in Dunlop's team to track it via GPS. Although Cornwall is still cynical toward Matthew, he and the team find they believe him enough to start a track on his phone. Matthew slips his phone into the large spare tire mounted on the trunk of Vicky's van.Matthew begins acting in a disruptive and hostile manner to the diner manager in order to make him call the police. Finding a poster of Cassandra, he takes it and sits at the table where Vicky and Mika are talking. He is careful not to voice his suspicions about them, but shows them the poster and identifies himself as Cassandra's father, and that he is displeased with police having dragged their feet on the investigation for so many years. Vicky acts compassionate toward Matthew as she and Mika try to accommodate him. The diner manager tells Matthew that the police are on their way. Matthew leaves, and Vicky suddenly notices that in the distraction, he lifted her cell phone.Mika and Vicky pursue Matthew, ramming his van and shooting at him, but he makes it back to the diner where a police van has pulled up, forcing Vicky and Mika to leave. Dunlop's team tracks the van and discovers where Mika lives.Dunlop's team storms Mika's home. Mika had been leading Cassandra out of her room. They hear the police, and Cassandra tries to scream. Covering her mouth, Mika forces her back into her room, but is unable to lock it before Dunlop's team arrives. Vicky shoots Cornwall, but his vest protects him; he's wounded but not badly. Vicky is gunned down and killed. Mika begins walking toward the officers with a hostile look. When he refuses to halt on command, they shoot him. An officer demands to know where Dunlop is. Mika only says that she's in a van where she had her 14th birthday, before he dies.Cassandra is rescued, and has a tearful reunion with her parents at the police station. Tina even hugs Matthew with one arm as she embraces Cassandra in the other.Cassandra and Tina visit Cornwall as he recovers in the hospital, and he talks about Dunlop's meetings with Tina, how Dunlop benefited from them as well as Tina.Matthew clears all the mementos of Cassandra's childhood, out of his van.Police find their way into Mika's garage and find the van in which Dunlop is held prisoner, rescuing her.Cassandra steps onto the ice in the skating rink and starts to skate, and she smiles.
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flashback
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train
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imdb
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I was very undecided about going to see this movie due to this bad habit of reading reviews on IMDb. It is not the first time a low rated movie turns out to be great, but it is certainly the greatest contrast between reviews and the actual movie.
Its funny that one of the reoccurring lines in the dialog between the father and daughter focused on the word "gimmick" because it seemed as if the director tried to fit every story telling gimmick he could think of into this film.
The entire movie is the parents working with what seems like the best pedophile detectives ever assembled looking for their daughter.
The movie does this Pulp Fiction thing with the past and the present scenes flipping and flopping back and forth to tell the story.
No where near Pulp Fiction level, but the film gets the job done telling the story with it.Viewing this movie it seemed more like a 7 rather than a 5/10.
I mean he could have at least tried a little harder to actually look like a devastated father who just lost his only daughter not knowing if she is dead or alive.
It was a pretty decent movie, had some plot holes but very much watchable and you'll definitely like it if u watch with an open mind.
A father looking for her kidnapped daughter is not something new but its not a typical movie where the father just goes berserk and kills off all the bad people.
The story moves back and forth which i find is pretty cool, but some people might not like it as it can be a little confusing at times.The acting is superb and the movie is a little slow to start off but overall, i would definitely recommend this movie!!
I watched this movie clueless about the director's negative past as a filmmaker and other things that made me think twice when I found out afterwords.
But unlike some of the other users, I went in just wanting to watch a good movie.The flashbacks, the emotion, the suspicion and the mystery that was in it really did it for me.
And yet, even 8 years after the abduction, when it is pretty bloody obvious the father had nothing to do with the abduction, Scott Speedman's character is still giving the poor guy a hard time about it!
Problem is they jump from past to future without the viewer realizing it in many instances so it gets confusing trying to keep the story line straight (all they needed to do was add a year or something to the bottom corner of the screen).
A few scenes do not make sense leading up to the finish of the movie as it is confusing if your are watching past or current events unfolding.
Ryan Reynolds basically made this a decent movie with his acting skills, the rest of the cast are kind of annoying to watch.
It might get a bit too much towards the end (not sure everyone will like how this goes on towards the finale), but it's generally a decent thriller and a "good" watch.
Look at the director and it will make sense on how prejudice critics actually are.This movie made me sit on the edge of my seat the entire time like no other has got the longest time.
"You claim you didn't see anything suspicious when you looked back to the truck."The Captive is the latest film directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) which happened to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year where it was booed by the audience.
The film failed to give the audience any plausible reason as to why these detectives were so intent on blaming the father for the kidnapping of the girl when he didn't actually do anything suspicious.
Right, like one reviewer also said I did the same thing - register for the first time on IMDb just to vent my rage at those who gave this movie 10/10 rating and convinced me to waste my valuable time watching this movie.
The fact that those who are rating it 10/10 seem outraged at those who have given it negative reviews should be warning enough - they and only they seem to find this movie the best thing since sliced bread.
It leaves more questions than answers at the end and even before that you feel like punching some characters through the screen (or the director for making the characters look and act so dumb).
If you wonder what a bad movie is like watch this.
In between, they have wasted in the name of development, hence the film failed to impress as what it promised, not from the message perspective and that's the point.Not all the actors were good, particularly Ryan Reynolds was the best.
I did not like the presentation, it was so random to move from and forth between in the 8 years time span, it totally messed the film.
This is not a stylized foray into sex and violence, but instead a fascinating and thrilling journey dealing with that subject matter, done in the style of thrillers from years past where there is little to no violence seen and it is all the more effective because of that and doesn't just cash in and try to gross out the audience, or to shock us in any way.
Really my only problem was that I did find a few plot holes in the film, where I was watching something at one moment and then something at another moment that did not quite all add up and sometimes left me a little muddled and confused.
At times the script could have avoided these issues and maybe if it had been edited also a little differently these faux pas would not have been as evident, but in the end these are just minor quibbles and I really do not have too much bad to say about this film.
I haven't seen a movie this well performed with so many great actors and a story that's so well written on this subject ever before.
Why anyone would believe the actors in this cast would work a script that would only rate a 5.5 is beyond belief so don't be fooled by the poor IMDb rating of this movie folks, something sure seems fishy with the very poor rating, now I know not to trust IMDb anymore because no way would all those viewers vote so low.
If you are going to have time shifts in a movie, then at least make the characters look like they've aged or put on weight or lost weight or something.
How is it possible that Ryan Reynold's character does not look one iota different in eight years time, which makes it almost impossible to keep track of past and present as the the story jumps back and forth.
As also is customary with modern movies, the film jumps around in the timeline constantly and without notice, you can be in the present, near past and distant past within just a few moments and you have to follow all this on your own.
Like "The Captive," that movie was way too long for what the subject matter demanded, but it was a better movie - IMO.I gave this a 5-star rating because of the jittery timeline and slowness of the execution..
I cringed the whole way through for him.Awful writing, in the extreme, became strained acting and banal filming, became toe curling movie experience..
This is a truly awful film - the only good part is Reynolds performance.It starts off with some promise then just deteriorates into a muddled mess.The story makes no sense and is just infuriating - the police suspect the father immediately without investigating any leads then 8 years later they still suspect him without any evidence!
In the end I was laughing, its so bad its funny.The bad guys are like something from a cartoon - but to be honest the actors do a decent job with a truly awful script.Honestly, don't waste your time..
This is truly terrible, please do not waste your time watching this film.
It'll confuse you the first couple of times when it flashes back randomly, but then you just accept it with a shrug because as early as 10, 15 minutes in you'll realise that nothing in this movie really matters and that it will keep drifting along it's aimless path regardless of whether you are awake or not or paying attention or not.It's about a girl who is kidnapped and then found.
All the blame goes on the father as though it's his fault and at least half the movie is spent with all the characters blaming him, despite not a single shred of any evidence whatsoever indicating any guilt on his part.After 2 conversations of the mother, the evil voice in the back of my brain was going, "Just OD on some drugs and stop wasting screen time, woman." The cops are Speedman and Rosario Dawson who are suspiciously too hot to be jaded cops, but I let that slide...Kevin Durand is the bad guy, and I think it's worth it just to see him in blond hair a la Colin Farrell in Alexander acting like the greatest creep on the planet as he babysits the kidnapped girl who turns out to be very talkative.
I didn't know I was watching another one of his films 'The Captive' until I came onto IMDb after having seen it.
At times it feels like an episode of CSI where they are trying to get a storyline in for each and every character rather than just focusing on what the movie is primarily about.
Barring some decent acting that's on display, courtesy of Ryan Reynolds, Rosario Dawson (smoking hot as ever) and the rest of the cast, the movie has nothing much to offer except for loads of drivel and foolish fancies spun by a motley of muddle headed individuals, seemingly carried away by the burden of their own genius.For more, please visit my film blogsite:http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/.
I watched the movie with decent expectations based on the reviews, but was disappointed.
slowly picks up pace and ends with a dud...i am positive you will get 'suckered' feel at the end of the movie.The acting is good..Has few good moments of police getting better of the bad guys.
I can't say i normally don't like those kidnapping movies cause they are easily predictable, and so was this film.
I guess it's okay, i mean this movie was not going to get better and i'm not saying that in a good way.
It's like i said before your normal kidnapping movie, but this one is a little better i guess, why?
This is my first review as I feel I have to save this film from being hammered into something that would get lost into the bin section of the movie trash.
In my opinion this film was very good in terms of story editing and acting.
Then it jumped the shark and took me out of the role of focused voyeur to that of a highly-irritated, intelligent (yes, we hate it when you doubt our brain power) viewer.Ryan Reynolds gives a moving performance as a distressed father continually searching for his missing daughter.
We the audience are really not quite sure...and so the suspense continues.Kevin Durand plays Mika, who is second in command to a major construction firm, and whose real passion is kidnapping little girls like Cass and exploiting them to pedophiles on the world wide web.
Mr Egoyan obviously respects his audience and realizes that we the audience can conceptualize what poor little Cass is being exposed to over her 8 year captivity and presenting any sensitive scenes relating to pedophilia would not have added any value to his film.
Although there are a few loose ends not clearly explained such as mom's housekeeping duties in a Niagara Falls hotel being monitored by the kidnappers as they leave Cass's mom Tina clues in the rooms that she cleans such as Cass's baby teeth, hair brush and figure skating trophy to witness Tina's distraught reactions to remind Tina her daughter is held captive.Director Atom Egoyan should stick more to the reliable chronological approach to the films sequencing rather than his film style of switching between past and present timelines for various scenes.
Overall though I give the film a decent 7 out of 10 rating as the main actors are all very good in their respective roles, the suspense is present regardless if some other reviews say contrary.
Most of my problems stem from the plot and Mika.The character Mika feels like somebody from another type of movie.
I ended up watching the movie and felt it was a solid 7 for the acting, storyline, and backdrop.
Solid (not superb) performances (though exceptional marks and praise go to Kevin Durand and Alexia Fast) render us a film worth sinking our teeth into, and we can take off a mere point or two for any confusion a suspenseful plot twist of a film fails to unravel at story's end.
Sadly, an otherwise good story with a lot of potential is badly marred by a producer too anxious to give this movie a Cohen bros."feel.".
The story just doesn't add up instead of enjoying the movie you are stuck trying to piece together what is going on in the time jumps.
You don't know who are the good guys in this until the end of the movie.
The reviews make the Film sound more like a B Movie full of Amateur Actors when it is more like an A Movie Full of very good Actors and an excellent story the a great story and even better Direction nice!!!.
It's not great and the ending is quite disappointing, but I enjoyed this movie more than many of Egoyan's other films of the last few years.Kevin Durand is great in his role (it took me a long while to recognize him!) - I really come to like this versatile actor more and more with each movie, he's so different from role to role.
Before I watch a movie I always go to IMDb and look at the ratings, then the summary and final the reviews.
I have given it 3 (three) stars because it probably is a good movie, if you are just looking for some time to kill, and you like watching Ryan Reynolds and don't mind the slow paste.
I wanted to like this movie but I had a hard time staying with the plot.
Review: I didn't really like this movie because it exploits every parents fear which is your child being kidnapped.
Not a fan of the song at the ending credits, but then the movie (film) is over anyway.Worth watching as it slowly draws you in.
I was so disappointed since I like all the actors in this movie and was expecting something better.
The story itself is interesting and Ryan Reynolds provides a great performance as the father of the missing child.
It had what I think was a great story line and I liked the actors.
It starts out well, the bounding around time lines isn't too hard to figure out and there are some amazing performances by stellar actors.It quickly starts to feel like a very long movie and loses any basis for realism.
As good as it starts it becomes nearly unwatchable.It's sort of like watching a horror movie and yelling at the screen not to go in there or open that door.
Instead you're wondering why a character would react that way or do or say what they just did in that situation because it makes no sense.Despite great acting the plot, writing and directing are really just bad bringing down what could have been a good movie and intriguing thriller..
There are times where I've watched a movie that was an adaptation of a book, and I thought, "Wow, I liked the book so much better
the movie totally left out a lot of good parts/executed that poorly." This exactly what I would say if "The Captive" was first a great book that I had read; The story and idea are fantastic.
My reviews are for movie purists - those who watch for direction, lighting, plot devices and foreshadows, comparison to other directors and films, etc.
When you're done, having read my non-conforming tips and with a few things to watch for, I think you're going to hug your kid or your mom, and I predict you'll like the movie..
Although it was slow and "grey filmed" I always felt like wanting to continue watching.In the movie you time travel a lot, rather close to present time.
Gripping from start to finish, especially good how the movie moves around the time-line of events to keep you guessing.
Ryan Reynolds played an amazing part as the father of the missing girl and you could see the grief etched across his face all the way through the movie.
Not all the acting is top notch (Scott Speedman as a police detective was really annoying), but I think lead actor Ryan Reynolds (whom I only know from the excellent thriller 'Buried') was more than convincing as the girl's father who is desperate after the abduction.
Dont waste your time watching this movie.
Every time a scene seemed like the movie was going to finally pick up, it was just another let down.
It's a shame as the Captive's first act is quite strong and the performances universally solid, yet not enough so to make a bizarre script job work.Ryan Reynolds delivers one of his better big screen turns as concerned father Matthew wishing he could get his little girl back while dealing with the grief of perhaps being to blame for her disappearance and Rosario Dawson is fine as dedicated detective Nicole.
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tt0085694
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The House on Sorority Row
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The story begins on June 19, 1961 with a doctor arriving at a foreboding house on a dark and stormy night. The patient is Dorothy Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt) who has gone into labor and is moaning in pain. He berates the nurse (Jean Schertler) saying she was supposed to keep an eye on her. There are complications with the birth, and Dr. Beck (Christopher Lawrence) is forced to perform a c-section. When Mrs. Slater wakes up, she asks to see the baby. The doctor can only say, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Slater" as Mrs. Slater screams out "No!".Cut to 1983, at the Theta Pi sorority, where the girls are packing up after graduation. We meet Katie Rose (Kate McNeil) as she discusses her post-graduation plans with her mother (Ruth Walsh). Vicki (Eileen Davidson) interrupts and asks Katie to stay for a big going away party at the house. Katie agrees with a little more goading. Meanwhile, Mrs. Slater has a hushed discussion with Dr. Beck. It seems she's still having trouble dealing with that night. Dr. Beck begs her to stay at the hospital, but she refuses. She wants to stay at her house (the sorority house) by herself for the summer. She threatens to expose "what he did that night" if he tries to stop her. He gives her a medical alert bracelet and lets her go. Back at the house, six of the sorority sisters, Katie, Liz, Jeanie, Diane, Stevie and Morgan, are all getting drunk and talking about boys and their future plans. Mrs. Slater comes home and catches them. She tells them all to get out by tomorrow morning. Depressed, she heads up to the toy-filled attic as the girls discuss why the house always closes on June 19th instead while every other sorority/frat house stays open on graduation weekend. Diane (Harley Kozak) proposes a sarcastic toast to Mrs. Slater.Things in the house seem to die down, until Vicki and her boyfriend Rick (Michael Sergio) come home from teaching Vicki how to shoot a gun and start having sex in Vicki's room. Mrs. Slater overhears and bursts in on them, violently using her cane to rip up Vicki's waterbed. The next morning, by the pool, Vicki convinces the others to go along with a revenge prank on Mrs. Slater. Katie thinks the idea is stupid, but she's outvoted. As the girls come up with a plot, Katie gets distracted by the attic windows closing. Dr. Beck examines Mrs. Slater's latest X-rays and says that she's nearing a psychotic breakdown due to the traumatic events of twenty years ago. He says that she has to be hospitalized before some "traumatic event" moves her to violence. All she has to do is avoid any traumatic eventsCut to Vicki and her boyfriend's Colt M1911. She says it's all part of her prank on Mrs. Slater. Katie tries again to talk them out of it, but the other girls decide to go through with it. Mrs. Slater comes downstairs to find the girls setting up for the party after she specifically told them to get out. Vicki confronts her and tells her to look out by the pool for her cane.Outside, Mrs. Slater finds her cane floating on a tire in the middle of the swimming pool. Vicki pulls the gun on her and tells her to get in the pool. To reinforce her point, Vicki takes a shot at a nearby lamppost. Liz (Janis Ward) steps forward to object, but Vicki accidentally shoots her in the leg. Vicki tells them to stop being such pussies and forces Mrs. Slater back down into the pool. She fires the gun repeatedly at Mrs. Slater. Nothing happens. Mrs. Slater looks up, puzzled. Vicki and Liz burst out in laughter. Liz's "injury" was just part of the show. Furious, Mrs. Slater climbs out of the pool and smacks Vicki in the head with her cane. The gun goes off and Mrs. Slater falls back into the water. When they fish her out of the water, Mrs. Slater is unconscious. CPR doesn't work. Katie wants to send for an ambulance, but again she's outvoted.Vicki makes the suggestion that they just sink the body to the bottom of the murky pool and dispose of the body in the morning. They wrap the body in a tarp and weigh it down, but what they don't see is the body popping up to the surface again after they've gone. Later that night, the girls try to put on their best happy faces for the sorority party. Everyone seems to be having a good time, talking about Greek letters and failing courses. Cut to Mrs. Slater's robe and the tarp thrown aside and someone has her cane. A drunken frat boy (Ken Myers) wanders through the forest and sees something he shouldn't see. The cane is rammed right through the throat. The drunk falls to his knees with blood spurting from his neck.All the girls are on edge at the party, though they try to hide it. Then they hear a woman screaming out by the pool. They all run out there, but it's just a couple of frat boys trying to throw a girl into the pool. Fearing that the body will be discovered, the girls convince the frat boys to leave her and check out the wet T-shirt contest. The frat boys throw her in anyway and then go to check out the contest. They pull her out of the water and Stevie (Ellen Dorscher) realizes that the body will be seen if someone turns on the pool lights. Stevie goes down to the cellar to see if she can't do something about the pool lights. Someone grabs her from behind, forces her up against a wall and stabs her to death (all in the shadows).The band calls all the seniors up for a big dance. Meanwhile, these three guys decide they want to go for a dip. One of the gets shoved in and another one turns on the lights. The girls see the lights go on and all run out, panicked that the body has been discovered. But the pool is empty except a fat frat boy. The girls meet in the kitchen to figure out what they're going to do about this. Katie wants to go to the police. The other girls outvote her again and decide to search for Mrs. Slater's body, theorizing that she must have climbed out of the pool, but been unable to reach anyone before collapsing.The girls separate to go look for the body. Morgan (Jodi Draigie) is sent upstairs to pack Mrs. Slater's clothes so it looks like she packed up and left. As she's collecting clothes, something falls out of the crawlspace onto her and she screams. But her screams are not loud enough for those downstairs at the party to hear her. It was Mrs. Slater's body, still wrapped in the tarp that fell on her. The girls check on Morgan and wonder aloud how Mrs. Slater got all the way up there (but somehow don't wonder why she wrapped herself back up in the tarp after she walked up into the crawlspace). Morgan goes to her room as the girls argue again. Katie gets disgusted with all the arguing and goes to check on Morgan. The other girls decide to dispose of the body again. Morgan gets undressed and prepares for bed. Morgan hears something at the window. She walks out on the balcony and finds a jack-in-the-box. She turns the crank until the little clown pops out. While distracted by this, the killer comes from behind her and shoves the pointy end of the cane right through her chest.Cut to, the girls carrying the body outside and putting it in a dumpster, thinking it'll be a convenient way to hide the body while they get rid of it. Katie, on the other hand, is concerned because she can't find Morgan. She heads up into the attic and finds it filled with a child's toys. She finds a card that reads "To Eric, Love Mother." She pulls a curtain back and finds a life-size clown costume and mask that looks just like the one in the jack-in-the-box. Peter (Michael Kuhn) sneaks up behind her and startles her. Then he starts playing around with the toys. Katie tells him to go get another drink and leave her alone. Peter stands to leave and hits his head on a birdcage with a dead bird inside. Outside, Diane is waiting in the van for the other girls. She hears some noises and panics. She gets out and finds no one, so she gets back in the van. Someone reaches through the sunroof and stabs her repeatedly with the cane.Meanwhile, Vicki, Liz and Jeanie (Robin Meloy) are pushing the dumpster down the road. A police car drives up and bumps into the dumpster. Vicki sends Jeanie back to the house before the officer sees her. The officer (Ed Heath) gets out and surveys the damage to his cruiser (not answering why he wasn't paying enough attention to the road to avoid a massive dumpster). He asks what they're doing out at one in the morning. They answer that they always take the trash out on Friday nights. He is about to look in the dumpster when he gets a call on his radio to return to the station.Jeanie reaches the house and has a near miss with the killer. In the fracas, Mrs. Slater's medic alert tag falls to the ground. Jeanne reaches the house safely and finds Katie. Jeanie seems to be in shock because all she can say is "cane." Katie tells her to wait there and she'll be right back. Jeanie grabs a chef's knife and waits. Someone breaks the windowpane in the door, though, and unlatches the lock. Jeanie runs upstairs into the bathroom and vomits. The killer follows her in and turns on the showers. Jeanie tries to hide on a toilet stall, but the killer opens the stall and stabs her in the throat. Katie is panicked when she can't find Jeanie. She starts to call the police, but when Peter offers to go get her house mother, Katie realizes she can't call the police without spilling everything. She hangs up and asks Peter to leave. Peter takes it the wrong way and storms out. Katie goes for a walk and finds Mrs. Slater's medic alert tag. She calls Dr. Beck and tells him the situation (not mentioning Mrs. Slater in the pool). Dr. Beck tells her to stay at the house and he'll be right over.When Jeanie can't be found, Vicki and Liz take the body to the cemetery themselves. They find an empty plot and dig it down a little deeper, preparing to toss the body in. Dr. Beck arrives at the house and explains the whole story. Mrs. Slater wasn't able to conceive a child so she turned to him. He did some experimental and illegal procedures to help her conceive. Katie asks him who "Eric" is. He says that Mrs. Slater has been celebrating her son's birthday as if he were still alive. He presses her about what happened to Mrs. Slater. Katie looks out the window and sees someone floating in pool. She runs down and turns on the pool lights. It's Diane. Dr. Beck calls the police and tells them to get to the sorority house. Katie realizes that Mrs. Slater probably followed Vicki and Liz to the cemetery. Beck shifts gears and tells the police to meet him at the cemetery.Vicki and Liz have sufficiently hollowed out the hole, so Vicki tells Liz to pull the van around. Liz gets in the van, but someone slashes her throat. Vicki gets out of the plot to see what the holdup is. When she opens the van's door, Liz's body falls out. Vicki turns around just in time to see the killer holding the cane. She gets struck with it several times, including one finishing blow right to the eye. Dr. Beck undoes the ropes tying up the body and pulls back the towels to reveal Mrs. Slater. Katie looks down at her a gawk. Dr. Beck realizes his worst fears and explains them to her with two words: "He's alive."Beck tells her to get back to the car. They arrive at the empty house and Katie asks where the police are. He tells her they're not coming and injects her with a sedative. He sets Katie down in the middle of the living room and locks all the doors except for the patio doors, which he leaves wide open.He explains to her that he used a drug on Mrs. Slater to help her conceive. Unfortunately, the drug caused deformities in the fetus. As the room starts to spin, he explains that Eric is evidence of what he did and he must eliminate him. He plans to lure Eric there using Katie as bait. Katie starts to hallucinate, haunted by her dead friends and Mrs. Slater. Someone tries to open one of the doors, but it has been barricaded. Beck sees shadows moving and someone steps into the patio doorway. He fires his tranquilizer gun at the shadowy figure thinking it is Eric, but it's Peter.Beck injects him with a sedative too. Katie takes the opportunity to run up the stairs and into Vicki's room. Beck pleads with her to come back and be his bait. She grabs the gun they used for the prank and loads it in case Beck finds her. Instead, Dr. Beck gets run through with the cane. He staggers down the hall before Eric hits him with the cane again, sending him spilling over the balcony to the hardwood floor. Katie comes out of the room and finds Eric (Charles Serio) standing over Beck's body. Katie runs up to the bathroom and finds Jeanie's severed head floating in the toilet. Katie staggers out to the second floor balcony, trying to find a way out. When she can't find one, she climbs the ladder to the attic.Hearing Eric downstairs, she decides to lure him up to the attic and ambush him. She winds up the music box and sets it at the top of the attic stairway. Unfortunately, the drugs are still working on her and she starts to hallucinate again. Eric still hasn't come up the stairs. In fact, he's wearing the clown costume and mask and is standing right beside her. He tries to stab her with the cane, but she sees him coming just in time and ducks out of the way. She shoots at Eric, but when nothing happens, she realizes that they're all blanks. Eric gets distracted by a little toy ball. Katie sees her chance and rips the head off of one of his dolls to reveal a knife underneath. She stabs him repeatedly in the chest until he falls through the doorway down to the next floor.Katie falls to the floor and lets out a sigh of relief. But while her back is turned, from behind the mask, Eric opens his eyes.
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cult, revenge, murder, prank
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train
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imdb
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It's up there with "Halloween's" followers like "Friday the 13th," "Prom Night," "My Bloody Valentine" and "Sleepaway Camp." Unlike most slice-and-dice movies, "The House On Sorority Row" actually has a plot, some good acting from the cast, a mysterious killer, and it's not that bloody.The plot revolves around the 7 girls of Theta-Pi sorority: Katey, Vicki, Liz, Diane, Stevie, Jeanie and Morgan.
One of the girls has almost zero lines of dialogue, the film drags just a little bit, and it's so obvious that Lois Kelso Hunt's(who played Mrs. Slater) voice is entirely dubbed, since director Mark Rosman says that her voice was not scary enough for the role.
Just check out that dudes hair!If you like your Horror served straight up ...and you are tired of what Hollywood has been releasing as suspense/horror these days, go rent HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, pop some popcorn, turn out the lights, and put on some candles, just don't watch it alone,especially on a College campus!.
another comment said it best a hidden little gem, The House On Sorority Row is a classic horror film, movies like scream and most of all I Know What You Did Last Summer ripped this off, a bunch of Sorority girls pull a prank on the old women who runs the sorority they by accident kill her, and dump her body in a pool that is filthy so they think for the time being the body will be safe there since nobody will swim in the pool, well the body turn up missing and the sorority girls are getting killed one by one.
the acting was not that bad at all, and the directing was solid, this is a fav of mine, if you can find it rent it, if not if you have a dvd player buy it, if you're a fan of 80's horror you will love this classic horror film i know i do, i give The House On Sorority Row 8/10.
You can really feel the tension between the girls and everything is very well done even though the movie is fairly predictable.Now, while other sorority slasher flicks tend to be very tacky with lots of female nudity, this one is actually very stylish and we only get to see two girls get naked (sorry guys, but it'll just have to do).
Oh don't you just love these high budget slasher flicks?The acting is actually very good, Eileen Davidson whose great during her short time in this film, All in all, The House On Sorority Row is a highly entertaining slasher flick with a very clever story, even if very predictable.
"The House on the Sorority Row" is one of the better slasher flicks from early 80's.It's stylishly made and directed by Mark Rosman,who previously worked with Brian De Palma("Carrie","Dressed to Kill")and has an eerie score by Richard Band.There is plenty of suspense and some gruesome kill scenes.The acting is pretty good with Eileen Davidson,Haley Jane Kozak and Kate McNeil("Monkey Shines")to boost.The plot is simple:on June 19th 1961 a pregnant woman goes through a traumatic labor.22 years later the woman is now a mean housemother at a sorority house.A group of graduating sorority girls decides to play a prank on her.The plan misfires and she ends up dead,or does she?Soon the body is missing and the killer with a bloody cane disrupts the girls' graduation party!.
While it was one of the better Slasher films that I've seen and contains an alright story, however predictable, it's still nowhere near any of the classics of the sub-genre.My Grade:B- Eye Candy: Eileen Davidson as Vicki shows breasts and ass, Jodi Draigie (in her sole acting credit) goes topless.
Since then I've become a horror/slasher movie junkie and I've seen them all and this movie was pretty good, there have been many since that have stole the plot, better production but this one can stand on its own and is a lost gem, besides it didn't disappoint us (5 young boys) to witness what at the time was one of the "finest" LOL girls in the world in her birthday suit.
Now that I'm older and feel even older I've seen this movie many times and even added it to my collection, but this movie still takes me to a special place in my life and though it's not a well known slasher film it's one I remember fondly and takes me back to the good ole days..
Perhaps the end shot kinda left me a little frustrated but that was the only time this movie lowered itself to the depths of other slasher films.
But accidently the girls kill the house mother and don't want to get into trouble so decide to dump the body somewhere and never speak of the incident again...later on in the movie someone "who knows" what they did to the house mother comes back for revenge, sort of like "Friday the 13th Part 2" or "Scream 2", the killer has a good motive, it all has to do with family.
"The house on Sorority row" or "House of Evil" as it was called in Europe is one of those slasher movies of the early eighties that seemed to have missed the boat and sunk with little or no recognition, which is a shame because it's one of those well made, well acted, once off little movies that deserves to have made it up there with many of its contemporaries like Halloween or Friday the 13th and in this case is far better produced than many of Friday's sequels.
The story is pretty simple young college sorority girls who are just days away from graduation set out to throw one last surprise party and celebration, however the old lady the matron of the old house hides a horrible secret long buried away in memory.
Living in a new house, a group of sorority sisters ordered out of the building by the house mother decide to partake in a prank only for her to be killed, and while trying to hide the accident find themselves stalked and killed by a strange being forcing them to find a way of stopping it.This wound up being quite the fun and entertaining slasher.
If you can get past these issues, "The House on Sorority Row" is a decent early 80s' slasher with a worthy plot and pretty good production values.
Unaware that the owner of their sorority house has psychological problems, a group of students inadvertently push her to her limits in this unusual slasher movie, best entered into with as little prior knowledge as possible.
I bought this a few years ago on ex rental video but forgot all about it until i moved house recently-anyway i sat down to watch it and was pleasantly surprised how good it still is!For a so called slasher film it is well acted and filmed-some very novel camera angles like the view of the body out of the attic and when Katie is hallucinating-images of her dead friends,the cane and Slater mixed in with dancers is unnerving!I always have a chuckle at the parties they throw-very 80's music-brings back memories-haha!And the scene where the fat guy is checking the water out before being pushed in in his enormous pants had me rolling with laughter!Eileen Davidson plays the part of the ring leader very well as do all the cast really.For a small budget i think everyone involved did a great job and i'm planning to buy the DVD as soon as possible.Thumbs up!.
A classic from the golden age of slasher pics, The House on Sorority Row is one of the better psycho-killer movies that followed in the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th.Directed with surprising style and confidence by first-timer Mark Rosman, this horror film tells the story of a group of sorority girls who accidentally kill their house mother when a prank goes horribly wrong.
After a prank goes wrong a group of sorority girls end up killing their domineering house mistress and are forced to hide the body.
On the other hand, 'The House on Sorority Row' may be lacking in any real scares, but the movie is paced and directed well meaning that there are very few scenes that end up being tiresome.
Despite a silly plot-twist towards the end, 'The House on Sorority Row' is recommended to slasher fans and casual horror fans looking for something a little obscure.
First, whoever was quoted saying "In the style of Halloween" was clearly stupid, because this is in no way in the style of Halloween.Okay - lets get this straight.The House On Sorority Row is indeed a cheap, bad slasher/horror movie, but it knows this and understands where it stands.
It actually gets off to a decent start, as we are introduced to a bunch of sorority girls and an old woman; their overbearing house owner, who frowns on parties, boys, swimming in swimming pools and just about everything else that young girls like to do for fun.
The start is nothing special, but it leads you to believe that you might be in for a decent slasher flick as shortly after, the girls decide to play a prank on their house owner.
It also happens to be the night when the girls have decided to throw a big party, but things go from bad to worse when it turns out that someone saw them killing the old bag, and is now taking it out on the girls and their guests.I suppose the most disappointing thing about this film is the fact that it's lacking in the two areas where slashers usually succeed.
All in all, it's pretty derivative stuff - anyone that has seen a handful of slasher films will have seen everything here before, and the many missed opportunities help to make House on Sorority Row even more of a disappointment..
And while I can suspend disbelief to a great degree, how much these girls are doing while this big party is going on, everyone else totally unaware, to try to look for missing parts of their bunch and/or move other dead bodies is ludicrous (and while it winds down, we never see it *end* - and how cool would it have been to see the killer go through the crowd?)Even the whole backstory with the mother and the son feels like potential that is at best halfway realized (not a big spoiler, but if you want to see a slightly better spin on similar material, check out The Boy from 2016).FYI, The Band at the party is credited to "4 Out of 5 Doctors" which is so great it almost makes me fine with the rest of the movie..
Still, in the interests of better understanding the genre, I decided to give it a go and must admit to having been very pleasantly surprised.The house in "House on Sorority Row" has been occupied for the past few years by a group of average, fun-loving, all-American college girls who are keen to organise an end-of-year party.
The girls try to hide the body but as people start being brutally murdered the girls begin to wonder if Ms. Slater did indeed die or if something more sinister is responsible.The movie has all of the plot devices of a bog-standard slasher: anniversary of a gruesome event long kept secret, hot teenage victims who question authority, imaginative kills, and the final girl.
If you're a fan of slasher movies there's really no excuse not to own a copy of THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, especially now it's available on a budget priced DVD.
Desperately trying to cover up the accidental murder and host an end-of-semester graduation party at the same time, this becomes the question of the night, especially when Slater's body disappears from the pool and, one by one, the girls start disappearing as well.
"House On Sorority Row" is one of the many nearly forgotten slasher flicks from the genre's golden age in the early 1980's.
"House On The Sorority Row" may be one of those films that are still remembered and recurred for some slasher fun.
I bought this on a 2-in-1 DVD and watched it just last night, and have to say that for what I was expecting I was pleasantly surprised.As with any slasher, the story isn't overly complicated, although it does a good job of setting up a plausible scenario for the teens/twentysomethings in a big house being slowly stalked by something horrible.Basically, the girls have finished university and want to have a party in their sorority house, but the house mother won't allow it - for some reason she always shuts the house earlier than all the others (Mystery and intrigue?
Led to revolt by Vicky, the girls play a prank on the house mother but it goes wrong, and then, at the party, the girls start disappearing...The film has some good characters - for once we don't have an utterly virginal heroine whose morals are her strength.
Instead we have several girls, most of them scared enough by what is happening to follow Vicky, the rebellious and selfish one, and the heroine as the only one who sees that Vicky is actually quite a stupid and uncaring bitch of a character.By far my favourite bits were towards the end where the heroine has been injected with sedative and starts to space out...some relatively simple effects are used very well to create a thoroughly creepy build up to the finale.My only criticisms of the film would be the ending, which seems somehow incomplete, and the killer's weapon - a walking cane which, while distinctive, just doesn't instill any fear in the viewer.But the effects are great, there's some nice little set pieces, and overall I'd definitely recommend any slasher fans to watch it.
"House on Sorority Row" appears to be one of the more decent early 80's slashers, thanks to a good pace and a reasonably high body count, but that's sadly all just a very misleading first impression.
It seems to be the latest trend to remake eighties slasher movies and The House on Sorority Row looks set to be the next celebrated feature to receive an updated re-birth.If titles such as Madman and The Prowler were rivals to the gore-led Friday the 13th films of the early eighties and were inspired by Sean Cunningham's visually graphic depiction of the slasher formula, then Mark Rosman's bizarrely under-rated entry took its lead from Carpenter's 'less is more' approach.
The House on Sorority Row is one of the many cult classic slasher films to come out of the 1980s.
The House on Sorority Row is a classic low-budget Eighties slasher, but its got a genuinely creepy-as-hell ending scene...
Full of eerie imagery, suspenseful murders and performers that are perhaps a tad better than you might be expecting, "The House on Sorority Row" is a subtle and slow-burning, but to me extremely effective slasher flick that is now one of my favourites, but for the longest time after I first ever saw it as a little kid all I could remember of it was that I liked it a lot, but nothing else except that an old lady was forced into a pool at gunpoint, and that it had a fat guy in said pool who says "I'm a sea pig!" And when I randomly got the cheap DVD that just happened to be it, it was the coolest thing as it got to the scene and I realised that it was the movie that'd been at the back of my mind for so many years.
Seven girls who are part of a sorority row,tired of their short-tempered matron,decide to played a joke on her.The joke goes bad and the matron is shot and dies.The girls hide the corpse in the pool and don't tell anything.There is a party on the sorority house at the night.Then,the girls are stalked and killed one by one.The plot is more clever than other slashers and there are a plot at the end.The murders are off-screen,but the gore is enough(like Jeanie's severed head in the WC)The acting is well,above all the final girl,the matron and doctor Beck.In short,one of 80's best slashers..
Surely one of the few great early '80s slasher films, "The House On Sorority Row" is a clever and entertaining horror movie that seems to have been long forgotten.
It's quite creepy as well, and the film manages to balance an even amount of shocking moments, some believable violence, a couple of very well-written plot twists, and sufficient suspense fused with hysteria - all the things that you need to make a good horror movie, it's got them!Surprisingly, the acting isn't half bad either.
But it does come together nicely enough and ends on a very creepy note.To sum things up, "The House On Sorority Row" is a wonderful little horror movie that should be much more popular among genre fans than it is.
"The House on Sorority Row" is one of the finer examples of slasher films, a genuinely creepy and moody movie with a particularly ominous and mysterious killer.
Newcomers to slasher films are strongly advised to check out "The House on Sorority Row" and have some good chills.
Of course, that wouldn't matter if there were some laughs or great special effects or a decent storyline however there are none of these either.As with most slashers it's quite predictable and the majority of characters do stupid things to get themselves into positions where they can be killed for the viewer's pleasure.The storyline is very unlikely (an accidental killing gets covered up by a group of sorority girls, with none of them thinking it better to go to the police to explain) and the ending is totally rubbish, silly and lacking suspense.For a one-off watch it was OK but not worth a re-view, apart from the slightly creepy scene in the attic in the last 10 minutes..
This movie is pretty interesting about a group of sorority girls playing a prank on the owner and suddenly it goes wrong and ends in her death.
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Red Riding Hood
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Set during a cold winter in a snow-covered forest during an undeterminate year of the Medivel times, Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is a young woman living in the small village of Daggerhorn. She is in love with the woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents Cesaire (Billy Burke) and Suzette (Virginia Madsen) have promised wealthy blacksmith Adrian Lazar (Michael Shanks) that Valerie will marry his son Henry (Max Irons) hoping Valerie will marry into wealth so she and they can live off Lazar's money.Valerie plans to run away with Peter, but their plans are put on hold when the town sirens erupt, telling the couple that the werewolf who terrorizes their village has struck again. On closer inspection of the victim (found among a field of haystacks), it is found to be Lucy, Valerie's older sister. The townspeople offer a monthly sacrifice to the beast and stay away from the woods but Lucy ventured there after discovering that Valerie had been promised in engagement to Henry, whom Lucy loved.Adrian, Henry, Peter, Cesaire, and the other men venture out into the woods to a mountain cave hunt the Wolf. Against Henry's protest, the group splits into two groups and Henry and his father are attacked. The others manage to behead the wolf, but it kills Adrian in the process. The men bring back the head of a common gray wolf, thinking it is the one that has been terrorizing the village.Valerie sees Suzette crying over Adrian's body and confronts her. Suzette admits that she and Adrian once had an affair and that Lucy is actually his daughter as well as Henry's half-sister. This is the reason why she could not be offered to him. Valerie also learns that Cesaire is seemingly unaware of this.The townspeople decide to celebrate the death of the wolf, but their preparations are interrupted by the arrival of famous witch hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), who reveals that the townspeople did not slaughter the real Wolf because it would have changed back into its human form if they did. Solomon knows this because he killed a Wolf and cut off its paw, which changed into the hand of his wife. Solomon also informs them that during a "blood moon" (when the red planet aligns with the moon), anyone who is bitten by the Wolf will become one.Still, the townspeople decide to celebrate. But the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of the real Wolf, who in a rampage kills several people. Valerie and her friend Roxanne (Shauna Kain) are cornered by the Wolf while attempting to get to the safety of the church's hallowed ground. The Wolf then begins growling at Valerie and Roxanne; much to her surprise, Valerie is able to understand the Wolf, and gazing into its deep brown human eyes, is able to communicate with it, as her friend looks on in terror. The Wolf says that they are the same, both killers, and tells Valerie they should run away from the village together.When the two arrive back at the village it is shown that one of Father Solomon's guard is still alive, though he has been bitten by the Wolf. Father Solomon kills the guard in an attempt to save the town from yet another werewolf.Peter comes to Valerie at night and says that they must run away immediately, but she refuses. Valerie's mother has been scratched by the Wolf and is being tended over by her grandmother (Julie Christie). Valerie tells her grandmother that the Wolf spoke to her and chose not to kill her.The following day, Henry tells Valerie that he saw her together with Peter. He is going to break off their engagement because he does not want to force her to marry him.Father Solomon arrests Roxanne's autistic brother, believing him to be an accomplice of the Wolf because of his behaviour during and after the attack. Father Solomon has him tortured for refusing to name the beast. Roxanne attempts to negotiate for her brother's release by offering money and sex. When that fails, she tells the priest that Valerie can communicate with the Wolf. When confronted, Valerie admits that the Wolf spoke to her. When Valerie can not tell them who the Wolf is, Solomon arrests her to use her as bait to lure the Wolf from hiding. Peter and Henry agree to work together to track down the Wolf and save Valerie.When Roxanne is brought to her brother, she finds him already dead.Valerie's grandmother brings Valerie bread and a knife in prison. Valerie tells her that when Lucy found out about her engagement to Henry, she gave herself to the Wolf but her grandmother denies this.Valerie's grandmother brings Henry some biscuits to thank him for speaking up in Valerie's defence. Then she accuses Henry of being Wolf, and says that Lucy followed him into the woods where he killed her. Henry then recognizes her smell from the night that his father was killed by the Wolf and accused her of being the Wolf.Cesaire is imprisoned to prevent him from interfering with the plan to lure the Wolf to Valerie. A mask is put on Valerie as she is marched through the village and tied up wearing the red cloak given to her by her grandmother. Peter and Henry launch their rescue. While Henry frees Valerie's arms from some chains, Peter sets afire the tower from which Father Solomon is overseeing the action. Peter is caught and imprisoned in the torture device which killed Roxanne's brother. Father Solomon's men chase the fleeing Valerie and Henry and Henry is shot with a crossbow. The Wolf appears and attacks Solomon and his men. He bites off Father Solomon's hand. Valerie agrees to go away with the Wolf if he promises to leave the village alone. Roxanne and the other women shield Valerie from the Wolf until the sun rises and he must run away. As it is the blood moon, Father Solomon is wolfbitten and cursed, and he is executed by his vengeful chief guard (who is the brother of the guard who was bitten and killed by Solomon).Meanwhile, Valerie has a dream that her grandmother who lives in a cabin in the woods near the village and also has very brown eyes, is the Wolf. Valerie sets off for her grandmother's house, stopping at the chapel on her way out of the village, and putting Father Solomon's severed hand in her basket. Henry tells her that he is going after the wolf while its tracks are still fresh and informs her that Peter is missing. In the woods, Valerie meets Peter, who is wearing a glove. He says he escaped from the torture device, but believing him to be the Wolf attempting to hide his burned paw, Valerie slashes him with a knife. She flees to her grandmother's house.When Valerie arrives, it seems as though her grandmother is acting strangely, hiding in her curtained bedchamber while she talks to her granddaughter. It is then revealed that the Wolf was neither Peter nor Valerie's grandmother, but her father Cesaire: he pulls back the curtains and strides into the main room. He has killed her grandmother. Cesaire explains to Valerie that he wanted to leave the village and go to the city. He wanted to bring someone to whom he can pass on his gift. He originally intended for it to be Lucy, however once she saw him, she remained frightened; revealing that she could not understand him. Any offspring of a Wolf would have been able to understand its language. Therefore Cesaire realized that his wife had an affair and Lucy was not his daughter. Acting out of rage, Cesaire killed Lucy. Cesaire now wants Valerie to come with him and carry on the Wolf lineage.As Cesaire is about to bite Valerie, Peter arrives to save her. Cesaire bites Peter in the ensuing struggle, but is killed by Valerie who stabs him with the nails of Solomon's hand which are made of silver. Valerie and Peter dispose of Cesaire's body by filling him with rocks and dumping him into a nearby lake. Peter, fully aware that he is cursed, retreats to the wilderness in order to learn how to control his power. Valerie tells him she will wait for him.Valerie chooses to remain living in her grandmother's house. A couple of years later, as Valerie picks some plants, she hears a sound. Looking up, she sees the Wolf, Peter now. She smiles as they reunite. The final shots are of Valerie in the red cloak walking on a snow-capped mountain with Peter.
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mystery, fantasy, gothic, murder, cult, romantic
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train
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You'd be hard pressed to find a better example of a film ruined by trying to be too many things to too many people than Red Riding Hood, which opens Friday and, by all rights, should close Saturday.The most obvious audience Hood hopes to attract is fans of the Twilight film series, snagging the director of the first film, Catherine Hardwicke, and refashioning the Little Red Riding Hood folk tale into, in a remarkably halfhearted way, a love triangle between three extraordinarily uninteresting characters.
The Big Bad Wolf is indeed a werewolf, and our sweet little Red (named Valerie, played by Amanda Seyfried) has to figure out which of her fellow villagers turns into a beast when the moon is full.
Seyfried's pristine, alabaster skin and enormous eyes give Red just the right look, but every time she opens her mouth you're begging for that werewolf to put her out of our misery.To be fair, no actor could be expected to excel given the cheesy dialogue and Hardwicke's uninspired direction; solid veterans such as Virginia Madsen, Julie Christie and Lukas Haas struggle to make an impression, with Christie holding up the best.
He's acting in an entirely different movie, a Sam Raimi romp like Army of Darkness or Drag Me to Hell, and Red Riding Hood briefly becomes almost fun during Oldman's most animated scenes.The film doesn't even look that great in a technical sense: The exteriors look fake, all clearly shot on soundstages, and not fake in an intentional "this is a dreamy heightened reality, because this is a folk tale" way.
They look fake in a "we really suck at our jobs" way.Red Riding Hood is pretending to be a darker, more adult take on the folk tale, but it's hardly the first: Neil Jordan mined the territory in 1984 with the R-rated The Company of Wolves, focusing more on sexual metaphors and heavy werewolf action.
I guess I'm as bored summarizing the plot of the movie as I was watching the actual movie.First of all, Amanda Seyfried makes an attractive fit for the role of Valerie, and the production design of the film is interesting, but that's as close to complimentary as I'm going with this movie.Director Catherine Hardwicke really has trouble keeping an even sense of rhythm, and the cast is a serious disappointment.
And Virginia Madsen just awful here as well, and is over-acting Billy Burke In short Red Riding Hood is a film that has plenty of promise, but sadly doesn't live up to it.
This is a very flabby-footed, self-delusional mess of a movie that succeeds in making even the great Gary Oldman look as unnatural in his performance as Steven Seagal."Red Riding Hood" suffers from a poorly-constructed screenplay, one that seems was written within a handful of days and not given a single second of revision.
I am not a fan of the Twilight movies(the first of which Catherine Hardwicke also directed) and it didn't look like my kind of film.
Amanda Seyfried is pretty but bland in the title role and shows little or no chemistry with her co-stars, while Max Irons(son of Jeremy), Lukas Haas and Shiloh Fernandez show good looks but awkward line delivery.
I let my friends talk me into seeing this film with them because I think Amanda Seyfried is adorable and I had high hopes that this supposedly adult re-imagining of a children's folk tale would be entertaining in the same aspect of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow...how disappointed I was.The acting was so corny and so ridiculous although I can't help but feel that it's not entirely the fault of the actors, but the director.
Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons and the excellent Gary Oldman acted brilliantly in the film, and the effects for the Werewolf were pretty fantastic as well.
I really cannot understand why this movie received such awful ratings.As soon as I found out Leonardo DiCaprio was the producer of this movie I knew I had to watch it, because he never signs his name to an inferior film.The movie was thrilling and truly kept you guessing to the very end, with just the right amount of action, suspense, and romance, making it appealing to all types of movie watchers.However,the romantic elements of the film didn't overshadow the suspense, which made for a very well rounded movie.Red Riding Hood was an intriguing movie that I would recommend to all who are thinking about watching it.Don't let the negative reviews convince you otherwise!You really would be missing out on a good movie..
It is a really good spin to the classic "Red Riding Hood" tale, and I love how the writers incorporate a lot of the details from the story into the movie.
Many people know that the most common children's' tales, especially those from the likes of the brothers Grimm, started out as scary, violent, and unpleasant, but have evolved over time, being toned down with each generation, until they are just a shadow of what they used to be, no teeth, no claws, just innocent & sugary sweet stories with little heart and too much nostalgia.Considering this, you'd have thought writing a good script for any movie based on a fairytale would be a piece of cake.
For a start, they stripped the story down to the raw ingredients: (Pretty girl with a red cloak, a wolf, a grandmother, a forest), stuck in a whole load of other characters that serve little purpose to the storyline, added a love triangle and a baddie, then suddenly remembered that this was supposed to be a horror film, so they made the wolf into a WEREwolf.OK, so it's difficult to spin the tale out to a 100 minute long storyline, but it would have been more entertaining to have just seen Valerie walk in the woods for 80 minutes, and the remaining 20 minutes to be filled with the encounter etc.
It was very stylishly shot, and Gary Oldman's presence made the movie slightly more entertaining, but not enough to rescue this movie.Unfortunately, it is one for the Twilight generation - a bunch of very pretty boy & girl actors who affect unfocused glassy-eyed expressions to try to convey 'Wisdom beyond their years', and a storyline that was borrowed from a Mills & Boon novella & forced into a mould that didn't quite fit..
Why all this topic most of the phrases given are old cliché's that apparently never get old, I could almost recite what the actors were going to say before they said it half the time.Now to be fair the premise for this is actually rather pleasant, it takes the Red Riding Hood story and kind of twists it around a bit.
Let's put it this way when you're out acted by a computer generated wolf there is something wrong.Catherine Hardwicke started strong with her great teenage drama "Thirteen" and then steadily declined after that ending with her directing the first of the inane "Twilight" movies.
Instead the eye candy for this movie is Amanda Seyfried (Valerie aka Red Riding Hood), Max Irons (Peter), and Shiloh Fernandez (Henry).
Since the cast up to this point doesn't have much acting the studio tried to balance things with Virginia Madsen (Suzette aka the Mother) and Gary Oldman (Solomon aka the werewolf hunter).With all of the effort to putting together a cast that would meet the masses; the movie fails on every level.
The male eye candy wasn't much better.I certainly hope that they never attempt to make the Russian tale of Peter and the Wolf because that is pretty clear the direction the studio is trying to go with this movie in the end.
If a village idiot with a severe head injury tried to write something Twilight-esque they might come up with something similar to this awful piece of anti-art.Amanda Seyfried is the only bright light in this festering film - terrible script, ridiculous set (thorn-trees, really?), abysmal over-the-top over-acting, lack of any attempt to establish a sense of realism, overly long duration, nearly everything that could suck in a movie sucked in this one.I was looking at my watch from 20 minutes in and would have walked out and gotten my money back if I wasn't there for my gf birthday.
And he's rich.After the latest fatalities an outside expert is brought in to rid the town of the furry evil, a man who chose to kill his own wife when he found she turned into a snarling, vicious monster every month or so (I'll leave the obvious and unsavoury joke alone).The new wolf-hunter is Solomon (Gary Oldman), he is brash, loud and confident, perhaps because he is backed by several heavily armed men, perhaps because he swiftly realises that everyone else in this crappy film is too busy brooding and looking mysterious to show a pulse.Solomon summons the entire village to inform one and all that not only do they have a werewolf, but he is a resident of this very village *GASP*
and soon a 'blood moon' will come, meaning the wolf can infect others and make more werewolves.So we're left with two questions: 1/ Will Valerie break with formality and choose beefcake over rich-boy?
¨ If you love her, you'll let her go.¨We've all heard the fairytale before about little red riding hood and her visit to her grandma's house, but this film takes a much darker spin on the familiar story; unfortunately it takes one for the worse.
What we get is bad acting across the board, make-up and costumes which look like they just came out of the box, pointless plotting, ineffective direction, and a ten cent computer generated wolf.In what is easily the worst performance in a career of cute mediocrity (thus far) , Amanda Seyfried if nothing else will prove useful to anyone who seeks to argue that Hollywood hires based on looks.
It's very loosely based on the old folktale of Little Red Riding Hood (which, by the way, goes back far into European history long before the now famous version by the Brothers Grimm; the first print edition of the tale dating to the late 17th century) and it also has one scene (really just one line) that for some reason chooses to pay homage to the story of The Three Little Pigs ("I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down" cries out one young man as others fall down around him.) Although you can't avoid those connections (and are probably intended to make the connection) it's probably best that you try not to, and watch the story in its own right.It's the story of a small village that has arranged a truce of sorts with a local werewolf.
There are any number of reasons to suspect any number of people of being the beast, and the ultimate revelation of the werewolf's identity surprised me a bit - it was not my first choice.I thought director Catherine Hardwicke made pretty good use of the setting of a small, isolated town deep in the mountains, and Amanda Seyfried was excellent in the role of Valerie (the Red Riding Hood character.) The movie also provides a pretty good depiction of paranoia and the ultimate consequences that paranoia can have, even (and perhaps especially) on people who know each other as well as the residents of this town obviously did.This isn't really (in my opinion at least) a horror movie.
The wolf emerges the victor of the encounter and there is no happy ending.' Now take that old tale and replace the wolf with a werewolf (this is not the first time in world literature that this has been done!) and presto, RED RIDING HOOD appears as Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) who since childhood has been in love with the poor woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) but Valerie's parents (Virginia Madsen and Billly Burke) have other plans: marry Valerie to the wealthy (but oh so good hearted) Henry (Max Irons),a factor that sets up a love triangle for the film.
I also felt it lacked that romantic factor in the story.I thought the real breakout in this film was 3rd counterpart (Max Irons) to the love triangle with Red Ridding Hood (Amanda Seyfried) and her childhood friend Peter (Shiloh Fernandez).
OK would you really want to see this movie?......Of coarse not, if you didn't or haven't seen the trailers for the movie it looked OK but seeing it may have been the stupidest thing to do and i regret doing it so but hey somebody's gotta say what the real deal about the movie of how it really is.We all know Amanda Seyfried-that nerdy hot chick from "Jennifer's Body" and Gary Oldman-"The Dark Knight's" and "The Book of Eli's" acting veteran.OK so unlike the legend/tale of"Little Red Riding Hood"its a dark,sneaky and cheesy story about the wolf in the village killing everybody it wants to, like the"Wolfman" Except its one of those you can't see the monster till the main Character sees it then you finally see it.is it scary?...Define what you thought or think from what you've seen is scary and explain it to me because its so f#cking cheesy that not even a little kid would find it good maybe a Women or a Girl but i doubt your Sister would sit through this movie.If you're a twilight fan.
It's kept relatively simple with the basic character set up of Red Riding Hood, her family, the grandma out in the woods, the wolf and the woodcutter saviour, but updated for the modern audience in quite intelligent, engaging terms, putting together an intriguing guess who mystery with tragic twists.Amanda Seyfield may have progressed to more adult fare in Atom Egoyan's Chloe, but here retained some girlish innocence with quite the bold, rebellious streak hidden underneath her Valerie's virginal demeanour, forming a long friendship that blossomed into a relationship with woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez).
The production sets were gorgeous and so were the many costumes, with the crimson cloak and hood making a very striking appearance in stark contrast to the colour schemes around it, leading to very aesthetically pleasing scenes thanks to its picturesque environments and cinematography.Much has been said about Shiloh Fernandez who is better known as the Edward Reject, but I suppose stardom came late for this star whose good looks here will probably earn him a lot of fans given his alpha-male role.
Additional supporting roles from Virginia Madsen, Billy Burke, Julie Christie, Lukas Haas and others all add to the fun in allowing the audience to partake in the deduction of the mystery in the film, which turned out, to me at least, quite the surprise thanks to the many inherent red herrings and suggestions which are more than likely to throw you off track.Like the reboot of Star Trek, Red Riding Hood is that surprise package in being able to find some common ground and believable rationale to tell the story the way it had to, coupled with recognizable elements from the classic so as not to alienate fans or abandoning what made it stand out altogether.
I went to see Red Riding Hood with a friend and right as it ended we looked at each other and said, I think that was the worst movie I have ever seen and then laughed.How to critique something so miserable...
But, seeing as they wanted to have this film out in theatres and not as a mini series, I think what they put in the film fit wonderfully with the time gap of the audience's attention.Now, it is one thing to review a movie on it's pros and cons and to point out where the plot failed or the story line succeeded.
And, I believe the director, the camera crew, the actors, etc all played in to this old, twisted fairy tale we all think we know and did a very good job of it.All in all, Red Riding Hood did what it was supposed to.
There's a werewolf and a lead named Peter who has feelings for Lil Red...so imagine someone had a great idea: Peter and The Wolf story meets Little Red Riding Hood, and together they defeat a big bad.
The numerous side stories/characters could have been in place to confuse the viewer and make you second guess who the wolf was so if that was the purpose then job well done.Visually the movie was great but sadly I think that if they made this rated R we could have seen more gore and actually explored the wolf nature a bit better to scare you like it was meant to.
A Flawed Gem. I had anticipated this film with great delight, a modern and darker take on the fairy tale of Red Ridding Hood starring the enchanting Amanda Seyfriend.The movie drew me in from the very beginning thanks to the stunning visuals, the setting of the story couldn't have been depicted any better.
The story was acceptable considering we're talking about a fairy tale, personally I would have seen a few things done differently.To sum up, despite all of the numerous cons my final impression of the movie was not bad at all, I actually liked it very much, probably due to the fact of being an avid fantasy fan.
Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a not-so-young girl (Amanda Seyfried) falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family's displeasure.I have always enjoyed the story and imagery of Red Riding Hood, and think it has the proper material to make a great horror film (indeed, others have tried and had various degrees of success).
Seems like the wolf is after Red Riding Hood (Amanda Seyfried) but she has a love, a protector named Peter (Shiloh Fernandez).
Now I had seen trailers for this modern film adaptation of the "Little Red Riding Hood" story.
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tt0066540
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WUSA
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Reinhart (Paul Newman) drifts into New Orleans and rescues Geraldine (Joanne Woodward), from a pimp's knife, buys her a steak and they shack up. He gets a job at WUSA, a right-wing radio station as a news, sports and weather reader. Their neighbor, Rainey (Anthony Perkins) is a do-gooder who is doing a survey of welfare applicants without knowing that his boss, Bingamon (Pat Hingle), works for WUSA and the whole study is intended to gather evidence needed to kick people off welfare, not help them as he supposes.Geraldine wants to be loved but Reinhart is inaccessible, burnt out. She mothers Rainey, a stuttering boy who reminds her of the boy she loved, the boy who shot himself.When Rainey finds out he's been duped he goes to WUSA and threatens the owner. He confronts Reinhart who tells him in two words to drop dead. Rainey gets a rifle and attempts an assassination of the radio station's owner at a rally festooned with red, white and blue bunting. Reinhart and his friends are onstage. One of them, knowing the police are coming, puts his stash of grass in Geraldine's purse. In the panic, Rainey is shot dead and Geraldine arrested for possession. There, in prison, she commits suicide. The news is delivered by Philomene (Cloris Leachman), Geraldine's friend.
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allegory, violence, murder
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train
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imdb
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This one of my favorite movies of all time with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Antony Perkins, Cloris Leachman and Pat Hingle all at their best.
Reinhart (Newman), a man who's washed up as a musician becomes a "communicator" at WUSA, a right-wing radio station in New Orleans.
I'm part of a pattern in someone else's head." He's long past being thrilled.There are two important and tense scenes between Perkins, a do-gooder who lacks the basic confidence that gets Newman shacked up within minutes of his arrival in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, the character played by Perkins is much better at retaining his illusions with tragic consequences.This movie is about ideological exhaustion and the delusions of the ideologically pure, both left and right wing.What is so good about WUSA for me is that it's the only time, other than Hud, when Newman was an actor first, a star second.
The first is the radio host that invites all to drop what they are doing, go to the window, open it, and start screaming something like "I am fed up and I will no longer put up with this!" The second snippet is the last line delivered in the movie by the character interpreted by Paul Newman -- and I will not say what it says to avoid spoiling it.
So many movies wanted to deal with the politics of the time.
Like the previous reviewer, I, too, have been looking for this film for years and hope to see it on DVD one day soon.
He used to play saxophone but he couldn't make the scene so he's a "communicator" now, having gotten himself a job at WUSA, a right-wing radio station.He meets Geraldine (Joanne Woodward) who hasn't.
Other than that glitch the acting is superb and the dialog superlative.Perkins plays a creepy bleeding heart, appropriately named Rainey, with such authority that it's enough in itself to make you understand Reinhart's cynicism.
but there IS a solution to it." "Oh yeah?" responds Rainey, "and w-w-what would that be, Reinhart?" "Drop dead," says Reinhart, "DROP DEAD!" It's one of Reinhart's defining lines, the other being (in reaction to Geraldine's thrill that he's got a job at WUSA) "Yeah, great: I'm part of a pattern in someone else's head.")If you're interested in the extremes of political personality, this is one of the best.
Seeing it, I think I can understand why there aren't that many people supporting the movie over the years.
It takes over a half hour from the beginning for Newman to start working for the radio station, and not once during the almost two hour running time do we actually get to HEAR the broadcasts that have both attracted an audience as well as people condemning it.
The acting (particularly by Perkins) is good, and the movie is refreshingly downbeat, but overall I would only recommend the movie to those few viewers who are attracted to 1970s film cynicism - and even they might have issues with the movie..
This is one of the most important films of the '70, a political fiction of its time...
Although I think that Rosenberg was not the most indicate director for this film (Frankenheimer seems to me a most appropriate election, due to his asphyxiating atmospheres), the strong of the story and the interpretation of an extraordinary Anthony Perkins, among the others actors, gives its force to the movie.
Anthony Perkins is touching and vulnerable, his performance is so emotionally honest it's devastating to witness and his character would be at home in any of the best of Tennessee Williams' works - once more he proves that he deserves to be remembered for much more than just his masterpiece - that N.B.
The chemistry that comes with being married (as they are in real life) just comes right through the scene!Great movie!
"WUSA" is extremely difficult on us in so many ways that to reach a final conclusion on why we like it or feel it relevant is something that demands a lot from viewers.
You have a jaw dropping stellar cast (Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Perkins, Cloris Leachman, Laurence Harvey, Pat Hingle); a director who never extracted a bad performance with his films, the great Stuart Rosenberg ("Cool Hand Luke", "Voyage of the Damned", "Brubaker"); a story working with great basic elements involving the power of media, political and inner conflicts, rich vs.
In it, Newman plays the cynical and drunk Rheinhardt, a drifter who accepts a job at a radio station controlled by influential politicians whose motto seems quite familiar in our current times (Make this country Great Again).
The WUSA station is one with a point of view, says Hingle character and that distorted point of view destine to include only a certain parcel of New Orleans population and excludes the rest in the majority, it starts to raise some concerns on a fellow named Rainey (Perkins), an idealist survey worker trying to discover the welfare problems faced by the black communities of the place.
utopia) and their quarrels are meddled by Geraldine (Woodward), of whom Rheinhardt has a more intimate involvement, and one that seems to get a grip on this wild drunkard who fail to notice that his bosses are planning something bad as local politics in upcoming elections, and worst of all...his editorials during the radio program are the main force behind the power WASP's success.Such overview of the film seems attractive, specially for those who love those kind of movies about inner conflicts and different schools of thoughts.
Examples: the radio thing takes an awful lot of time to happen and when it does, it's a huge disappointment that the film never shows what kind of material Newman's character presents to his listeners except "the future of America is up to you".
Perkins with the survey thing occupied a good portion of the film and could have been trimmed down just as much as some of the most tender scenes between the main couple (great chemistry though).
But the film keeps it real: the cynic drowns himself under the liquor; the idealist finally does something after spending too much time on a lethargic state (but obviously a wrong act) and the mediator in between them couldn't find the strength in herself to join them, debate ideals and find possible solution to their problems and the ones from the community.
The cast gathering is fine, despite the lack of involvement we have with the characters they play (no one gets saved, they're all critical but substantially real); the ideas carry some relevance but most of it gets torn apart and lost along the way making the experience of seeing "WUSA" a weary endeavor.
Despite saying that, Anthony Perkins' character - an embodiment in many ways of the "liberal" stereotype - is not made particularly sympathetic.
Perkins comes across as if his Norman Bates persona has been relocated to late-sixties urban America and forcibly invested with a political conscience.Paul Newman, who shares perhaps too few scenes with his nemesis Perkins, is also rather good, as the wanderer with a certain cocksure touch, who easily becomes an on-air "communicator" for this WUSA radio station - which is involved in fraudulent dealings and far-right preachings.
His political views are ambiguous; his final speech indeed suggesting he has no real belief in the "new right".
He proves to be the adept survivor, in contrast to genuine ideologues of left or right, but he has no moderation instinct, and turns out somewhat troubled, baffled even, at the film's appropriately frazzled conclusion.Then there is Joanne Woodward; first film I have seen her in, and one of I gather, many, with Newman.
If she convinces as a 'realistic' character, it is albeit as one implicitly used to condemn the excesses of the New Right and the confrontational politics of the time.
Woodward is taken in, like the general audience as it were, by this superficial charm, and she ends up broken both by Newman's inconsistent, careless attitude and by the rupturing of the society depicted.The film does not go far enough with many of its themes, and I did expect rather more in the dramatic and comic departments - if melodrama is going to work it needs either grand force or a bathetic line in absurdity.
Loose ends were certainly left untied as regards Perkins' character.I did on the whole quite enjoy this, but it was not a particularly entertaining film: variable in its plotting, dialogue and tone.
Great Performances But It Just Goes Too Far. WUSA (1970) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Heavy-handled political drama about a radio host (Paul Newman) who gets a job in New Orleans and quickly starts a relationship up with a former prostitute (Joanne Woodward).
It doesn't take long for the host to realize that his radio station has some right-wing views and are using him to spread some not so innocent things.
All the time one man (Anthony Perkins) has been collection survey data on welfare but it turns out he too was just being used to try and get people kicked off the system.
WUSA has some terrific performances in it but the film is so over-the-top and melodramatic that you can't help but finally give up on it and especially once we hit the final twenty-minutes when everything pretty much gets thrown out the window.
I think the biggest problem with the screenplay is that we've basically got three different movies rolled into one and each story is pulling in a separate direction.
The one strong point are the terrific performances led by Newman playing one of the darkest and meanest characters in his career.
Just check out the scene where Newman is ripping into Perkins on his "good" heart and it's certainly a side of Newman that we didn't get to see him play too much.
Perkins too is very good in his part as is Hingle, Laurence Harvey, Bruce Cabot and Cloris Leachman.
Shockingly, I think the best portion of the film is the romance between Newman and Woodward.
Sad to say it was laid on a bit too thick by its players and director.Paul Newman who had a lot of faith in this project plays an itinerant disc jockey who both gets a job at this New Orleans based radio station WUSA and takes up with hooker Joanne Woodward, a girl whose heart really isn't in her work anyway.As station owner Pat Hingle says, "this is a station with a point of view" and Hingle expects that point to be emphasized at all times.
That's WUSA's point of view.Newman is not a terribly sympathetic figure here which is one of the reasons the film flattens out.
A whole lot like the characters with one exception in that other Louisiana based political drama, All The King's Men.One who doesn't is Anthony Perkins who plays this rather pitiable 'survey taker' whose job is really to foster racial discontent by getting minorities thrown off welfare.
Perkins is probably the character you most remember from WUSA.WUSA correctly predicted the advent of right wing talk radio about fifteen years before it became a fact.
They've even got a right wing political preacher played by Laurence Harvey as part of their family.
He should have adapted a more subtle approach to the part.I wish I could rate such a prescient film as WUSA a bit higher, but the heavy handed approach just gets in the way..
The swindling pastor Harvey amusingly notes, "Ministers run a terrible risk with neurotic old women," and guides Mr. Newman to work at right-wing radio station "WUSA".
The couple become acquainted with social worker Anthony Perkins (as Rainey), who unwittingly becomes involved in a welfare scheme.With good, almost prescient subject matter, writer Robert Stone's "A Hall of Mirrors" (1967) reads like it should have been a great counterculture film for 1970's #1 "Box Office Star" (then Newman's position, according to "Quigley Publications").
Things start off well, with great New Orleans locations; and, the film is littered with terrific supporting performances.
Hey Joe, loved seeing the (just deceased) Jimi Hendrix wall poster.***** WUSA (8/19/70) Stuart Rosenberg ~ Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Perkins, Laurence Harvey.
Newman and Woodward have great chemistry, however...if you have the patience.I suspect that the novel or story itself is to blame, as the survey business if poorly developed with odd tricks, like money that is never explained.
I wish I had liked the movie more, as I usually love Newman and Woodward.
Adapting his novel "A Hall of Mirrors", Robert Stone writes dialogue and situations which feel curiously dated or clichéd, like the leftover pickings from a movie made some twenty years prior; as a result, the characters fail to emerge.
Newman, at one point in his career, cited this picture as his very best, though he's not very good in it, and neither is co-star Joanne Woodward (working hard at feigning low-class).
The greatest compliment you can give an actor is to tell them they disappeared into the part." The Newmans (Paul and JoAnn Woodward) and Anthony Perkins vanished into their parts too.
One of my favorite Paul Newman movies.
This movie about a reactionary radio station wears its politically correct heart on its sleeve so passionately and takes itself so seriously, it becomes unintentionally funny.
The highlight is when Paul Newman, called upon to calm a right-wing rally that erupts into panic when gunfire rings out, instead delivers a sarcastic speech dripping with irony about how "we're OK" while people all around him are scrambling over each other, trying to get out; the only person who's listening is Joanne Woodward, who gazes at Newman in anguish.
When I finally tracked this movie down, 25 years after seeing it for the first time, I found that I still loved the story.
I wonder if a different score would have gotten the movie a little more respect.It's now almost 25 years since that re-viewing.
Being Paul Newman's favorite among his own vehicles (and which he also co-produced), calling it "the most significant film I've ever made and probably the best", I chose to watch WUSA on the third anniversary of his passing.
For this reason, I had long been intrigued by the movie but, given its relative obscurity, the opportunity never presented itself until the Olive Films DVD was released earlier his year: having made a Newman binge at the time of his demise, I would have gladly added this one too to my collection, were it not for the fact that the bare-bones edition was too heftily-priced for my wallet!
Incidentally the title should read W (as in Viva) USA (perhaps a nod to the same year's M*A*S*H, though it certainly did not duplicate that film's critical and commercial success!) which is obviously ironic, given the paranoid stance it takes at the attempt by a Southern radio station to brainwash the people to their own power-hungry ends.
Even so, this was just one of several thought-provoking but unremittingly cynical pictures to emerge around this time – ranging from THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962; with which it shares both co-star Laurence Harvey and the assassination-at-a-political-rally climax) to NETWORK (1976; which centered around the even-more powerful medium of television).Though direction (Rosenberg was recruited after his fortuitous collaboration with Newman on COOL HAND Luke {1967} and, despite WUSA's failure, would lend his services to two more of the star's efforts i.e. POCKET MONEY {1972} and THE DROWNING POOL {1975}), camera-work and editing (incidentally, the Preview Version ran for 3 hours and 10 minutes but, even as it stands now, the film is overlong – particularly the concluding after-rally scenes) make themselves felt throughout, WUSA mainly relies on the script and the acting to put its various points across.
With this in mind, the former is literary (Robert Stone adapted his own novel to the screen) if verging on the hysterical and the latter ably served by an excellent cast.Newman typically exudes cool amorality as the alcoholic drifter anti-hero who is appointed as d.j. of WUSA, though his supposedly subversive comments are basically limited to such subliminal messages as "The future of America is up to you" (in fact, the film was criticized for not really having the courage of its convictions by tiptoeing around its subject matter!) – he even takes to the mike at the rally in calming down the crowd, with his repeated but clearly sardonic assertion that "We {the Americans} are O.K." (his character's essential lack of commitment, which alienates the Joanne Woodward one and sends Anthony Perkins off the deep end, is rather baffling).
The drama between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward carried this film for me until the arena scene.
Newman idealizing to the crowd during utter chaos is the most unlikely and disappointing scene I've ever seen in the movies.
To me, the best part of this movie was the expression in Paul Newman's eyes every time he looked at his on screen sweetie pie, real-life wife Joanne Woodward.
In WUSA, the seventh of ten films they starred in together, Paul plays a weary radio announcer who cares more about surviving than doing the right thing, and Joanne plays a hooker with a disfigured face.
The film suffers from conversations that sound like speeches, and heavy-handed direction....
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Perkins and others populate a particularly depressing New Orleans in this sad movie.
Newman takes a job at a right wing radio station run by Pat Hingle while lost soul Woodward slowly slips away.
Perkins, an out and out madman, is, ironically, the only one onto what Hingle's radio station is all about.
Newman is great and Woodward is even better.
WUSA is radio station in the South where the drunk Newman gets a job.The film is intentionally claustrophobic with counter-culture elements spread throughout.The ending is rather ambivalent.
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tt2349460
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Grace Unplugged
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Grace Unplugged is an Inspirational movie starring Amanda AJ Michalka as 18 year old Christian singer/songwriter, Grace Rose Trey. Beautiful, highly talented and restless, Grace is so far undiscovered outside church. She performs there each Sunday with her gifted father Johnny, the praise music director at Freedom Community Chapel, a small town Alabama church. A former rock star, Johnny Trey charted a Billboard number one single 20 years before. When the hits stopped coming he crash landed hard, a one hit wonder. Johnny found Christ and a new life for his family, far from the Hollywood Hills.
One day without warning, Grace leaves for Los Angeles. She has landed a record deal with the help of Johnnys ruthless former manager and producer Frank Mossy Mostin. Mossy sees in Grace a potential pop superstar the next Katie Perry. Cutting off contact with her parents, Grace seems prepared to walk away from her Christian faith and music to achieve her long-suppressed fantasy of Hollywood superstardom. Will the experience cause her to reject her faith, or rediscover it?
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romantic
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train
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imdb
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tt0051756
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I Married a Monster from Outer Space
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The movie opens with title and credits shown with the Earth over a star field background. We zoom in on the Earth, and then fade to a pastoral scene of a park with a lake in the small town of Norrisville. A car drives up a two-lane road and pulls into the parking lot of the local bar and restaurant, King's. Two men exit the car and approach the entrance and we hear music coming from inside. They see a man and woman necking in a car. Five drunk men sit at a table. It is a bachelor party of sorts for Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon). He is getting married the next morning, so he leaves early. Sitting next to Bill on his right is his friend Sam Benson (Alan Dexter) and on list left is Mac Brody (Ty Hardin as Ty Hungerford). He reminds Bill that seeing his fiancé before the wedding is bad luck. Harry Phillips (Robert Ivers) jokes that Bill is such a nice guy, It's a shame it has to happen to him. Bill gets in his car and drives off to see Marge. He drives along the lake and sees a body in the middle of the road and stops. He gets out of the car, sure he hit a person, but there is nothing there. He observes, "I didn't think I had that much to drink." A strange, glowing arm with three pointed fingers touches his shoulder. Bill turns around and recoils at the sight of a very strange humanoid alien (an uncredited Charles Gemora). Bill sinks down along the front fender of the car to the ground and is enveloped in a dark, billowing cloud. When the cloud disappears, so does Bill.It is morning and we are in the wedding chapel. Mrs. Bradley (an uncredited Mary Treen), the mother of the bride enters the room with flowers and humming the Wedding March, much to her daughter's annoyance. Marge (Gloria Talbott) is anxious as Bill has not arrived for the wedding. Bill walks in and apologizes for being late. After the ceremony the couple exits the Wee Kirk Wedding Chapel and gets in the car. The well-wishers throw rice. Marge throws the bouquet and Helen Rhodes (Jean Carson) catches it. She wants to marry Sam and intends to soon, if she can get him to the altar. As Bill and Marge drive past the lake the alien watches them. Bill almost hits another car on the road. He "forgot" to turn on his headlights. When Marge innocently asks about the mishap, he snaps at her. They arrive at their honeymoon hotel near the ocean. Bill forgets to open the door of the car for his new wife. She tells Bill, "I know you've been absent-minded lately, but you can't have a honeymoon without a bride." They share glasses of champagne. A storm brews outside as the couple prepare for bed. Marge is starting to think something is strange with her new husband. Marge goes inside and Bill stays outside to watch the storm. A flash of lightning reveals it isn't Bill, but a hybrid of Bill and the alien he encountered on the highway.One year later Marge composes a letter to her mother. She complains that she is both frightened and bewildered. "Bill isn't the man I fell in love with. He's almost a stranger." Marge decides not to send the letter. Sam and Ted Hanks (Chuck Wassal) are sitting in a bar and talk about not seeing Bill Farrell any more. Sam gets his coat and tells the bartender, Max Grady (Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom) that he is a home-wrecker. Sam starts to walk home, but he feels ill and wanders into an alley to puke. He hears a strange noise and turns to investigate. He falls backwards in shock and is enveloped in a roiling black cloud, and like Bill, when the cloud disappears, so does Sam.Marge looks at an X-Ray of herself and complains, "That doesn't look like me at all." She is meeting with Dr. Wayne (Ken Lynch). She saw the doctor to find out why she hasn't been able to get pregnant. The doctor admits he and his wife, Doris, took five years to have their first child. Before Marge gets out the door, Dr. Wayne asks, "Why don't you have Bill come in and see me." Marge stopped at a pet store and placed the cage in her car. A car honks its horn and pulls up behind Marge. Helen Rhodes pulls up with Sam Benson. She announces she and Sam are to be married. Marge drives home and gets the cage out of the car. Bill is outside and calls to her, spoiling the surprise. She pulls the cover off the cage and the dog growls at Bill. The dog snaps at Bill when he puts his hand near the cage. Bill tells Marge that perhaps dogs don't like him, but she reminds him he's had dogs all his life. Bill tells Marge to put the puppy down in the basement. Later that evening Bill goes into the basement. The dog is just as aggressive. Bill reaches out to the dog and kills it. Marge runs to the basement to check on the noise. Bill tells Marge the puppy is dead. When Marge asks how, Bill lies and tells her, "Well, he must have strangled himself. I think his collar was too tight." Marge tells Bill she saw Dr. Wayne today. She tells him she wants children and Bill should see the doctor. The doorbell rings. Marge answers it. It is Sam and he wants to see Bill. They talk briefly, and Marge excuses herself and walks upstairs. Alone, Sam reveals himself to Bill. He asks Bill, "Did you make many mistakes at first?" Sam admits he likes the pleasures humans enjoy, despite the stupidity, bad design and short life span. Sam finally gets to the point, "They've improved the methane reservoirs in these bodies. You're due to report to the ship tonight." Sam reveals his alien/human hybrid face.A police car pulls up a street and stops. Officer Schultz (Jack Orrison) asks his partner, Officer Frank Swanson (Peter Baldwin) if everything is ok. They see a drunk in the alley and go to investigate. Swanson hits Schultz, and then he and the "drunk" carry him out of sight up against a wall. The cloud envelopes Officer Schultz. It is clear now that many of the men in town have been abducted. After checking on his wife, Bill leave the house. He is unaware that Marge has seen him leave. She grabs a coat and slips it on over her nightgown. She follows her husband. The sound of a screeching cat draws her attention. Bill wanders back to the ship with Marge closely behind. She follows the sounds of foot falls in dry brush and spots Bill. She sees a black vapor exit her husband and an alien materializes. The glowing alien walks into a spaceship. Bill remains standing and Marge walks over to him. He is unresponsive and when she touches him, he falls backward, his eyes staring into space. Marge runs. She wakes in the gutter in town. She is drawn to the noise in the bar. She tells Max Grady the Bartender she just saw a monster. Sitting and leering is Weldon (James Anderson) and he instantly takes an interest in Marge. He thinks she is drunk or having the DTs and comments to Max, "Funny thing. She didn't look like a lush." Francine (Valerie Allen), the town hooker walks over and talks to Weldon, but he expresses no interest. Marge stops two policemen (Swanson and Schultz) in their car and asks to see Chief Collins (John Eldredge). Collins offers her a cookie and pours her a cup of coffee in his office. He listens sympathetically and assures her she is sane. But he doesn't believe in the aliens invading the Earth. He convinces Marge to go home and pretend everything is fine. He asks Swanson to take Marge home. Collins walks over to the window. A flash of lightning reveals his true nature. At home, Marge walks slowly into the living room. Bill is there, in the dark, and turns the lamp on. They walk upstairs.It is Sam's wedding day and the rehearsal is underway. Bill is acting as Best Man, and Marge is the Matron of Honor. Marge asks to speak to Helen. Marge begs Helen not to marry Sam, not today, but sometime later. Marge is not specific, and Helen ignores her suggestion. Bill walks in to tell Helen she is needed outside. Weldon has Marge Farrell's address and walks over to her house. Inside, Marge is looking for a lighter. She asks Bill why he isn't drinking. Bill comments that Marge has changed over the last few weeks. She avoids his presence, and his touch. Bill looks out the window and see Weldon. Suspecting something, he mentally summons Officers Schultz and Swanson to the house. They confront Weldon and arrest him. Weldon admits he's been sniffing around Marge. He pulls out a gun and shoots Swanson point blank three times. Schultz cold cocks Weldon. He asks his partner if Weldon is any use to their cause. Frank shakes his head, no, so Schultz kills the man with his service revolver. The shot wakes Marge. She and Bill talk, he admits he's learning. Bill leaves the house. Francine is on the move at the bar. Bill, Sam and Harry sit and stare at their drinks while they talk. They discuss pretending to be human. Harry thinks they are disgusting, but Sam admits he like them. Sam reveals the ultimate goal of their visit to Earth, "Look, Harry, our scientists are working on a way right now to mutate human female chromosomes so we can have children with them." Max notices the three men haven't touched their liquor and confronts them. He hits Bill twice, but Bill is unfazed and responds by putting his hands in his pockets. Max is surprised and a little scared. Max stares at his bloodied knuckles. Francine decides to leave the bar. She adjusts her nylons, then saunters down the street. She sees a hooded figure staring into a toy shop display window. She tries to attract a potential customer by asking for the time. The hooded figure refuses to answer Francine. It finally turns to face her and she is shocked. She runs away screaming. The figure points a weapon at her, fires, and she disappears into a glowing mass.Several couples are enjoying a picnic in the park. Ted Hanks teases his wife, Caroline (an uncredited Darlene Fields) about her throwing arm. Helen and Sam are out on the lake in a row boat. Sam falls overboard, and Ted comments, "Oh, he can swim like a fish." Marge notes that he is not swimming. Ted dives in to rescue his friend, while the rest of the men stand and stare. Helen dives in after her new husband. On shore, Doctor Wayne gives Sam oxygen, but instead of reviving him, it seems to kill the man. Helen spends the night with the Farrells and Marge checks on her before walking downstairs. She goes back to see Capt. Collins. Collins warns Marge about her delusions. Marge tries to call Washington, D.C. on a pay phone, but can't get through. She walks over to the Western Union office and talks to Mr. Potter (an uncredited Tony Di Milo). She fills out a telegram form to the FBI, pays the fee and walks away. She sees, through the window, that Potter tears up the form. She tries to drive out of town but is stopped at a road block. Swanson claims the road was washed out.At home, Marge sits on the couch in the dark. When Bills asks her, "How about some light?" She tartly replies, "You don't need any." She finally confronts the Alien Bill and tells him, "I know you're not Bill. You're some thing that crept into Bill's body. Something that can't even breathe the same air we do. Sam died because oxygen was forced into his lungs." Bill tells Marge he comes from a planet in the Andromeda Constellation. Their sun became unstable so they built a fleet of space ships to get away and that all their females died. He reveals their plans to breed with human females.Marge reveals all to Dr. Wayne. He believes Marge and comes up with a solution for finding human men. He needs help. Ted walks over to announce his wife delivered twins. Dr. Wayne recruits the men waiting in the maternity ward. Marge returns home. Bill is waiting in the living room. The posse of men arrive on the road to the field where the spaceship is located. One man, Charles Mason (Steve London) brings his hunting dogs. They take the path and fan out to search. Bills calls Chief Collins on the phone to inquire about his wife. Bill easily knocks down the door to their bedroom. The posse approaches the ship. A strange detector, a series of pipes and cylinders, scans the area. As Bill shakes Marge, demanding to know who she spoke to, he senses the approaching danger to his ship. In fact, all the alien imposters know and respond to the danger. Bill tells Marge, "So your friends are attacking our ship?" The ship opens and a couple of aliens exit. Bill gets into the police car and returns to his ship. Dr. Wayne and Mason fire at the aliens, but bullets enter, and the wounds instantly seal up. The posse retreats, but Mason releases his dogs. One of the dogs pulls the aliens breathing tube off. It bleeds from the wound, and the creature falls to the ground. The other dog attacks an alien in a similar fashion and the alien is also killed. The men return and stare at the alien body that disintegrates into a pile of gel-like goo. A small explosion destroys their ray gun. The posse enters the ship. Suspended above the floor are the real humans. They are attached by wires to small machines on the floor. Collins, Bill, Sam, and the two police officers are along one wall. Five more men are on another wall, and they include Harry and Mac. Dr. Wayne concludes, "Electrical impulses from the real human bodies must give the monsters form and shape, even memories." Dr. Wayne disconnects Officer Schultz and his corresponding alien falls to the ground and turns into the gel-like goo in clothing. As Dr. Wayne disconnects more humans, more aliens are stopped. Alien Bill realizes the mission has failed. Alien Capt. Collins reports on a battery shaped device, "Earth mission has failed. They're alerted and dangerous. Suggest continuing on to another galaxy. Total personnel lost." With his human plug pulled, Alien Collins collapses in his office. He finishes his report, "Destroy scout ship." He then collapses and turns into the gel-like goo. As the posse removes more men, Marge approaches the Alien Bill. He tells Marge, "Your people have won. That makes you happy, doesn't it?" Bill's plug is pulled and his alien counterpart collapses and writhes in pain. His body turns into a Jello-like goo. The real Bill calls to Marge. He smiles and they embrace. The ship explodes, and Marge and Bill embrace. We close with a scene of the Earth in space and a fleet of flying saucers traveling away.
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allegory, cult, murder
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Both Gloria Talbott and Tom Tryon as the leading actors, give good understated performances, and in the final scene, Tryons' alien becomes a terribly pathetic creature whose only desire was to see the continuation of his race.
When Gloria goes to the local doctor for help in battling the aliens, he quickly realizes that the only men in town who are verifiably human are the ones whose wives are pregnant.
'I Married A Monster From Outer Space' should be ranked as one of the great 50s sci-fi/ horror films.
I guess I was expecting a Ed Wood type film, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but what I saw, was an above average, well acted and directed movie.
The bulk of the film is quite serious and holds up pretty well, even today.The best lines, in the opening segments, come from "Marge" (Gloria Talbott), the one I quoted for the subject head.
From that point, it becomes a very familiar story for fans of sci-fi: something we've seen in a lot of films the past 50 years - aliens transform into humans and one that hasn't gets burned by family and friends she trusts because she doesn't realize they, too, have also turned into aliens.In other words, this has a lot of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" type of paranoia story, just without the pods.
But when it comes to '50s sci-fi films, great acting isn't a requirement anyway, and most of us don't watch it for that.Overall, this is pretty good, nothing super but certainly worth a look now that there is a good DVD transfer of it available.
Another thinly veiled reference to the Communist witch hunt, 'I Married A Monster From Outer Space' is a movie with a cheesy title and a decent story.
The movie talks upon an aircraft from outer space that arrives to earth and go out aliens and they are hanging with human beings .
Tom Tryon as the alien husband is fine and Gloria Talbott as his distrustful wife is enjoyable , she usually was in sci-fi films by that time .
This movie was almost certainly inspired by the McCarthian communist "witch hunts" of the 1950's.The choice of title for this movie certainly does not do the film justice,which is probably why the film isn't thought of as being in the same league as"Invaders from Mars" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers",another two films which develop the theme of this hidden "enemy within".Althougth, in my opinion, not as good as those films,it is still,nevertheless,worth adding to the collection of any sci-fi film fan.
I do feel that this was one of Gloria Talbot's better film roles.The plot unfolds fairly evenly,with Tom Tyron body being taken over by an alien in the first few scenes.What gradually follows is the actual extent of the alien takeover and their intentions.This movie is available on DVD..
What is the intention of the alien invasion?"I Married a Monster from Outer Space" is a great sci-fi movie from the 50's.
another reason it bests "Snatcher", a great movie in its own right.Special effects are pretty good.
I was on the alert to see the glowing creatures that were oh-so-close to the car just on the side of the road.Writing and direction are tight and Tom Tryon (later Gothic novelist) is good as the wooden alien, but Gloria Talbot is primo as the protagonist.
This movie is one of them....aliens taking over the population without being noticed....the guy next door may be a Communist (or a monster from outer space).
With a title and cover like that how could it possibly not be?It tells the story of a woman who notices dramatic changes in her new husband and begins to have suspicions that he may not be himself anymore.Less goofy than I immediatly thought it's essentially a tweeked Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956) but retains enough originality to have its own identity.Fairly creepy in places and well paced it's a very competently made movie for its time though certainly would have benefitted from a bit of additional time.For fans of that genre this is a perfectly passable piece of cinema but light on surprises.The Good:Well made for its timeAbove par finaleThe Bad:Fairly flat in placesThings I Learnt From This Movie:The creators were NOt animal loversAliens are teetotal.
And, I'm told, movie heavyweights catch up with the aliens and their body-snatched humans for all the symbolism they think they see, like "does a marriage ceremony turn all husbands into unromantic zombies".
I guarantee no teen of the time saw anything on screen other than a good scary movie.Anyway, I liked Gloria Talbott then and still do, especially when she runs around in her low- cut nightgown, chest heaving.
The acting is incredibly good and believable by the main characters bill and marge farell ( TOM TRYON, GLORIA TALBOTT)as well as the rest of the cast.
Movies such as the classics "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", and "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" played on this theme, translated into Sci-Fi films.The sensationalist title belies the quality of the film and its well-told storyline.
Although I am also fond of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", which has a similar theme, it lacks the heart of the subject of this review, in my opinion.Marge (Gloria Talbott) and Bill (Tom Tryon) are getting married, but Marge doesn't realize at first that the night before the wedding her groom's body was taken over by an alien being.
She soon comes to realize the true nature of what she has married, and of course tries to warn everyone, and stop the invasion of aliens...aliens who are taking over the menfolk of her town in the hopes of breeding with the women and establishing a colony on Earth.
However, "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" seems to be one of the accidental gems.Tom Tryon makes for a very likable alien.
Interesting bit of trivia: he was also considered by Alfred Hitchcock for the role of Sam Loomis in "Psycho." There are the typical Sci-Fi low-budget special effects, but what makes the film really work is the telling of the story in a manner that pulls you into all of the characters, despite the obvious shortcomings of the budget.Note: Tom Tryon retired from acting in the late 1960's and became a successful novelist, publishing as Thomas Tryon; I remember my mother buying some of his books such as the bestselling "The Other", "Harvest Home", and "Crowned Heads", all of which I thoroughly enjoyed..
Okay, for you to also think this is an exceptional film, you've gotta like 1950s Monster/Sci-Fi movies.
The special effect are pretty good and the story of horny aliens coming to find unsuspecting brides is really well done and not cheesy like the terrible MARS NEEDS WOMEN (yawn).
Released in 1958 and shot in B&W, "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" stars Gloria Talbott as a newlywed in Southern Cal who starts to suspect her husband is an alien from outer space (Tom Tryon).
Despite the silly title, the tone is serious and the special effects regarding the aliens and the way they possess people (or whatever) are quite good for the era.
Movies like this are worthwhile simply as historical artifacts to view American society in the late 50s, but compared to Sci-Fi giants from the 50s like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and the monumental "Forbidden Planet" (1956) "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" is second rate.The film runs 78 minutes and was shot in Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park and Los Angeles, California.
Gene Fowler Jr. directed this silly-sounding science fiction thriller that stars Tom Tryon as a young groom about to be married who is abducted by alien invaders and replaced with one of them, who is made to look just like him.
This alien does go on to marry his bride(played by Gloria Talbott) who doesn't like or understand the suddenly cold and passionless change in her man.
It has many elements which will remind you of Invasion of the Body Snatchers - aliens take over the local people of small-town rural America, but you wouldn't know it because they take human forms.
When Marge Bradley (Gloria Talbott) marries Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon), she gets a surprise when she finds out that he's been possessed by an alien, and that aliens are possessing the other men in town.
Not a bad little film about aliens taking over the bodies of men in a small town to mate with their wives.
It stars actor turned author Tom Tryon ("The Cardinal") as Bill Farrell, a newlywed insurance agent who's the first of many small town citizens to have their bodies taken over by aliens.
The special effects may look awfully crude to some modern viewers, but they're damn entertaining to watch, and the monsters in their natural guise thankfully don't look quite like anything else that this viewer has seen in this genre.The supporting cast features a couple of familiar faces, like Ty Hardin ('Bronco'), Ken Lynch ("Anatomy of a Murder"), John Eldredge ("High Sierra"), James Anderson ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), and boxer turned actor Maxie Rosenbloom ("The Boogie Man Will Get You").
On the eve of his wedding, Bill (Tom Tryon) is abducted by aliens and an alien living in a facsimile of his human body returns to marry Marge (Gloria Talbott).
Interesting twist on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" from 1956 has many of the small town males quickly and insidiously overtaken by the outer space ghouls, whose ultimate purpose is to mate with Earth women and give their race a fresh start.
Despite its rather silly title, this movie is actually very good.Aliens start taking over a number of people in a small town, including a newly wed.
No real stars here, but quite good acting.I Married A Monster From Outer Space is worth watching, despite the title.
Tom Tryon before he became Walt Disney's Texas John Slaughter starred in this camp science fiction film, I Married A Monster From Outer Space.
I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958) *** (out of 4) Despite the campy title this is a pretty straight forward sci-fi film that manages to be quite effective.
If I had seen the little-known actors Gloria Talbott and Tom Tryon in a movie titled "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" in 1958, I very likely would not have gone to see it because of the title.
However, to ignore this movie is cheating oneself, since it's a dark, creepy, and altogether enjoyable sci-fi about an alien invasion.Bill Ferrell (Tryon) is out drinking before his wedding day, and is overcome by a mysterious dark cloud.
The story focuses for the most part on the plight of newlywed Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbott) whose husband Bill (Tom Tryon) is abducted by aliens of the eve of their wedding and replaced by one of them who initially seems like a perfect copy but whose true nature is gradually revealed as Marge's fears and paranoia deepen in a clever commentary on how well we really know people.
Stephen King when describing the aliens faces called them 'runnelled and knotted and warty', elsewhere they've simply been described as 'rhubarb like', although one critic dismissed them as 'risible' (perhaps he was watching the 'pompous ass' cut of the film; I'm sure that critics see a different version of these movies than the rest of us!) and they are all of these things and more, depending on how you look at them.Some of the themes are interesting even today.
It's there the aliens in it begin to take over he bodies, after their kidnapped, of the young men in that town.Getting married to her high-school sweetheart Bill Farrel, Tom Tryon, Marge,Goria Talbott, begins to realize that he's not the man that she was in love with all these years!Marge later realizes that he's not a man at all but Bill is like what the title of the movie says: "A Monster from Outer Space".Coming from a planet in the distance Andromeda Constellation the aliens escaped from their dying planet due to their sun's deadly radiation that killed off all the females of their race.
Much better then you would expect the movie "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" has a intelligent script and fine acting on the part of it's cast.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space starts as Bill Farrell (Tom Tyron) drives home after a night out with his friends, Bill is due to marry his fiancé Marge (Gloria Talbot) the following day but is abducted & replaced by an alien creature that takes Bill's form & place.
Marge confronts Bill who admits that he is part of an alien race that is dying out & they have come to Earth to mate with women to save their race from extinction, Marge sets out to stop them & make a disbelieving world take notice of her...Produced & directed by Gene Fowler Jr. this Paramount Pictures production has one of the more memorable titles for a 50's sci-fi alien invasion film & while I wasn't expecting too much from it I did like it, it's not amazing but if your a fan of these old black and white 50's alien invasion flicks then you could do a lot worse than I Married a Monster from Outer Space.
The script tries to paint the aliens as sympathetic, despite being ugly aliens in their true form when in human form they try to reason calmly & are presented as a desperate race on the verge of extinction although kidnapping men, replacing them & trying to get our women pregnant isn't the way they should have gone about things...The special effects here aren't that bad, the smoke effect that covers the men when they are being abducted is good while the alien monsters themselves look alright with a strange glow to them.
The acting is alright if a little wooden as expected, nothing great but not terrible.I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a fun little 50's sci-fi horror about the importance of marriage the idea of conforming to society, it's outdated & silly but overall I quite liked it for what it is.
The alien race needs women to procreate their species or face extinction due to the fact that their sun which destroyed their planet.Solid sci-fi from director Gene Fowler, Jr(I Was a Teenage Werewolf)stars Gloria Talbott as Marge, recently married to Bill Farrell(Tom Tryon), noticing that he's not acting the same before their blessed union.
Essentially a sci-fi melodrama, I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE is far more mature, intelligent, and literate than the hokey title would suggest, especially well acted by it's competent cast, particularly Talbott who so desperately wants to communicate what she knows regarding the alien threat, yet getting her message out becomes a trial.
I'm attracted to the "body snatching" science fiction very popular during this time, and I think I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE is a classic example of the quality pictures that derived from the canon.
Taking the material seriously, Fowler Jr directs the film(..as well as the cast's acting)with a minimalist approach.What was most fascinating to me was seeing Bill's alien(..he and his drinking buddies, also taken over)attempting to coexist(..adapt)to human society, discovering what it was to feel, to love.
Tom Tryon and Gloria Henry in good sci-fi B-film from the '50s....
It's a good thing he had a career as a Gothic writer ahead of him.However, it's the tight script, the crisp B&W photography, the jagged bits of music, and the eerie plot that bears more than a slight resemblance to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" that is guaranteed to keep you awake--even though it is obviously a B-film with no big pretensions to be anything else.***** Possible SPOILER Ahead*****It's another one of those tales where the poor wife dares not trust any of the citizens of a small town--since any one of them might have turned into an alien, like her hubby.
Unfortunately a whole three-quarters of the movie concerns Gloria Talbot learning that her husband, played by Tom Tryon, is an alien.The pace was too slow with too much time spent on the wife discovering that her husband is not the man she married.
The ending picks up a bit but it's rather late in the movie, by which point Tom Tryon's wooden acting, pouting facial expression, slow movements and slow dialog had worn me out.With no tension, no drama and little suspense I recommend skipping I Married a Monster from Outer Space and watching or rewatching any one of the better sci-fi films of the fifties..
The real problem is that they really don't know how to show a girl a good time, revealed in a letter that bride Gloria Talbott writes while on her honeymoon to Tom Tryon.
You can tell the director and crew are making every last bit of their obviously tiny budget count and finding setups and shots that pump the energy into what could have been just another rip off of "Body Snatchers".Talbott is an especially good choice for the part of the unlucky bride - I've seen her in other movies (like "Leech Woman") and her screen persona is always pretty tightly wound; she brings wide-eyed anxiety and fretfulness to the part without having to overplay it - you always believe this character is full of doubts, fears, and regrets without the screenplay having to turn her into a shrill hag.The movie also distinguishes itself from the run of the mill "secret invasion" science fiction movie by helping the audience understand the alien's reasons for being on Earth, and making them more human (or influenced by their human shells) as the movie progresses.
Marge you see has married a monster-like alien from outer space, who is part of a group trying to conquer earth.Predictable, but a whole lot better than some other Sci-Fi releases of the same period.
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tt2381941
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Con man Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) goes to a bar in New York City. There, he sees a beautiful young blonde woman (Margot Robbie) with another man, who seems to be pestering her. She escapes from him - he later falls asleep, drunk - and goes to Nicky's table. Her name is Jess. They go upstairs to her hotel room and start to make out. A man then bursts into the room with a gun, threatening to shoot Nicky. Jess says he's her husband. Nicky then quips that he's got cancer, and the man says he doesn't want to shoot a guy with cancer. Jess figures that Nicky is on to them. Nicky says how they should have handled it if they really wanted to rob him before he leaves.Jess finds Nicky a few nights later and begs him to teach her his ways after she's done her research on him. Nicky mentions a story to her about two partners involved in a con gone wrong where one partner had to shoot the other to make it seem like they weren't working together. They happened to be Nicky's father and grandfather, and the former shot the latter in something called the "Toledo Panic Button". Nicky agrees to teach her and says the act of conning people is a game of focus. He shows her how her works his hands so that she can't tell when he's swiped something off her person.Nicky takes his business to New Orleans with his friend Horst (Brennan Brown), and their own team of con artists. It's Super Bowl week, so the city is packed full of people. Jess joins them down there for a practice round of conning. They take her through the crowded streets where they swipe watches, wallets, and other trinkets off unsuspecting people. They also take Jess through a hotel casino for another round. After she proves her worth, she is allowed on the team. On a sidenote, we see Nicky may have a gambling problem as he loses money at a horse track.Jess meets Nicky's friend and associate Farhad (Adrian Martinez). He is involved in more complicated schemes, as he is seen removing a fake ATM that is used to nab private information. Jess takes a liking to Farhad despite his often crass behavior.Over time, Nicky and Jess develop a mutual attraction. After sex, Jess asks Nicky why some people refer to him as "Mellow". He says his father used to call him that because he told him he was soft like a marshmallow. Nicky believes that there's no room for heart in this game because it can get you killed.The night before the big game, with all their conning complete, Nicky addresses the team and congratulates them on a record week, $1.2 million worth. He sends everybody home with his usual promise to send them their cut. Horst gives Nicky the bag of cash, and makes Nicky promise he won't gamble with it. Nicky promises as Jess looks on.Nicky and Jess go to the football game. They make small bets with each other such as if one fan will catch a hot dog, and if another is too drunk to get up for the wave. They see a woman in short shorts and bet how many men will look at her ass as she walks by. Jess bets 8 while Nicky bets 3. A curious man named Mr. Liuyan (B.D. Wong) joins the game and bets 5. Seven men check out the woman as she walks by, making Jess the closest. Liuyan makes more bets with Nicky over the game, practically begging him to play when Nicky tries to back out. Nicky plays and loses $1,000. The bets escalate as the two men double the bets, even as Jess tells Nicky they should just leave. After losing $100,000, it looks like Nicky has finally had enough and is about to walk away. Mr. Liuyan goads him back in, and Nicky bets all the remaining cash ($1.1 million) on a simple high card draw. Liuyan pulls the card with a higher number, winning all their money. Nicky and Jess are heartbroken. Nicky chooses not to walk away and decides to double the bet again. He tells Liuyan to pick any player on the field, and he will guess which one, seemingly impossible odds. Mr. Liuyan thinks he is crazy and doesn't bet on crazy, so he refuses. Nicky sweetens it when he says Jess will pick the player that Liuyan spotted, much to Jess's terror. Liuyan can't turn down free money, so he picks a player. As Jess nervously looks through the binoculars, Liuyan gives them a chance to back out. Jess looks to Nicky, seemingly begging him to take this chance to back out, but Nicky tells her to pick. Jess again nervously scans the players. All of a sudden, she spots Farhad wearing a jersey with 55 on it. She grins and picks him, and to everyone's surprise, that's the correct answer.On the taxi ride home, Nicky, now with a LOT of money on him, explains to Jess that this was set up from the beginning of the day. He knew that Liyuan is a notorious gambler, so he had it set up so that Liuyan would see the number 55 throughout the day, thereby subconsciously getting him to pick that number when the moment was right. Nicky then has the taxi pull over while another car pulls up behind them. He tells the cabbie to take Jess to the airport. He leaves her with her share of money and departs without another word, leaving Jess confused and heartbroken.Three years later.In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nicky is working with a billionaire race car owner named Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro) and his associate, Owens (Gerald McRaney). They are in possession of a revolutionary new fuel burn algorithm, which will give them an edge in the upcoming season. But Garriga is nervous this won't be enough, so their plan is for Nicky to pose as a disgruntled former employee of Garriga, and sell a fake version to another team owner McEwen (Robert Taylor), who is Garriga's biggest competition. This will make the competition slower, while Garriga gets faster.Nicky goes to a party at Garriga's mansion where he sees Jess for the first time since he left her, descending the staircase in a stunning red dress. She kisses Garriga, to Nicky's disdain. He approaches Jess afterward, where she assures him that she's doing just fine on her own. Nicky plays his part of disgruntled employee, and is later approached by McEwen.Nicky spends a lot of his time trying to get closer to Jess, even though she's done with him. This eventually leads to them going back to Nicky's hotel room and having sex. The next morning, Owens goes to Nicky's room while Jess stays out of sight. Owens complains about his feelings toward the younger generation and his lack of progress in the job.Nicky eventually sells off Garriga's REAL algorithm not only to McEwen, but to every other race team as well for the same price, amounting to about 27 million Euros. He also convinces Jess to run away with him. Before they can escape, one of Garriga's men rams his car into theirs, and the two of them are abducted and taken to one of Garriga's warehouses with duct tape on their mouths. He takes the tape off Nicky's mouth but leaves it on Jess and plugs her nose until Nicky tells him how he managed to hack Garriga's system and get his hands on the real algorithm. First Nicky tells him Jess wasn't a part of it so he can let her go. Garriga plugs her nose again, so Nicky finally admits that he used Jess (again), and planted a bug on her so that when she returned to Garriga's hotel room, the bug picked up his computer password. He laughs, knowing it's a lie, and takes the tape off her mouth. She admits to Nicky that Garriga isn't her boyfriend - she just wanted his watch, which is worth two hundred grand. She's never slept with Garriga, or even been to his room, despite his numerous attempts. Nicky finally resigns to telling the truth, and right as he's about to start, he gets shot in the chest by Owens, which horrifies Garriga and causes him to leave. Nicky appears to bleed out as Jess cries and tells him she loves him. It looks like Nicky dies until Owens says he shot Nicky in the right spot to avoid any major arteries, although he did puncture his lung. Owens gets the blood out of Nicky's lung, reviving him. Owens then calls Nicky "Mellow", making Jess realize that Owens is Nicky's father, Bucky Spurgeon, that he was in on the con the whole time, and that they've just performed the "Toledo Panic Button."Owens drives Nicky and Jess to the closest hospital. He reminds Nicky of what he said regarding putting your heart in the con game, and adds that he's taking all the money. Jess helps walk Nicky to the front of the hospital. Nicky smirks when he notices that Jess is wearing Garriga's watch on her wrist.
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revenge, psychological, comedy, flashback
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train
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imdb
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That's when Will Smith and Margot Robbie come to life, they are at their best when they are given more to work with and they keep the movie interesting.
But much later when the big twist came I wasn't shock or surprised.I probably would have had a better experience of the film if there were hidden clues leading up to the cons or if there was one character, who wasn't a con artist, that I could have trusted allowing me to let my guard down and get conned.The leads, Will Smith and Margot Robbie, work well on screen.
Overall, Focus is a terrible con movie which cons the audience with it's good trailer and impressive cast, which can't save this convoluted mess from it's filler filled plot..
Just watched "Focus", a movie which made some buzz 2-3 years ago mainly because the rumored romance between the two main actors, Will Smith and Margot Robbie.
Margot Robbie is good but she is merely rehashing her sultry goddess performance from The Wolf of Wall Street minus the Brooklyn accent, adding very little substance to Jess and making her merely something nice to look at which is really troublesome considering Jess is probably the best character in the film.
No wonder the movie could barely paid production costs, by the way too expensive for what was presented.Nothing at all to remember but the scenes with Margot in bikinis.Really impressed how movie distributors can go along trying to push some movie like that into the market.Will Smith only resembles himself on this movie and Margot does what she can , be a bimbo girl.This is a bad film and I do believe your enjoyment hinges even more on your expectations when going into itGood actors, not acting that well here and that is all..
And the movie is infused in a lot of what I find about US young urban contemporary culture to be abhorrent.The last part of the movie was filmed in my hometown, Buenos Aires (gratuitously so, since it involves a con operation involving a Formula 1 race, which hasn't been set here for many years), but even that part I didn't find to be terribly interesting, as it's all shown with a tourist lens.The only good scene in the movie here has Smith playing a game of escalating bets with a Chinese businessman (BD Wong)..
oh yeah he was never a superstar-just a wannabe,i actually thought he got robbed at the Oscars,concussion was a very good movie, eexcept for the chase scene which never happened ) but back to this crappy movie,focus.well it appears that time has passed.this is one of the worst pile of crap I have seen actually put me to sleep , it is a copy of so many other films in this genre.take a almost leading man add a buxom blond and con someone.
this movie is a total waste of time , rent one of the ocean movies or some movie along this line.will smith was a star ,he had a good following then the last few years took place,his choice of roles was more about the again if you knew here taste in movies you would understand just how bad this movie is ,it amazes me how people on this site give some really terrible movies good marks,are we settling for this?i watch over 200 movies a year and well very few are great I have learn to enjoy a lot of bad movies in some ways ,but this is not good -don't waste your money!!!
-Focus (2015) movie review: -Focus is a crime flick that follows con-man Nicky, played by Will Smith, as he meets and trains a new counterpart Jess, played by Margot Robbie, in the ways of being a con-artist.
Will Smiths character especially had a lot to offer in the way of charisma and twists.-The music was fitting and some of it was memorable.-Another thing I liked was seeing the inside of the whole con-man thing you see in movies.
Going into it, I was not sure if I wanted to see a movie with big Willie not saving the world, but who better than Mr. Smith to prove that he does not need to battle aliens from outer space to make a blockbuster.He is the blockbuster, and though his last movie, After Earth was a failed lesson in movie stardom for little Jayden, Will Smith makes a comeback as a charming con man who falls for a up and coming con girl and needs to stay focus on keeping the con.It's All about Will's star power as he shows the world how well he's aged and that he's still got the charisma to fill theater seats, and he does.Getting my lips off Will's butt for a second, the movie in itself was charming and cleaver.
Although, Will's eye candy, Margot Robbie did not need much help in the sexy category.So the movie can hold it's own with a sophisticated story of the art of the con game, that was more interesting and less predictable than most movies about the subject, but it does not hurt that this is Will Smith's vehicle, as he proves he's still got what it takes behind the wheel.Definitely ago see..
In "Focus" Will Smith plays Nicky, a con artist from a long lineage of con artists, who takes under his wing the beautiful and talented pickpocket Jess (Margot Robbie): a great example of the sort of apprentice system that the UK Government is looking to encourage!
The action moves from New York to more picturesque locations in New Orleans to Buenos Aires, building to the ultimate con in the febrile gasoline-fuelled environment of the Formula 1 circuit.The key requirements of a first class con/heist movie like "Ocean's Eleven" or "The Sting" is a charismatic lead, a clever and intriguing story and getting the audience to really care that the characters succeed in their quest against their (typically well deserving) mark.
Focus differs in just three respects.Will Smith has to be one of the more charismatic stars in the A-list today: on talk shows (like the recent edition of the Graham Norton show) he just shimmers with fun and good humour.
I'm a fan of Smith, and after "After Earth" he could do with a hit vehicle – unfortunately this is not it.The surly performance largely destroys any chemistry between his character and Jess, which is a great shame since Margot Robbie is otherwise the best thing in the movie: aside from looking absolutely stunning (both in and out of an F1-babe bikini), she also knows how to act: following on from "The Wolf of Wall Street" she is building a great name for herself.Elsewhere Adrian Martinez is effective as Nicky's foul-mouthed side-kick Farhad and for female fans of "Love Actually", the Brazilian 'hunk' Rodrigo Santoro appears as Garriga, the owner of an F1 team (shirt on though this time).The script aims for "Ocean's" levels of cleverness, with some good comedy lines, but falls short.
The story builds to an unsatisfactory Hollywood finale, where a cliffhanging "Italian Job" approach might have worked much better.The film showed in the UK with a '15' certificate for "strong language, violence, sex, sex references", although it is difficult to see why it really merited this rating, at least from the sex angle – – the scenes between Smith and Robbie are very tame indeed.Directors – plural, never a good sign – are Glen Ficarra and John Requa ("Bad Santa", "I Love You Philip Morris") who also wrote the screenplay.
The film could have done without the romance, since Smith and Robbie have about as much chemistry as shoe polish.Focus's faults are exacerbated by the poorly paced plot that relies upon telling rather than showing, a lazy tactic typical of a substandard story and script.
It saves itself by having ridiculously good looking and well dressed lead actors set in the richest locations imaginable, once again letting the viewer get lost in the film living vicariously through the leads.This isn't to say that Focus is a bad movie, the audience I was with laughed consistently and regularly at the film and even waited with baited breath when things went awry.
However, the movie recycles this material too often and having too much investment in lovey-dovey banters does wear the tension thin.Story follows Nicky (Will Smith), a veteran thief who meets with Jess (Margot Robbie), an aspiring thief.
He's still every bit the playa we want him to be in a movie directed by Glenn Ficcara and John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love) that has a stylish sexiness in almost every scene.Smith plays Nicky, the kind of confident, well dressed mystery man who doesn't seem to mind eating at a fancy restaurant alone.
Gerald McRaney has a few good scenes as a hard-ass, suspicious bodyguard here but it's Smith, playing a guy with a gift of gab, and Robbie, a beauty with not just a great smile but also poise, charm, and humor, who keep Focus afloat even when the movie doesn't seem quite sure of itself..
Unfortunately, just like Smith's character suffers as his focus shifts from crime to romance, so does the movie's quality.
Moreover, this film is so stupidly convoluted it thinks it is smart and thinks it can get away with it by explaining things really fast with witty faces on characters, but as soon as you think about it you realize the movie is actually treating you like you're stupid.
You know I was about to give this film a 5, because it really doesn't have huge technical issues except its editing, which by the way is really off, but the more I think about it the more it makes me angry: not only it treats you as an idiot, it also has a disgusting message and portrayal of robbers and Morgot Robbie's character is so one note it actually comes close to being misogynistic.I will admit I had some fun in the theater, but overall the film fails both on a storytelling-filmaking side and even more on the "intellectual", for the lack of a better word, side..
His performance is too wooden at times and he is having trouble reflecting back the chemistry he gets from Robbie at certain scenes.Focus is aware of the story structure problems so it comes up with a twist after a twist, especially during the final stage to keep things relatively interesting.
A big mistake the producers felt to see which probably will cost them millions of dollars.Also the movie cannot convince you that Robbie and Smith really has the skills to pull these jobs and you never have this issue with similar movies like Ocean's Eleven or Catch Me If You Can.Overall, Focus is an okay movie which you should just watch on your favorite movie platform instead of going all the way to a movie theater.
This film really did not impress me, but I will say this, the general story line minus the BS stats, the poor performances, and the chemistry between Robbie and Smith kept me wanting to stay and find out if it was as predictable as I thought it was, which it is with one twist at the end that I didn't see coming.
Quickie Review:Nicky (Will Smith), a professional con man comes across Jess (Margot Robbie) who he thinks has a lot of potential.
However, apart from the acting talent and the initial intrigue behind the schemes, the movie as whole has trouble excelling beyond an acceptable level of mediocrity.Full Review:With Will Smith and Margot Robbie starring, Focus seemed like a promising con movie with some good amount of drama.
Overall good little tease movie to see of fun and dreams a showcase for the up and coming sexy Margot Robbie..
The way Will Smith executed the role of Nicky had me scratching my head thinking "Why wasn't he in the oceans eleven movies." He did a great job and don't let me discredit the supporting roles.
It's also great to see Margot Robbie in a lead role, not only is she drop dead gorgeous but she can hold her own in a movie like this.
For those who haven't seen the surprisingly limited aired trailer, here is what you might expect in the film.Expect: A romance of some sort with sex thrown in, a tale about pulling off the big con, Margot Robbie showing off her body, and Will Smith playing a relaxed, devil may care role.
The biggest thing that con-men can't stand is being coned be other con-men, now try to let that sink in.The story is about a long-time grifter decides to mentor a young, attractive woman, but things get complicated when he the two become romantically involved.Okay I got to admit I wasn't very interested in Focus when I first heard about it, I just thought it was another mediocre Will Smith film that's trying to be a box office hit, even when the trailer came out I still wasn't interested in it.
Until I sawed my favorite YouTube reviewer Chris Stuckmann reviewed the movie and give it a positive rating and shortly after that I sawed this movie hit number one at the box office, and now I was interested and after seeing the movie I can say that the movie was...okay.Will Smith is the kind of actor that he can be in a good or bad movie and it will be a box office hit, but I think his range of be successful is going side ways for him and I thought Focus was going to be another one of those movies that Will Smith is trying to be a success again, but this time I was wrong because Will Smith was actually pretty good in this movie.Margot Robbie won me over in The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Smith plays Nicky, a master con artist who's at the top of his game when he meets Jess (the drop-dead gorgeous Margot Robbie), a down-on-her-luck small-time scammer.
Moving at a consistent and smooth pace, I never found myself bored by what was happening on-screen and by the time that the film had finished, I was left feeling very satisfied.The chemistry shared between Smith and Robbie works and creates a movie romance that audiences are able to root for until the very end.
Focus is the newest Will Smith movie, and with his recent track record many moviegoers will likely stay away from this film.
I cannot honestly say the score was bad or awful, but it was average at best.In closing, Focus is a fun film with an overall good story even if the story gets absurd at times.
While there's certainly some great on screen (and more than likely off-screen) chemistry between the slowly losing his charms Will Smith and the ever impressive Aussie starlet Margot Robbie, no amount of sizzle or pizazz can save Focus from its own lacklustre core and for a movie that was supposed to be exciting and energetic, Focus meagrely meets its mark as a Friday night time filler.Co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have found success before with their impressive rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love and while the two possess a neat visual flair, whether it be in the colourful streets or New Orleans or in the capturing of the natural beauty of Robbie, there's a sense that the core material at the heart of this con-artist tale lacks the ingredients that was going to allow it to compare to an Oceans 11 or such similar themed film and while Focus may start out in an intriguing fashion, alarmingly it drops off at such a rapid pace that by the film's final reel it's quite possible that you'll find yourself barely awake.Focus's largest hurdle in keeping the audience engaged lies within its inability to be in any way shape or form realistic and while with these caper like movies audience suspension of belief is to be expected Focus just goes too far out of its way to be spectacular when a smaller more believable scenario was often called for.
Smith's well renowned con man Nicky is also a figure we don't ever get to care for and whenever his away from on screen partner Robbie it's all to evident that Smith is continuing on with the form he showed in his recent string of stinkers like After Earth and Winter's Tale with a raft of below average material and elements it's safe to say Robbie is the star attraction here and we can now hope that her upcoming turns in the intriguing looking Z for Zachariah and Suicide Squad showcase further development of her exciting career.It's meant to be exciting, it's meant to be thrilling and it's meant to be the smartest kid in its class but Focus barely scraps by with it's over the top situations, set ups and twists and unlike most films of this ilk slowly dies a death as time goes on when it should've been ramping up the fun at every turn.
You just have to love a movie with will smith and Margot Robbie.
The last thing I expected was to be absolutely blindsided by how fun this movie actually was.Synopsis: A female pickpocket (Robbie) is recruited by the head of a con-man empire (Smith) to join his "crew" in a series of well choreographed and highly elaborate heists.Sounds like a "fun little" "Ocean's Eleven"-type film, right?
I watched the new Will Smith movie FOCUS.You don't have to.This con-man caper flick, co-starring the lovely Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street) is a slow moving, nothing appears as it seems, film of people robbing each other.
Filled with the twists and turns of plot and personality that are essential to the genre, the screenplay by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (who co-directed the film) is sufficiently clever without ever being overly original, while Smith and Margot Robbie make a very appealing couple as Nicky and Jess.
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The Blair Witch Project
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Three film students go to Burkittsville, Maryland to make a documentary on the Blair Witch legend. The director is Heather Donahue (Heather Donahue), her main cameraman is Joshua Leonard (Joshua Leonard) and Michael Williams (Michael C. Williams) is the sound crew. The three go missing, but a year later their footage is found in a bag inexplicably buried under an abandoned 100-year-old house.According to legend, the Blair Witch is the ghost of Elly Kedward of the late 1700s, whom several children accused of luring them into her home to draw blood from them. Kedward is found guilty of witchcraft, banished from the village during a particularly harsh winter, and presumed dead. By midwinter, all of Kedward's accusers, along with half of the town's children, vanish. Fearing a curse, the townspeople flee Blair and vow never to utter Elly Kedward's name again.In 1825, 11 witnesses testify to seeing a pale woman's hand reach up and pull ten-year-old Eileen Treacle into Tappy East Creek. Her body is never recovered, and for thirteen days after the drowning the creek is clogged with oily bundles of sticks. In 1886, eight-year-old Robin Weaver is reported missing and search parties are dispatched. Although Weaver returns, one of the search parties does not. Their bodies are found weeks later at Coffin Rock tied together at the arms and legs and disemboweled. In 1941, starting with Emily Hollands, a total of seven children are abducted from the area surrounding Burkittsville. A hermit named Rustin Parr walks into a local market and tells the people there that he is "finally finished." After the police hike for four hours to his secluded house in the woods, they find the bodies of seven missing children in the cellar. Each child has been ritualistically murdered and disemboweled. Parr admits to everything in detail, telling authorities that he did it for "an old woman ghost" who occupied the woods near his house. He is quickly convicted and hanged.The three filmmakers interview the "country bumpkin" types of Burkittsville, who seem equally enjoying being on camera and mystified as to why they'd want to make this film. Heather interviews Mary Brown (Patricia DeCou), an elderly and quite insane woman who has lived in the area all her life who claims to have seen the Blair Witch one day near Tappy Creek in the form of a hairy, half-human, half-animal beast. Two anglers tell Heather that Coffin Rock is less than 20 minutes from town, and the three decide to make the woods of the Blair Witch the centerpiece of their film.After enjoying a drunken night at their motel, Heather, Josh, and Mike park and go into the woods with a map of the logging trail. After hiking a few miles into woods that seem far larger than they'd appeared from the outside, they film the creek where the Coffin Rock massacre occurred. Satisfied with their footage, the three set up their tent when it starts to rain. They remain in high spirits through the night, despite Mike's flatulence. The next morning, Joshua claims he heard strange noises during the night, one of them he's determined was cackling.Consulting their map, the team decide to press on further into the woods in search of an old graveyard, but Josh and Mike are a little concerned about the accuracy of Heather's map reading, having gotten them a bit lost the previous day. They set off, still in high spirits, kidding with each other and generally enjoying their weekend. While Heather remains confident that they are on the right trail and that they will reach the graveyard in an hour and a half, it soon becomes clear that they are in fact lost, and tensions begin to mount, both men resenting that Heather continues to film while they're lost. They press on, braving an arduous river crossing over a log bridge. They soon come across a clearing where they find strange piles of rocks neatly stacked on the ground. Heather recalls something that Mary Brown had said about a pile of rocks in the Bible, but can't remember exactly what it is. They find seven piles of stones in all.That night, they build a fire and cook food, some of the tensions having dissipated a little. During the night, Heather takes them back to the rocks to film more footage, and one of them knocks over a pile of rocks. Later still, the trio hears strange noises from the woods and they set off to investigate. Something is clearly moving around them, but Mike refuses to leave the tent to help look for it. Next morning, it's raining harder than ever and the trio discuss the events of the night before. Josh suggests that the noises were caused by local rednecks and Mike agrees, worrying that if someone was prepared to come this far out into the woods just to spook them, they must be seriously disturbed.The group decides to head back for the car, Heather continuing to insist that she knows where they're going. As the day progresses and they fail to find their way back to the car, tensions again start to run high and, as the day turns into evening, Heather suggests that they camp for the night. Mike is starting to get increasingly stressed by their predicament, though Heather maintains that they aren't far from where they left the car.That night, they are again disturbed by strange noises around them in the dark. They again go outside to see what's causing it, and hear what seems to be trees being knocked over and other strange sounds. Josh suggests that it's probably deer, but Heather isn't so sure, noting that "it's on all sides of us" and that the sounds are like footsteps.Next morning, they find three piles of rocks that have mysteriously appeared overnight surrounding their tent. Heather films them, to the dismay of Mike and Josh, who just want to get home. But things are about to get worse: The map has disappeared. While it had been in Heather's trousers the night before, it's gone now, and the two men deny having seen it. They are now completely lost and have no way of finding their way back to the car. Josh implies that Heather has deliberately lost or hidden it to keep them all in the woods to complete her movies. Unwilling to give up, the trio follow the creek, hoping that it will eventually lead them somewhere. Josh reasons that someone will start looking for them when they don't return.They come to a river which again proves difficult to cross, and already-frayed tempers are stretched almost to the breaking point, with Mike now behaving even less rationally than ever. Heather is angry that the men are laughing at her when her shoes become waterlogged, and a near-hysterical Mike admits that he threw the map into the creek as he felt it was useless. Mike and Josh nearly come to blows and Heather screams abuse at Josh, becoming even more hysterical than Mike. The relationship between the three is now completely broken down, and they waste time arguing over who is going to hold the compass and apportioning blame. Eventually, after continuing south for a while, Mike and Josh simply stop and refuse to go any further. But in a nearby clearing, Mike finds strange stick figures hanging from trees, dozens of them, some in the shapes of strange runic symbols, others clearly meant to represent human forms. Heather films the totems for a while before Mike and Josh demand that they leave the area. Mike screams hysterically for help, reasoning that rednecks have followed them and fashioned the figures.That night, they decide not to light a fire and to extinguish all lights in the hope that it won't give away their position and hence won't attract attention, yet they are again all woken by strange sounds, including what appears to a baby screaming. As they are listening, their tent starts shaking. All three flee into the night, still filming everything as they go; they spend the rest of the night cowering together in the darkness.At daybreak they return to the tent, where Josh finds that all of his belongings have been scattered around the clearing and are covered with a strange, slimy substance. They also find another of the wooden stick figures fashioned from twigs and vines. Finally sickened by her insistent filming of everything, Mike attacks Heather and tries to get her precious video camera away from her.They again press on and Josh seems to be on the verge of losing it, becoming moody and depressed, wandering off to sit on his own. Mike and Heather forge an uncomfortable alliance, trying to hold the group together. Mike argues that whatever is stalking them will return and that they must keep moving, while Heather maintains that it's simply impossible for someone to simply vanish "in America". Later, they come to a river and, panic-stricken, realise that it's the same river they struggled across the previous day, i.e., they've been going around in circles. Mike rushes off ranting angrily while Heather collapses in tears. They're now desperate and have no idea where they should go; they've been heading south all day and they've simply ended up where they started from and Heather has no explanation for it. Josh's anger and frustration finally boils over and, turning the camera on Heather, taunts her about her ambition and obsession that has led to them being lost, cold, and hungry. Mike tries to calm things down, but Josh persists and torments Heather until she again breaks down in tears.Night falls again and they are forced to sleep in pretty much the same place as they slept the night before. They're now too tired and emotional to fight any more, and as they discuss the food they miss the most, Heather repairs a hole in Mike's jeans.Next morning, Heather and Mike wake to find that Josh has vanished. They search the area around the campsite, but there's no sign of him. Mike believes that Josh has simply gone off for some time alone, but even after they've packed up and broken down the tent, there's no sign of him. Totally demoralised and very disturbed, Heather and Mike move on, trying to keep each others spirits up. Night again falls and they again wake to strange noises in the woods, including what seem to be Josh's agonised screams. They stumble around in the dark looking for him, but there's no sign of him and it's impossible to tell which direction the screaming is coming from.At daybreak, Heather finds a strange bundle of sticks held together with twine on the ground outside the tent, which she nervously picks up and tosses away. Heather and Mike are now just too exhausted to move on, and spend the rest of the morning comforting each other. Later, Heather finds another of the bundles of twigs, this time with something inside. She opens it and finds a piece of the fabric from Josh's shirt wrapped around hair, an unidentifiable piece of viscera, and what appears to be teeth, all bloodied. Heather breaks into hysterics, rushes to the nearby stream and washes her hands before putting on her pack and joining Mike on another fruitless hike through the woods. Their meanderings are becoming ever more random and directionless as their mental states rapidly collapse. Mike is even driven to eating dry leaves to help alleviate his hunger.That night, Heather videotapes a confessional, apologising to her mother and to Mike and Josh's parents for her naivety and accepting full blame for what has happened on the ill-fated expedition. She realises that her dogmatism and pig-headedness are what has led them to where they are. Later in the dead of night, they again hear Josh's voice, closer this time, pleading for someone to help him, and they abandon the tent to go in search of him.Following Josh's voice, Heather and Mike find a derelict house in a clearing and go inside, where they see runic symbols on the wall next to child-sized handprints. Josh's voice seems to be coming from somewhere inside the house, and Mike rushes upstairs in search of Josh. Mike then realizes that the voice is now in fact coming from the basement, and rushes down the steps. Suddenly, Mike is rendered silent and the camera falls. A hysterical Heather follows and sees Mike in the corner of the room, face against the wall. Suddenly Heather's camera is knocked down and she too is rendered silent. The film runs for a few seconds. then dies.
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dark, comedy, boring, paranormal, cult, horror, atmospheric, tragedy, suspenseful
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train
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imdb
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If I see a believable character screaming in hysterical fear at something I cannot see, my own brain creates demons for my night's dreams, demons far more mighty than anything CGI graphics or a latex mask could portray.This film will stay in your thoughts for some while..
"The Blair Witch Project" is one darn good movie.Many critics and moviegoers complained about the film for its length, its amateurish photography/editing, and its lack of adequate acting.
You've met people like them.The biggest complaint, however, comes from the film's supposed "lack" of scary moments.
This film reminds me of the classic horror film "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and though not as gory and as shocking as that film, "The Blair Witch Project" shows just enough fright in the group's search for a way out of the woods, stalked by people and/or things they may never understand.
The interviews, which also sound real and not rehearsed in any way, are like movie reviews: the critics tell you what they saw, but mostly they don't want to ruin it for you...unless they hated it.And that's what I'll do.
Without the overpowering F/X and music score most movies rely on to 'scare' you, if you still have an imagination left what is implied becomes a hundred times scarier than anything offered up by Hollywood in the last 30 years.
Blair Witch is the horror movies we have been needing for a long time and I'm glad someone finally had the guts to make it..
I've never seen the tide turn on movie reviews before like I did in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
Then, when everyone found out it was fake, I heard all sorts of bad things about it.THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is about three young filmmakers, Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Josh Leonard (actors with same names as their characters), go out into the woods of Burkittesville, Maryland to do a documentary on the mythical Blair Witch.
I think the scariest part is how you don't see as much as you hear, because often the sound is 10 times worse than the thing making the sound.This movie isn't too scary, but if you watch it in the middle of the night with all your lights off and alone, it will successfully freak you out.
The less you know about this creepy little chiller, the better.Filmed on video and 16mm black & white, this film is exactly what the horror genre needs in a time reminiscent of the early 1980s slasher onslaught.
The true horror behind this film is the unknown, and those dark places where you know something is lurking.If you are a seasoned veteran of the horror cinema, The Blair Witch Project may be less frightening than for someone who has not seen many scary movies.
Sitting in a theater surrounded by my friends with popcorn in my lap and watching Mike and Heather run around some creepy old house, I felt for the first and last time in my adult life *real, creeping fear* when I myself was not in danger.Many have complained about the shaky-cam, the cussing, how nothing 'really happens', and that it's not scary.
That's not a flaw of the movie- it's realism and part of why so many more young people found TBWP scary.I think at least some of the dissention in opinions is caused by generational and cultural differences.
The scariest thing I ever saw until I watched this movie was a reel in a collection of horror shorts: a woman walks into her house carrying groceries, drops her keys down her heating vent, bends down to try to get them, and something grabs her scarf.
so one year lated i rented it again to see "what was i missing???"well i am missing a brain for thinking that it might improve with age or a second time aroundit doesn't ==== as a matter of fact it gets worse.i don't get the big deal -=------ it is NOT scary, NOT entertaining, does NOT hold your interest, it does NOT have good characters, it does NOT make you think.
I don't need expensive cinematography or stellar acting, but a film does need something to redeem itself (other than a sophomoric, if marginally clever, idea), and this film did not have it.It is unfortunate that a bad movie has come to represent to many the epitome of independent cinema.
Let's put it this way -- if I took a few of my friends into the woods, with a video camera, and made scary noises at them so that they could pretend to scream, it would undoubtedly be scarier and superior to this movie.
I'd confidently say that this film has got to be one of the biggest movie-swindles ever perpetrated on a completely unsuspecting audience.With a devilishly clever publicity campaign to fuel its release, The Blair Witch Project (TBWP, for short) became the 2nd most successful "indie" film of all time, grossing nearly $250 million.
TBWP was shot in a matter of just 8 days and all of the dialogue was, pretty much, improvised.TBWP tells the tale of 3 young Film Students who hike out into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as The Blair Witch.The viewer is told that these 3 students were never found, although their video and sound equipment (along with the footage they shot) was discovered a year later.In my opinion, TBWP completely fails to deliver on all counts.*Trivia Note* - Throughout the course of the story the word "Fukk" was spoken 154 times.
`The Blair Witch Project' is not a typical film that the typical cinema-going public would normally be exposed to.
This movie is virtually all style-there's hardly any plot, no real action, no semblance of a real script-and one that works on a deeper psychological level than the standard mainstream horror film.
Just when I thought it was coming to the big climax at the end in the house, nothing happens....big surprise.This movie is a complete waste of time..there is nothing scary about it unless you find filming shots of the woods, watching swearing teens, listening to a high pitched annoying girl voice (that was pretty scary), watching film from inside a tent with cheap sound effects playing outside, or watching a wobbly camera run through the woods at night (cant see anything), then you should skip this movie.
I've never seen BWP 2, but it's anything like this movie, it will be equally bad if not worse, because I would have to waste another 90 minutes of my life..
I saw this thing three times, and while it's got a great idea, and it's not terrible for a student film say, it's far far too long and boring for the one trick it's got to pull, I simply am at a loss as to how so many people can allegedly have loved this thing..
The style of shooting was as expected, shaky hand held camera, which fitted the premise of the film, but you felt like you were watching an amateur film by school kids rather than actual footage of a real event which it was supposed to depict.Normally I expect a horror to get my heart racing a few times, and have some surprises, but the plot was too obvious, there were no surprises, nothing that would make you jump.I would not recommend this to any film buff, ignore the hype and skip this film..
Shot primarily with a poor quality video (which appears to pre-date steadyshot), "Blair Witch" should have had a hard time getting into student film and video festivals based on the poor visual and sound quality alone.
This is the movie that puts the 'horror' in horrible."Blair Witch" is supposed to be about the making of a documentary.
Do stick figures made of wood, and the sounds of nearby "filmmakers" making funny noises in the woods give you the creeps?...if so, you might actually find this frightening.Well, as audiences everywhere are finding out (as Cinemascore is indicating), "The Blair Witch Project" is not a good film, and certainly not what they were told it would be.
Some observations:Anyone who thinks this movie is scary has lived a sheltered life, indeed.Those who gave this dreck anything higher than a "5" probably bought pet rocks when they were on the market.This flick will go down in history as another "Billy Jack." (Remember it was getting high ratings for the first few years.)As far as one of the producers saying he noticed people vomiting after having seen the movie, they were probably made physically ill at having thought of being ripped off like they had been.This flick sucks beyond words.....
Blair Witch Scam Project - One of the worst films ever made.
*** This comment contains spoilers *** As a fan of movies and horror films for 45 years, I've seen a lot, and I have to say that BWP is a totally amateurish piece of junk.To call this a "film" is laughable.
This was not a film; it was just a mechanism to cheat people out of their money.I would rather watch Robot Monster ten times than ever see BWP again..
A baby's giggle can be heard during one spellbinding scene when the tent the 3 students sleep in takes on a life of its own.Much has been made about a similar film made in similar fashion by some other young auteurs well before THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was released.
The Blair Witch Project has to be the worst movie I've ever seen.
its one of the worst films i have seen,plan 9 from outer space was more entertaining ,if you like a good night at the cinema this is not it.
"The Blair Witch Project" is in my mind the worst movie in history.
1 THE SCAM Apparently there is a very scary film called "The Blair Witch Project".
Had the Blair Witch makers attempted to engineer the soundtrack and sound effects more professionally I believe they could have turned a deeply s**t movie into one that was at least acceptably a bit prone to cause viewers to worry, a little.
In the case of Blair Witch the film would benefit from having about 75 minutes cut out of its approximately 90 minute running time.
I watched the Blair Witch Project with a dozen other people, who also heard all the hype about this new horror flick and we were anticipating the big "scary" moment(s) to come.
The film is mostly comprised of the three characters arguing and fighting (the girl is especially annoying), them running around at night screaming (as if that's supposed to scare the viewers), sticks hanging on the trees and gathered stones, and of course the grand finale which leaves the viewers numb with utter disappointment.
Again, the premise of the movie has (or had) a lot of potential but it nowhere near lives up to its hype...It is one of the most (if not the) boring movies I've ever seen and a total waste of time and money...Our group was so bored after watching the "Project" that we ended up watching a video of the Matrix afterwards...A generous 1 (out of 10) for the Blair Witch Project.
I am absolutely serious when I say I was rooting for the witch, by the way, but she took too long.I was not scared at any point during this film.
The only good thing about this movie is that it IS only 80 minutes long - which reduces the amount of time you have to endure.
This film had no such director.This film should have been left buried under the foundation of the 'Blair witch house.' I would not ever see this again, even if offered a large sum of money, for fear that it might encourage these people further..
It is to the "Blair Witch" filmmakers' (and I am talking about Myrick and Sanchez, not Donahue, Leonard, and Williams) great credit that for the most part, they get away with the central conceit that three tired, hungry, lost, and above all, frightened-out-of-their-minds documentarians would still keep rolling footage under the dire circumstances in which they find themselves -- for that is one of the movie's only shortcomings (even though the majority of the audience won't notice or won't mind).
I went to this film after listening to all the hype expecting to be scared or at least shocked a little, instead I couldn't wait to leave the theater.
And I was right.When I finally got to see the Blair Witch Project, first I started with a healthy curiosity - that turned to total boredom after the first 10 minutes of seeing some stupid brats running in circles through the woods.
It's not the scariest movie of all time, it's the best scary movie!(understand?) This movie is about the journey three kids take from being cocky film students, to whimpering, naive, and terrrified little children lost within a dark woods and becoming the prey of an urban legend.
This movies tries to slowly build up the tension with the kids lost in the woods and vague hints that there might be something else out there too that's going to get them but it is a long time in before anything actually happens.This might work if the characters were sympathetic and compelling but actually they are whiny, annoying, pathetic brats.
I wonder why people are making such a big hype for this movie it's really boring and it's not scary at all and it is so difficult to understand what's going on in this movie where's the witch where's the scare one wonders after watching 39 minutes of the first movie with simply mindless dialogue of these three friends arguing with each other i almost gave up but wanted to keep watching because people said such good things about this movie i was expecting something along the lines of Eli Roth's cabin fever but this was depressing even the money and the marketing that went into this movie is a waste it's not even much of a movie or at least it's not shot in that format for those of you who don't believe me watch it for yourself it's not satisfying..
Okay, I really doesn't scare easily, but what's wrong with this movie is that all of the characters are so annoying, that after less than half an hour you're just looking forward to see them get killed in some bizarre way.
I can not even image why anyone with a mind could consider this a "good" movie let alone a masterpiece of some kind, it was completely pointless and a waste of my time.After I watched the film I just assumed that everyone considered this movie an absolute joke and a complete rip off but much to my chagrin this movie became adored by millions.
I saw this on cable last week, and it was the worst movie I've seen in a long time.
I'll start off by saying that these hand camera movies always revolve around a horrific storyline, like say, there just happens to be a random witch living in the woods and Cloverfield sucked as well.
By the time this so called "film" was over, I was literally thinking "Wow, I can't believe I actually just wasted an hour and a half of my life on that!" Literally, the whole movie is just the people walking through the woods screaming the f word at the top of their longs for 81 minutes!
Several members of the audience, including me, said in unison, "That was it?"That more or less describes my feelings about "The Blair Witch Project." When it first came out in the summer of '99, a fellow told me that it was the scariest film he'd ever seen.
Since I love being scared, I eagerly went to the theater, thinking I was in for the experience of a lifetime.The movie tells the story of three college kids who do a research assignment, go on a long camping trip into the woods, and ultimately lose their way.
But one thing a good horror movie absolutely must do is establish a real threat, something that "The Blair Witch Project" does not do.In the early scenes, I was unable to make sense out of the local legends the kids were investigating.
Probably one of the worst horror films ever made and I've seen a lot of bad ones..
So yeah I finally just watched The Blair Witch Project for the first time ever, and I realize this review is about 15 yrs too late, but I honestly can say, that was one of the worst pieces of garbage ever captured on video.
Actually, I spent more time to stiffle my laughter than anything else.I know what some of you are thinking, "The movie is trying to portray the emotion they are going through being lost out there.
For me a movie with bad camera work reflects the disrespect the director has for the film itself.
"Blair Witch" is one of those movies that either lives or dies on whether or not you're really, really scared of the things that go bump in the night.
This thing probably would make a good five-minute campfire story, but for crying out loud, why make something that goes on for so long but, like our heroes, really doesn't go much of anywhere by the end?Having said this, sure, most of you are going to go see this movie anyhow.
This was one of the worst films I've ever seen, and not scary in the least.
I can't believe that people liked this movie, let alone got scared because of it.
Don't waste your time or money on this film!.
If you want to see a good movie scary thriller see the Sixth Sense, don't waste your time or money on this film..
But, the movie is a total waste of time if you're looking to be scared, like many said.
I thought that "The Blair Witch Project" was overrated and not very scary.
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The Concorde... Airport '79
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December 1979. An American-owned French operated Concorde super-sonic jet takes off from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Captain Paul Metrand (Alain Delon) makes conversation with Isabelle (Sylvia Kristel), the purser whom is his current lover. They land at Dulles Airport in Washington DC.Maggie Whalen (Susan Blakely) is an investigative reporter who recaps the arrival of the Concorde and reports on the "Goodwill" flight on the Concorde the following day, which leads to a story of future boyfriend Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner) and his Buzzard missile project. Carl Parker shows up at Maggie's house with a claim about documentation of illegal arms deals to communist nations. Carl is shot before a passerby triggers a fire alarm, scaring the assailant away.Meanwhile, Captain Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) introduces himself to Captain Metrand as being the pilot for the Concord flight to Paris and to Moscow for the upcoming 1980 Summer Olympics to be held eight months from then. The next morning, Maggie tells Harrison about her ordeal and the rumor of documents. Kevin claims someone is framing him. He sends Maggie off in a limo while he waits for his business partner Willie Halpern to arrive. Kevin tells Willie that Parker is dead, but they do not have the documents. Kevin asks what time the next launch of the Buzzard is. Willie replies 6:30; Kevin wants it delayed until 8:00 and the drone test reprogrammed.Metrand and Patroni board the Concorde. It is difficult to determine the pilot-in-command as both of them are captains. Peter O'Neill (David Warner), the 2nd officer and flight engineer, is living with a controlling girlfriend.Kevin surprises Maggie at the airline check-in desk to see her off. He asks if the documents showed up, but they have not. As he is walking away, Carl Parker's wife delivers the documents to Maggie as she steps on the mobile lounge. She looks them over on the lounge and realizes that Kevin lied to her.The Concorde takes off from Washington/Dulles enroute to Paris where, unbeknownst to the flight crew, an off-course ground-to-air missile is headed straight for them. At company headquarters, Kevin tells his controllers to alert the government. Patroni takes over the Concord as it goes into evasive action manouvers to evade the missile. The USAF scrambles F-15 fighter jets to intercept the missile just as it locks onto the Concorde. An F-15 shoots down the missile before it collides with the Concorde.As the Concorde is approaching the European coastline, an F-4 Phantom fighter jet, piloted by a mercenary, is sent by Harrison and engages the Concorde with air-to-air missiles as well as gunfire as French Air Force Mirages scramble to help the Concorde. The Mirages shoot down the F-4 and the Concorde continues to Paris, although it diverts to Le Bourget Airport instead of Charles de Gaulle because it is damaged by the F-4's gunfire. The Concorde reaches the French coastline, landing with a damaged hydraulic system and just barely stopping at the last safety net.Captain Metrand and Isabelle invite Joe to dinner as they wait for the Concord to be repaired. Meanwhile, Kevin arrives at Charles de Gaulle Airport, where an associate meets him, stating that he has another plan to stop Maggie from making public the documents before she reaches Moscow.Joe, Paul and Isabelle meet for dinner with a date for Joe as promised by Paul. Maggie meets Kevin for dinner. He promises to go public with the documents but attempts to bribe Maggie into "polishing" his statement. After being paid by Kevin, a mechanic, Rollie, places a device in the Concorde's cargo door control unit, timed to open during flight to depressurized the aircraft.The next morning, as the passengers re-board the Concorde for the second stage of the flight to Moscow, a well-dressed woman (Charo) attempts to smuggle a dog aboard. She is caught by an alert Isabelle and leaves the aircraft. Inside the terminal, Rollie is in line at the security checkpoint when his money falls out of his pants leg. The X-ray technician attempts to return it, but Rollie pretends not to hear and runs off. The security guard tells his partner to call security before chases Rollie. Rollie runs onto the runway where the Concorde is taking off. The aircraft's wake scatters the money he received from Kevin.The aircraft is en route to Moscow when the automatic device opens the cargo door. When Captain Metrand investigates, he sees the carpet tear down the middle of the aisle, signifying the fuselage is under tremendous stress and the aircraft is about to break apart. The cargo door is ripped off, extensively damaging the aircraft and ripping the floor of the cabin from the Concord as it spirals toward the ground. The airline founder's seat lodges in the hole, acting as a plug. The pilots attempt to fly to Innsbruck for an emergency landing, but realize they do not have enough fuel. Paul realizes they are flying towards a ski area he used to go to in the Swiss Alps; they could make a gear-up landing on a mountain-side.The aircraft approaches the landing site while the Swiss ski patrol marks a runway. The aircraft lands successfully. Maggie immediately gives a report of the accident to a news reporter and gives details about a major story she is about to release. In his office back in Paris, Kevin hears the newscast and commits suicide by shooting himself. At the crash site, Patroni and the last of the crew leaves the Concord shortly before fuselage caves in and the entire aircraft explodes from the leaking fuel.
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murder
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train
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In fact, it is so bad they advertised it as a comedy!The plot is inane: wealthy weapons manufacturer (Robert Wagner) is confronted by television anchorwoman/girlfriend (Susan Blakely), who tells him she has evidence that he is selling secrets to the Russians and is going to expose him.
The movie is only half over, so after an overnight layover, in which the cast couples as if the Concorde is Noah's Ark, everyone reboards the plane to go on to Moscow, even though they know someone is trying to bring it down.Anyway, let's just say the second leg of the trip ends even worse, with the plane crashing into a snowdrift without a single passenger or crew fatality.
And then there are the actors: soft-core porn star Sylvia Kristel as a stewardess, Jimmie "J.J." Walker a saxophonist, Mercedes McCambridge looking ridiculous as a Russian gym coach, Andre Marcovicci as a gymnast who appears to be six feet tall, John Davidson as a TV reporter, Bibi Andersson a prostitute, Eddie Albert the idiot Concorde owner and Sybil Danning his trophy wife, David Warner the flight engineer, etc.
The stunts with the Concorde are worth watching for the laughs, although the special effects aren't as terrible as I'd expect for a movie of this quality made in 1979.
Let's see, George Kennedy, the cigar chomping "tough guy" mechanic of the original has somehow been promoted to airline captain, and, after the Concorde comes under missile attack (don't ask), he resorts to stunts like shooting a flare gun out the cockpit window despite (presumably) flying at Mach 2, all the while doing the sort of wild high-G evasive maneuvers that would have ripped the wings off any real airliner, never mind the effect of the passengers!
Thankfully, the release of the ever hilarious "Airplane!" the following year brought the whole "Airport" franchise to a well deserved halt, as anyone even contemplating a fifth installment would have been laughed to death by studios and movie fans alike.
The best scenes are when Robert Wagner decides to shoot down the plane with missiles and pass it off as a mechanical failure, Charo tries to smuggle a Chichiauah on the plane and, when it's discovered, claims it's her seeing eye dog, John Davidson's hair stays in place when the plane flies upside down, when a missile gets close to the plane, pilot George Kennedy rolls down the pilot's seat window (at the speed of sound) to shoot at it, Jimmy Walker smokes weed in the bathroom stall, and when stewardess Sylvia Crystal says seductively "You pilots are such men!", Kennedy replies, "They don't call it a cock-pit for nothing!" What floors me is that after the first disaster, the plane takes off for another flight and the passengers get back on!
Of course "Airplane" the following year would make fun of the entire previous decade's worth of disaster films.Alain Delon gets top billing as the captain of the title craft.
With Susan Blakely and John Davidson as reporters, Robert Wagner as a crooked arms dealer, Sylvia Kristel as the head stewardess, Eddie Albert as the airline owner, Sybil Danning as his trophy wife, Avery Schreiber as a Soviet Olympic coach with a deaf daughter, Andrea Marcovicci as the oldest Russian Olympic gymnast ever, Mercedes McCambridge as her busybody chaperone, Cicely Tyson as a mother to a child desperately in need of a heart transplant, Nicolas Coaster as the doctor to perform it, David Warner as the dieting flight engineer, Bibi Andersson as a prostitute, Jimmie Walker as a pot-smoking sax player, Charo as Margarita and Martha Raye as the woman who can't stay out of the bathroom (no, really).George Kennedy costars as Patroni, the only character to appear in all four films.
Bubble--headed reporter Susan Blakely finds out that boyfriend Robert Wagner, a duplicitous arms dealer, has been secretly selling weapons to the Russians; when she boards the Concorde bound for Paris, he sends his latest heat-seeking missle after the plane.
Pilots Alain Delon and George Kennedy (who started out as just a simple mechanic in the first Airport) turn the plane upside down to avoid it.
In an inane attempt to continue the exploitation of the original film (and cash in on the notoriety of the then-new Concorde, the fastest commercial plane ever), this film came along and ended the series for good.
(See Blakely's ridiculously unconvincing newscast in which she never once looks into the camera and in which clips from events AS THEY ARE HAPPENING IN REAL TIME parade across the screen.) It also contains some of the most abominable blue-screen and model special effects ever to be seen in a major studio film.
It has a touch of The Towering Inferno (1974) with Robert Wagner still being up to no good, the miniature effects work of the Concorde itself is pleasing to my eyes and the film starts with a very uplifting Lalo Schifrin theme tune.Perhaps Schifrin was trying to be the new disaster movie composer as in 1980 he would score Irwin Allen's When Time Ran Out as well.There was to be a 5th Airport movie but the poor box office takings for Airport '79 put an end to all that.
The plot is sillier than ever: George Kennedy is back in the role of Joe Patroni, now the pilot of the Concorde (co piloted by co-pilot Alain Delon) en route to France after the Summer Olympics.
We have Cicely Tyson transporting a live human heart in a cooler (!), Martha Raye as a woman with a bladder condition (and the character doesn't go deeper than that), J.J. Walker a a pot-smoking saxophonist (arguably the most annoying character in the film), Eddie Albert married to "old" wife Sybil Danning, Avery Schreiber as Russian coach with a deaf daughter and finally, a love story between reporter Jon Davidson and gymnast Andrea Marcovici (much to the sour watching-eye of coach Mercedes McCambidge).
As the Concorde is chased by missiles when the nasty Robert Wagner , who runs an arms plant , has been caught selling weapons to the bad guys of the world , and his journalist-mistress -Susan Blakely- is the woman with the evidence .
Look quickly to Eddie Albert , Bibi Andersson , Charo , Andrea Marcovicci , Cicely Tyson , David Warner, Mercedes McCambridge , Jimmie Walker , Sybil Danning , Jon Cedar , Ed Begley Jr , final feature film of actress Martha Raye, among others .
This has Alain Delon and George Kennedy (who was in all the Airport movies) as pilots; David Warner (!!!) as the radio engineer; Susan Blakely as a newswoman targeted for death; Robert Wagner as a brilliant scientist (stop laughing!); Eddie Albert as a president of the airlines; Charo in a dreadful "comical" bit; John Davidson as a newsman (love how his hair stays in place even AFTER the plane turns upside down!); poor Martha Raye is humiliated; Cicely Tyson plays a mother who is flying a heart for her dying son (stop rolling your eyes!); Jimmie Walker as a clarinet player (what did I say about not laughing?); Mercedes McCambridge as a Russian gymnastics coach (OK you can laugh at that one); Bibi Andresson as a hooker and Sylvia Kristel and Sybil Danning as love interests.Just pathetic.
CONCORDE: AIRPORT '79, THE (1979) **½ Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, Sylvia Kristel, George Kennedy.
True, the script is rife with hokey, often saccharine dialog (in one nauseating scene, a television reporter (John Davidson) and his Russian gymnast girlfriend recite wedding vows to each other when they think the plane is going down), and leaves far too many unresolved subplots (thanks mostly to the use of a huge ensemble cast of Hollywood has-beens, a series trademark).
Fun bloke George Kennedy is the only actor who appeared in all four of the "Airport" movies, so it's truly a shame that he plays his biggest role in the worst of the series.
Naturally, he decides that destroying the very high-profile Concorde plane undertaking an international flight before the Olympic Games in Russia is the perfectly logical course of action to take...(sure!) Not even the presence of George Kennedy as familiar character Joe Patroni(now a pilot on the Concorde) can save it.
The only way I can imagine a producer undertaking such a film project is similar to the famous sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus in which Graham Chapman, dressed as megalomaniac Howard Hughes (Big hat & cigar) states loudly before a bunch of "yes-men" something like:"I see a plane" (the Concorde).Applause."I see the hottest french leading man of the moment as the pilot" (Alain Delon).Roar of applause."I see the not so hot french girl from Emmanuelle as the stewardess" (Sylvia Kristel who is rather dutch for that matter).Louder roar of applause."I see a missile that goes up to the plane...
You never get very convinced by the solidity of the damn plane seeing it cracking from all parts like that.This was one of the last attempts in the disaster movie category by the end of the 70s., including some memorable box office flops as When Time Run Out, Meteor, or one of my favorite, in the unintentionally funny type, The Swarm..
The absolutely most hilarious scene comes when the Delon and Kennedy are making loop the loop 360's to avoid the French missiles that Wagner ordered to destroy the Concorde.
The dumb parts of this movie include the total lack of plot----yeah lets have some action for 25 minutes than land in Paris and go ONE HOUR with love scenes with prostitutes and flight attendants.
(It looks as though a cartoon missile is following the Concorde; although it does work well when the plane lands in Paris) Why does Patroni think that he is in a flight simulator?
In fairness though, some of the acting was pretty good, with believable performances from Kennedy, Delon & Blakely, and the storyline was befitting of film from the 80's, although I don't think it would make even a TVM nowadays.The passengers were a joke, I guess we weren't meant to take them seriously - how many people have seen passengers on a plane dancing to music or someone playing the Saxophone ?
The fourth and last "Airport" movie is not really too bad; it nearly drowns in soap-opera cliches at times, but some of the action scenes are decently spectacular (especially near the end, when decompression slowly tears the plane apart).
George Kennedy is workmanlike in this otherwise bad B-movie but then he also does a loop with the Concorde and fires a flare out the window.
It has a cast of big stars, a very good score by Lalo Schifrin (which somehow suggests a better film) and, of course, George Kennedy.
I said STAR WARS earlier because some of the action scenes appear to be wanting to be like that George Lucas film.Some of the action scenes are embarrassingly bad including the ones where the plane comes under attack by some missiles.
Even worse is the fact that the direction is so poor that there's never any suspense during any of the scenes and even dumber is how the screenplay has all sorts of things going wrong with the plane.The lack of any suspense is what really kills the film and makes its long running time seem even longer.
And I hate the bad movies with only good actors to publicize it!Exactly, the cast is the only good thing you can find in this movie (if you didn't saw it), and I also liked the actors' previous work.French sex-simbol Alain Delon and Airport veteran George Kennedy are the pilots of the Concorde, along with David Warner as their co-pilot.
Eddie Albert stars as a famous womanizer with a much younger wife at his side, and Jimmie Walker as a religious sax-player.The story is full of many bad jokes, and one follows one another like lemmings, and I found very stupid and awkward the ending, with the Concorde landing in the snow and with Kennedy that says ''If they find this plane they can make it work, snow or no snow''.
The plot this time has pilots Alain Delon and George Kennedy trying to land a Concorde jet airliner safely while avoiding bad guy Robert Wagner's comical attempts to destroy it by .
The "Airport" series had run its course by now, but somehow it was decided to trot out a bunch of stars to make another bad movie.
Fans of Bibi Andersson,beware;this is not Bergman.It is actually the most demeaning part she has ever played.The "star" is here Sylvia "Emmanuelle" Christel who cannot act as any French knows.She is Delon's love interest.This is a mediocre disaster movie with some usual suspects such as Robert Wagner,Susan Blakely,and Arthur Kennedy who cracks vulgar jokes ,and who,like Andersson ,is demeaned ."She was paid for that" says Delon.This film was made to show the "Concorde ",a British/French collaboration, to good advantage and that plane must be solid,given the drivel inside it..
This picture hit the big screen on August 17 1979 starring George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, Susan Blakely as Maggie Whelan and Robert Wagner as Dr. Kevin Harrison.
With a cast of mostly lesser-tiered stars (Alain Delon, Robert Wagner, Eddie Albert), lousy special effects (sure, it was the 70's but "Alien" and "Star Wars" came from the same decade), and a storyline that is so laughable that one might want to cry, this is a "flight" that should have been GROUNDED.Even Emmy winner Cicely Tyson and Oscar recipient George Kennedy can't keep this "bird" airborne.The implausibility of the third film - airplane is submerged in The Bermuda Triangle - is much more believable than this turkey.Avoid "The Concorde" at all costs!.
Let's look at the cast: George Kennedy, Alain Delon, Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely..not bad so far.
Let's look at the cast: George Kennedy, Alain Delon, Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely..not bad so far.
Nevertheless, if you want to watch a disaster movie and laugh hysterically out loud, watch "The Concorde: Airport '79".
The official mascot of the "Airport" series and the only actor to appear in all four movies, Kennedy had more than earned the starring role and his turn in the Captain's seat would have been the only possible reason for this entry other than the squeezing of one last buck.
If you bear in mind that the whole film is dedicated to showing what that needle nosed plane could do in the sky, than the whole film kind of makes sense.But if you're expecting some serious drama here, than by all means take some of the evasive action the Concorde shows here when some nasty folks try to shoot her down.Susan Blakely plays a television news reporter who also happens to be the mistress of military industrial tycoon Robert Wagner.
However, this movie outdoes all the others combined with campy, ridiculous silliness.Paul Metrand (Alain Delon) and Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) are Concorde pilots who run into a little bit of trouble, courtesy of sinister arms dealer Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner).
Any movie that has George Kennedy firing a flare gun out an open Concorde window during flight (at 30,000 feet, maybe?) has to be seen to be believed.
Not only that but a pilot for more than 30 years when he told in the first movie that he was licensed only for taxiing.The plot is so exaggerated it becomes boring and makes no sense at all.Almost every action scene is bad but that stupid idea where you can, (roll the drums) Open a window, flying at Mach 2, to shoot a flare gun at a fighter plane is the most insane.
And then, last night, i watched Airport '79, the last in the series!*First off, i'll start with the negatives in the film: The special effects were really crap most of the time during the film, although there were some scenes that looked very good.
JJ from Good Times, Jimmie Walker himself playing the sax is enough to make you bust a gut laughing.This is the first time George Kennedy has actually piloted a plane and by the way, what happened to his kids?
The Concorde is attacked by drones, there's a bomb, and the plane starts to fall apart.Just leave it to those pilots, played by George Kennedy, Alain Delon, and David Warner to bring it to safety in a snowbank.I asked myself why anyone would want to embarrass themselves by appearing in this film.
Luckily the plane is being flown by three brilliant, sex-obsessed men ( played by George Kennedy, Alain Delon, and British actor David Warner ) and they skilfully avoid destruction, before touching down in Paris where the Kennedy character ( 'Joe Patroni' - the only one to appear in all four movies ) makes out with a hooker!
I quite liked the absurd plot about a wealthy industrialist wanting to kill his girlfriend TV reporter before she can expose him as an illegal arms dealer but this guy doesn't do subtle & decides the best way to do it is to blow Concorde up with his own guided missile & then gets a Fench fighter pilot to try & shoot it down before finally sabotaging it so really there's three mini disaster flicks in one here as each time super pilot Joe Patroni manages to save the day.
You know Joe Patroni played by George Kennedy appears in all four Airport films & goes from mechanic in the first to Concorde pilot extrodinaire in this, also I reckon he's a bit of a jinx since in the space of nine years he has been involved with four major aviation disasters.
(Some Spoilers) The last and by far the worst of the "Airport" movies has ace airplane mechanic and all round handyman Joe Patroni, George Kennedy, now elevated to captain of the supersonic passenger jet Concorde who together with his co-pilot the hot shot Frenchman Capt.
Last night, after buying the "Airport" 4 movie DVD set, I watched "Concorde" for the 1st time.
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tt0283084
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Tuck Everlasting
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Tuck Everlasting opens in the present day, in the town of Treegap. Cars and pedestrian traffic make their way through the streets. Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson) rides his motorcycle through the town and makes his way to a gated house on the outskirts. He takes off his helmet and looks at the estate wistfully.A narrator for the movie (Elisabeth Shue) recites a passage on the nature of time, and notes that for the Tuck family, it didn't exist. As the scenery shifts to show a peaceful forest, the narrator goes on to say that the story begins on the first week of summer, 'not so very long ago,' when Treegap was a quaint village, and Mae Tuck (Sissy Spacek) went there every ten years to meet up with her sons.After a brief image of a stately tree, with a T carved into the bark, the scenery changes to show Treegap as it was in 1914. Mae rides her horse-drawn wagon through the dirt streets. She window-shops along several stores, before sitting in her wagon, playing a wistful tune on her small music box. Mae's sons, Miles (Scott Bairstow) and Jesse make their way to her, and there is an emotional reunion. Jesse has brought some gifts for Mae: a small bronze replica of the Eiffel Tower, bought in Paris, and a box of French chocolate. Miles proves much more emotionally restrained than Jesse; the hug he gives his mother moves her to say, albeit affectionately, 'You're as cozy as barbed wire.' But more than anything, she's happy that they're back after ten years.We then see the Foster estate, and young Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel) lays on the lawn, staring out into space and daydreaming, before her mother (Amy Irving) calls her inside. The Fosters are a wealthy family; the estate is gated and the mansion is well-furnished and appointed. Winnie is shown to be given a strict upbringing to be a proper lady of the time, which involves constant piano practice in the parlor, and having to dress properly, including a corset she finds very uncomfortable. She is also schooled in playing croquet. The narrator explains that the formality of Winnie's life is stifling her and leaving her without time or chance to be the two things she needs to be most: a teenager, and a girl. As Winnie continues piano practice under the watchful eye of her mother and grandmother, the narrator says that the need for, and feeling of, change was drawing ever closer and more strongly.Winnie rides with her mother into town, who's come to pick up cakes from the bakery for a formal tea party. As Mrs. Foster goes into the bakery, Winnie, still in the automobile, lifts her veil and turns to watch some boys playing stickball in the streets. The boys happen to look in her direction, and recognize her. One approaches her and starts to make fun of her, sitting prim and proper in her fancy car (cars being rare in 1914). He challenges her to step out of the car and get her feet dirty.Mrs. Foster, in the bakery, fusses over the various pastries available in the bakery and says that none of them are satisfactory for the tea party. The baker is offering to make them up special for her, when Mrs. Foster suddenly hears the sound of the kids outside cheering, and calling Winnie's name. Turning, she sees to her horror that Winnie has stepped out of the car and joined the stickball game, hitting the ball and running around the bases. Winnie is smiling as she reaches home plate for a home run, but her fun is cut short when her mother storms out and puts a stop to it.In a secluded cabin in the woods outside Treegap, the Tuck family makes their home. There is merry in the air as Jesse demonstrates a French dance, and the family patriarch, Angus Tuck (William Hurt) looks through an early-model picture animator. Miles, however, proves to be in a broody and dark mood, even when his father says he's glad to have his sons home. Miles tells Angus, also sometimes just called Pa Tuck or Tuck for short, that he's probably going to be leaving soon; he's heard early stories of war brewing and he plans to sign up to fight 'against the Huns.'When Angus asks if fighting in a war will solve things, and whether Miles has seen enough killing for two lifetimes, Miles reveals another motive for getting as far from Treegap as he can: he knows that someone is on to them; knows or suspects a secret about the Tucks that they need to keep from people, at all costs. As Miles speaks about how a strange man has been following him and Jesse, and keeps reappearing even though they lose him several times, a flashback is shown of Miles and Jesse stowing away on the caboose of a locomotive, and a Man in a Yellow Suit (Sir Ben Kingsley; unnamed, and will be referred to hereafter as MITYS, for Man In The Yellow Suit) standing on the tracks behind the train as it pulls away, looking intently at the two brothers. Miles is sure that MITYS knows something about the Tucks that they can't let anyone know about them.Angus, however, says it was only a matter of time before someone found them. The Industrial Revolution has led to increasing settlement everywhere, and the world is closing in on them. The forest they've called home for a long time, is shrinking as continued population growth clears it away for further building of civilization. A few weeks ago, Angus saw tire tracks on the lower marsh, and he knows there will be more. Mae, Jesse and Miles are quiet and deeply thoughtful as Pa Tuck tells them all that they must not go into town again for anything, and that if they see anyone too close to their home in the woods, they 'know what to do.'Evening at the Foster Estate. Winnie is trying to catch fireflies fluttering about among the trees. A man's voice tells her she's going about it the wrong way. Winnie turns and sees MITYS standing just outside the estate's gate. Though he admits never having tried catching fireflies himself, he proves to know the way of a hunter, explaining it to Winnie, and then quickly catching a firefly in his hand, that drifts too close to him. Letting the insect go, he explains to Winnie that he's looking for some old friends who live in the area, and he was hoping that someone in the Foster family could point him in the right direction. Winnie innocently (and perhaps, a bit carelessly) says that her father, Robert Foster (Victor Garber), practically built Treegap through the resources of his business, and he owns much of the land around it.Mrs. Foster comes up at that moment, and MITYS starts to introduce himself, and to explain that he's looking for a certain family he hopes the Fosters can help him find. But before MITYS can tell her the name of the family, Mrs. Foster, more brusquely and less warmly than Winnie, says she doesn't know, nor want to know, everyone in the town, and she doesn't discuss the issue with people she's never met. Accepting the statement without changing expression, MITYS bids her good night. As Mrs. Foster leads Winnie back to the house, scolding her for speaking to strangers so freely, MITYS begins to whistle a curious and very familiar tune.The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Foster are telling Winnie that they're sending her to the Middlehouse Academy for Girls in Pensford, supposedly one of the finest, most reputable schools for teaching girls to become proper ladies of the upper-crust society. Winnie has heard of Middlehouse; the stories that have reached her about their 'curriculum' frightens her to death. But the Fosters insist that her desire not to go through such a rigid and unmerciful method of schooling in 'ladylike manners and etiquette' are exactly why she needs to. But Winnie rebels. Running from the parlor, she angrily shouts that she won't go to such a terrible place.Winnie runs to the gate, clutching the bars like the bars of a prison cell, as the narrator says that the Fosters failed to understand one thing: Winnie was to be sent 500 miles away to be educated, but all she wanted was to step outside her own fence. And so she did.Winnie wanders into the woods, exploring the forest. Although the woods are peaceful and there is no danger about, it soon becomes clear that Winnie is lost, struggling to find her way about. Pushing her way through some brush, she hears the sound of gurgling water. Moving toward it, she finds a curious site.Jesse Tuck kneels at the base of a large, beautiful tree that has a letter T carved into the trunk. Jesse is drinking from a small spring of water bubbling up into a small hollow between the tree's huge roots. Winnie slowly steps out into the open, approaching closer as Jesse splashes some water onto his face. Standing, he turns, and he's startled on seeing Winnie. Looking around warily, he asks her how long she's been standing there, and admonishes her for coming into this part of the woods, and she should turn and go home. Taking a bit of defiance at the statement, Winnie boldly tells Jesse that her family owns the woods and she can stay as long as she feels like. When Winnie tells Jesse her name, he recognizes the surname Foster, and doesn't look completely pleased to hear it. He restates his belief that Winnie needs to go back home, and Winnie, matching his slightly curt tone, says she was on her way... but admits she's lost. Jesse, seeming to have an idea of where the Foster estate is, offers to guide Winnie back. Winnie is grateful for the offer, but says that she's thirsty and needs a drink first.All at once Jesse starts acting a little oddly in trying to keep Winnie away from the spring. His initial excuses carry no credibility, but when Winnie tries to move past him, he resorts to grabbing her and blocking her from the spring. Pulling away, Winnie starts to run, threatening to have Jesse arrested. As she runs, a piece of her dress sleeve catches on a branch and tears off. Jesse starts to give pursuit as Winnie runs-- straight into Miles, who catches and intercepts her. Despite Jesse suddenly saying they can't do what they're doing, Miles coldly says that they have to do what Pa Tuck said, no exceptions. Holding fast to Winnie, Miles half pulls, half drags her to his horse, and rides off with her, Jesse running in pursuit.A brief shot of the Foster estate shows that Mr. and Mrs. Foster are keenly aware of how long Winnie has been gone. A maidservant calls out into the woods from just behind the fence.Miles arrives at the Tuck cabin with Winnie as his prisoner. Seeing the girl struggle with Miles, Mae runs up, scolding Miles and trying to comfort Winnie-- until Miles tells Mae that he caught Winnie at the spring with Jesse... and that Winnie is a Foster. All of the Tuck family knows the Foster name, and Mae is in shock, saying softly, 'it's finally happened.'For the immediate moment, Mae has a frightened teenage girl on her hands, begging to go home. Asking Miles to fetch Pa Tuck, who's across the lake, Mae turns back to Winnie and again tries to comfort her, promising to bring her back home as soon as she can.As Miles goes to bring Tuck back, Mae starts to pace around. She pulls out her music box and begins turning the handle. Winnie looks closely at Mae as she listens to the music. She recognizes the tune, though she doesn't tell Mae from where. Prattling as much to herself as to Winnie, Mae says she found the music box in the forest one day, and she used to put Miles and Jesse to bed with it every night, and the music always gave them good dreams.The sun has set and very early evening has fallen when Miles and Jesse return to the cabin with Pa Tuck. Mae has been trying to tend to Winnie, who's still deeply upset at having been kidnapped and brought here by force; she still feels like a prisoner even though Mae tries to assure her that she's not. Tuck slowly approaches Winnie, peering curiously at her, before calling his family into a huddle. Although they speak in whispers, Winnie can still clearly overhear much of the coversation; Angus asks Miles and Jesse 'does she know?' and they're concerned about her being a Foster. Getting impatient, Winnie asks them out loud what they think she knows about them.Introducing her husband to Winnie, Mae calls him Angus for the first time. Angus slowly approaches Winnie again, offering his hand for a handshake, although Winnie is still too nervous to do so. Seeing this, Angus quietly asks her if she's hungry, and Mae very agreeably suggests they all have dinner.Winnie sits with the Tucks at the dinner table, but hardly eats. She finally tells them that her father will come looking for her. She thinks that an offer of ransom money to the Tucks will expedite her return home. Angus and Mae gently insist they don't want any of her family's money, even though they know how wealthy Mr. Foster is, and they intend to bring her safely home; although Angus points out, as much to his family as anyone else, that they need to know how much they can trust Winnie. Miles immediately protests, saying that Winnie can't be trusted any more than any 'normal person.' When Jesse tries to defend Winnie, saying he believes that she won't turn on the family, Miles gets angry. He holds Jesse responsible for whatever predicament the Tucks believe themselves to be in. Calling Jesse a fool, Miles curtly leaves the dinner table and the cabin.Mrs. Foster stares out the window of her estate. She stares at the front gate, her mouth opening in recognition, and calls urgently for her husband.Mr. Foster is speaking to Henry, the constable of Treegap (Richard Pilcher). He tells Henry that Mrs. Foster suspects MITYS, who'd been speaking to Winnie at the gate the other night. But Henry surprises Mr. Foster by bringing him into the constabulary office-- where MITYS sits. MITYS admits that he was talking to Winnie at the estate, and he remembers her well, but he doesn't know where she is at the moment. He's in town searching for a family he used to know, and had come to the constabulary for help, and when he spoke to Winnie at the Foster estate, she thought Mr. Foster might be able to help. MITYS hands Mr. Foster and old photograph showing a young man wearing a Civil War era Union military uniform. He says the family is named Tuck, and they're long-lost relatives, as he claims. On his way out, MITYS says that although he doesn't know where Winnie is now, he's willing to join the search for her, saying he's talented at finding people.Mae has curtained off an area of the house so Winnie can sleep in privacy. She helps Winnie out of her corset, a garment Mae finds distasteful; saying that torturing themselves is no way for young women to live. Mae has no daughters, but she says she does have a granddaughter, and grandson. Their names are Anna and Beau, and a small photograph of them is in a locket Mae wears. But Winnie notices Mae saying that Miles 'loved them so--' past tense. Mae only says that the children have passed on, along with their mother, and that all the good parts of Miles died along with them.Mae helps Winnie into a sleeping gown, making further small talk. Winnie now feels safe around Mae, consenting to Mae calling her by her first name. Before retiring to bed, Mae smiles kindly at Winnie, saying it's a good feeling having another woman at the cabin.MITYS is in the town cemetery, looking reverently at one of the graves. The priest of the church finds his way to MITYS, asking if he's lost. MITYS drops the name Tuck, asking if the priest has heard of it. When told no, MITYS says he didn't think the priest would know of any Tucks in the cemetery, and then makes a curious comment, 'or in any other.'Suddenly MITYS approaches the priest closer, a puzzled look on his face, as he asks what the priest believes most people desire as he tends to them on their deathbeds. He offers whether they would desire more time. MITYS' dialogue starts to turn ominous as he speaks about how much people would give to live forever, and suddenly asking the priest if he's prepared to die-- how much would he desire to live forever, never growing old or sick. As suddenly as the conversation started, it ends, as MITYS bids the priest good night and takes his leave, whistling the curious, wistful tune.Dawn is just breaking when Jesse awakens Winnie, asking her if she'd like to see the Eiffel Tower. Sleepily, she mumbles that someday it would be a nice thing. But Jesse says he wants to take her now-- 'while the day is still ours.'A shot of the Foster estate, where Mr. Foster and Henry are organizing a large search party for Winnie, shows that Jesse might have the right idea. Mr. Foster gives Henry one of Winnie's nightgowns so the search dogs can get her scent. It doesn't take long before one of the searchers and dog handlers finds the scrap of fabric torn from Winnie's dress when she was running away from Jesse.Now, rather than running away from him, Winnie is running with him, through the woods to a tall stone hill-- Jesse's 'Eiffel Tower,' which he says is two feet higher than the real one in Paris. Jesse takes Winnie on an arduous climb to the top of the stone hill, which Jesse admits is more difficult than the long stairway to the top of the tower in Paris.As they climb, Winnie asks Jesse how old he is. He looks young, but he says he's been to the real Eiffel Tower in Paris. Jesse tells Winnie that he's 104 years old. When Winnie asks for a serious answer, Jesse says he is being serious, but then gives in and agrees to 'call it 17.'Winnie and Jesse reach the top of the stone hill, where they take time to enjoy the majestic, panoramic view.As the search party continues, and MITYS also appears to be searching on his own, and Mrs. Foster plays the piano to try and keep her mind busy, time continues to pass. Watching Tuck and Mae at work around the cabin, running through the woods with Jesse, Winnie loses track of how long she's been staying with the Tucks. The family lives a simple lifestyle, never in a rush for anything. Winnie starts enjoying her time with them. She's also falling in love with Jesse.Jesse takes her to a short waterfall where it empties into a stream. At first, she's surprised when he starts undressing to his underwear, until he dives off the rock they were sitting on, into the water, and swims around. He invites Winnie to join him, but Winnie can't swim and is afraid. Taking this news with surprise, Jesse says that he'll just have to enjoy the swim on his own. Emboldened by this, taking it as a challenge, Winnie takes off her outer dress and jumps into the water with Jesse. He catches her easily, keeping her afloat and swimming around with her.The light-hearted, playful, and loving mood is in sharp contrast to the ever-brooding Miles, who is in town, intoxicated, beating out several opponents in poker at a saloon. One of the disgruntled players quickly assumes that Miles is cheating. Miles, however, proves he's exceptionally sharp at counting the position of each card in the deck, particularly the aces. But when the sore loser asks if Miles is looking for trouble, Miles eagerly says that he is; this leads to the saloon bouncer tossing Miles out. Miles doesn't even seem to mind this, taking it all with a drunken chuckle.But Miles is unaware of another patron at the saloon: MITYS, who becomes alerted to the commotion, sees Miles, and discreetly starts to follow him.Jesse has built a campfire, and encourages Winnie to listen to the various types of bird songs and calls throughout the woods. The bird calls sound like soulful music, and Winnie smiles and starts to sway side to side as she listens. Jesse takes a stick and starts to play a percussion tune against a fallen log, and Winnie dances, starting to feel at one with nature. Jesse joins her, and the two of them dance passionately. Unaware that MITYS is searching through the woods purposefully.Still later, Winnie lays beside the campfire with Jesse, snuggling peacefully with him. But when Winnie innocently says that she wishes the moment could last forever, Jesse starts to turn thoughtful, his words chosen with care. He tells Winnie that they could see the world together, and have a million moments like this one. There's a secret about the Tucks that Winnie doesn't yet know; something Jesse has sworn never to tell anyone, even her. A secret that forces the Tuck Family to live apart from the rest of society, hiding from civilization. Winnie is the first person Jesse's met, that he wanted to tell the secret to. Winnie, not realizing how serious Jesse is, leans in and kisses him.The kiss breaks Jesse; makes him want to tell Winnie the truth. Reminding her about the giant oak tree where they met, and the spring bubbling up from it, Jesse tells Winnie the truth about himself and his family: They're immortal. Jesse truly is 104 years old; he just stopped aging at 17. Jesse is certain that the spring is what caused it. He's going to be 17 years old until the end of the world.Twigs suddenly start breaking behind Jesse and Winnie, and they spin around to look. Miles has found them; his intoxication is wearing off fast, although he's not quite sober yet. Miles and Jesse immediately fall into an argument; Miles challenging Winnie on whether she'd have preferred to learn the truth before she kissed Jesse, and asking if Jesse has told her the downsides of being immortal. Getting upset, Jesse accuses Miles of not wanting Jesse to have what Miles lost. Interceding between the brothers, Winnie asks to hear the whole truth.Miles begins to tell the story. He, Jesse, Tuck and Mae all had a drink from the spring as they were heading further west to build a homestead. Their horse drank as well, but their cat didn't; Miles insists this one small detail is important. The water tasted heavenly, and Tuck carved a large T into the trunk to mark the tree as a landmark for the family. They found a good place to build their homestead, and it was soon after that they began to realize that something was different about them. Jesse climbed a tree, and fell thirty feet to the ground, landing with all his weight atop his neck. But before Mae could let out a yell of grief, Jesse got back to his feet as if nothing happened. No pain, no broken bones.Miles' face and voice start to gradually turn darker as he says that this wasn't all. Things began happening. The family horse was shot by hunters who mistook it for a deer. But the bullets simply bounced off the horse's flank, barely leaving a mark in its hide. Tuck was bitten by a rattlesnake, and lived through the poison without becoming ill. It was the cat who finally died; from old age.Miles starts fingering the wedding ring he wears, remembering further. He fell in love and married, having two beautiful children with his wife. The children were named Anna and Beau. He and his family eventually built their own homestead not far from the rest of the Tucks. But by now, Tuck had figured out that the spring had made them all immortal. Miles knew he wouldn't age, and nothing could kill him; over time his own children would be older than he; his wife growing old and dying while he lived on. Needing to save them, Miles pleaded with his wife to come to the spring with him, so she and the kids could drink and live forever with him. Miles' wife didn't take Miles seriously; she thought he and his family had sold their souls to the devil. As people began to talk, word spread around and everyone in the area thought that the Tucks were dabbling in black magic and witchcraft. They burnt the homestead, looking to kill the Tucks, and of course the Tucks couldn't die. This is why they withdrew from civilization, keeping themselves hidden from people.In his grief, becoming increasingly bitter, Miles began fighting in wars. He fought in the Mexican-American war, watching many brave soldiers die during the siege of Veracruz. He fought in the Civil War, watching casualties mount at Gettysburg. He prayed that an enemy soldier would kill him as well-- but no bullet could do this. Miles couldn't die. But the most painful loss was his family. Influenza took Anna before she turned 15. If Beau were still alive, he'd be close to eighty. And Miles' beloved wife... died old and alone in an insane asylum.Both Miles and Winnie are in tears as the story ends.Miles, Jesse and Winnie return to the Tuck cabin early the following morning. Tuck and Mae immediately know that Jesse has told Winnie the truth about them. Tuck says he needs speak with Winnie one on one, and takes her out onto the lake in a rowboat.Angus Tuck looks all around at the living forest around them, asking Winnie to do the same. He talks about human lives, how Winnie was once a child, and is now a young woman; one day she'll have children and do something important-- and then she'll pass on, making way for new life. The Tucks, as Angus insists, don't truly live as other people do; they simply 'are.' Like rocks stuck at the side of a stream. Angus softly insists to Winnie that the secret she's learned is extremely dangerous; if people learned about the spring, they'd trample and kill each other in a mad rush to it. As Angus says, people are so desperate not to die, that they also never live the lives they have.Winnie admits she's afraid of dying, asking if that's a bad thing. Angus says it isn't, but to never live one's life is so much worse than dying, which Angus calls merely 'part of the wheel.' The one thing Angus asks Winnie to understand, is to fear an unlived life, rather than death.But there's one thing both Angus Tuck and Winnie should fear; they just don't know it. MITYS has found them. From a secluded spot on the shore, he looks through his binoculars and watches the two of them as they sit in the rowboat.MITYS goes to the Foster estate to inform Mr. and Mrs. Foster that he knows where Winnie is. He tells them that she appears to have been with the Tuck family for some time now. But it doesn't take long to show that MITYS is far less concerned for the welfare of either Winnie or her parents, than his own agenda. His seemingly idle statement that he's the only person who knows where Winnie can be found, and therefore brought safely home, shows Mr. Foster that MITYS has a price for divulging this information.MITYS briefly beats around the bush before finally getting to the point; in return for bringing the Fosters and a search party to the Tuck cabin, MITYS wants ownership of the woods around Treegap. He's not interested in the town itself; just the immediate surrounding forest. Both of the Fosters are sickened by the play, but Mrs. Foster begs her husband to give MITYS whatever he asks, so she can finally have Winnie back.As MITYS leaves the estate, Mr. Foster hands him the proper papers that make him the owner of the woods around Treegap. MITYS assures the Fosters that their ordeal is over, but they have to move quickly; the Tucks were packing up to leave the cabin and the forest. MITYS suggests that Constable Henry organize a posse quickly so that the Tucks can be arrested. MITYS says he's also heading to the cabin himself, and he's sure to arrive before anyone else.The posse organizes under Constable Henry at the Foster estate, and Mr. Foster says he's coming along himself.The Tucks are loading up their wagon and making final preparations to leave their cabin. Jesse is tasked with bringing Winnie back home. But their last few moments together are interrupted by the arrival of MITYS, who's found his way to their home. Angus quickly recognizes MITYS as the man who's been following and tracking Miles and Jesse. MITYS reveals how he found the Tucks, and how he learned their secret in the first place: his grandmother was an employee at the insane asylum where Miles' wife was confined, and MITYS took the stories of her ranting and raving about a people in the woods that could live forever, to heart. Miles' wife often rambled about a music box that always had a calming effect on her children. MITYS whistles the tune from the music box; Mae's music box.MITYS reveals that Mr. Foster has signed ownership of the woods to him. He offers to ensure that the Tucks can remain at their cabin indefinitely, safe from the outside world; what MITYS wants in return is knowledge of where the spring is. His motive for this is finally revealed as pure greed; MITYS knows that people desperate to live forever, would pay him all of their worldly goods and material wealth, down to the smallest coin, in return for one sip from the spring.When Angus refuses to meet this demand, MITYS grabs Winnie and pulls a gun, menacing the girl with it. Jesse lunges at MITYS, who shoots automatically. Jesse falls briefly, but is unhurt; proving his immortality. The Tucks are in a standoff with MITYS, who continues to hold Winnie at gunpoint.But MITYS has turned his back to Mae. Mae picks up her husband's shotgun by its barrel, and swinging with all her strength, clubs MITYS across the back of the head with the stock of the weapon. Just then, Constable Henry's rescue team starts to converge on the cabin. Miles and Jesse escape on horseback as Mr. Foster races to the cabin and hugs Winnie in relief.Back at the Foster home, Mr. and Mrs. Foster can't understand or accept Winnie defending the Tucks or that she's come to love them all as dear friends. She insists that Mae was only protecting her when she hit MITYS from behind. But Henry reveals that it's all irrelevant. MITYS has died from the blow, meaning Mae, who is locked in the town jail with Angus, will be charged with murder, and she'll be hanged for it. Henry sadly tells Mr. Foster that Winnie will be required to testify. Henry finds MITYS as much a slick weasel and scoundrel as Mr. Foster does, but Mae will still face the gallows for killing him.It's a dark and stormy night, and Winnie lays in bed, trying to sleep, when she's alerted to a sound at her window. Jesse has climbed up there, come to seek her help. If his mother goes to the gallows, she won't die from the hanging, and the Tuck family's secret will be out. Winnie agrees they have to get Mae and Angus sprung from jail somehow. Jesse has a plan how.Winnie runs to the jail and pounds on the door, screaming in terror for help. The night watchman jailer answers the door and Winnie staggers in, crying fearfully that the people who kidnapped her have come back for her again, and if they catch her, they'll kill her. The jailer grabs his rifle and goes outside, where Jesse and Miles slowly walk toward the building, dressed in dark cloaks and top hats, brandishing sabers. They approach the jailer slowly and menacingly. The jailer fires at them, and they fall to the ground, but then slowly rise again. The jailer runs away in fear as Winnie grabs spare jail cell keys and frees Angus and Mae.Miles has brought the family wagon to the square. Mae and Jesse both hug Winnie, wishing she could come with them, but both Angus and Winnie know that Mr. Foster would hunt them all across the country without letup. Jesse gets an idea. He begs Winnie to drink from the spring. Then when it was safe, he would come back for her and they could see the whole world, starting with the Eiffel Tower. As the Tucks ride off in the wagon, he pledges to love her until his dying day.Back at the Foster House, Winnie's grandmother lies on her deathbed. Winnie sees Mrs. Foster lay down beside Grandma Foster, staying by her side until she's gone. After Grandma Foster's funeral, Winnie finds her mother staring out at the woods. Mrs. Foster admits she was heartbroken at the thought of losing Winnie, who was growing up very fast, and wanted to keep her baby as her little girl. Winnie and her mother make peace, and as summer draws to a close, The Fosters drive off, leaving Treegap to see the world.The scene changes back to show Treegap as it is in the present day (presumably 2002, the year the movie was released). We return to the first scene, where Jesse Tuck has returned to the town. He rides his motorcycle through the streets, and looks wistfully at what used to be the Foster estate, and the cars parked on its property. Jesse then walks through the forest and finds his way to the magic spring, where Winnie waits for him...She's buried there.Jesse sinks to his knees as he looks on Winnie's gravestone. Having chosen never to drink from the spring, Winnie went on to marry, have children, and live a full life, before she passed away in 1999 at the venerable age of 100. To forever safeguard the magic spring, she arranged that she be buried at the base of the tree from which the spring flowed; her gravestone forever sealing it up so that nobody would again find it.As Jesse turns his gaze to the sky, the narrator delivers her closing recitation: "Tuck said it to Winnie the summer she turned 15. 'Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever; you just have to live.' And she did."The view pans up along the upper branches of the trees and fades to black.
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philosophical, murder, flashback
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train
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imdb
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tt0814314
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Seven Pounds
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Tim Thomas (Smith), while carelessly sending a text message while driving, veers across the center line into oncoming traffic and causes a multi-car crash in which seven people die: six strangers and his fiancée, Sarah Jenson (Robinne Lee).
Two years later, in a bid for atonement, Tim sets out to save the lives of seven good people by donating his own vital organs, a process that will be completed after his planned suicide. A year after the crash, having quit his job as an aeronautical engineer, Tim donates a lung lobe to his brother Ben (Michael Ealy), an IRS field agent. Tim then steals his brother's federal IRS identification badge and credentials, puts his picture over Ben's, identifies himself by his brother's name, and uses Ben's privileges to check out the financial backgrounds of further potential candidates for his donations. In each case, he "interviews" them first to determine if they are good people.
In one case, the director of a hospice nursing home facility, who had an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant, seeks a six-month extension on his back taxes. Tim, now going by his brother's name, is unsure of the man's ethics, because he claims to be insolvent, yet drives a new BMW. To resolve the issue, "Ben" passionately asks a resident patient, an elderly bedridden woman, to tell him whether he is a "good man", only to discover that the man is punishing the woman for refusing to take a new medication by not allowing the nurses to bathe her.
Six months later, "Ben" donates part of his liver to a child protective services social worker named Holly (Judyann Elder). He then finds George (Bill Smitrovich), a junior hockey coach and donates a kidney to him. He then donates bone marrow to a young boy named Nicholas (Quintin Kelley), opting to have no anesthesia during the procedure, an evident consequence of his desire for atonement. In each case, he does not tell the people what his intentions are for his donations, despite being repeatedly asked.
Two weeks before he dies, he contacts Holly and asks if she knows anyone "in the system" who needs and deserves help, but is too proud to ask for it. Holly suggests Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carrillo), who lives with her two kids and an abusive boyfriend, but cannot afford to leave. When "Ben" arrives to "interview" her under the guise of dealing with the IRS, Connie is embarrassed and humiliated that he knows what has been going on. She defends her boyfriend, is offended by "Ben"'s suggestion that she should leave with her kids, and kicks him out of her house. In the meantime, "Ben" moves out of his house and into a local motel, taking with him his pet box jellyfish, decidedly the most venomous creature on earth, with its sting causing death in three to five minutes. That night, after being beaten by her boyfriend again, Connie contacts "Ben". He meets her, tells her not to be weak, and gives her the keys and directions to his beach house. She takes her two children and they move into the house. Then, she reads a letter from "Ben" which includes the deed to the house, again giving no explanation, and asking for her to respect his wishes, not try to contact him, not tell anyone how she got the house, and "live life abundantly".
"Ben"'s sixth candidate is Ezra Turner (Harrelson), a blind telemarketer for a meat company, who plays the piano. "Ben" calls Ezra and harassed him at work weeks earlier, to see if he was quick to anger; when Ezra remains calm and humble through the abuse, "Ben" decides he is worthy.
"Ben" then contacts Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a wedding announcement/greeting card printer who has a congenital heart condition and rare blood type that has left her with only weeks to live. Ben interviews her at her home, again under the guise of an IRS investigation, and more or less stalks her at the hospital, but then he starts to spend time with her, walking her Great Dane called Duke, weeding her garden, and fixing her rare Heidelberg Windmill press. He visibly fights his affections for her, again seeking atonement for the death of his fiancée, but he slowly falls in love with her.
At one point, while comforting Emily (who is in the hospital after an emergency), he tells her the tale of a young boy named Tim, who wanted to fly and became a space engineer. Emily recognizes this is an actual story of his childhood and suggested the boy was named Ben, but he corrects her by sheer reflex, telling her that the boy is called Tim... obviously himself.
Tim's brother, the real Ben, finally tracks Tim down at Emily's house, saying that he must return his IRS credentials. After a passionate sexual interlude with Emily, and with Ben waiting outside her house, Tim disappears out the back door, leaving her sleeping. He returns on foot to the motel, first stopping by the hospital to ask the doctor if any chance exists that Emily will improve. Discovering that she will likely die before a donated organ becomes available, he decides "it's time".
Tim then fills the motel bathtub with ice water to preserve his vital organs, calls 9-1-1 emergency and reports his own suicide, climbs into the tub, and releases his box jellyfish into the water with him. The jellyfish wraps its tentacles around his arm, causing a quick but excruciatingly painful death.
At the hospital, his best childhood friend Dan (Pepper) acts as executor of Tim's living will to ensure that his organs are donated to Emily and Ezra. Ezra receives Tim's corneas, which cure his blindness, and Emily receives his heart.
Afterward, Ben finds letters from Tim that he is to give to each person explaining why he did what he did. This leaves Emily heartbroken. Emily finds Ezra (now a school teacher) at his kid's choir concert at a park and stops him as he passes by. Having never met before, Emily is fixated on Ezra's eyes, knowing they belonged to Tim. Emily begins to break down, which clues Ezra in to who she is. When he says, "You must be Emily," she breaks into tears and they share a heartfelt embrace out of mutual love and respect for Tim.
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thought-provoking, dramatic, romantic, psychedelic, flashback
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train
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wikipedia
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tt0087263
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Firstborn
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It is the Spring of 1984 in a middle-class New Jersey suburb. Opening up to some very bad 80's pop-rock playing on a clock radio, fifteen year old Jake Livingston is looking outside of his bedroom window and sees a lighted up Chevy Blazer pulling up in his driveway with his mother giving the man driving it a kiss goodnight. He does not recognize the man or the vehicle.The next morning, we get a brief glimpse into the everyday life of these boys. Jake's younger 11 year old brother Brian is playing a Merlin electronic device having stole the batteries out of his Walkman, a nostalgic reminder this was the mid-1980's before hand-held technology was any more advanced. Jake and Brian are a little surly and typical preteen/teen boys, but generally good kids.Jake is walking to class with his buddies (one of whom is Robert Downey, Jr.) and his girlfriend Lisa (future superstar Sarah Jessica Parker). We are introduced to Jake's history teacher Mr. Rader, a miserable smart-ass of a man that enjoys teasing his students about the unfairness of life and playing games with them. He gives the students a quiz and tells them plain out he tricked them. Jake is also on the lacrosse team and having practice.More of the everyday life of the Livingston family with Jake and his buddies coming over to raid the refrigerator and picking on the younger boys. His mother Wendy arrives home to take Jake to get his learners permit. The Livingston's arrive home and Lisa greets Jake. He and Lisa are later in the bedroom doing their homework and when Wendy knocks on his bedroom door calling them for dinner, Jake teases her that they need to put their clothes on first. He opens the door with Wendy's ear pressed to it. She makes them all dinner and tells the kids she's going out for the night.The boys' father Alan comes over to take them out to a nice dinner before he goes to Montreal. Wendy was going to go out with them as well, but Alan's girlfriend Joanne is in town as well. Alan is a successful lawyer, but a kind man to his boys. The boys generally discuss with Alan and Joanne their times at school. Alan announces he and Joanne are getting married. The boys congratulate him, but seem saddened as well. They arrive home that night to find Wendy even sadder.Jake and Lisa are at the yard of a house under construction having a bottle of wine she stole from her parents cellar. They enjoy the afternoon together making outSome school morning later, Jake and Brian hear a coughing in the bedroom from a man they don't recognize. He comes into the kitchen half asleep, red-eyed, and disheveled appearance and awkwardly introduces himself as Sam. The boys are uncomfortable with his presence, but generally courteous.Jake and his lacrosse teammates are being given an instruction in basic hygiene by their coach, due to the possibility of athlete's foot, telling them after they get out of the shower to first dry their head, then their crotch, then their feet. The coach explains to them one time he had a bad case of athlete's foot and by drying his feet first, then his crotch, he got a bad infection from it, losing a testicle.Wendy and her neighbor are in the backyard doing work with Wendy telling her about this guy she's with and that they are totally comfortable with each other, but her neighbor warns her that just because she's on the rebound she should not rush into it. Jake overhears the conversation.Jake and Sam are in the living room gradually warming up to each other with Sam telling him the other morning was not the best way to meet. Sam mentions to Jake he works for a security system company, but wants to have his own business the way others are always trying to rip you off. Sam and Wendy go out on a date for the night.Jake and Brian are playing near a stream and Brian accidentally kills a bird with his slingshot. They arrive back to their home with Sam visiting. He gets Jake a used dirtbike with his mother having paid for it. Sam is preparing a barbecue for the family and tells the boys how he wants to open his own restaurant. Jake is beginning to suspect this man is all talk and a phony because just a few days ago his recent interest was to open his own security company.Jake goes into Brian's bedroom declaring Sam's an asshole. Brian thinks he's okay, but like many intelligent kids, Jake has that built in radar and sense of discernment and can't explain why, he just knows the man is up to no good.Jake and Lisa are at the shopping mall with Jake venting his frustrations to her that the man tries too hard, but Lisa thinks he's being unfair, judgmental and not giving him a chance. But Jake still trusts his instincts.Jake comes home with Sam installing a security system for the house. His mother is preparing a cake. She announces to the boys that Sam is moving with them. Wendy justifies it that she is desperate for companionship, but Sam had to move out of his apartment and probably out of a job. The boys are totally displeased.Jake comes home and Brian has a note that his mother has to sign because he got into a fight. Jake agrees to forge her signature for him, providing Brian's assurance he will never get in another fight.The family is eating at a crowded restaurant that night. Sam is eating an overcooked steak and totally displeased with the food and service. He declares he and Wendy could open a much better restaurant serving mesquite grilled meats and fish if he could buy a piece of real estate and sell it to put up the money for a restaurant. But Jake debunks his idea infuriating Sam. That night they get home, Sam gives Jake a shove and tells him to get off his back.Jake and his buddies are coming over to his house once again after school only to find Sam laying on the couch half-asleep and watching TV. He tells his friends they need to leave so they don't see Sam. That night Jake is in his room doing his homework, but Sam is blasting loud music and Jake unable to concentrate.At school back in Mr. Rader's class, a student is giving a report on the fictional Rocky Balboa. The teacher tells the boy the assignment was about real people that were major contributors of the 20th century. He teases the boy asking him if he believes in the tooth fairy too and that Superman can beat up Rocky. Jake calls the teacher an asshole under his breath, but his teacher hears it and tells Jake to say it to his face and not be a coward. Jake denies it. Mr. Rader assures Jake that his grades are not good enough to get on his bad side and to watch himself.Jake comes home that afternoon with Sam playing pinball and Jake's records. And Brian had a fight with his mother, locking himself in his room.Jake and Brian get up the next morning to find a note written on a paper towel and $40 in cash that Wendy and Sam have gone to Lake George and be home in a few days. After Brian leaves, Jake goes into his mother's messy bedroom hoping to uncover the truth. There is an almost empty wine bottle and glass on the nightstand. He goes into a jewelry box to find a bag of marijuana and bottle of pills, possibly Quaaludes. He also goes into a duffel bag and finds a hash pipe, another bottle of pills, and small amount of cocaine. Then he finds an area with a tool box and carpet ripped on the side. He opens the carpet and cut floorboard to find an open area lined with silver padding, with nothing inside of it.A day or two later, Jake comes home from school through the back door as usual and bumps into a sinister man in the house telling him he's waiting for Sam and that he went out to get some beers. Jake asks the man if he's a friend of Sam's and the man sneers back asking Jake if he is. Jake leaves the house.Wendy and Sam are back with KFC being served for dinner. Sam is watching TV and Jake approaches him in a passive-aggressive way telling Sam he met a friend of his that is an "interesting guy". Jake refuses to elaborate to Sam that remark, but tells Sam the man asked Jake if he was his friend and that he said nothing back. Sam is infuriated at Jake's impudence and tells him to shove it. A fight breaks out and Jake leaves the room.Jake is in bed that night overhearing a garbled conversation with Sam slapping Wendy calling her a bitch.Wendy is out in the backyard planting a flower garden the next day and Jake tells her he shouldn't hit her and that what he's doing is not okay, but Wendy says he's really trying. Of course Jake does not fall for this because he already found drugs in her bedroom. Jake tells her he is a deadbeat, loser, and bullshitter.Jake is in his bedroom lifting a barbell. Sam enters and retrieves the barbell as if it weighs no more than a bag of sugar. He apologizes to Jake for losing his temper and hitting his mother and assures him he's under a lot of pressure, never had a family before, and wants to make the restaurant thing work. Jake sits on the weight bench confidently giving Sam a blank look while he lectures Jake, knowing that this man is all talk because of the drugs he found. Before he leaves, Jake tersely tells Sam to knock next time he wants to come into his room and in return Sam menacingly tells Jake that next time he wants to judge him to not go crying to his mother, but to have the balls to say it to his face.Wendy and Sam are having a party in their living room with The Band's "The Night They Drove Dixie Down" playing. Jake comes out of his bedroom to see Sam doing a line of cocaine on the pinball machine. Sam sees Jake watching him, but seems indifferent to having been caught.The next morning, Jake and Brian go into the messy living room to find Wendy and Sam passed out on the couch.Jake's personal problems at home are escalating and causing him to act out at school. His friends are playing hacky sack during recess and one of them accidentally kicks it into Jake with Jake pushing the kid and almost hitting him.Jake goes home from school to find his mother in her bedroom a disheveled mess because she has to go to Brian's school to meet with the principal because he got into a fight with another kid. Jake tells her he will go instead. He tells the principal that their mom is sick and he doesn't know what will happen and assures her it won't happen anymore.Jake and Brian come into the house. Sam screams at Brian how he's hurting his mother. Brian dismisses him and runs to his room saying "eat shit dickface" to Sam, then locking himself in his room. Sam is infuriated and takes off his belt. Jake tries to stop Sam, who pulls him away and about to punch him in the face. Jake tells him to never touch he or his brother again. Sam leaves that night.Jake comes home from school with his mother sitting at the table doing bills. His father calls up to talk to him and that he wants the boys to visit him in London for the summer. Jake is troubled and probably thinking to himself he won't be alive to see the summer.Jake and Brian meet at a pizza parlor discussing possible plans to leave. Jake comes back to the house with a candlelight dinner and linguini and cookies his mother made. He declares to her she's a coke addict, but she denies it and he tells her how the whole home is falling apart and that he wants Sam out of the house. She refuses to comply with his wishes.Feeling more tense than ever and with his problems at home escalated at an all time high, Jake goes into his history class with Mr. Rader giving back the results of their book reports. Jake received an F on his for plagiarism. He has an outburst with the teacher screaming at him for the way he mistreats the kids and competes with them. He storms out of the classroom and letting off steam riding his dirtbike all over the neighborhood. Just as he is approaching his house, he sees Wendy and Sam in the driveway about to leave in the Blazer.After they leave, Jake goes into the house and discovers a stash of cocaine in the floorboard Jake previously examined. Hoping this will be an opportunity to get rid of Sam, he takes the cocaine and hides it in the chimney of the constructed home he and Lisa made out at.That night at the house, Wendy and Sam are in good spirits, probably on a drug-fueled high with the four of them having take-out Chinese food. Sam assures them that the differences need to stop, and his plans are coming together. Jake pretends to agree with Sam and assures Brian to do the same. Afterwards a doorbell rings and two creepy looking men enter. A minute later they leave disappointed one of them stating "he never had it". Sam calls Wendy into the bedroom. The two of them are screaming and worried to death. Jake tells Brian to leave the house. Sam comes into Jake's bedroom asking him if he knows what he is looking for. Jake tells Sam he does and to leave the house unless he wants him to call the police. Sam is furious, grabs Jake and tells him his mother put up 10,000 for the drugs and she's as involved as he is. Jake refuses to comply and tell him where the stash is and runs away.In a popular 80's cliche'd chase scene, a rock soundtrack ensues with Sam in a furious, drug-fueled frenzy relentlessly chasing Jake all over the town, including tearing down a chain link fence and Jake hitting his dirt bike with another car. Then Jake makes it by foot back to his house.Jake comes into the house and secures all the doors and windows. He's about to call the police, but finds the phone dead. Sam breaks a window to enter the house, grabs Jake, pounds his head on the floor telling him he will hurt his mother if he doesn't comply and tell him where the stash is. Jake agrees.The two of them go to the house where Jake hid the stash. Jake retrieves it. Back on the way home, Sam is now totally calm, but in a sinister way telling him they need to be family and work together no matter what happens, reassuring him of no pain or gain. Jake is beyond saddened and crushed knowing that he has lost the ability to protect his family and that he and his brother now have to live in this nightmare, but Sam is oblivious to his hurt.Back at the house, Wendy has finally come to her senses and packed Sam's bags telling him to get out of the house. She tells him she is fed up with his abuse and does not want him around her boys. Sam refuses, she stands her ground, and he slaps her. Jake hits Sam for it and Sam is mercilessly beating Jake up and Brian comes to Sam hitting him on the back with a baseball bat. Sam is about to beat Jake to death with the bat, but in a popular climactic cliché, Jake kicks him in the crotch with Sam falling over. He leaves and the three are a family again.
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violence, romantic
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train
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imdb
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Nobody seems to like this drama, probably because it IS at times very depressing and downbeat...and the ending DOES tie things up a little too neatly after going over the top melodramatically.
It's extremely well-acted by all (especially Christopher Collet and a rare dramatic turn from Teri Garr)and the early parts of the story ring powerfully true about the loneliness, confusion and hurt that comes with being a family torn apart by divorce.
The scenes involving the kids and their friends and their dealings at school also feel fresh and very real.
Solidly directed by Michael Apted, "Firstborn" is an affecting 1980's drama that, despite its flaws, will stay with you long after you see it..
First Born is good psychological exploration in the various signs of breakdown of kids dealing with tough family situations.
Here, Christopher Collet (Prayer of the Rollerboys) is Jake Livingston, a fifteen year old kid who lives with his mom (Terri Garr) and younger brother, Brian (Corey Haim).
And, things are fine for a while for Jake, despite his dad going to Montreal to marry his girlfriend, leaving Jake a tad sympathetic of his still single mother.
But things quickly fall apart when his mom's new boyfriend, Sam (Peter Weller), enters the picture, and eventually moves in.
While his mom has dated in the past, there is something about Sam that neither Jake nor Brian can tolerate.
He starts getting violent towards the boy, he starts bringing drugs into the house, and Jake's mother eventually starts falling into the same dangerous patterns as Sam while neglecting her own boys who plead with her to realize what Sam is really all about.
This movie presents the kind of psychological breakdown kids may go through when faced with serious family issues.
He was a good student and spent a lot of time with his friends (one of whom was played by Robert Downey, Jr.) and girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker).
Likewise, Brian starts getting into a lot of fights in the schoolyard, beating up the kids he know he can win fights against.
It is a good film, too, to teach of the warning signs to parents, teachers, counselors, and so forth (Jake's dad couldn't be suspicious of anything was going on because he wasn't there to witness the changes in his sons).
It is very well acted, with great performances from Peter Weller, Terri Garr, and especially Christopher Collet (I would have expected to see more acting credits for him).
I really like its unflinching look at the consequences of divorce, from the sadness of the kids to the vulnerability of the mother.
Look for a young Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr., and Corey Haim in supporting roles..
Even a second cousin of mine has brought boyfriends into her home to live who would make Peter Weller's character look saintly by comparison.
Teri Garr, like many deserted or divorced mothers, becomes flattered by the attention she is getting from Peter Weller, and their obvious sexual bonding makes it easy for her to overlook the potential harm to her children that moving him in might cause.
While many critics didn't like that the film adds drug use about midway through, this too is more common than many think.
This was Corey Haim's first film, and his reaction early on when learning that his dad is getting remarried, shows what a fine actor he was.
If you like serious family drama, do yourself a favor and try to find a VHS tape to rent or buy.
It is a heart wrenching but ultimately satisfying movie, and you get to watch early performances by Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Junior.
Paints a good picture of how stress can affect young lives.
Wendy(Garr) is a single mom raising two boys, Jake(Collett) and Brian(Haim).
After seeing that her ex-husband has moved on in his life she gets in a relationship with Sam(Weller).At first Sam seems to be a nice guy, but that soon changes.
She keeps telling the boys that Sam is trying and to be patient but the stress of this affects the boys as well.Jake is a great student, athletic and fun-loving.
Up to this point he has been tolerant of his self absorbed, egomaniac teacher but even starts to become defiant with him as well.Brian avoids home as much as he can and keeps getting into bad fights in school.When Jake discovers that Sam is trafficking drugs through the house he has finally had enough and takes it upon himself to make a stand.This movie is a great example of how a bad relationship can cause stress on more than two lives.
Both the book and the movie were very good..
If you're an 80's film buff, you couldn't ask for anything better than Firstborn.
Peter Weller being creepier than creepy, Cory Haim being earnest, Sarah Jessica Parker being mousy, and Teri Garr addicted to coke.
I found the film looking for more Christopher Collet flicks (he's the dreamy 13-year-old Paul of Sleepaway Camp), and he knocks this role out of the park as an engaging and increasingly troubled teen trying to keep his family together.
Though the subject matter is a little heavy, Apted keeps you riveted, and Firstborn proves itself to be a heartfelt and endearing look at a family ripped apart.
This is not, nor was it intended to be, a happy movie.Wendy, (a great performance by Teri Garr), is a very lonely and extremely vulnerable divorced Mother of two boys.
She is wooed and won by Sam, (Peter Weller), a great guy and perfect husband/father replacement.
Abuse is always one of the issues that emotionally cut me, it doesn't matter what age you are it's always the worst experience for anyone to have not so much on the threat of being hit but how much it truly destroys the life of the victim.This is one of my favorite dramas and films of all time.
I feel it deals with the issue of abuse well by not being heavy handed or preachy.The score I think is great it has one of my favorite themes of all time.
I really like the characters from some supporting characters like Sarah Jessica Parker as Lisa whom at the time I thought was cute and kinda hot is Jake's significant other.
Even best friend Lee played well by Robert Downey Jr. whom is a fun character he's kinda a loose fun sort of guy from his wardrobe reminds me a bit of Ducky's from "Pritty in Pink".
Though these two I don't feel have enough scenes with Jake which to me is the only weak point of the film, I kinda would of liked to see both of them have a hand in Jake's dilemma and help him though it somehow.Even young Corry Haim whom is one of my favorite young actors in the 80's and is sadly no longer with us is great.
Playing a young brother that isn't a stereotypical annoyance but feel like a actual brother.
I like the chemistry between both Jake and him which I feel really carries out the film.
It also made me worry for both their lives as things escalate.Though of course my favorite character is Jake played by Christopher Collet whom I think is an underrated actor.
I like that he has charisma, humor, and he's also one of my favorite fictional heroes because he doesn't bend or take crap from anyone, and he knows when enough is enough to take action.One of the highlight no doubt is that scene with the English teacher whom is just a complete blowhole gives Jake a failing grade on purpose despite Jake actually worked hard and put effort into it.
That pushes Jake over the edge and he then does what I feel any person in that situation should do stand up for himself, I couldn't help but cheer.
It's really surreal seeing one of my favorite actors Peter Weler play a villain; but then a lot of other actors I know and like had there start doing that.
Here he plays a villain you just plain hate and that's the point because scumbags like Sam actually exist.Sam is just horrible, throughout most of the film I just wanted to beat the living crap out of him.
The guy is pretty much a loser, he's a drug dealer as well as drugy, flaky, full of bull crap but worst of all completely abusive and acts like he own everyone and everything.From little moments like when Sam then says some bull crap about playing Jake's records without permission from Jake.
That's like someone taking some of my video games or DVD/Blu Rays and playing them without asking me, that tees me off because not asking anyone's permission to use personal property is practically steeling.Or one really big moment when Sam comes close to crossing the line about to hit Jake and Brian I thought "cmon Sam, lets go right now!" Sorry that sounded bold but that scene made my blood boil to raging hot.We see how things get worse with Sam's presence even to the point of scary.
The house we see gets messier, well may'be not to the point of being a crap hole but you know that it will get there if he's still around.Wendy is a character I don't hate but more like disappointed with as are the kids because you feel she should know better but due to her desperation she's ignoring all common sense and completely irresponsible, which is common with most in that state.One scene that made me want to yell at her was when Jake lied to his real father for his mom over the phone that everything was fine and after that call it looked like Jake was about to cry.
It was heart sinking and almost put a tear in my eye and made me really mad at Wendy I thought "Can't you see what is happening to your family!" Part of the suspense is hoping she's get her common sense back while she still has a family.The film I do feel has a good message about always standing up to abusers, don't let them control your lives they own nobody.
In this one, mom (Teri Garr) is depicted as a weak-willed imbecile, so desperate for a man she will even start taking drugs for one.
The film also once again gives us the old stereotype that parents and children of the opposite sex cannot, or should not, have intelligent discussions about important "adult" things.
i've always liked this movie.
good performances, especially from the kids, and a great portrayal of a desperate divorced woman putting her own happiness ahead of her kids.if it is on DVD, would someone please let me know where i can get it?
"No one will be happy until dragged to Hell and back."If you want to be depressed or get into abusive relationships w/o understanding them, enjoy.
FIRSTBORN (1984) *** Teri Garr, Peter Weller, Christopher Collet, Corey Haim, Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey, Jr.
It's the story of Jake, a young man who's mom starts dating a stranger who introduces his mom to cocaine and things start to go awry...The shocking thing is his mom is played by (GASP) Terri Garr.
Sweet, kind Terri Garr starts dealing cocaine out of their home and doesn't have the good sense to kick this loser out when he starts beating her kids.
Her other son (Corey Haim) is getting into fights at school which is kinda hard to believe since he's like 3'9.
The drug dealer boyfriend is portrayed by Peter (yes, Robocop himself) Weller and he doesn't change facial expressions, once.
Movie has a lot of current stars that were young at the time the movie was filmed.
The movie has a lot of effective elements to get point across.
Terri Garr plays a divorced wife who has to deal with new lover played by Peter Weller.
Movie deals with drug content the troubles with growing up in a broken family.
The teenager has been rebelling at school and battling with his mother, who is dating a creepy new guy, but instead of seeking advice or aid from adults who may just be a bit more knowledgeable than he, Collet takes matters into his own hands.
Suburban melodrama wastes some fine actors, including Teri Garr, Peter Weller and Sarah Jessica Parker on tepid material.
My father and I saw this movie together years ago, and we couldn't get over how down this movie makes you feel.
Peter Weller I want to always remember as RoboCop, the good guy going after the foul-mouthed drug pushers.
Teri Garr's role as a coked-out party mom was old after the first half hour.
Domestic drama that is played too much like an ABC after school special.
Teenager Collet gets the brass you-know-what's to stand up to Weller in one of the silliest fight scenes ever filmed.
Look for a young Corey Haim, if there are any fans of his left..
(Some Spoilers) There was already trouble brewing at he Livingston home with the husband and father Alan Livingston , Richard Brandon,of the two young boys Jake and Brian, Christopher Collet & Corey Haim,leaving his wife Wendy, Terri Garr, for another woman Joanne, Gayle Harbor.
Still you know that something is really hit the fan when the mysterious drifter Sam,Peter Weller, all of a sudden popped up and slowly wormed his way into Wendy's heart and into her home.The two boys, especially Jake, saw right through Sam's phony front as a former independent contractor now working for this local security firm.
In fact Sam was a low echelon coke dealer trying to make it to the big time in the local drug trafficking business.
With Wendy going through a bout of severe depression, by being left by herself, she was more then happy to get someone who she felt was a good husband, or boyfriend, and father to her two boys.
Loving towards Wendy and friendly to Jake & Brian at first Sam begins to show his true colors feelings and motives.
He tuns the family home into a local drug den where he deals with all these unsavory characters stooping over to buy and sell dope.
Sam uses the fear of Wendy's sons knowing that she'll be arrested along with him as a co-conspirator in his drug dealings.
The film "Firstborn" does a good job showing how an American family goes through a crisis period after it's left without it's bread-winner The movie not only reflects on the wife, Wendy, but the two children, Jake & Brian.
The ending of the movie was about the only drawback to it by trying to tie everything together and make things Right.
I knew I had seen another movie like it before, and finally the movie First Born came to mind as way superior.
This depressing, after-school special type of movie features Peter Weller (Robocop '87) and Terri Garr (Mr. Mom, a great movie).
Jakes mother and father have divorced and now with his father gone he is man of the house until Sam shows up and starts dating his mother Wendy.At first he seems to be OK but quickly Jake and his brother Brian see Sam is not the person he made himself out to be.Sam moves in and starts to act like A jerk.Wendy however is totally out of it and desperate for A relationship so she goes along thinking he's the perfect guy for her.Jake and Brian are not fooled even after Sam buys Jake A motorcycle.Sam starts being abusive towards Wendy and starts selling drugs.Jake is determined to get this man out of the house and will stop and nothing to do so.I liked it A lot I thought the acting was really good.
FIRSTBORN tells the emotionally powerful but sad story of a divorced Mother (Terri Garr) who feels lonely and despondent.
Jake (Christopher Collet) and Brian.
(Corey Haim.) Predictably, the family begins to fall apart.
Brian begins to have fights in school, Jake once outgoing, charismatic, and fun, becomes short-tempered to his friends and teachers, and Mother Wendy who initially along with the family believed that Sam was in contract security systems, discoverers something far more horrifying.
Sam is a drug-dealer and he has Jake and Brian's mother addicted to cocaine.
It is now up to the older son Jake, to protect Brian, his mother, and himself, from Sam's growing abuse towards them, and to get Sam out of the house before Sam does irreversible damage to the already shattered family.The scenes for the most part are realistic and the film does a good job of conveying a dark image of the decent into abusive family trauma.
Just don't expect to feel very happy when you are watching this movie or after it ends.
However, other than the "too long" fight scene, the film is well done and one that I would recommend..
I didn't think this movie was all that good, probably why it isn't on DVD (as of Spring 2008).I couldn't empathize with any of the characters.
I felt pity for Teri Garr's character, but a lot of her character's problems were her own doing especially when she observed RoboCop being abusive to her kids...
Teri Garr, Peter Weller, Christopher Collet, Corey Haim, Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr. star in this 1984 drama.
Garr (Mr. Mom) plays Wendy, a divorcée who has 2 children, Jake (Collet) and Brian (Haim).
Weller (Robocop) plays Sam, the new man in her life who seems like a decent guy until Jake learns he's an abusive, drug-dealer.
Jake intends to look out for his family and stand up to him.
Parker (Sex and the City) plays Jake's girlfriend, Lisa and Downey Jr.
(Iron Man) plays his friend, Lee. I remember this used to be on TV a lot years ago.
It's pretty good, Weller is great in it and the rest of the cast isn't bad.
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tt0110413
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Léon
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Léon (Jean Reno) is a hitman (or "cleaner" as he would rather be known) living a solitary life in New York City's Little Italy. Most of his work comes from a mafioso named Tony (Danny Aiello), who operates from the "Supreme Macaroni Company" retail store. Léon spends his idle time engaging in calisthenics, nurturing a houseplant that early on he describes as his "best friend", and (in one scene) watching old Gene Kelly musicals.Léon is highly motivated and efficient. He kills plenty of bodyguards (Ed Ventresca) so that a fat guy called Fatman (Frank Senger) receives a phonecall threatening him. A dumb blonde (Ouin-Ouin) walks away non-noncommittally and says she will call him later, not wanting to get involved in the matter.On a particular day on his way home, he sees Mathilda Lando (Natalie Portman), a twelve-year-old girl with a black eye and smoking a cigarette, living with her dysfunctional family in an apartment down the hallway. Mathilda's father (Michael Badalucco) attracts the ire of corrupt DEA agents, who have been paying him to store cocaine in his residence, after they discover that he has been stealing some of the drugs for himself. A cadre of DEA agents storm the building, led by a ragged and drug-addicted Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman). Stansfield shoots Mathilda's entire family with a shotgun; the whore-looking mother (Ellen Greene), the aerobic-obsessed elder sister (Elizabeth Regen) and the friendly little brother (Carl J. Matusovich)- missing Mathilda only because she is out shopping when they arrive. An elderly lady (Jessie Keosian) comes back inquiring what the rackas is about, and Stansfield shoots the glass behind her, but considers her harmless so he lets her be, just barking at her "go back inside".When Mathilda returns with the groceries she was sent to buy and notices the carnage, she calmly continues down the hallway past the open door of her family's apartment, and receives sanctuary from a reluctant Léon. One of the agents () looks at Mathilda, quizzingly, as she has to insistently ring the bell on and on before Léon lets her in. Stansfield realises that there's a little girl missing because of a family photograph he's found. When the news reaches the door guard, he approaches Léon's apartment, wondering whether the girl who was accepted there was the missing girl. Léon prepares himself to shoot him, watching through a hidden peephole, but at that moment, Mathilda turns on the TV with some Transformers cartoons, which convinces the guard that he saw another girl who had nothing to do with the situation.León offers some consolation to Mathilda, making her smile when he argues than pigs smell well and are better than many people, and make-pretends that the puppet pig he's using is talking to her. Mathilda, who soon discovers that Léon is a hitman, begs him to become her caretaker, and to teach her his skills as a "cleaner": she wants to avenge the murder of her four-year-old brother, the only member of her family that she actually loved. In return, she offers herself as a maid and teacher, remedying Léon's illiteracy. Mathilda says that he could have let her to die outside that door, but as he opened it, now he's responsible for her well-being. At first, Léon refuses point blank: being a "cleaner" is not a job for girls, and then he alleges that she's not made for that. To answer to that, Mathilda shoots some pigeons with one of the guns Léon is cleaning. Léon hesitantly accepts her offer and the two begin working together, slowly building an emotional attachment, with Léon becoming a friend and father figure.They leave Léon's apartment, and Léon begins to settle some rules. Mathilda carries León's plant, accepting everything, and convinces the hotel clerk (George Martin) that she's preparing for an audition, and that she won't practice after 10. When the hotel clerk asks Léon to fill up the registration form, Mathilda jumps right in and says "You know how much I love registering. Can I do it, daddy?" Léon breaths, and apprecciates that Mathilda is resourceful. The hotel clerk congratulates Léon because he's got a good daughter, but he's got a 17-year-old who can't do anything. León leaves his plant at reception. He checks everything in the room, the exits, the windows, while Mathilda fills up the form. As they work together, Mathilda admits to Léon several times that she is falling in love with him, in spite of him making her drink a glass of milk every day.Tony has been keeping Léon's money, instead of it being put into a bank. As Léon was illiterate, he didn't want to have to deal with it. Léon asks if he could give it to somebody; Tony tells him that he's like a bank, only that there's no paperwork involved, but that he's got all the accountancy in his mind, and that is security enough. Tony wants Léon to renew work, as training won't earn him any money. Léon prevents Mathilda from flirting with a guy (Michael Mundra), a cute teenage boy a little older than herself - she replies that they were only sharing a cigarette - to which Léon answers that he wants her to quit smoking. Léon adds that she should stay away from him, as he looks like a weirdo. Léon walks to work. Mathilda tells the hotel clerk that she's fed up of practicing her instrument and that Léon is not her father, but her lover. Mathilda walks back to her old flat. She slips past a police guard and picks up a teddy bear and a stack of bills hidden under a loose floor plank. She has to hide, because the FBI is questioning Stansfield, who is being a jackass about the people he killed in the line of duty. He shouts to the FBI guy that kids should be at school, and also shouts his office number.Mathilda follows Stansfield by taxi to the police station. Mathilda is watching cartoon Transformers again when Léon arrives with blood dripping down an arm and a pink dress for her. The hotel clerk arrives with two men, and throws Leon and Mathilda out. In another hotel, Léon takes a shower and stitches a wound in the chest, where he's been hurt. Mathilda wants to pay Léon to kill her brother's killers, but Léon doesn't want to. He tells her that life changes after the first time you kill somebody. She wants to play Russian roulette with him. She threatens him with killing herself - and at the last second he pushes the pistol away. Mathilda and Léon go talk with Tony.As Mathilda increases her confidence and experience, she locates Stansfield, follows him to his office in the DEA building. She attempts to kill him, only to be ambushed by Stansfield in a bathroom. Léon finds a note she left him declaring her intentions and rushes to the federal building. He rescues her, killing two of Stansfield's men in the process.Stansfield is enraged that the "Italian hitman" has gone rogue and is killing his men. He confronts Tony and threatens him, eventually beating him into surrendering Léon's whereabouts. Later, as Mathilda returns home from grocery shopping, an NYPD ESU team, sent by Stansfield, takes her hostage and attempts to infiltrate Léon's apartment. Léon ambushes the ESU team and takes one of their members hostage, rapidly bartering him for Mathilda's freedom. As they slink back into the apartment, Léon creates a quick escape for Matilda as he reassures her and tells her that he loves her moments before they come for him.In the chaos that follows, Léon sneaks out of the apartment building disguised as a wounded ESU officer, almost unnoticed except for Stansfield. Stansfield follows Léon into the hotel lobby and shoots him from behind. Looming over the dying Léon, Stansfield jeers him haughtily. However just before he gives out, Léon places an object in Stansfield's hands, which he explains is "from Mathilda". Opening his hands, Stansfield recognizes it as grenade pin. He rips open Léon's vest to discover several grenades on his chest. Stansfield lets out a brief "Oh, shit" before a massive explosion destroys the hotel lobby.Mathilda heads to Tony's place as she was instructed to do by Léon. Tony will not give Mathilda more than a few dollars of the fortune Léon had amassed, which was being held by Tony. His reasoning is that she is not old enough to receive the large amount of money and that school should be her priority until she's older. When Mathilda asks Tony to give her a 'job', and insists that she can 'clean' as Léon had, Tony sternly informs her that he 'ain't got no work for a 12-year-old kid!' Having nowhere else to go, she is then seen going to Roosevelt Island using the Roosevelt Island Tramway. The next day, she returns to school in NJ. Seemingly readmitted to the school, Mathilda walks into a field in front of it with Léon's houseplant in hand, she digs a hole and plants the houseplant in the grounds of the school, as she had told Léon he should, "to give it roots."
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comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, allegory, cult, violence, dramatic, flashback, psychedelic, humor, action, romantic, tragedy, revenge, sentimental
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train
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imdb
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When she turns to him for help, he learns about living a normal life, even if the circumstances which unite them are far from normal.The performance delivered by then twelve-year old Natalie Portman as Mathilda is nothing short of brilliant.
So begins one of the stranger relationships in silver screen history, but one of the most memorable.On the face of it, a love story between a twelve year old girl and a hairy French hitman would raise a few eyebrows among more conservative movie-goers, but director Luc Besson handles it so beautifully, it seems like the most natural thing on earth.
The iconic image of this tiny, grubby little girl clutching Leon's beloved plant and trotting to keep up with her lanky hero's giant strides is one that will live long in the memory.Aiello and Oldman (at his sadistic, malevolent best) provide predictably excellent support, there is a wonderfully suspenseful yet satisfying ending - heck, there's even a decent Sting song playing over the credits - for this (if nothing else) it would be remiss of me to give Leon anything other than top marks.10/10.
And don't be - Leon is less violent than many action movies and the unusual relationship between the main characters is handled mostly with genuine feeling and tact..
Léon, however, flips this cliché on its end, as the hit-man is the kind-hearted protagonist who learns how to love, thanks to a little girl who shows up on his doorstep.Léon begins in a restaurant, with the assassin himself (Jean Reno) taking a contract from his boss Tony (Danny Aiello) to kill a man who's moving in on Tony's territory.
That is, until he is forced to take custody of a twelve-year-old girl (Natalie Portman) whose entire family was cruelly massacred by a corrupt DEA agent (Gary Oldman).
Despite all this, Léon also has time to throw in some slower scenes that develop Leon's and Mathilda's characters, expanding on their growing relationship and partnership.Jean Reno does a very good job as Leon, portraying him both as an effective and frightening killing machine, and as a loving and caring father figure.
Reno allows the audience to both sympathize with this character and respect him, an extremely challenging feat.Natalie Portman's breakout role as Mathilda is one of the greatest acted child roles in a film, period.
Make no mistake, Mathilda is the true star of this film, and Portman completely shines in the role.In comparison to Jean Reno's fairly subdued performance as Leon, apparently Luc Besson wanted a more exciting and over-the-top antagonist for the film: enter Gary Oldman.
The only nitpick I have with Stansfield is his screen time is fairly small compared with Leon and Mathilda; nevertheless he completely steals the show when he does appear.The plot of Léon is fairly straightforward compared to most action flicks, as there are no particular plot twists or double crossings.
A thrilling crime film, in deep touch and care with the characters- Besson and Portman's best work to date.
It's not a long movie, though it gives a good many details in its story.Jean Reno has his star-making turn (at least for what he's worth) in Leon- he's ruthless contract killer who will kill just about anyone for the right price.
The next time I saw the movie was at home on TIVO, in December 2001 and I fell in love with the film all over again.Firstly, the theme of the movie - Isolation and Redemption - The characters Leon and Mathilda had no one who loved them in this world and were very much alone (mathilda did have her 4 year old brother but that was all she had)The characters were dealing with a similar lonlieness even thought heir worlds were very different.Secondly, the scripting in the film really hit me.
How could anyone expect a movie that has a hitman who protects a twelve year old girl who falls in love with him and wants to be trained as an assassin to be a great film?
The action was thrilling and I always wanted to be like Leon, a stone cold bad ass with a heart.About 20 years after I first saw The Professional I watched it again and it was awesome.
From its explosive start to its brilliant ending, no any segments gets boring at any time, everything is relevant and you just want more!The acting by the magical Trio Jean Reno-Nathalie Portman-Gary Oldman just smokes!
Everyone likes a hero and most people like a story where two people (usually of opposite genders) connect in certain times of hardship amidst a locale of no hope at its core, Léon could be seen as exactly this.The film is a tale of revenge, a love story and a crime drama complete with hit men, criminals, bent police men and innocent young girls caught up in the middle.
The film presents to us how one event or one act of greed can act as a catalyst for bigger and nastier things, on a much larger scale than first intended and the film also brings a certain humane quality to worn out clichés and typical characters for the genre; like Tarantino and the Coen brothers at the height of their quality as seen in Pulp Fiction and Fargo respectively, this is Luc Besson stripping down the screen and delivering on a simplistic but immensely satisfying level.The ingredients work in Léon.
The story is about the meticulous hit-man and determined loner Leon (an amazing Jean Reno) and the precocious 12-year-old Mathilda (the equally amazing Natalie Portman) who crashes his party.
You root for these two oddballs; they flesh out a unique love story.Meanwhile, Leon and Mathilda are up against one of the stranger villains of the 90s, the malicious D.E.A. agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman: he scores again).
Besson keeps the tension high for much of the film, letting go only long enough for the occasional scene where Leon and Mathilda have some time alone.
The International Cut includes almost 30 extra minutes of scenes that are critically important to Leon and Mathilda's character development, the context of their relationship, and the overall atmosphere of the film.
It is easy to praise the father-daughter relationship that Leon (Jean Reno) and Mathilda (Natalie Portman) display in this dark and compelling film, but I feel that would be superficial.The relationship appeared to be much deeper - almost sexual - as the two tried to find some meaning in their lives.Leon was just slouching through life doing his job and not caring about much else.
The unlikely formation of a link between the two latter characters is the heart of the movie, where the young girl gives Leon a taste of life.Leon is an exceptional film : combining suspense and drama, subtleness and brilliance, Luc Besson signs a masterful jewel of cinematography..
It looked so freaking real and deep that you are taken away in the skin of the characters.The cast & acting was perfect: Luc Besson wrote the script with Jean Reno as Léon in mind and no one else.
And every time I have re-watch it, it will seem like I am watching it for the first time and the anticipation is still there, that's how good the movie is for me.I am excited as after so many yrs, this movie is still talked about.The story plot is interesting to watch as it unfolds showing how Leon does his work professionally without having to worry about other things and later how his life is changed by Mathilda.The directing is superb by Luc Besson and the music by Eric Serra sets the mood for each scene, intensifying the story.Jean Reno's role as Leon is also superb as it brings out the character of Leon.
Jean Reno is a great actor and he is believable in the roles he plays, he can be funny as in comedies (Just visiting) but serious/cool in others (Leon/Ronin/La grand Bleu).Natalie Portman is a natural actor who holds well in the role of Mathilda..
But for everything director Luc Besson gets right with this movie he seems to get something else quite terribly wrong.Let's start with the positive: Natalie Portman as Mathilda is a revelation here.
This is ALSO HIS BEST FILM.Now when the 3 actors above all give their best, enough is said.Full Plot: Leone "Léon" Montana (Jean Reno) is a hit-man (or "cleaner," as he refers to himself) living a solitary life in New York City's Little Italy.
Léon spends his idle time engaging in calisthenics, nurturing a houseplant that early on he describes as his "best friend,"[3] and (in one scene) watching old Gene Kelly musicals.On a particular day, he meets Mathilda Lando (Natalie Portman), a twelve-year-old girl with a black eye and smoking a cigarette, living with her dysfunctional family in an apartment down the hallway.
This is not only a stunning performance from a 12 year old girl, this is even not only a great performance from an accomplished actress, it is absolutely Oscar material and, judging from her next projects, easily her best role to date.It is no coincidence that Luc Besson, Eric Serra and Jean Reno are French.
With regards to other comments on the the 'sexual' nature of Leon and Mathilda's relationship, I'd like to think it was innocent, pure love and a lack of a decent father figure in her life, but I may change my mind when I see the uncut version!.
This is definetly in my top 5 favourite Gary Oldman films.I found the love bit (what Mathilde feels for Leon) a bit dodgy but hey the girl is 12- her emotions were running wild!
The soundtrack also does very well in enhancing the mood of each scene, and Besson's direction is faultless.There is also a gripping story with well crafted characters particularly Mathilda and Jean Reno's character Leon, a cracking script and crisp pacing and while there are some over-the-top and intense moments particularly with Stansfield and the beginning, particularly as the chemistry between Mathilda and Leon expands there are some poignant ones too.The acting is excellent.
This film is the story of a very smart and calculating professional killer named Leon (Jean Reno) who ends up with a burden in his arms, a twelve year old girl named Matilda (Natalie Portman).
Natalie Portman is a 12 year old precocious child who has an immature love for Jean Reno who happens to be a Hit-man.
An immigrant hit-man (Reno) becomes responsible for, and eventually falls in love with a young girl, Mathilda (played marvelously by Natalie Portman) whose family was murdered by a dirty DEA agent (the always superb Gary Oldman) and his team.
Luc Besson's "Leon" AKA "The Professional" ranks in my top ten action films of all time, along with his "La Femme Nikita".
Sympathy for Nikita develops because of her tragic struggle against her own history and psychology, while Leon's latent sense of justice, brought on by his innocent love for a 12 year old girl, makes this professional hit man truly heroic.
As you get more and more into the plot you start feeling all the emotions that impregnate the atmosphere.The innocence of Leon, the tension between him and Mathilda, the noxious generosity of Tony and the psycho behavior of Stan.You really want to watch this movie, as not everyday they make an action film as superb as Leon.M..
The love story involves Mathilda (Natalie Portman) and Leon (Jean Reno).
At times his relationship with Natalie Portman's character was hard to watch but apart from that good movie.
One of the greatest films of the 90s, Léon (also known as Léon: The Professional) is a downright gripping, thoroughly entertaining & wholly satisfying action thriller that's intense right off the bat, packs an interesting set of characters, and benefits immensely from explosive performances from its terrific ensemble.The story of Léon follows a professional hitman who reluctantly takes a 12-year old girl under his wing after her entire family is wiped out by a corrupt DEA agent.
The clever placements, smooth manoeuvring & kinetic operation of the camera, in addition to its slick editing & pulsating score, makes the overall experience all the more thrilling.Coming to the performances, Léon features an excellent cast in Jean Reno, Gary Oldman & Natalie Portman.
This film follows Leon (played by Jean Reno), an Italian-born immigrant and professional hit-man working under mobster Tony (played by Danny Aiello), who meets Mathilda (played by Natalie Portman), a lonely 12-year old girl living under the harsh conditions of her abusive father (played by Michael Badalucco), her snappy mother, her equally older sister, and her younger brother who seems to be only pleasant seed in the family.
Portman is simply miraculous in her first film role as Matilda, a young girl whose entire family is murdered by psychotic DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman).
the greatest strength in this movie is the two lead characters named Leon played by Jean Reno and Matilda played Natalie Portman.
i can't really say more when it has already been said, it is a very good movie, Luc Besson direction is fantastic, the acting is good, both the leads are very good probably my favorite performances they have given, the action scenes are well shot, not that shaky cam nonsense..
She seeks revenge on his little brother's murderers.Director Luc Besson brings his often collaborator Jean Reno to America and makes a nice discovery with a young Natalie Portman.
After seen it like 10 times i realize that Gary Oldman is a genius, Jean Reno's role has an unique personality and the hole movie is just amazing.
From Amazon.co.uk Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylised thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman).
It stars Jean Reno as the titular mob hit-man; Gary Oldman as corrupt DEA agent Stansfield; a young Natalie Portman, in her feature film debut, as Mathilda, a 12-year-old girl who is taken in by the hit-man after her family is murdered; and Danny Aiello as Tony, the mobster who gives the hit-man his assignments..
This is one of my all time favourite films, its a great story of a hired assassin in New York who meets a young girl played by a young Natalie Portman (the daughter of a neighbour) who soon becomes an orphan because of the ruthless corrupt and crazy DEA Police officer played by the fantastic Gary Oldman, who shows one of his best performances in this movie.Its packed full of action including an explosive finale, but its just not an action thriller, its a very powerful and moving story.I have often found it hard to describe the relationship between the "cleaner" played by Reno and Portman's character.
Jean Reno gives a heartwarming performance as a sad and lonely hit-man or "cleaner" named Leon who lives in a secluded world in a apartment complex and Natalie Portman's character Mathilda is the one that shatters Leon's secluded world.For this being her first feature film, Natalie Portman gives an amazing and astonishing performance as a troubled little girl with a desire for revenge.
The unique love story and father-daughter type relationship between Leon and Mathilda is handled beautifully by director Luc Besson.
This movie is the perfect action with a unique love story and unforgettable characters and emotionally charged scenes!
6 - A very satisfying ending; 7 - Great camera shots by director Luc Besson, who is known for some stylish movie-making.The extreme BAD: 1 - Not only does nice-guy Leon teach Mathilda how to shoot people but....
Jean Reno nailed his portrayal as Leon; a professional hit-man whose relationship (not sexual, mind you) with a young girl forces him to re-examine his inner youth/lost child that his harsh life had robbed him of all those years ago..Gary Oldman was a little over-the-top drama king as the dirty cop villain, but I don't think anyone could have done it better, especially when his character took actions under the influence of drugs.I believe this was Natalie Portman's theatrical debut, and boy was she convincing!
Amazingly enough The Professional was the best work done by these four thespians: Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello AND Gary Oldman.
Leon: The Professional (1994) - Natalie Portman is Smoking at Age 12 in this Movie, and Jean Reno Drinks Too Much Milk!.
Written and directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson, "Leon: The Professional" is thrilling hit-man movie on the outside, but a touching friendship story on the inside.
The movie begins with Leon, portrayed by Jean Reno, a hit-man who takes in a 12-year-old girl named Mathilda, portrayed by a young Natalie Portman in her feature film debut, whose family has been murdered by a corrupt DEA agent, portrayed by Gary Oldman.
After her family is killed by the corrupt Government Official Stansfield (Gary Oldman) the young Mathilda (Natalie Portman) is befriended by Leon.
Apart from his awesome grip on violence,French director Luc Besson has given all possible chances to his actors to display richness of human emotions.Leon is also the best testimony to the fact that tough guys are innocent souls at heart.This is true in the case of Leon as violence may be his profession but feelings,plants and people are his real interests.Jean Reno is excellent as professional killer Leon who sacrifices his life for saving Mathilda,a role played by Nathalie Portman.She looks great as a street smart,slick young girl who decides to make violence her way of life after her family is ruthlessly killed by Norman Stansfield,a character played by British actor Gary Oldman.
Jean Reno plays a character named Léon who has learned to repress his emotions in order to perform his job as a "cleaner", or hit-man.
Jean Reno plays a character named Léon who has learned to repress his emotions in order to perform his job as a "cleaner", or hit-man.
However, not many assassins (or "cleaners") come in the shape of 12-year-old girls.As Mathilda and her eponymous mentor, Natalie Portman and Jean Reno give complex, sympathetic performances - at least when ranged against Gary Oldman's psycho cop.
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tt0039912
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The Trap
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Calamity ensues at the beach villa in Malibu, California, where Cole King's theater ensemble resides, when one of the showgirls, Adelaide, is challenging Marcia, who is Cole's girl and the star of the show.Marcia retaliates by threatening to reveal Adelaide's secret marriage to a doctor by the name of George Brandt. She also steals a letter to Adelaide from said Brandt, using one of the other showgirls, Lois, who is hiding the fact that she is under eighteen.When Marcia vanishes and Lois' dead body is found by one of the other members of the group, San Toy. The cause of death is strangulation, and the technique used is used by the French and the Chinese. Immediately, the French Adelaide and Chinese San Toy are placed under suspicion as possible perpetrators.Also living under the same roof are the group's press agent Rick Daniels and costume chief Mrs. Thorn. Daniels suggests they make Lois' death look like drowning, but San Toy contacts her friend Jimmy, who is the "Number Two" son of reputed sleuth Charlie Chan, asking for help to solve the murder mystery. Chan starts his investigation, and soon both his assistant, Birmingham, and San Toy are attacked, but without a mortal ending. Another member of the theater group, Clementine, discovers Marcia dead and strangled on the beach, with a silk cord still around her neck.Daniels tries to get rid of Marcia's robe, and is seen by Chan, who concludes it was the belt from the robe that was found around Marcia's neck. Daniels claims he is innocent and that someone put the robe in King's room to frame him for the murder. King starts to believe Daniels is the killer trying to get rid of the evidence.Chan finds out that doctor Brandt was previously accused of murdering his ex-wife but was cleared from suspicion. However, it destroyed his future career as a physician. He changed his identity, enlisted and went to Europe, where he met Adelaide and they married.Chan talks to Dr. Brandt, who admits to finding his wife Lois' body, but not to killing her. To catch the real killer Chan decides to set a trap. Everything works as planned, and the killer tries to strangle San Toy that night, but Chan's son Jimmy comes to San's rescue and accidentally destroys foils the trap.Chan, Birmingham and Jimmy then chase the killer, and it turns out it is Mrs. Thorn, who was previously married to King. She left him and wasn't allowed back after that, but had to serve as head of costumes. She killed the women because they were involved with her former husband, out of jealousy and to hurt King. Brandt is cleared of all suspicion, and Chan promises to get his license back by talking to the Board of Medical Examiners.
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violence, mystery, murder
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train
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imdb
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tt0053976
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Jungfrukällan
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In medieval Sweden, prosperous Christian Per Töre sends his daughter, Karin, to take candles to the church. Karin is accompanied by her pregnant servant Ingeri, who secretly worships the Norse deity Odin. Along their way through the forest on horseback, Ingeri becomes frightened when they come to a stream-side mill and the two part and Karin sets out on her own.
Ingeri encounters a one-eyed man at the stream-side mill. When Ingeri asks about his name he enigmatically responds he has none "in these days". The man tells Ingeri that he can see and hear things others can not. When the man makes sexual advances towards her and promises her power, Ingeri flees in terror. Meanwhile, Karin meets three herdsmen, two men and a boy, and invites them to eat her lunch with her. Eventually, the two older men rape and murder Karin while Ingeri watches, hidden, from a distance. The two older men then leave the scene with Karin's clothing. The younger boy is left with the body and to watch the goats, but he takes the situation poorly and quickly becomes sick with guilt.
The herders then, unknowingly, seek shelter at the home of the murdered girl. Her parents discover that the goat herders murdered their daughter when the goat herders offer to sell Karin's clothes to her mother. After they fall asleep, the mother locks the trio in the chamber. Ingeri returns to the farm and breaks down in front of Töre. She tells him about the rape and confesses that she secretly wished for Karin's death out of jealousy. In a rage, Töre stabs one of the herders to death with a butcher knife before killing the other two with his bare hands.
That same day, the parents set out to find their daughter's body with the help of Ingeri. Töre vows that, although he cannot understand why God would allow such a thing to happen, he will build a church at the site of his daughter's death. As her parents lift her head from the ground, a spring begins to flow from where she was lying. Ingeri then begins to wash herself with the water and Karin's parents clean their daughter's muddied face.
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psychological, suspenseful, murder, paranormal, violence, good versus evil, tragedy, revenge
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train
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wikipedia
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tt0066380
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Vampyros Lesbos
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Linda Westinghouse [Ewa Strömberg], a lawyer with the Istanbul firm of Simpson & Sons, is sent to Anatolia to handle the inheritance of Countess Nadine Carody, recipient of the entire estate of Count Dracula of Hungary. To Linda's surprise, Nadine [Soledad Miranda] is the strange woman who has been haunting her dreams for the past several weeks. Nadine is also a vampire and, after sharing a swim, a glass of wine, and some kisses, Nadine bites Linda's neck and drinks some of her blood. When Linda comes to and goes in search of Nadine, she finds her floating in the swimming pool, apparently dead. The next thing Linda knows, she is being treated at Dr Aldon Seward's clinic, bewildered as to how she got there and amnesic as to her name and address. Dr Seward [Dennis Price] puts a notice in the newspaper, which brings Linda's boyfriend Omar [Andrés Monales] looking for her. Linda remembers Omar but still remembers nothing that went on at Countess Carody's beachhouse. Her only memory is of the Countess lying dead in the swimming pool and then being alone at sea. She wonders if it was all a dream.However, Nadine is not dead. She is languishing on a couch, telling her renfield Morpho [José Martínez Blanco] how she became a vampire (Dracula saved her from being raped and initiated her into the secret of the vampires) and how she now hates men and is so infatuated with Linda that she must make Linda into a vampire, too. Hearing Nadine calling to her, Linda goes. Nadine drinks a bit more of Linda's blood. Later, Linda consults with Dr Seward who tells her that, if she wishes to extract herself from the spell of the vampire, she must either split the vampire's head with an axe or pierce it with a pole.Meanwhile, one of Dr Seward's patients, Agra [Heidrun Kussin], who has been alternately babbling about the Queen of the Night (Nadine) coming to see her and then abandoning her, now suddenly announces that the Queen is going to come to the sanitarium to meet Seward. Nadine shows up at the sanitarium, angry with Seward for trying to take Linda away from her. Seward admits that he only did it to get Nadine to come to him. He wants to become initiated into the world of the vampires. When Nadine refuses and Seward starts shouting Latin at her, Nadine gets Morpho to kill Seward while she pays a visit with Agra in order to tell her that she's going to leave her again.Meanwhile, Linda goes missing. Omar enlists the help of Linda's shrink, Dr Steiner [Paul Muller], in tracking down Nadine in hopes of finding Linda. Actually, Linda is being held by Memmet [Jesus Franco], the bellboy at her hotel. Turns out Memmet was Agra's husband before she became bewitched by Nadine. Memmet has fallen for Linda and wants to kill her, but Linda kills him first and then escapes. Steiner and Omar go to Nadine's house in Istanbul, but she and Morpho have returned to their beachhouse in Anatolia. Linda goes there, too. She finds Nadine lying in bed, dying. Nadine begs Linda for some blood, but Linda doesn't want to be under Nadine's power and stabs her through the eye. Nadine's body disappears. Morpho kills himself. Omar and Steiner arrive on a boat. Omar tries to convince Linda that it was all a dream, but Linda knows better. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]
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pornographic, cult, atmospheric
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train
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imdb
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In the night, she has erotic dreams in which appears a sexy vixen vampiress (the Spanish Soledad Miranda, her pseudonym, Susann Korda, was created by director Jesús Franco , and she was destined to become a legend) , and makes passionate love to her, from which she's unable to defend herself .
Soledad was destined to become a legend .Her biggest break came from legendary director Jess Franco, who cast Soledad in such cult classics as Count Dracula , Eugenie De Sade , Sex Charade , The Devil Came from Akasava and Vampyros Lesbos.
Shot in Istanbul , Turkey , posing as the fictitious city in which lives the Countess vampire Nadine Carody , gorgeous Soledad Miranda ,though she was was dubbed
The film has a lot of titles the German version is Vampyros Lesbos: Die Erbin des Drácula, the French version titled "Vampiros lesbos" was used, while the original German release title was spelled "Vampyros Lesbos" and Spanish versión titled ¨Las vampiras¨ .The motion picture was strange and regularly directed by Jess Frank , here using continous zooms, surprising close-ups , including blood drops , scorpions , butterfly , other insects and and kites .
Loaded with symbolic language, an almost dream-like atmosphere, unusual camera angles, a fantastic score and some Franco typical lesbian soft sex the Spanish director created an absolute masterpiece of Europe´s early 1970s sleazy cinema.
Vampires, gratuitous nudity (especially memorable from the stunningly beautiful and ill fated Soledad Miranda), violence, pretentious symbolism, some aesthetically pleasing scenery and camera work, all bound together by one of the most unique genre-busting rock scores ever, chock full of fuzz guitars and electric sitar.The legendary Jess Franco has made more cult movies than the mind can conceive of, but this must surely stand out as one of the most artistically successful of his career.
After missing it a couple of times on TV (one of them in the guise of the shorter and 'clothed' Spanish version) and thinking about picking up the DVD in either region on several occasions, I finally managed to sit down and watch (via the now-OOP R1 DVD from Synapse) what is perhaps Jess Franco's best-known film.
Not having been particularly bowled over by either of the two Soledad Miranda films I had watched until now EUGENIE DE SADE (1970; though this is one I need to watch again) and SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (1970) I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed VAMPYROS LESBOS.
The reasons for this are many and varied and, all in all, I'd say it is without a doubt one of Franco's most enduring and impressive works.As most of you probably know already, the film is based on nothing less than that vampiric chestnut Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' which Franco had already filmed a year before and in which VAMPYROS' leading lady, Soledad Miranda, had also appeared!
Not having watched that particular adaptation, I cannot say which 'version' is the more successful but, in the case of VAMPYROS LESBOS, Franco certainly imbues it with an overwhelming visual style (which goes hand in hand with a bizarre and intoxicating soundtrack) that almost encourages one to overlook its deficiencies which, being a Franco film, it could hardly fail to be without!From the very first shot, the film weaves a haunting and dream-like mood (which is, for the most part, effortlessly sustained throughout) that is as indescribable as it is hard to shake off.
Frankly, this is what Franco is all about to me: counting Luis Bunuel as my favorite film-maker, I cannot but admire the ingenuity (coupled sometimes with naivete) with which Franco pulls off this surreal 'trip' of a film memorable images abound in VAMPYROS LESBOS, many of them allegorical, elliptical, or just plain weird that, in its own way, also manages to be a remarkably effective spin on Stoker's 'old' vampire tale.
Apart from this, not only is the vampire herself (like the nymphomaniac in SINNER [1972] driven through rape towards lesbianism) as much taken with her victim as one expects it to be the other way around, but also we have what passes for the traditional 'vampire hunter' (Dennis Price's Dr. Seward) actively wanting to go to 'the other side' (the confrontation scene between the two, which takes place in the lobby of his clinic, is masterfully handled except for one embarrassingly amateurish moment when Price is made to slink down the stairs when he should be running for his life!), whereas the vampire's henchman (named Morpho, no less) is not the expected creepy-looking hulk if still a mute but rather a lanky thug in a suit, sporting cool shades and a pistol (not to mention being secretly enamored of his Mistress)!
And then there's Jess Franco himself, in a quite revealing bit, as a crazed sadist (foreshadowing perhaps his Vogel of EXORCISM [1974])
Of course, the film would not have worked quite as well without the beguiling presence of Soledad Miranda who dominates every scene she's in, be it the various tantalizing night-club acts (surely among the finest set-pieces in a Franco film, and several of them feature this type of scene though we are never told quite why she should be doing them, being a Countess and all!) that we see her perform or the utterly graceful and totally natural manner in which she lures our understandably confused heroine (Ewa Stroemberg) into her particular 'way of life', away from her boyfriend and the routine which governs her 'normal' existence.
As has been promised by the title, we get to see a lot of female nudity a Franco trademark, if ever there was one but since the plot deals with an obsessive relationship (not only Miranda and Stroemberg's but also Heidrun Kussin's Renfield-like 'infatuation' with the former), it does not feel over-emphasized here and, in any case, is really quite tame considering the director's standards of even a few years later.The film's basic plot is wafer-thin ('padded' by numerous repeated actions and images) which, coupled with its necessarily languid pace, induces a sense of drowsiness in the viewer; this, however, is not a detriment to the film at all, as this quality is also to be found in the work of even the major art-house film-makers (I felt entranced in much the same way, for example, while watching Robert Bresson's A MAN ESCAPED [1956] recently a film possibly admired by Franco himself, seeing that it's referenced at the start of THE DIABOLICAL DOCTOR Z [1965]).For those of you who are interested, I would like to point you in the direction of an excellent analytical study of the film which lies at the heart of a lengthy article about five Jess Franco movies from the 1970s written by Maximilian Le Cain that was published in the 'Senses of Cinema' online journal.
Here's the relevant link:http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/27/jess_franco.htmlImmediately after watching the DVD, to my horror I discovered that both VAMPYROS LESBOS and SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY are to be re-issued next year (by a different company, Image) and that these will most probably use the reportedly superior transfers that were available for Second Sight's impossibly expensive (for my tastes, being blind purchases and all) R2 discs.
Linda Westinghouse(Ewa Stromberg)travels to a small island in Turkey to help Countess Nadine Carody(beautiful Soledad Miranda)complete an inheritance from Dracula's.The Countess turns out to be someone appearing in her dreams.But the Countess is a vampire and seduces Linda and drinks her blood."Las Vampiras"/"Vampyros Lesbos" is really a soft-core lesbian take on "Dracula".The film is filled with hallucinatory atmosphere and sensuality,so fans of violent exploitation may be disappointed.Jesus Franco plays a creepy hotel worker who likes to take women down into the basement.The soundtrack is pretty groovy-I liked it a lot.Overall,"Vampyros Lesbos" is a masterpiece and a must-see for fans of sleazy horror..
This eurohorror classic by Jess Franco stars Soledad Miranda as Countess Nadine Carody, a wealthy recluse who strips at a club in Istanbul.
A must-see for anyone into Soledad Miranda, Jess Franco, or vampire movies!.
Linda has to be very powerful to resist the spell of Countess Oskudar that has a crush on her and destroy the vampire."Vampiros Lesbos" is an erotic and cult version of Bram Stoker's Dracula by Jesus Franco.
The rest is pretty much convoluted nonsense about Linda trying to fight the vampire urge and eventually overcoming Nadine, and some other random nonsense - which is all just really an excuse to show as much tits and ass as possible - not that that is a bad thing...The acting in the film is OK I guess for this sort of thing, and the direction and camera-work range from very decent, to plain amateurish depending on the scene.
This seems an even greater achievement when you consider that the DVD is of a Spanish film dubbed into German with English subtitles.In "Vampyros Lesbos" he plays a Dr. Steward, psychologist and secret vampire enthusiast, the latter hobby suddenly being revealed out of nowhere once the plot requires it.
Whilst the direction elsewhere in the film can be called into question, Price manages to create a great atmosphere of tension in his encounter with Countess Nadine, pleading with her to give him the secret of vampirism.
There's more eye candy going on here than just the female human form.Ewa Stromberg stars as lawyer Linda Westinghouse, who has been having sexy dreams about a mystery lady (Soledad Miranda, Francos' muse until the time of her premature death).
Let's face it - watch any more euro-explo fl;icks and this just don't stand up - sure, there's some great nightclub scenes, but the film as a whole is almost too much like 'art' - it's turgid in places, and lacks the balls one would expect from a film called 'Vampyros Lesbos'.
Very nice legs.Otherwise, there are repetitive takes edited in for change of scenes only one of which has any relation to the story line.The organ theme is niceThe whole thing is low budget but the castle where some outdoor shots are done is pretty impressiveI like to see films that catch the era that are unusual.
But here you have this 'leading man' that looks like George Bush with fake moustaches and sideburns, dressed like some guy trying to look like he wants people to know he reads "Penthouse" which really detracts from the good looks of the VampiressThe other leading lady (The German Blue eyed Blond)looks like a Hammer Film refugee -i.e., too old to do leading ladies for Hammer Films but still thinking she's not too old to be a leading lady.It would be great for a 12 year boy old to see because I used to watch movies like this on late night TV before I was allowed to stay out late and was chagrined when local TV would censor the flesh shots.BTD.
VAMPYROS LESBOS (3 outta 5 stars) Yes, this movie is about exactly what the title would lead you to think it was about: lesbian vampires.
Being a very "arty", European film it is more likely to appeal to fans of softcore sex movies than fans of vampire flicks.
Whether is the story, the atmosphere, the camera, the scenery, the beautiful women or the famous psychedelic soundtrack, Vampyros Lesbos is Jess Franco's masterpiece.
The imagery and foreshadowing are elements that he knew how to handle and adapt to his movie.As in other Franco films, the gorgeous Soledad Miranda enlightens the screen and delivers the best performance in her short career by portraying Countess Nadine Carody; Count Dracula's widow, a vampiress thirsty for female blood and full of anger against men.I recommend this film to fans of 70s Euro-Horror, its a gem that shouldn't be overlooked and that will live forever in the dark side..
What I like the most about Jess Franco's movies is that they are so "late-60s": the music, the clothing, the places, the lack of sexual inhibition..."Vampyros Lesbos" is probably the epitome of "bad sixties" low budget films, but although it lacks in material resources, it oozes imagination and kistch.
Vampyros Lesbos (1970) *** (out of 4) Jess Franco's cult classic has a real estate worker (Ewa Stromberg) going to visit a mysterious woman (Soledad Miranda) who just happens to be a vampire.
In fact, I had the soundtrack way before I had the movie, as it was re-released in the 1990's.Countess Nadine Carody (the sublime and sadly departed Soledad Miranda) lives on a remote island where she puts on a seductive burlesque act every night that entices unwary women.
It's probably of worth to note that the director of the film, Franco, plays the torturer.Then, Linda finds Nadine's home, the former residence of Count Dracula.
This vampire film from director Jesus Franco is an unarguable example of a cult movie if ever there was one.
Vampyros Lesbos exhibits these faults as well – it does have cheap sets and it does look like it has been made in a hurry – but this is one of the films from Franco that clearly shows that he had something really interesting to offer.
A West German/Spanish co-production set in Turkey starring a cast from all over Europe and directed by sleazy exploitation legend Jess Franco: it's no wonder that Vampyros Lesbos is a bit all over the place at times, with a disjointed narrative and the director's haphazard visual trademarks—rapid zooms, out of focus close-ups and random imagery—very much in evidence.But whereas Franco's 'distinctive' style has frequently had me struggling to stay awake in the past, in this instance it proves surprisingly beguiling—an irresistibly bizarre, hypnotic, exotic, erotic slice of 70s psychedelia, its zonked-out art-house ambiance heightened by an incredibly trippy score, a remarkably effective fusion of prog rock, sitar, jazz flute, organ and incomprehensible Satanic vocals.Of course, it doesn't hurt much either that the film's two female stars—Soledad Miranda and Ewa Strömberg—are absolutely ravishing and frequently disrobe to indulge in a spot of soft-core Sapphic love-making.
One of Jess Franco's most famous works, "Vampyros Lesbos" is also one of the most distinctive and fresh low-budget horror films that sprung in Europe during the early 70's.
"Vampyros Lesbos"/"Lesbian Vampires") of 1971 is probably the most famous film by Spanish exploitation-mastermind Jess Franco.
While "Vampiros Lesbos" is not one of his greatest films, it is certainly up there among his memorable ones, both for its cult-value as one of the essential Lesbian Vampire flicks of the 70s and for its surreal atmosphere.
This is not only Jess Franco's most widely known film, but also the most famous specimen of the Lesbian Vampire sub-genre.
Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Strömberg), a foxy blonde female lawyer, has recurring dreams of lesbian experiences with a mysterious beauty (Soledad Miranda)...
One night they are watching a show in a nightclub and there Linda meets the woman that made such frequent appearances in her dreams - she (Countess Nadine - played by Soledad Miranda) is on the stage, dancing and seducing.
Calling director Jesus Franco a pornographer after watching Vampiros Lesbos would be unfair, but not simply for the face that he's directed many, many films throughout a career of B to Z grade projects.
He was 40 at the time and made a film that, for better or worse, is a part of a legacy of sex-horror trash that must be mentioned in any conversation about sexy naked women and some blood and vampires and stuff.
actually kind of), is on a beach away from her man and meets a carefree woman, Soledad Miranda, who draws her into her world: she's the sole heiress of Count Dracula's fortune, and has also been indoctrinated into the "coven" of other vampires, and by a slip of the "wine" she brings Linda in as well.
It's loaded with "crazy" imagery, hallucinatory passages of subjective viewpoints from its female characters- perhaps all an allusion to lesbianism and it keeping women trapped who normally wouldn't be under different circumstances(?)- and even an annoying recurring symbol of a scorpion in a pool (yeah, we get it, scorpion, Peckinpah, move on!) The acting also isn't good at all by a couple of the supporting players, like that guy who plays Morpho with the same stone-faced look or even Dr. Seward.But at the same time, as a time capsule, it holds some pleasures of some minor guilty measure.
It is pure B sexploitation and of interest only to those who want to watch every vampire film, or every lesbian film, or every Euro trash film; in other words, a completion fanatic.Sure, Ewa Strömberg, Soledad Miranda, and Heidrun Kussin were worth looking at.
If you're hoping for vampirism and lesbian in equal doses, however, you're in for a disappointment as it quickly becomes clear what Jess Franco's intentions were with this movie...and they went to make a horror film.
"The Queen of the Night will bear you up on her dark wings."I guess you can look at "Vampyros lesbos" as director Jesús Franco's 70's modern variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula using Soledad Miranda as the seductive female lesbian vampire who took lessons from her master(..that being Count Dracula)in capturing victims through a form of hypnotic lust, invading women through their dreams.
The two principal women are Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Strömberg) and Countess Nadine Carody (Soledad Miranda).
Soledad Miranda as the vampire brings Linda (Ewa Stromberg) to the island she lives on to seduce her.
"Vampyros Lesbos" is a wonderful erotic film, but so-so vampire film.**SPOILERS**After witnessing a strip-tease act in a local nightclub, Linda Westinghouse, (Ewa Stromberg) becomes infatuated with Countess Nadine Carody, (Soledad Miranda) and goes to visit her on her island.
Learning that the Countess is a vampire and plans to include Linda among her followers, Dr. Seward races to save her from the cult.The Good News: A fine example of the erotic European Horror films coming out at the time, this is a great entry in the genre.
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tt0086610
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Xtro
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Sam Phillips and his child Tony are playing outside their farm. The father is abducted by a strong light. Three years later, the light returns, and plants a seed. A half-human, half-alien creature grows up, and when it moves it is run over by a car. Ben is attacked and killed when he looks for the crash victim. Jane, his companion, is also killed by the hybrid creature. The monster then moves to a cottage nearby and attacks and impregnates a woman living there, before dissolving and dying. When she returns to consciousness, her belly rapidly and painfully grows to a gargantuan size that it even tears through her dress, showing movement inside her belly, and she gives birth, vaginally, to a fully formed and bloody Sam, who is connected to her by an umbilical cord like a baby is to its mother, before dying. Sam washes the blood off, steals Ben's clothes and drives his car without bothering to get rid of Jane's corpse, which will be found by a lorry-driver.
Sam seeks Tony, who lives in an apartment building in London, with his mother Rachael, her new boyfriend Joe Daniels, and a French au-pair Analise Mercier. Rachel and Joe are professional photographers and share a studio in town. Many nights, Tony has nightmares where he wakes up soaked in blood, but it's not his, as the family doctor discovers. Sam picks Tony up from school, until Rachel finds them. Although Joe doesn't like it, as he intends to marry Rachel, Sam goes to live with them, saying he can't remember anything. Tony sees him eating his pet snake's eggs and runs from him. Sam goes after him, talking to him smoothly, and drinks his blood.
Rachel finds Jane's photo in Sam's clothes, but he can't remember her either. Tony discovers he has certain powers now, so he sends a human-sized toy soldier to kill their nasty neighbour Mrs Goodman, in revenge for killing his pet snake, and a teddy-clown becomes a human-like clown.
Sam and Rachel both decide to visit their former residence, the farm, while leaving Tony in Analise's care. However, she brings Michael, her boyfriend, and they make love. Tony demands to play hide-and-seek with her. She does so, only to be knocked out by the clown and used as a womb for the alien eggs; Tony sends a toy tank to kill Michael. He discovers Analise and runs away, but a black panther kills him. The building keeper, Mr. Knight, is also killed when Rachel asks him to watch Tony, as nobody answers the phone at home. Sam and Rachel make love at the abandoned farm, but she gets afraid because his skin starts to bleed and decompose. Joe has taken Tony there. Sam and Tony go up a hill towards the alien light. Sam has now taken the form of an alien, and his scream kills Joe. Along with Tony, Sam enters the light and returns to the alien world. Rachel sits down in the field where Tony and Sam left, and the next day returns to her apartment, only to be seen full of eggs. She picks up an egg, only to be killed by the same creature that impregnated the woman in the cottage as her apartment door slams shut behind her.
=== Alternate ending ===
Director Harry Bromley Davenport originally intended the film to end with Rachel coming home to find the apartment filled with clones of Tony, having apparently come from the alien eggs which the real Tony had left in the refrigerator. Executive producer Robert Shaye, not thinking the scene's special effects were convincing enough, edited it out and released it for its New York debut with the film ending when Rachel sits down in the field after Sam and Tony have left. Davenport, however, not wanting to have it end on such an abrupt note, created another ending which had Rachel going back to the apartment, picking up one of the eggs, and being attacked by a face-grabbing creature similar to the one that attacked the woman in the cottage. Ultimately the film was released with this ending.
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good versus evil, violence, tragedy
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wikipedia
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Star Trek Beyond
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In the opening scene, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is meeting with the Teenaxi people to make a treaty between them and their enemies, the Fenopians. Kirk is holding an artifact that he claims is a gift of peace from the Fenopians, but the Teenaxi leader (Shea Wigham) considers it a threat. He rolls down to confront Kirk, where we see that the leader and the rest of his people are small creatures. Still, they gang up on Kirk and attack him. Kirk calls for Scotty (Simon Pegg) to beam him back up to the Starship Enterprise.Kirk records a log, stating that they are now about three years into their five-year mission to explore the ends of the universe. Kirk has become rather bored by this point, and he wonders what else there is to see out there.Kirk is joined by Bones McCoy (Karl Urban) with a bottle of scotch that he took out of Chekhov's (Anton Yelchin) locker. Bones notes that Kirk's birthday is coming up, which Kirk isn't looking forward to since it reminds him of how his dad died on the same day, and how Kirk will be a year older than his dad when he died. Bones states that Kirk has spent all this time figuring out who his dad was in his life, and now he's wondering what it means to be Kirk himself.The crew descends onto Starbase Yorktown to replenish their supplies. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) appear to be going through a rough patch in their relationship. She is ready to hand him back a necklace that he gave her, but he refuses to take it back. Mr. Sulu (John Cho) reunites with his life partner and their daughter. Spock is then called aside by two elder Vulcans. He is informed that his older self, Ambassador Spock Prime, has just died.Kirk meets with Commodore Paris (Shoreh Aghdashloo) to apply for a position as Vice Admiral. He requests that Spock be made captain of the Enterprise in his place.A distress signal is picked up by the Federation from an alien named Kalara (Lydia Wilson), who claims to have been part of a crew whose ship suffered a critical malfunction. She asks for help in rescuing her crew on the far side of the nebula.The Enterprise sets off on the rescue mission. As they approach a Class M planet, they are suddenly attacked by a massive cluster of ships. The aliens riding the ships invade the Enterprise. The crew tries fighting back, but their weapons aren't strong enough, and when Sulu tries to warp them out of there, they see that the ship's thrusters have been broken off by the enemy. The aliens then allow their leader, Krall (Idris Elba), to enter. His soldiers find the artifact that Kirk possessed earlier, which happens to be a bio-weapon called the Abronath. However, when Krall tries to get his hands on it, they find that it has already been taken. The crew starts to evacuate. Spock and Bones get in a pod that heads down to the planet. Krall almost kills Kirk until Uhura separates the saucer from the ship, taking Krall with her. Kirk then goes with Chekhov and Kalara as they make their escape. As the pod is ejected, Kirk watches the Enterprise crash to the ground.Scotty's escape pod nearly flies off a cliff, but he jumps out in time. He is cornered in the forest by the planet's savage inhabitants. Before they can attack him, a scavenger named Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) shows up and beats the savages. Scotty introduces himself to her as an engineer. They agree to work together, with Scotty helping fix something of Jaylah's, and she will help him find the rest of the crew. Jaylah takes Scotty to her home, which happens to be a long-lost Enterprise-class starship, the USS Franklin.Spock and Bones have also crash-landed, with Spock getting a piece of a metal pipe stuck in his abdomen. Bones manages to pull it out and stop the bleeding. The two navigate the area, but they must slow down since Spock is still badly wounded. As they sit down, Spock tells Bones about Ambassador Spock's death. He feels that he must continue carrying out his older self's work on New Vulcan, and he wanted to tell Kirk, but Bones says he probably wouldn't like that.After landing, Kirk confronts Kalara, thinking she knew what was coming. She defends herself, saying it was to help save her crew. With Chekhov, they rush to find the Abronath on the saucer. Kalara then turns on Kirk, confirming she led them to a trap and that she was working with Krall the whole time. She finds that the Abronath is not where Kirk claimed to have left it. Moments later, the three are ambushed by drones. Kirk and Chekhov manage to activate the saucer's thrusters, which lift the saucer high enough until it crashes down hard, killing Kalara.Krall captures Uhura, along with Sulu and the rest of the crew. He and his soldiers take them to his base of operations. It is shown that Krall is able to drain people of their life force to rejuvenate himself, as well as alter his appearance. He threatens to kill Sulu for the Abronath, but an Ensign named Syl (Melissa Roxburgh) gives it up, having kept it hidden in the back of her head. He brings Uhura and Syl into a chamber where he demonstrates the use of the weapon. He locks Syl in the chamber and activates the Abronath, releasing a black cloud that wraps itself around Syl and causes her to decompose. Krall intends to use this against the Federation.Kirk and Chekhov run into a trap that Jaylah set up, encasing them in a crystallized shell. Scotty and Jaylah find them, and she breaks them free when Scotty says they're part of his crew. They team up to rescue the rest of the crew. Scotty fixes the Franklin's beam pad to teleport people onto the ship. They start with Spock and Bones, who are about to get killed by some more drones until they are both beamed onto the Franklin. On the computer, they get a signal on Uhura's location since the necklace Spock gave her is also a tracking device. They see she's with the rest of the crew at Krall's hideout, but Chekhov says they are unable to beam everyone up from there. Kirk figures they need to head in there and come up with their own rescue plan. Jaylah wants no part in this since she knows people who go near Krall's camp never come back alive. Her father fought Krall's right-hand man Manas (Joe Taslim) and was killed. Scotty says she is not alone and can work with the others to save the crew.Kirk creates a diversion with a motorcycle he found on the ship while Spock and Bones sneak around to take a number of crew members at a time onto a pad and use a beacon to beam them onto the Franklin. Krall's men attack, leading to Jaylah fighting Manas one-on-one. Kirk protects the crew by spreading the crystallizing material to shield them from the villains. As the rest of the crew is saved, only Kirk and Jaylah remain. Jaylah pushes Manas off the pad to his death and jumps to reach Kirk as he activates his beacon, sending them back to the Franklin.Krall and his army fly toward Yorktown so he can activate the Abronath and kill everyone. The Enterprise crew follows. Spock and Bones beam onto a drone ship and figure out that they need to use a distraction to get by the other drones. Scotty uses Jaylah's music system to create discordant noise with The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage". The drones get obliterated, leaving only Krall's ship plus two others. The Franklin manages to stop Krall's ship, causing it to crash into a fountain.The crew goes off to find Krall and make sure he's dead. They find two dead bodies drained of their life force, knowing Krall did it. As they continue making their way, they notice a video of the original crew of the Franklin from centuries ago. Uhura spots a familiar face among everyone else. The man she sees is Balthazar Edison, captain of the Franklin, but he is now Krall. Kirk asks to see Edison's old logs, skipping to the last one to see Edison having become jaded and angry with the Federation after his ship has gotten stranded with no help, following his crew's own series of missions. Edison mentioned discovering a life-sustaining force that he intended to use to keep himself alive.Krall, now looking slightly more like his old self, takes the Abronath to Yorktown's life support hub, which would allow the black cloud to spread throughout the entire starbase. Kirk finds Krall and starts fighting him to take the Abronath away from him. Kirk tries to reason with Krall, but he is no longer the same captain he once was. Kirk's crew attempts to open the doors into space to pull Krall out. Krall activates the Abronath, which starts releasing the black cloud. Kirk avoids getting killed and pushes Krall into the path of the cloud. The door opens and sucks Krall into space with the Abronath, where he is consumed by the cloud and is thus disintegrated. Kirk gets pulled out as well, but Spock and Bones fly in and pull him to safety.Commodore Paris offers Kirk the Vice Admiral position, but he chooses to remain a captain since he prefers to fly. Meanwhile, Spock goes through Ambassador Spock's old materials. Among them is a picture of the Enterprise crew in their old age.Bones then brings Kirk to a surprise birthday party for him, with the whole crew there to celebrate. Spock and Uhura reconcile their relationship. Kirk and Scotty pull some strings and get Jaylah into Starfleet Academy. The main crew then sees a new Enterprise ship is being built. With that, the crew recites the original "final frontier" monologue as they resume their mission.The film closes with the words "In Loving Memory of Leonard Nimoy" and "For Anton".
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murder, violence, good versus evil, humor, revenge, sci-fi
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train
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imdb
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Star Trek to me isn't about motorcycles and loud music, it's more about exploring science fiction concepts and themes through great storytelling (which this film has very little of).
After the noisy and irretrievably stupid (though reasonably entertaining) Into Darkness, I wasn't desperate to watch this one, but when I finally did I was relieved to discover that it was even more enjoyable than the first film in the reboot, a rollicking adventure with terrific alien weapons, fun McCoy/Spock repartee, a promising newcomer alien, and a lot of really excellent action scenes.
A true Star Trek movie for me is one with a nice story, sound science, a spec of humor, real characters, and last but not least; always in search of the human condition.
Star trek is more than the sum of episodes and movies, its a way of thinking, and inspired millions of people -personal and professional- to make the world a better place.
(Wich was a greate movie by the way)Star Trek is about interesting SF concepts and space phenomena, interstellar politics, social interaction with alien races and now and then a space battle.
This whole new series of parallel universe Star Trek movies is just a cheap ripoff of one of the best franchises ever made.
They cannibalized it for fast profit and killed their long term profit.Even if you would have wanted to bring a bit more action to a new series of Star Trek movies there would have been a more enjoyable way to do this.
A new series about the Klingon wars would have been the most profitable thing that would have been ever created and all fans would have loved it.Instead they just made a remake of Captain Kirks Star Trek and killed his character.
The crew disperse for a bit of R and R: Sulu (John Cho) goes off to spend time with his family (after the big internet furore, the gay aspect of this is very subtle); Kirk gets career advice from the Admiral; and Spock and Uhuru (Zoe Saldana) go their separate ways since – like Ross and Rachael – they are "on a break".The reverie is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a frantic alien called Kalara (Lydia Wilson) from the other side of a dense nebula.
Kirk's rescue mission however goes far from to-plan, and he and his crew are caught in the clutches of the warlord Krall (Idris Elba).What's nice about this film is that the core crew of Kirk, Spock, Uhuru, Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu and Chekov (the tragically departed Anton Yelchin) gel together really nicely as an ensemble cast.
There is also a touching tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who died while the film was in pre-production, woven into the story of which I'm sure he would have approved.Supporting the crew as a potential new character is the strikingly attractive and kick-ass Jaylah played by Sofia Boutella (the evil amputee Gazelle from "Kingsman").There's also some fine and innovative alien technology on display with the 'swarm-like' alien fleet harking back (in an expanded scale) to the invulnerability of the nanites from an original episode.Unfortunately, all of these positives are severely offset by a largely planet-bound Simon Pegg and Doug Jung story (didn't the woeful "Insurrection" teach writers that this tends not to be a good idea?) and action sequences that are so manically fast-moving that it is almost impossible to keep track of what exactly is happening.
I know Simon Pegg and director Justin ("Fast and Furious") Lin are huge Trekkers, but – sorry guys – this was a C- for me.It's a mildly diverting popcorn movie, but with (for me at least) yet another disappointing film, its getting to the point where the best 'summer blockbuster' is likely to be Deadpool
and that was released in February!
I was absolutely blown away; what I thought was going to be a mindless, action-oriented Star Trek movie, was actually a brilliantly written and directed Star Trek film that felt more than fitting in the Star Trek universe.The spoiler-free storyline; the Enterprise is sent to investigate the disappearance of an alien race's crew in a nebula.
For the die- hard trekkies, there is plenty to think and talk about after seeing the movie, as there are tons of references and connections made to the rest of the Star Trek universe (including ancestors of Star Trek characters seen in later series...).Furthermore, the movies makes a touching tribute to the death of Leonard Nimoy, by announcing the death of Spock Prime.
After seeing this, I am starting to have more faith/confidence in the new cast continuing the Star Trek legacy and I look forward to the new films that come out in the series.
The old original Star Trek movies had well defined relationship stories in them but in this, it seems like the characters are secondary to the graphic presentations and fighting scenes.
The shonky sets and pre-CGI effects did not detract from the thoughtfulness of the writing.None of this applies in the "Beyond" disaster.The only thing I can say in its defence is that the CGI effects are up to standard - although they are often so bang-bang-bang that they lose the plot.It appears to me that the direction of this movie comes from the "Hello Kitty" far East mentality, where a logical plot line and exploration of the characters' motives play very much second best to infantile effects - however well they are done here..I managed some forty minutes so the ending cannot be reviewed by me.
Do yourself a favour and don't bother even with forty minutes.I was not a great fan of most of the previous Star Trek films - they lost so much from the original TV concepts - but this one is just dire..
And the scene with Spock and Dr McCoy on the planet has become my favourite Star Trek scene, EVER!!!So, if you're after a great fun time at the movies go watch Star Trek Beyond.
Star Trek used to be the (mostly lighthearted and optimistic) adventure kind of space movies, but since Into Darkness we've witnessed the arrival of Guardians of the Galaxy, the epitome of unseriousness, so I guess the writers didn't want the franchises to feel too similar, especially since they both have Zoe Saldana as a major character.
Justin Lin turned the whole selling point of Star Trek- multi planet adventure of Enterprise crews who have different personalities into a boring action movie.
Totally disappointed, too bad J J Abrams was busy with Starwars, if he chose Star Trek, it would be much suitable for him since Star Trek has much more interesting characters than Star Wars and Star Wars would be great for a action oriented director like Justin Lin..
It didn't drag, didn't bore me, didn't set off my "that is stupid" alarms, and had a pretty cool plot line.No point in giving a lot of information, I'll just say if you enjoyed the other new Star Trek movies, you will enjoy this one.If you get all whiny about lens flares or some shaky cam in some heavy action scenes, you may have some beefs.
Fortunately, it turned out to be a solid trek film.Star Trek Beyond begins with the Enterprise and it's crew on a five year research mission in uncharted space which was assigned to them at the end of the previous movie.
I think they did a marvelous job again and made a Star Trek movie just as great as the previous two installments.
The third act of the movie is the best (with an excellent soundtrack, Beastie Boys and Star Trek mixes very well!) and they once again pull out all the stops with visual and sound effects.The only caveat I have with this film is the slow start and the main plot being a bit simplistic.
So definitely check this one out if you liked the previous two Star Trek films, it's a solid and very entertaining journey..
This just felt very lazy in general and had some serious flaws in the story, especially at the end where it became clear that the writers were struggling to resolve the narrative.Additionally the whole movie just rides on nostalgia but doesn't really feel like star trek - way to much action and explosions with very little story and actual lines.On the other hand it's very practical since this movie kind of stands alone and does not connect very much to the previous ones.
The new, alternate-universe film saga's characters are pale reflections of their bona fide counterparts in the various Star Trek series and some of the previous films from the good old days.
All parts of the film was to my liking, the CGI and special effects, the actors and their acting, the story and script, the quirky funny jokes, the SciFi tech, the hints back to the old films and Star Trek crews, the suspension, the new characters, the villain and his brutal attacks.
There is no real element of science fiction except that these stories take place in space, which, believe it or not, is not really a prerequisite for science fiction.Science fiction should be about challenging the imagination and provoking new ideas, but Star Trek now leaves nothing to the imagination and makes it impossible to think.It is sad.
*At first i have to apologize: Sorry for the bad English, I am not a native speaker.*I am a big fan of the Star Trek Series and when I was young I loved the old series and movies.
When in 2009 the first "new" Star Trek movie arrived I was excited about the good cast and the intelligent Plot.
Star Trek Beyond from director Justin Lin, who is known for Fast and Furious, bring some good action on the big screen.
Thank Simon Pegg for bringing back what we actually love about Star Trek.Great writing and character development.
anywhere.The humor is back with that character development, the crew seems to finally fit versus going through the motions like the previous films in this arc.The action is top notch and at least has a purpose this go around (see horrible sort of re-write of Wrath of Khan).Definitely worth going to.
They have chemistry and bring so much of what made the original Star Trek great and groundbreaking.I like action movies.
I didn't need some intelligent heady deep movie like some seem to, and I think the characters in the new Star Treks fit perfectly together.
Simon Pegg and Doug Jung wrote a hell of a script with just the right balance between the action packed sequences and humour, even in the music, but there was also room for a few really nice tribute to the original Star Trek crew.
I am a big Star Trek fan, and I could sort of enjoy the first movie, the second was a torture, the third is unbearable.I really hope that the owners of the Star Trek license will not authorize another of these movies and will go for a series like TNG, DS9, VoyagerStory: 0 Characters: -10 (fake as hell) Effects: yeah, cool, but that's not what makes a good movie anymoreNo fantasy, no new ideas, artificial propaganda, boooring.
fun.The difference with the past 2 Trek movies was that unlike the original films we didn't bond with this cast over 100 or 200 episodes of slower paced TV.
I loved seeing them play a bigger role :) The best thing about the Star Trek movie is the humor.
It's just the same crew--albeit a little more mature and a little wiser--on a brand new mission.And as much as part of me wishes that it was like all the other blockbuster franchises these days, I can appreciate the solidarity.Chris Pine looks like he fits the Captain Kirk mold better than ever as he's debating whether or not he should leave the Enterprise and take a promotion as Vice Admiral--meaning he would be permanently grounded.The first 30 minutes are fairly slow, as the film is catching us up with these characters, bringing us to the point where they want us to be.Then, all of a sudden, the Enterprise ship is ambushed and all but destroyed, killing much of the crew and leaving the rest stranded on some Earth-like planet run by Krall--who's out to seek revenge on the Federation for unknown reasons.They actually happen to be very good reasons, but we don't know them until almost the end of the film.
This movie is definitely the step in the right direction for the franchise.Plan to see this several time and am already looking forward to Star Trek 4..
The movie had no huge JJ plot holes, better character development (ironically, since that's what JJ does best), no annoying lens flares, and a great many callbacks to the original series (and a couple of excellent ones to Star Trek: Enterprise).
I always liked him as an actor and I think he is playing my favourite Trek captain really well, especially in this one he is coming into his own.Have to admit Justin Lin is really showing his chops and Simon Pegg can sure write a good script.
From the characters to the dialog, and from the interpersonal interactions to the settings, this Star Trek movie effectively leads the reboot of the franchise in the right direction.
This divide was further fueled by the follow-up "Into Darkness", a loose retelling of the earlier "Wrath of Kahn", which again placed emphasis on explosions and fisticuffs over the complex tale of revenge that inspired it.Thankfully, producer Abrams and newcomer director Justin Lin may very well have finally silenced the naysayers of this rebooted Trek with the newest installment, "Star Trek Beyond." Boasting the same delightfully exhilarating action and suspense that the previous two films excelled at, and combining it with a slower narrative more focused on delivering a carefully crafted and thoughtful sci-fi plot, "Beyond" is the best of both worlds.
With the crew scattered over the planet's surface and several taken captive by the dreaded Krall, Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Scotty (Simon Pegg) and the rest of the remaining crew must band together with a new alien ally called Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) in order to save their mates and stop a devious plan to wipe out the federation.The cast is just as good as they ever have been.
It thankfully eschews the mile-a-minute twists and turns of "Into Darkness" (which did add an irritating level of convolution, even if I did enjoy it over all) and instead takes it time, making sure to let each and every scene have a purpose.Justin Lin- best known for his work on the "Fast & Furious" franchise, is handed the reigns here, and he excels at delivering both the quiet moments of contemplative character development and the eye-popping thrills.
In fact this ,the third film in the new series of Star Trek movies, feels like an extended episode from the original series.
As for the Visual Effects ,next to Ghostbusters, they are some of the best to be seen on the big screen this year and go towards creating an even greater sense of realism and once again pulling the audience in with immense ease.Fans will be pleased by this new entry into the Star Trek series, because Star Trek Beyond not only feels like a successful extended episode but the acting, story, characters, action, effects and so much more go towards creating a fun, crowd pleasing sci-fi adventure.**** <-- Four Stars.
For my money, the new star trek reboot, give to modern audience's the same feelings as the original films did for there generations.
This films most touching scene is its tribute to the original series and cast and it's a truly heartwarming scene that any Star Trek fan will truly love.
Nonetheless, this is for the most part an excellent film you must see, if you are Star Trek fan or for that matter, even if you are simply someone who likes sci fi in general.
The action is also fantastic and overall it has everything a Star Trek movie should have in my opinion.
Okay, as a lifelong Star Trek fan and not a big fan of the last movie, I had serious reservations about this one - especially as it was directed by Justin "Fast & Furious" Lin. However, credit where it's due, he made a great attempt at this, and it turned out to be good fun (and WAY better than Jar Jar Abrams' "Into Darkness" mess).
Beyond is still very much an action movie first at its core, but it finally has the heart that the others lacked to make it really feel like a Trek film (funny how replacing someone who doesn't care about the series with Simon Pegg will do that).
The rebooted Star Trek is far better than the old film version (the franchise was at an extreme low before Abrams offered to retool the intellectual property for further sales), so I guess you can be thankful that these films actually are well made, and the first outing had some real depth, or at least pathos in a handful of scenes.The latest episode, simply called "Beyond", has three things going for it: excellent color palette, outstanding visual effects work and a genuine balance of immense sci-fi spectacle and generally good cast work on-the-ground, mixing a little humor with the drama, to good effect.Now for the not-so-great part: this film has practically no plot.
To surmise, many have got it quite right, this is not the best Star Trek movie, but it is a good one.
I have been a Star Trek fan right from the start and have loved all several hundred episodes and movies, until this one!
I was a great fan of the original Star Trek series with Shatner and Nimoy.
This is the best film in the new rebooted Star Trek universe with the crew now more of a family and this love and respect for each other shines through.
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tt0118571
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Air Force One
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The film begins with an American Special Forces unit capturing General Ivan Radek (Jurgen Prochnow), the dictator of Kazakhstan. Radek's regime had caused an enormous amount of bloodshed for Kazakhstan, and there was word that his stockpiling of nuclear weapons would have plunged the world into a second cold war. His capture was made through the joint cooperation of President James Marshall (Harrison Ford), and Russian President Petrov (Alan Woolf).Several weeks after the capture of Radek, President Marshall visits Moscow, along with his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews). While Marshall is praised for his help in freeing Kazakhstan from Radek's grip, Marshall surprises everyone (including his own men) by deviating from his planned speech. Marshall says that they were too slow to act, and vows to not allow such a thing happen again.Marshall, his family, and his men are then returned to Air Force One, which takes off on its return trip to Washington D.C. Unknown to the President or anyone else, a rogue secret service agent named Gibbs (Xander Berkeley) has secretly allowed into the plane several men who are supporters of General Radek. Gibbs kills several agents in a crucial protective position on the plane and the hijackers, led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman), don bulletproof vests and collect weaponry that is used by the Secret Service. Korshunov and his men quickly gain control of the plane, killing several Secret Service officers and capturing the 1st Lady and the president's staff. In the chaos, Marshall is ordered into an escape pod in the cargo hold.Air Force One's pilots attempt an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Base, but are soon killed with one of Korshunov's men taking control of the plane. A group of F-15's are sent after Air Force One as an escort. The plane is piloted towards Kazakhstan, and Korshunov places a direct call to the White House, where Vice-President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) and Defense Secretary Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell) listen to Korshunov's demands. Korshunov requests the release of General Radek, with the stipulation that a hostage will be executed every half hour until his demands are met. Shortly thereafter, the President's escape pod is found, but he is not inside. During the firefight, Marshall hid aboard the plane, intent on saving his family, a fact which neither the White House or Korshunov are aware. Korshunov assumes that the President escaped Air Force One, while the empty pod's discovery by the White House has them speculating that Korshunov and his men have killed Marshall.Bennett calls President Petrov, in hopes that he can release Radek temporarily (with the hope that once Ivan has released the hostages, they can quickly recapture him). However, Petrov is not willing to give into this request without proof that the President is alive. After 30 minutes, Korshunov calls the White House to find out if Radek has been released. When Bennett tries to stall for time, Korshunov coldly executes National Security Adviser Jack Doherty (Tom Everett). Korshunov then has Grace and Alice brought to the cockpit, leaving several men to guard the rest of the hostages.Marshall attempts to find his family, but almost is taken out by a henchman, before he kills him. Marshall returns to the cargo hold where he manages to find a cellular phone, and places a call to the White House switchboard. Marshall argues with the switchboard operator when she questions his claim to be The President, and he demands she trace the call. As she realizes that Marshall is who he says he is, one of Korshunov's henchmen finds Marshall. Marshall sticks the phone in his pocket. At this point, the call is transferred through to the White House situation room, and Marshall gives indirect orders for one of the F-15's escorting the plane to fire on them. Bennett relays the order, and the shockwave from the blast throws the henchman off-balance, allowing Marshall to kill him. Marshall then speaks directly to Bennett and the others, claiming they cannot give up Radek, and need to find some way to get the plane on the ground.Meanwhile, Korshunov has found out about the killing of two of his men and has assumed there is a Secret Service agent hiding in the cargo hold. After having Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell (Donna Bullock) brought to the cockpit, he turns on the plane's speaker system, threatening to kill Melanie if the person in the cargo hold does not surrender. Painfully, Marshall does not comply, and Melanie's execution is heard throughout the plane.In a storage fridge in the cargo hold, Marshall notices a punctured milk container, and gets the idea to dump the plane's fuel, which should force the plane to land. When the plane registers that it is leaking fuel, Egor sends two of his men to check on this. They are almost killed by Marshall, but as they go to fix the fuel leak, Marshall sneaks up to the main cabin, and subdues another henchmen.The two then gain entrance to the room where the hostages are. Marshall states emphatically he is not leaving without his family, but wants to save the hostages. Major Caldwell (William H. Macy) proposes that if they can get the plane to descent to 15,000 feet, and use the parachutes in the cargo hold, they can get off the plane. The secret fax message (the fax and phone lines are separate) is received by the White House, shortly after Korshunov calls demanding a mid-air refueling. Bennett attempts once more to negotiate for a hostage release by requesting they land the plane for refueling, but Korshunov's threat to kill a passenger every minute until they are refueled forces her to give into his demands. Bennett soon has to deal with the matter in another way, when CNN reports a rumor that Air Force One has crashed. Bennett goes before the White House Press Room to quell the rumor, and informs the public for the first time regarding the hijacking of the airplane.A KC-10 is dispatched and soon after refuels Air Force One. Both planes descend to 15,000 feet. Caldwell and several others activate the cargo hold doors, and numerous people begin dropping from the plane, activating their parachutes. However, the opening of the cargo doors is seen in the plane's cockpit, and several of Korshunov's men are sent to investigate. Finding the door locked, one of them uses an oxygen tank to blast the lock, causing a number of people to plummet out of the plane. The sudden blast causes the refueling effort to go wrong, and the KC-10 struggles to break free. However, the fuel leaking from the plane ignites and the KC-10 explodes.Marshall just barely survives being sucked out the cargo hold, clinging to part of the cargo door. Caldwell manages to pull Marshall to safety, and they are soon taken hostage by Korshunov's men. Egor then calls the White House, announcing that he now has the President, and orders the F-15 escort to divert once they enter Kazakhstani airspace. Bennett immediately complies with this request.Marshall is brought before Korshunov, who demands that Marshall call Petrov to release Radek, promising that they can go free once the General is released. Marshall refuses, until Korshunov threatens to kill Alice. Forced to save his family, Marshall gives in, and calls Petrov for the release of Radek. As Radek's release is broadcast through the plane's P.A. system, Korshunov explains further that he lied to Marshall. He further intends to turn Marshall and his family over to Radek.At the same time, Marshall secretly gets hold of a piece of glass, and cuts through his bindings. Marshall then attempts to subdue Korshunov, but is almost shot by one of Korshunov's henchman. The bullet meant for Marshall is taken by Agent Johnson. Marshall then manages to take out the gunman, but in the ensuing struggle, Egor escapes to the cargo hold with Grace. Marshall finds Korshunov wearing a parachute, but also throwing the remaining chutes out the open hold door. Korshunov mocks that with no one to fly the plane and no parachutes, he has won. His short-lived victory is enough time for Grace to distract him, before Marshall tackles Korshunov. As they struggle, Marshall wraps a strap around Korshunov's neck before activating his parachute. Marshall sharply orders Korshunov to "GET OFF MY PLANE!" and lets go of the terrorist. The strap snaps Korshunov's neck, killing him as he is pulled out the cargo hold door.Marshall manages to call Petrov and halt the release of Radek. However, Radek makes a run for it when ordered to halt, and is killed. Marshall manages to get assistance from a friend in the White House on how to pilot Air Force One, with Caldwell serving as co-pilot. The plane heads for an airfield in Turkey, but is soon intercepted by some rogue MIG fighters piloted by Radek loyalists. The F-15's that turned away at Kazakhstan's borders move in to intercept the MiGs. Most of the MiGs are destroyed by the American pilots but Air Force One loses an engine and suffers major damage to its tail gear, preventing a safe landing.With no way to land and the plane losing fuel, a C-130 Hercules is routed towards Air Force One, and a mid-air "zipline" rescue is put into effect. Though efforts are made to save Marshall first, he demands that his wife and daughter be transferred first. The wounded Agent is the third person across, but due to Air Force One's continued engine failure and rapid descent, only one more person can be rescued. Marshall refuses to leave the other men behind, but his words are interrupted as Agent Gibbs shoots the zipline attendant, and also kills Caldwell. Both Gibbs and Marshall fight for the zipline strap, with Marshall just barely getting it attached when the zipline breaks free from the doorframe, leaving Gibbs aboard the plane as it crashes and breaks up in the Caspian Sea.Marshall continues to struggle to secure his zipline strap as the team aboard the Hercules reels him in. Once he is finally secure aboard the Hercules, the pilot changes the plane's call-sign from "Liberty 2-4" to "Air Force One" (this title applies to any aircraft that the President is aboard). As Marshall is reunited with his family, the F-15 squadron resumes flanking positions as they escort the First Family home.
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suspenseful, action, murder, violence
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train
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imdb
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tt1303235
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Blue Ridge
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Paranoid and unpredictable, J.T. (Eric Sweeney) lives a solitary life of used tires and decaying trailers. Despite his situation, J.T. wins the love of Sara (Audra Smith), an innocent young girl alone in the world after losing the last of her family. Together they naively plan for a new life at the beach, operating an old amusement park ride.J.T.'s landlord, Mr. Johnston (Sean Gullette), has other plans for him. He wants to keep J.T. tied to the dying trailer park and under his control, hoping to convince him to join his bizarre lifestyle. As pressure builds on J.T. to face his fear of change and of the outside world, Sara holds onto the hope that they can push forward together and live out their dream.
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romantic, murder
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train
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imdb
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Temporarily Fixed TeeVee. There isn't the slightest feel that this is a first film.
The way things are framed, and the rhythm of the edits are first class.The main actors are superb.
There is no story to speak of, just enough events to serve the purpose of the thing, which is to allow a visit into a world where every quality of being is less.
The setting is a small, remote trailer park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Other areas of the country claim eminence in poverty and ignorance, but in historical terms it all began in the hollows of those mountains — all the reduced wisdoms of blindness that surround us.We meet a young man, the young woman who falls in love with him and the owner of the trailer park.
That owner exploits our hero while being only half a peg up toward the completeness of spirit of the clearly intended audience.
The mission of the film is to take us into that world, and it succeeds amazingly well.
There is no irony; everything is played as straight as the lives portrayed.
The scenes in the trailer park are perfect.
They do the job with precision and economy.
Later, there is a voyage into a seamy environment which triggers events, changing things.
I think that is because by then we are used to having the world presented to us through the eyes of trusted characters and this scene is just a collection of images.
We lose the association with the main character.Endings in films are rarely done well; endings in this kind of film are especially hard.
The film creates a world and puts us in it.
How do you end a world?
What reason do we have to leave other than the rent in our theater seat is up?
Story takes a back seat, so there is no story to end.
We have the characters who connect us to this world, so the ordinary way out is to end the character.
It is the weakest element of the project."Breathless" within "Pink Flamingos" is how I would describe this.
Let's hope this crew has as much success as the makers of those films.
They've earned the next step.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching..
One of those rare, well made indies on all fronts.
I am writing this mainly because of what I read from two other reviewers who clearly don't watch these kinds of films.
What the director has done here is no doubt more complex than it may first appear.
I can see the usual action movie addict not liking this film because it does require a brain to contemplate, and I'm not saying that in some pretentious manner but saying it because there is a lot more going on here than you can see if you aren't in the mood to see something unfold without the usual big, obvious plot points.
I saw a comment on Amazon stating it was "slow" and they gave it one star, which is simply ridiculous.
I have seen 100's of indie films and this moves better than I'd say 80% of them.At first you get to know the lead, J.T., and you aren't made to necessarily like him.
He's a little unstable, odd and maybe a racist but you can't blame someone like this guy given his upbringing so stop being judgmental people.
The trick is we are shown what he is, not some "save the cat" version of a studio character.
Look up the book if you don't know it.
J.T. is what he is, it's that simple.
If you need more, then you are working from programmed expectations that people like Sony and Warner Brothers have drilled into your head.Sara, his love interest, is also much more complex than some simple girl from a little house in the country.
She is what he needs and nothing more, but how complex that can be!
Is anyone more complex than what your wife or kid needs?
The film moves well after we see these two lovers make plans to operate a used monkey-shaped amusement park ride at the beach.
The director didn't seem to care about this plot device and I suspect he was forced into using something conventional like this so the film could seek out distribution easier.
I would go so far as to say this could have been made almost silently and without convention but for the fans of non-studio fare, we know how those movies are treated and this path isn't very practical for many filmmakers.
I think this film ties together enough conventional movie "standards" that the general public like so much and my my mom could even like it, but it allows me to enjoy it on another level and go along with the wink the director is probably giving us.
The meat of this film is his use montage and it is done very well.
The ending couldn't really be that much better and no, I did not see it coming.Big nods to the camera work, shot selection and sound design as well.
The sometimes odd casting keeps it surprising in a good way..
This was a drama, at least that's what I thought at first.
I was about half way through and just too many subtle, sorta funny things happened.
My gf didn't laugh out loud but I did notice that she too kept making a partial laugh noise.
We did a few looks to each other back and forth.Now I don't mean funny as in, this was written by a comedian funny, but in a very dark or just interesting funny kind of way.
Did that make sense?
I'd go so far as say there's a little bit of a Kubrick influence here in some fashion.The landlord guy, played by the only actor I recognized, from Pi, was some smart or maybe just lucky casting.
He had a blend of cheesy, dark, sleazy and sort of pathetic traits all mixed into one guy.
I wish he had more screen time to say the hard truth.
He wasn't the kind of guy you'd want as a neighbor but why did I feel sorry for him regardless?
I'm still trying to figure that out.Sara, the main lead, was an excellent blend of naive, lovable and strong.
Wife material!
lolI can't quite explain what I mean about this being a little funny but it's worth a watch.
And yes, it IS a drama in the end and it IS a little unconventional but, hey it was skillfully edited and I loved the cinematography as well..
Ignorant City Dwellers Unite.
Kimcritic and Rosalie using a movie review forum to show us their complete ignorance in literally believing everything stereotypical slandering they see in this movie as rural reality.
The only idiots who should be able to relate to this movie are the couple truly low class reviewers spouting their political deficiencies.
A well made low budget flick in the spirit of Sling Blade if it weren't for the current politically poisoned environment created by liberal lunatics posting instead of critiquing the movie itself.
For example, wouldn't it be interesting likewise to see a movie like this with all stereotypical black cast in a ghetto setting with blacks, black gimps, and black dwarfs, etc.
shown the same in a retrograde way as well to be fair, but we all know it's acceptable to castigate white rural America, while other such racist material is deemed socially unacceptable.
I'm looking forward to SNL skits, and satire movies about all the Hollywood sexual perverts, etc.
I doubt we'll ever see cinematic, or "artistic" equality though..
Dark drama that almost achieves..
This movie is set in Virginia in a sort of "trailer park".
I think there are 4 trailers in the park, one of them being a small travel trailer that houses an obese woman and her poodle.
There is no office, no sign, no road, just grass/dirt into the "area".
JT is the main character and he fixes things and works on tires.
There is a sleazy owner/resident who seems to run things and owns the trailers.
The people are beyond backwoods and ignorant.
The most fascinating thing about this movie is that this place/these people might actually exist in America.
JT seems to be a likable character with good intentions but he is a lost soul as are all the characters in this movie.
Dark and depressing film.
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