Seen on 25-9-2009 - HBO movie
Cast: Ryan Reynolds (of "Definitely, Maybe" fame) (Michael), Julia Roberts (Lisa, the mother), Willem Dafoe (Charles, the father), Emily Watson (Jane, aunt),
Dir.: Dennis Lee
The title of the movie is said to be from Robert Frost's poem.
This is about a young boy who has grown up with discord in the family, loving mother, violent and hostile father and an aunt (mother's sister) about his age. Through all these experiences emerges bonds and hatred turns into love.
The boy Michael grows to become a writer and he puts in his first book his hostilities with a violent father, his love for an unhappy mother who could not often defend him against the father and all those unpleasant episodes that haunted him through his life. When the mother unexpectedly dies in a car accident, the tragedy causes grief and underneath his lifelong grudge against his father he discovers love. He burns the ms of the book in which he put the bitterness of his life.
IMDB summary:
"The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced by an unexpected tragedy."
Friday, September 25, 2009
Black Balloon (2008)***+
Seen on 24-9-2009 - Sony Pix
Cast: Rhys Wakefield (Thomas Mollison), Luke Ford (Charlie Mollison), Gemma Ward (Jackie)
Dir. : Elissa Down
This Australian film has won 15 awards & 23 Nominations. We saw this without subtitles and couldn't appreciate fully the nuances of situations.
But it was clear that the film is about gradual acceptance by the normal brother of the responsibility for his autistic younger brother. There is a moral growth in the normal brother which is adds weight to the film.
This recalls the movie, What's Eating Gilbert Garpe where De Caprio played the autistic brother, while Johnny Depp did the other one. In both the acting and script is superb, but somehow we seem to have liked the Depp starrer. Surprisingly in both the films, the normal brother would have gone it alone to tend to their brothers, even if their girl-friends too hadn't accepted their life-long responsibility. But as it happens in both the films, they take the whole package.
But Black Balloon differenciates itself by presenting a boy initially balks at the situation, but gradually changes and accepts what's hard-to-accept. Where as Garpe is endowed with a temperament to accept not simply the responsibility of his brother, but of unmarried sisters and of his poor impossibly fat mother. This makes the Australian movie better.
Cast: Rhys Wakefield (Thomas Mollison), Luke Ford (Charlie Mollison), Gemma Ward (Jackie)
Dir. : Elissa Down
This Australian film has won 15 awards & 23 Nominations. We saw this without subtitles and couldn't appreciate fully the nuances of situations.
But it was clear that the film is about gradual acceptance by the normal brother of the responsibility for his autistic younger brother. There is a moral growth in the normal brother which is adds weight to the film.
This recalls the movie, What's Eating Gilbert Garpe where De Caprio played the autistic brother, while Johnny Depp did the other one. In both the acting and script is superb, but somehow we seem to have liked the Depp starrer. Surprisingly in both the films, the normal brother would have gone it alone to tend to their brothers, even if their girl-friends too hadn't accepted their life-long responsibility. But as it happens in both the films, they take the whole package.
But Black Balloon differenciates itself by presenting a boy initially balks at the situation, but gradually changes and accepts what's hard-to-accept. Where as Garpe is endowed with a temperament to accept not simply the responsibility of his brother, but of unmarried sisters and of his poor impossibly fat mother. This makes the Australian movie better.
Chasing Liberty (2004)**
Seen on 24-9-2009 - A Star Movies film
Cast: Mandy Moore (Anna Foster), Matthew Goode (Ben Calder)
Dir. : Andy Cadiff
This is a take off on the Roman Holiday, with the difference that in this film it happens to be the daughter of the American First family who is allowed to run away and have an illusion of freedom and liberty of roaming unescorted in Prague, Berlin, and Venice. When the escapee girl discovers the set up she is upset, but in the process she has fallen in love with her escort, Ben Calder, whom she mistakes to be a casual acquaintance. But Ben has also, against his professional ethics, fallen in love and quits his job.
IMDB Summary:
"Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) has never had an ordinary life. At eighteen years old, she is the most protected girl in America; she is the First Daughter. Frustrated with her overprotective father, the President of the United States of America (Mark Harmon), Anna makes a deal with him: only two agents are allowed to guard her while she attends a concert in Prague. When her father backs out of his promise, Anna flies into a temper and goes on the run with Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), a handsome photographer she runs into outside of the music club. They travel together with the intention of going to the Love Parade in Berlin. Anna hasn't told Ben who she is but more importantly, Ben hasn't told her who he is. Under the orders of Anna's father, Ben is supposed to keep an eye on the rebellious girl but falling in love with her wasn't something he expected to do. Romance blossoms between the wild, sassy Anna and the cool, distant Ben as they backpack through Europe. Problem is, when it is time to go back and Anna finds out about Ben, what will happen to the two lovers?"
Cast: Mandy Moore (Anna Foster), Matthew Goode (Ben Calder)
Dir. : Andy Cadiff
This is a take off on the Roman Holiday, with the difference that in this film it happens to be the daughter of the American First family who is allowed to run away and have an illusion of freedom and liberty of roaming unescorted in Prague, Berlin, and Venice. When the escapee girl discovers the set up she is upset, but in the process she has fallen in love with her escort, Ben Calder, whom she mistakes to be a casual acquaintance. But Ben has also, against his professional ethics, fallen in love and quits his job.
IMDB Summary:
"Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) has never had an ordinary life. At eighteen years old, she is the most protected girl in America; she is the First Daughter. Frustrated with her overprotective father, the President of the United States of America (Mark Harmon), Anna makes a deal with him: only two agents are allowed to guard her while she attends a concert in Prague. When her father backs out of his promise, Anna flies into a temper and goes on the run with Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), a handsome photographer she runs into outside of the music club. They travel together with the intention of going to the Love Parade in Berlin. Anna hasn't told Ben who she is but more importantly, Ben hasn't told her who he is. Under the orders of Anna's father, Ben is supposed to keep an eye on the rebellious girl but falling in love with her wasn't something he expected to do. Romance blossoms between the wild, sassy Anna and the cool, distant Ben as they backpack through Europe. Problem is, when it is time to go back and Anna finds out about Ben, what will happen to the two lovers?"
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007)****+
Seen on 23-9-2009 - HBO Movie
Cast: Jodelle Ferland (Hollis), Sissy Spacec (Josie, the artist who suffers from alzhemier), Ridge Canipe (Steven Regan), Julie Ann Emery (Izzy Regan), Alfre Woodard (Edna, the black social worker), etc
Dir. : Tony Bill
Based on Patricia Reilly Giff's novel.
We found it difficult to withhold tears in some of the scenes. Very moving and, mind you, no mush or sentimental drama.
IMDB Summary:
"Hollis Woods' search for a family is a perpetual journey, as she moves from one foster home to another until she meets the Regan family and the two rather quirky elderly women who teach her a lot about love."
This is rather too sketchy to even pretend to talk about the experience of the movie. The twelve year old orphan girl who is in charge of the social worker, Edna (Alfre Woodard) keeps moving from one foster home to another. The movie focuses on two homes where the sensitive little artist Hollis bonds first with Regans and then with the Alzhemier-stricken retired teacher, Josie (Sissy Spacec) . By the time she bonds with each family some disastrous thing happens and she is moved to another home although no one really blames her for what happens. However she decides not to move the second time because she has come to love for Josie; but in the process of evading this shift she is reunited with Regans even as finds, to her happiness, that her friend is Josie being properly taken care of by her friend Beatrice.
Not even this summary sum up the movie. It's all in its details and particulars that it lives and moves us and this is hard to sum up.
Cast: Jodelle Ferland (Hollis), Sissy Spacec (Josie, the artist who suffers from alzhemier), Ridge Canipe (Steven Regan), Julie Ann Emery (Izzy Regan), Alfre Woodard (Edna, the black social worker), etc
Dir. : Tony Bill
Based on Patricia Reilly Giff's novel.
We found it difficult to withhold tears in some of the scenes. Very moving and, mind you, no mush or sentimental drama.
IMDB Summary:
"Hollis Woods' search for a family is a perpetual journey, as she moves from one foster home to another until she meets the Regan family and the two rather quirky elderly women who teach her a lot about love."
This is rather too sketchy to even pretend to talk about the experience of the movie. The twelve year old orphan girl who is in charge of the social worker, Edna (Alfre Woodard) keeps moving from one foster home to another. The movie focuses on two homes where the sensitive little artist Hollis bonds first with Regans and then with the Alzhemier-stricken retired teacher, Josie (Sissy Spacec) . By the time she bonds with each family some disastrous thing happens and she is moved to another home although no one really blames her for what happens. However she decides not to move the second time because she has come to love for Josie; but in the process of evading this shift she is reunited with Regans even as finds, to her happiness, that her friend is Josie being properly taken care of by her friend Beatrice.
Not even this summary sum up the movie. It's all in its details and particulars that it lives and moves us and this is hard to sum up.
Out of Time (2003)**+
Seen on 22-9-2009 - Sony Pix
Cast: Denzel Washington (Chief of Police, Whitlock), Eva Mendes (Alex Whitlock), Sanaa Lathan (Merai)
Dir. : Carl Franklin
Chief of Police in a Florida town, Whitlock, himself gets implicated in a set up by the wife (Merai) of his colleague whom he tries to save from her husband out of sympathy. His wife, detective Alex who investigates the murder set up in which he is implicated has just planned to divorce him begins to suspect him from the cues she received. In a fast paced nail-biting drama that follows Denzel Washington has to be ahead of the ongoing investigation and acquit himself after apprehending the culprits.
It's enjoyable.
IMDB Summary:
Cast: Denzel Washington (Chief of Police, Whitlock), Eva Mendes (Alex Whitlock), Sanaa Lathan (Merai)
Dir. : Carl Franklin
Chief of Police in a Florida town, Whitlock, himself gets implicated in a set up by the wife (Merai) of his colleague whom he tries to save from her husband out of sympathy. His wife, detective Alex who investigates the murder set up in which he is implicated has just planned to divorce him begins to suspect him from the cues she received. In a fast paced nail-biting drama that follows Denzel Washington has to be ahead of the ongoing investigation and acquit himself after apprehending the culprits.
It's enjoyable.
IMDB Summary:
"Denzel Washington plays Matt Lee Whitlock, a respected chief of police in a small town on the Florida Keys. He is in the middle of a divorce and also in a liaison with a married woman (Sanaa Lathan). His police force has captured some drug runners with $485,000. Matt takes the drug money out of his safe, and gives it to his mistress for her cancer treatments. Bad idea! Everything blows up in his face when his mistress and her husband die in a home fire caused by arson. Matt must solve this double homicide, before he becomes the number-one suspect. His estranged wife, a homicide detective (Eva Mendes), is collecting evidence and clues to the murders. Matt tries to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force, before he runs `out of time,' and ends up in jail. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)"
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Blue Sky (1994)*****
Seen on 21-9-2009 - A Star Movies Film
Cast: Jessica Lange (Carly Marshall), Tommy Lee Jones (Hank Marshall), Vince Johnson (Powers Boothe), et al
Dir. : Tony Richardson ("Loneliness of Long Distance Runner," "Tom Jones," etc)
Jessica Lange won Oscar for Best Actress. 1 Oscar, 3 wins, 3 nominations!!!
There have been many stories about the adultery among service wives and about the flagrant use of power in the army hierarchy to cover up mess. But this one differentiates itself by using the matrix with its imaginative and mature exploration of the dangers as well as the possibilities of flighty romanticism and realizing this idea in all its human particulars in a very credibly told story.
The great achievement of this movie is in its conception of the hopeless but not irresponsible romantic character of Carly and realize its human form by working out the details from the beginning through its consistent end. In order to do this the movie creates a convincing social matrix, builds credible relationships and situations. Its brilliant achievement is in the mise en scene of its idea.
Carly, married to an army nuclear scientist, with two teenage daughters, is the spoilt daughter of a rich man hopelessy given to romantic notions about life that it's all song and dance with little thought abt her responsibilities as a housewife with two teenage daughers. She sunbathes topless and daydreams that she could have been a Briggette Bardot or a Marilyn Monroe, but she didn't mean to be a slut that she could be easily mistaken for. Her innocent socialising with men often appears to be scandoulous and sometimes with disastrous consequences that her understanding husband keeps averting. As her husband puts it, she drives the family to the edge with her outrageous behavior. Her free dancing with men could be easily mistaken for flirting she didn't intend. Where ever she goes she makes them uncomfortable
When the movie opens, the Marshalls are shifted from Hawaii to Alabama because of her scandalous behavior. The base commander in Alabama, Vince Johnson at the officers' club finds himself doing a dancing with her that, as Ebert puts it, is "just this side of vertical foreplay." Eventually Vince schemes to take advantage of her innocent forwardness by sending her husband Hank away to Nevada to supervise undersground tests. When the whole thing blows over Vince arranges a cover-up in which he betrays her confidence in him to bail out her husband from trouble after hitting him. As commander of the base camp he has her husband sent to a mental hospital where he is being given electric shocks to unhinge him. Shocked Carly now wakes up from her dreamworld and sets to work for getting her husband rescued from the hospital and also nail the wily commander.
--The very human, very loving and intelligently understanding husband is the very antidote to his wife's innocent and thoughtless romantic flights. His defence of her to her tennage daughers: "What we call love is really the exchange of energy over time. It's simple quantum mechanics." For him she is like water which may take many shapes such as ice, vapour, etc. but its basic properties are good. That is, Carly is basically good and her behavior is eccentric. Her basic innocence is evident from her words she speaks to her husband after all the troubles she has caused: "It [her fling with the commander] means nothing."
IMDB summaryi
"Hank Marshall is a tough, square-jawed, straitlaced Army engineer and nuclear science expert, assigned to help conduct weapons-testing in 1950's America. Hank has become a thorn in the side of the Army, though, for a couple of very different reasons. He is an outspoken opponent of atmospheric testing, though his superiors hold contrary views and want to squelch his concerns...and his reports. The other problem is his wife, Carly. She is voluptuous and volatile, wreaking havoc in his personal life and stirring up intrigue at each new Army base."
Netflix Summary
"Director Tony Richardson's final film stars Jessica Lange in an Oscar-winning turn as Carly, the mentally unstable, promiscuous wife of straight-arrow Army engineer Hank Marshall (Tommy Lee Jones). When the Marshalls get transferred to a dismal Alabama post, Carly -- whose unbridled behavior has cost her husband promotions -- makes a move on the base commander (Powers Boothe), who promptly dispatches Hank to Nevada to conduct nuclear tests."
Cast: Jessica Lange (Carly Marshall), Tommy Lee Jones (Hank Marshall), Vince Johnson (Powers Boothe), et al
Dir. : Tony Richardson ("Loneliness of Long Distance Runner," "Tom Jones," etc)
Jessica Lange won Oscar for Best Actress. 1 Oscar, 3 wins, 3 nominations!!!
There have been many stories about the adultery among service wives and about the flagrant use of power in the army hierarchy to cover up mess. But this one differentiates itself by using the matrix with its imaginative and mature exploration of the dangers as well as the possibilities of flighty romanticism and realizing this idea in all its human particulars in a very credibly told story.
The great achievement of this movie is in its conception of the hopeless but not irresponsible romantic character of Carly and realize its human form by working out the details from the beginning through its consistent end. In order to do this the movie creates a convincing social matrix, builds credible relationships and situations. Its brilliant achievement is in the mise en scene of its idea.
Carly, married to an army nuclear scientist, with two teenage daughters, is the spoilt daughter of a rich man hopelessy given to romantic notions about life that it's all song and dance with little thought abt her responsibilities as a housewife with two teenage daughers. She sunbathes topless and daydreams that she could have been a Briggette Bardot or a Marilyn Monroe, but she didn't mean to be a slut that she could be easily mistaken for. Her innocent socialising with men often appears to be scandoulous and sometimes with disastrous consequences that her understanding husband keeps averting. As her husband puts it, she drives the family to the edge with her outrageous behavior. Her free dancing with men could be easily mistaken for flirting she didn't intend. Where ever she goes she makes them uncomfortable
When the movie opens, the Marshalls are shifted from Hawaii to Alabama because of her scandalous behavior. The base commander in Alabama, Vince Johnson at the officers' club finds himself doing a dancing with her that, as Ebert puts it, is "just this side of vertical foreplay." Eventually Vince schemes to take advantage of her innocent forwardness by sending her husband Hank away to Nevada to supervise undersground tests. When the whole thing blows over Vince arranges a cover-up in which he betrays her confidence in him to bail out her husband from trouble after hitting him. As commander of the base camp he has her husband sent to a mental hospital where he is being given electric shocks to unhinge him. Shocked Carly now wakes up from her dreamworld and sets to work for getting her husband rescued from the hospital and also nail the wily commander.
--The very human, very loving and intelligently understanding husband is the very antidote to his wife's innocent and thoughtless romantic flights. His defence of her to her tennage daughers: "What we call love is really the exchange of energy over time. It's simple quantum mechanics." For him she is like water which may take many shapes such as ice, vapour, etc. but its basic properties are good. That is, Carly is basically good and her behavior is eccentric. Her basic innocence is evident from her words she speaks to her husband after all the troubles she has caused: "It [her fling with the commander] means nothing."
IMDB summaryi
"Hank Marshall is a tough, square-jawed, straitlaced Army engineer and nuclear science expert, assigned to help conduct weapons-testing in 1950's America. Hank has become a thorn in the side of the Army, though, for a couple of very different reasons. He is an outspoken opponent of atmospheric testing, though his superiors hold contrary views and want to squelch his concerns...and his reports. The other problem is his wife, Carly. She is voluptuous and volatile, wreaking havoc in his personal life and stirring up intrigue at each new Army base."
Netflix Summary
"Director Tony Richardson's final film stars Jessica Lange in an Oscar-winning turn as Carly, the mentally unstable, promiscuous wife of straight-arrow Army engineer Hank Marshall (Tommy Lee Jones). When the Marshalls get transferred to a dismal Alabama post, Carly -- whose unbridled behavior has cost her husband promotions -- makes a move on the base commander (Powers Boothe), who promptly dispatches Hank to Nevada to conduct nuclear tests."
Assassination of Richard Nixon ( )**
Seen on 20-9-2009 - HBO movie
Cast: Sean Penn
Another instance of a film whose good idea runs into idiotic situations.
Cast: Sean Penn
Another instance of a film whose good idea runs into idiotic situations.
P.S. I Love You ( )**
Cast: Hillary Swank
Dir.:
It's about a young widow being gradually helped to forget her grief by her devoted husband from grave. After watching this I felt that the dead better leave the living alone and not keep reminding them from grave the way the film shows even if it is all done with good intentions of helping out.
Dir.:
It's about a young widow being gradually helped to forget her grief by her devoted husband from grave. After watching this I felt that the dead better leave the living alone and not keep reminding them from grave the way the film shows even if it is all done with good intentions of helping out.
Friday, September 18, 2009
As Good As It Gets (1997)****
Seen on 18-9-2009 - HBO movie
Cast: Jack Nicholson (Melvin Udall, the writer), Helen Hunt (Carol Connelley the waitresss), Greg Kenner (Simon, gay artist), Cuba Gooding (Frank, Black Art Dealer)
Dir. : James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment" fame--with similarly original and out-of-the-ordinary, weird if you prefer, people and situations)...
We thought of seeing this the second time just to know the portrayal of a writer better and it didn't turn out to be a bad idea. We enjoyed it this time too! The success of the film, we felt, is in its character conception of the writer and the script given to him....
Are writers quirky and therefore misfits among people in general? Looks more like it. Here he is more outrageously queer than the neighborhood gay artist who used his mother nude as his model. The juxtaposition of the two doesn't seem to be unintended in this film. His cynicism about people and their hackneyed responses to things prevents him from being nice and polite to them. He is a recluse by choice probably because he doesn't put a premium on the intelligence of people: he is a misanthrope. He lives a highly organized, orderly, tidy, sanitised life by living in seclusion. He is the kind who wouldn't want to risk sounding sentimental by saying the expected or by playing the role. Also, he can't bring himself to say things to please people (Why can't he tell his girl friend that he asked her out because he liked her? Instead he tells her that he meant her to kiss the queer whom they have accompanied). The result is he is misunderstood and he has the effect of being offensive. The few who come in contact with him hate him; the scene where the regular clintele of the restaurant give a standing ovation when he is shoved out of the restaurant is a measure of the extent of people's dislike of him. The one waitress who deigns to serve him barely tolerates him. He is the hard-horse hated by even those who come prepared to love him as it happens with the waitress herself. He is paranoid and pernickety in speech, in his concern with orderliness, with hygeine, and public relations. His wisecracks and witticisms aren't funny as they are meant to be. What was said of him in exasperation by the woman he is drawn to is apt perhaps: "Why can't I have a normal boyfriend?" But the point is if he is not 'normal' he is not abnormal either. How come that he is a successful writer (author of62 romance novels) when he is universally hated in real life? The plain truth he writes about love he doesn't understand and even becomes popular. In this film he has to understand what it means to care.
In the main three things happen to an overly reclusive misanthrope of a writer: first, he is forced to take care of the dog he hates, second he is drawn to a waitress much against himself and third he is forced to take in the gay neighbor thus soiling his otherwise sanitised life in his apartment. In all these events he learns to care and probably understand what it is to love. The prolific writer of romances is forced to learn caring for people and become a better man and possibly a better writer....
But the fun is all in the script written for the otherwise successful writer who is essentially a failure at the basic level as a man ("a grumpy Scrooge")....
The sheer power of the script is best summed up with the final compliment with which he wins his girlfriend: "you make me want to be a better man..."
Cast: Jack Nicholson (Melvin Udall, the writer), Helen Hunt (Carol Connelley the waitresss), Greg Kenner (Simon, gay artist), Cuba Gooding (Frank, Black Art Dealer)
Dir. : James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment" fame--with similarly original and out-of-the-ordinary, weird if you prefer, people and situations)...
We thought of seeing this the second time just to know the portrayal of a writer better and it didn't turn out to be a bad idea. We enjoyed it this time too! The success of the film, we felt, is in its character conception of the writer and the script given to him....
Are writers quirky and therefore misfits among people in general? Looks more like it. Here he is more outrageously queer than the neighborhood gay artist who used his mother nude as his model. The juxtaposition of the two doesn't seem to be unintended in this film. His cynicism about people and their hackneyed responses to things prevents him from being nice and polite to them. He is a recluse by choice probably because he doesn't put a premium on the intelligence of people: he is a misanthrope. He lives a highly organized, orderly, tidy, sanitised life by living in seclusion. He is the kind who wouldn't want to risk sounding sentimental by saying the expected or by playing the role. Also, he can't bring himself to say things to please people (Why can't he tell his girl friend that he asked her out because he liked her? Instead he tells her that he meant her to kiss the queer whom they have accompanied). The result is he is misunderstood and he has the effect of being offensive. The few who come in contact with him hate him; the scene where the regular clintele of the restaurant give a standing ovation when he is shoved out of the restaurant is a measure of the extent of people's dislike of him. The one waitress who deigns to serve him barely tolerates him. He is the hard-horse hated by even those who come prepared to love him as it happens with the waitress herself. He is paranoid and pernickety in speech, in his concern with orderliness, with hygeine, and public relations. His wisecracks and witticisms aren't funny as they are meant to be. What was said of him in exasperation by the woman he is drawn to is apt perhaps: "Why can't I have a normal boyfriend?" But the point is if he is not 'normal' he is not abnormal either. How come that he is a successful writer (author of62 romance novels) when he is universally hated in real life? The plain truth he writes about love he doesn't understand and even becomes popular. In this film he has to understand what it means to care.In the main three things happen to an overly reclusive misanthrope of a writer: first, he is forced to take care of the dog he hates, second he is drawn to a waitress much against himself and third he is forced to take in the gay neighbor thus soiling his otherwise sanitised life in his apartment. In all these events he learns to care and probably understand what it is to love. The prolific writer of romances is forced to learn caring for people and become a better man and possibly a better writer....
But the fun is all in the script written for the otherwise successful writer who is essentially a failure at the basic level as a man ("a grumpy Scrooge")....
The sheer power of the script is best summed up with the final compliment with which he wins his girlfriend: "you make me want to be a better man..."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Missing (2003)**+
Netflix Summary
"A father and daughter reunite for a battle even larger than the one they wage against each other in this suspenseful drama helmed by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard. When Maggie Gilkeson's (Cate Blanchett) oldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is abducted by a witch doctor-turned-bandit (Eric Schweig), Maggie enlists her estranged father's (Tommy Lee Jones) help to find her. They soon discover that other girls have gone missing, and time's running out."
"A father and daughter reunite for a battle even larger than the one they wage against each other in this suspenseful drama helmed by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard. When Maggie Gilkeson's (Cate Blanchett) oldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is abducted by a witch doctor-turned-bandit (Eric Schweig), Maggie enlists her estranged father's (Tommy Lee Jones) help to find her. They soon discover that other girls have gone missing, and time's running out."
Places in the Heart (1982)***
Seen on 16-9-2009 - Sony Pix movie
Cast: Sally Field (Edna Spalding), John Malkovich (Mr. Will, Blind boarder), Danny Glover (Moze, black man)
Dir. : Robert Benton ("Kramer vs Kramer")
Netflix Summary:
Cast: Sally Field (Edna Spalding), John Malkovich (Mr. Will, Blind boarder), Danny Glover (Moze, black man)
Dir. : Robert Benton ("Kramer vs Kramer")
Netflix Summary:
| "Sally Field won her second Best Actress Oscar as a young widow living in Depression-era Waxahachie, Texas, who's determined to eke out a hardscrabble existence farming cotton on her land. Danny Glover and John Malkovich (playing a blind man) are excellent as hired hands who try to help her make a go of it. Director Robert Benton also won an Oscar for his bittersweet screenplay." IMDB Summary: "Edna Spalding finds herself alone and broke on a small farm in the midst of the Great Depression when her husband the Sheriff is killed in an accident. A wandering black man, Moses, helps her to plant cotten to try and keep her farm and her kids together. She also takes on a blind border, Mr. Will, who lost his sight in the first World War. She must endure storms and harsh labor to try and make her mortage payment on time." |
Monday, September 14, 2009
Quiz Show (1994)**
Seen on 14-9-2009 - Star Movies film
Cast: Ralph Fiennes (Charles Van Doren), John Turturro (Herbie Stempel),...
Dir. : Robert Redford
Set in 50s this is about fixing of the Quiz Shows on the tv to augment their trps. What's even more shocking is that the chief players of this drama are let off at the Congressional Subcommittee hearings although they have confessed to the guilt of fixing.
The thourough investigation into the game fixing of a show that is being watched by millions of people constitute the staple drama of interest in this film. A lot of considerations like Jew-WASP prejudices, things done for mass appeal and ugly stuff like that also come to light in course of investigation: to increase mass appeal of the game show, pretty boy WASP Charles Van Doren is fed answers so he beats geeky Jew Herbie Stempel. However Stempel goes in appeal and initiates the investigatio that throws the whole thing in the face of the NBC channel operators. Details below:
IMDB summary--
"An idealistic young lawyer working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late 1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focuses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel, a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren, the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families. Based on a true story."
Another IMDB summary
"In 1958 when television quiz shows ruled the airwaves, Charles Van Doren was the wildly popular champion of a successful TV show called "Twenty-One." A national celebrity who appeared on the covers of both "Time" and "Life" magazines, Van Doren was an American folk hero. Week after week audiences tuned in to watch as Van Doren, a popular English instructor at Columbia University and the product of one of America's most renowned literary families, seemed to draw from his vast knowledge the correct answers to obscure questions. His charming presence seduced 50 million people into believing him. But the truth is, viewers were fooled and saw only what the network and program's producers wanted them to see. Then someone pulled the plug. When disgruntled contestant Herbie Stempel charged that the quiz game was a fraud, Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin uncovered the facts that exposed the deception, and sent shock waves reverberating across America."
Cast: Ralph Fiennes (Charles Van Doren), John Turturro (Herbie Stempel),...
Dir. : Robert Redford
Set in 50s this is about fixing of the Quiz Shows on the tv to augment their trps. What's even more shocking is that the chief players of this drama are let off at the Congressional Subcommittee hearings although they have confessed to the guilt of fixing.
The thourough investigation into the game fixing of a show that is being watched by millions of people constitute the staple drama of interest in this film. A lot of considerations like Jew-WASP prejudices, things done for mass appeal and ugly stuff like that also come to light in course of investigation: to increase mass appeal of the game show, pretty boy WASP Charles Van Doren is fed answers so he beats geeky Jew Herbie Stempel. However Stempel goes in appeal and initiates the investigatio that throws the whole thing in the face of the NBC channel operators. Details below:
IMDB summary--
"An idealistic young lawyer working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late 1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focuses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel, a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren, the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families. Based on a true story."
Another IMDB summary
"In 1958 when television quiz shows ruled the airwaves, Charles Van Doren was the wildly popular champion of a successful TV show called "Twenty-One." A national celebrity who appeared on the covers of both "Time" and "Life" magazines, Van Doren was an American folk hero. Week after week audiences tuned in to watch as Van Doren, a popular English instructor at Columbia University and the product of one of America's most renowned literary families, seemed to draw from his vast knowledge the correct answers to obscure questions. His charming presence seduced 50 million people into believing him. But the truth is, viewers were fooled and saw only what the network and program's producers wanted them to see. Then someone pulled the plug. When disgruntled contestant Herbie Stempel charged that the quiz game was a fraud, Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin uncovered the facts that exposed the deception, and sent shock waves reverberating across America."
August Rush (2007)**
Seen on 13-9-2009 - HBO movie
Cast: Freddie Highmore (the 11-yr old boy, Evan--'August Rush'), Keri Russell (Lyla, the mother), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Louis, the father), Robin Williams (Maxwell)
Dir. : Kristen Sheridan
This is about a 11-year child prodigy of music estranged from his parents at birth and being reunited miraculously through the power of music. Mom said it's like our own old Yadon Ke Baraat. I agree.
Cast: Freddie Highmore (the 11-yr old boy, Evan--'August Rush'), Keri Russell (Lyla, the mother), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Louis, the father), Robin Williams (Maxwell)
Dir. : Kristen Sheridan
This is about a 11-year child prodigy of music estranged from his parents at birth and being reunited miraculously through the power of music. Mom said it's like our own old Yadon Ke Baraat. I agree.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Just a Walk in the Park (2002)*
Seen on 12-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: George Eads (Adam Willingford), Jane Krakowski (Rachel Morgan)
Dir. : Steven Schachter ("Door to Door" fame)
This is about a dogwalker falling in love with a woman (with her own dog) who mistakes him to be the rich Preston, while he slinks into the role without being able to correct her impression. By the time he prepares to tell her the truth it is too late. Eventually they meet again after a year and are drawn to each other.
Cast: George Eads (Adam Willingford), Jane Krakowski (Rachel Morgan)
Dir. : Steven Schachter ("Door to Door" fame)
This is about a dogwalker falling in love with a woman (with her own dog) who mistakes him to be the rich Preston, while he slinks into the role without being able to correct her impression. By the time he prepares to tell her the truth it is too late. Eventually they meet again after a year and are drawn to each other.
Anapolis (2006)**
Seen on 12-9-2009 - Star movies
Cast: James Franco (Jakes Huard), Tyrese Gibson (Cole), Jordana Brewster (Ali)
Dir. : Justin Lin
It's a young man's (Jakes) dream of making it to Naval Academy but being challenged to redeem himself in his opposition to a black superior officer (Cole).
Cast: James Franco (Jakes Huard), Tyrese Gibson (Cole), Jordana Brewster (Ali)
Dir. : Justin Lin
It's a young man's (Jakes) dream of making it to Naval Academy but being challenged to redeem himself in his opposition to a black superior officer (Cole).
Friday, September 11, 2009
28 Weeeks later (2002)**
Seen on 11-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast:
Dir. : Danny Boyle
IMDB Summary:
"A powerful virus escapes from a British research facility. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage a future, little realising that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them."
Cast:
Dir. : Danny Boyle
IMDB Summary:
"A powerful virus escapes from a British research facility. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage a future, little realising that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them."
Citizen Ruth (1996)***
Seen on 10-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Laura Dern (Ruth Stoopes)
Dir. : Alexander Payne (Oscar for Best Screenplay for Sideways)
--The word "citizen" defines the bias of the film in that the criminal young woman here becomes citizen exercising freedom of her choice. As IMDB Tagline aptly put it, "Life, liberty, money, pursuit of happiness. She's got to have it..."
--This is an explicitly issue-based movie and the issue is abortion. The two warring groups here are the anti-abortionists, or baby savers as they call themselves, and the other pro-choice abortionists.
Both the groups are fanatically committed to their belief and are at loggerheads stymieing each other's moves.
Caught in the cross-fire is a poor, homeless young girl who has a criminal record and is pregnant to boot. She has nowhere to go and the police who have caught her in a crime have threatened to throw her in jail if she is doesn't opt abortion. In this situation her bail is paid by Jesus swearing anti-abortionists (here you have a memorable scenes exposing the hypocritical ways of the devout believers) and she is persuaded to keep the baby. But the opposite sect somehow manage to bring her out of their clutches and arranges an appointment with doctor for abortion. While she is awaiting. The leaders of both groups descend on their helicopters and the confronting groups tempt her with a fat reward (of a princely sum of $15000) if she toes their line. Under tremendous pressure she takes money from one group (the abortionists) and makes good her escape without getting the abortion rather than side with babysavers underlining that she makes her own choice without reference to either.
The movie is good although in summing it up its living experience is completely denatured.
It should be noted that the tone and attitude of the movie is to mock the fanatic Christians by even exposing their hypocrisy.
IMDB Summary:
"Ruth Stoops is a poor indigent drug-user (a huffer - inhaling glue and paint for a high) whose down and out existence is complicated once more by becoming pregnant (she has had and lost four children already). When a judge orders that she gets an abortion or face a felony charge, she is befriended by Gail Stoney, a pro-lifer whose husband is president of the local "Babysavers" group. Suddenly Ruth is thrust into the middle of the pro-choice/pro-life struggle, with each side wanting her to take their side as a "message" to others - and the situation escalates... "
Cast: Laura Dern (Ruth Stoopes)
Dir. : Alexander Payne (Oscar for Best Screenplay for Sideways)
--The word "citizen" defines the bias of the film in that the criminal young woman here becomes citizen exercising freedom of her choice. As IMDB Tagline aptly put it, "Life, liberty, money, pursuit of happiness. She's got to have it..."
--This is an explicitly issue-based movie and the issue is abortion. The two warring groups here are the anti-abortionists, or baby savers as they call themselves, and the other pro-choice abortionists.
Both the groups are fanatically committed to their belief and are at loggerheads stymieing each other's moves.
Caught in the cross-fire is a poor, homeless young girl who has a criminal record and is pregnant to boot. She has nowhere to go and the police who have caught her in a crime have threatened to throw her in jail if she is doesn't opt abortion. In this situation her bail is paid by Jesus swearing anti-abortionists (here you have a memorable scenes exposing the hypocritical ways of the devout believers) and she is persuaded to keep the baby. But the opposite sect somehow manage to bring her out of their clutches and arranges an appointment with doctor for abortion. While she is awaiting. The leaders of both groups descend on their helicopters and the confronting groups tempt her with a fat reward (of a princely sum of $15000) if she toes their line. Under tremendous pressure she takes money from one group (the abortionists) and makes good her escape without getting the abortion rather than side with babysavers underlining that she makes her own choice without reference to either.
The movie is good although in summing it up its living experience is completely denatured.
It should be noted that the tone and attitude of the movie is to mock the fanatic Christians by even exposing their hypocrisy.
IMDB Summary:
"Ruth Stoops is a poor indigent drug-user (a huffer - inhaling glue and paint for a high) whose down and out existence is complicated once more by becoming pregnant (she has had and lost four children already). When a judge orders that she gets an abortion or face a felony charge, she is befriended by Gail Stoney, a pro-lifer whose husband is president of the local "Babysavers" group. Suddenly Ruth is thrust into the middle of the pro-choice/pro-life struggle, with each side wanting her to take their side as a "message" to others - and the situation escalates... "
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
My Life So Far (1999)***+
Seen on 9-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Colin Firth (Edward Pettigrew), Robert Norman (Fraser), Irene Jacob (Heloise)
Dir. : Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire" fame)
Action set in Scottish countryside between the two wars. Narrative unfolds from the point of view of a ten year old boy. It's subtle tale of the processes of growth, of the innocence discovering the double-talk and hypocrisy of the adult world.
The ten-year old Fraser begins by idolising his father Edward, but discovers his clay-feet as he goes along. He discovers too the differences between the strict and disciplined world inhabited by his father and liberal universe of the French aunt, Heloise (wife of his uncle Morris). The prohibitions of his father (Jazz, for example; only Bible and Beethoven are allowed in the house) are loosened by the arrival of his aunt. He discovers that the lateral thinking of his scientist father is constricted by the suppressions of the religion. Also, the film takes care to include scenes like the one where the boy's mother demonstrates her untapped potential of a good singer when she sings with Heloise. She tells her French relative that she had auditioned once but nothing came of it. Such details pile up to create and reinforce the impression that we dealing with the restrictive atmosphere of the household. The boy grows when he begins to dislike the triteness of his father's oft repeated "healthy mind in a healthy body." The boy's precocity and eagerness to learn from books his father has hidden away puts on edge his innocence as well as the adult silences. One of the last scenes show the boy listening to tabooed Jazz music from the disc gifted to him by Heloise while smoking--things that were impossible even to imagine earlier in that house--is a measure of his growth. Also, the dramatic confrontation between Edward and his wife over his adulterous fling leaves him losing his moral authority with the boy and perhaps paved the way for his boldness in listening to the Jazz music in the house, albeit in the privacy of his room...So what started as a loving obedient happy relationship of the boy with his father gradually changes into one where there is love, yes, but with little respect and certainly no fear of the father. The film focuses on this gradual change in the boy and everything, the whole setting, the scenes and script appears to be geared to this purpose.
As usual, the tenor of the film resides in the treatment of detail. And it is superbly done.
Cast: Colin Firth (Edward Pettigrew), Robert Norman (Fraser), Irene Jacob (Heloise)
Dir. : Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire" fame)
Action set in Scottish countryside between the two wars. Narrative unfolds from the point of view of a ten year old boy. It's subtle tale of the processes of growth, of the innocence discovering the double-talk and hypocrisy of the adult world.
The ten-year old Fraser begins by idolising his father Edward, but discovers his clay-feet as he goes along. He discovers too the differences between the strict and disciplined world inhabited by his father and liberal universe of the French aunt, Heloise (wife of his uncle Morris). The prohibitions of his father (Jazz, for example; only Bible and Beethoven are allowed in the house) are loosened by the arrival of his aunt. He discovers that the lateral thinking of his scientist father is constricted by the suppressions of the religion. Also, the film takes care to include scenes like the one where the boy's mother demonstrates her untapped potential of a good singer when she sings with Heloise. She tells her French relative that she had auditioned once but nothing came of it. Such details pile up to create and reinforce the impression that we dealing with the restrictive atmosphere of the household. The boy grows when he begins to dislike the triteness of his father's oft repeated "healthy mind in a healthy body." The boy's precocity and eagerness to learn from books his father has hidden away puts on edge his innocence as well as the adult silences. One of the last scenes show the boy listening to tabooed Jazz music from the disc gifted to him by Heloise while smoking--things that were impossible even to imagine earlier in that house--is a measure of his growth. Also, the dramatic confrontation between Edward and his wife over his adulterous fling leaves him losing his moral authority with the boy and perhaps paved the way for his boldness in listening to the Jazz music in the house, albeit in the privacy of his room...So what started as a loving obedient happy relationship of the boy with his father gradually changes into one where there is love, yes, but with little respect and certainly no fear of the father. The film focuses on this gradual change in the boy and everything, the whole setting, the scenes and script appears to be geared to this purpose.
As usual, the tenor of the film resides in the treatment of detail. And it is superbly done.
"Growing up on a post-World War I Scottish estate, 10-year-old Fraser Pettigrew (Robert Norman) narrates the story of his sometimes-eccentric family, which includes a strong-disciplinarian grandmother (Rosemary Harris), mother (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), moss farmer and would-be inventor father (Colin Firth) and older sister. Turmoil ensues when the boy's uncle (Malcolm MacDowell) arrives with his French maid (Irene Jacob)."--Netflix summary
S
Perfume: Story of a Murderer(2007)***+
Seen on 8-9-2009 - HBO
Cast: Ben Wishaw (Grenoulle), Dustin Hoffman (Baldini)
Dir. : Tom Tykwer
Based on a novel by Patrick Suskind
The essence of things and people is in their smell or so it seems. This extraordinary film most obviously is meant to edify what heavenly experience the olfactory senses can bring to man and for this purpose it even resorts to surrealistic methods. For one completely deficient in this experience, this film comes as something of a revelation. It is appropriate that a film about perfume and their potential for volumptuous sensory experience should be located in France 300 years ago--a medieval world given to appetites of perfumes and wines.
Delivered casually and abandoned soon afterwards by his lowly fishwife mother, Grenoulle has little chance of survival, but the miracle happens. He grows up in the charnel house of an orphanage and later, sold into slavery, at a tannery. But he is endowed with two very unique gifts: he has such an acute sense of smell that he can smell things from miles and smell these countless things at the same time separately; also, he can not only quickly name them apart but retain them in his memory. He demonstrates his skills to a prosperous perfumer when he names the different ingradients of particular beguiling perfume; he even prepares it by effortlessly and rapidly taking from shelves a dozen different things, adding them in the right proportion and produce the exact quantity smelling exactly like difficult perfume in question. When the perfumer is convinced of his incredible gift of smell he buys him out of tannery's slavery and becomes rich for himself with his help.
However Grenoulle is a voluptuary and ambitious: he wants to distill and preserve the essense of things and beauty, especially of young beautiful women. He learns the basic process of distillation from Baldini and with papers from him gains entry into Grasse in Southern France which is considered to be world centre of perfume art.
Here he becomes a serial killer of young beautiful women whose smells he preserves in bottles of distilled liquids. The people become concerned that their daughters are disappearing one after another. Finally when he is apprehended and is prepared for gallows in the city centre something unbelievable happens: all the people of the town gathered there to watch his execution kneel to him in obiesance when waves his perfume scented handkerchief before them, the bishop including. On his return to Versailes the same thing happens--the crowd of gutterpeople gathered there, attracted by his divine scents, flock to him and choke him into total disappearance!
That way this is a fascinating movie.
Cast: Ben Wishaw (Grenoulle), Dustin Hoffman (Baldini)
Dir. : Tom Tykwer
Based on a novel by Patrick Suskind
The essence of things and people is in their smell or so it seems. This extraordinary film most obviously is meant to edify what heavenly experience the olfactory senses can bring to man and for this purpose it even resorts to surrealistic methods. For one completely deficient in this experience, this film comes as something of a revelation. It is appropriate that a film about perfume and their potential for volumptuous sensory experience should be located in France 300 years ago--a medieval world given to appetites of perfumes and wines.
Delivered casually and abandoned soon afterwards by his lowly fishwife mother, Grenoulle has little chance of survival, but the miracle happens. He grows up in the charnel house of an orphanage and later, sold into slavery, at a tannery. But he is endowed with two very unique gifts: he has such an acute sense of smell that he can smell things from miles and smell these countless things at the same time separately; also, he can not only quickly name them apart but retain them in his memory. He demonstrates his skills to a prosperous perfumer when he names the different ingradients of particular beguiling perfume; he even prepares it by effortlessly and rapidly taking from shelves a dozen different things, adding them in the right proportion and produce the exact quantity smelling exactly like difficult perfume in question. When the perfumer is convinced of his incredible gift of smell he buys him out of tannery's slavery and becomes rich for himself with his help.
However Grenoulle is a voluptuary and ambitious: he wants to distill and preserve the essense of things and beauty, especially of young beautiful women. He learns the basic process of distillation from Baldini and with papers from him gains entry into Grasse in Southern France which is considered to be world centre of perfume art.
Here he becomes a serial killer of young beautiful women whose smells he preserves in bottles of distilled liquids. The people become concerned that their daughters are disappearing one after another. Finally when he is apprehended and is prepared for gallows in the city centre something unbelievable happens: all the people of the town gathered there to watch his execution kneel to him in obiesance when waves his perfume scented handkerchief before them, the bishop including. On his return to Versailes the same thing happens--the crowd of gutterpeople gathered there, attracted by his divine scents, flock to him and choke him into total disappearance!
That way this is a fascinating movie.
My Cousin Vinny (1992)***
Seen on 8-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: JoePesci (Vinny Gamibini), Ralph Macchio (Billy), Marisa Tomei (Mona Lisa Vito)
Dir. : Jonathan Lynn
Quirky rookie of a lawyer, Vinny, descends with his garrulous fiance on an Atlanta small town court to save his cousin along with his friend from a possible death penalty. To all appearances he does everything to fail in the case because of his colossal ignorance and lack of experience; however he pulls out a surprise in the end by making smart moves and by exposing the falsity of the witnesses. He goes on to win the case, barely escaping jail and severe sentence for himself.
IMDB summary:
"While heading for college, Bill and Stan are arrested in Alabama when circumstances point to them as having murdered a convenience store clerk. Unable to afford an attorney, they turn to Bill's cousin Vinny, a brash New Yorker who took six tries to pass his bar exam. Worse, until now he's only taken personal injury cases, none of which have gone to trial. Dragging along his even more abrasive fiancee Mona Lisa Vito, Vinny will have to straighten up fast, and keep out of jail himself, if he's going to win the case."
Cast: JoePesci (Vinny Gamibini), Ralph Macchio (Billy), Marisa Tomei (Mona Lisa Vito)
Dir. : Jonathan Lynn
Quirky rookie of a lawyer, Vinny, descends with his garrulous fiance on an Atlanta small town court to save his cousin along with his friend from a possible death penalty. To all appearances he does everything to fail in the case because of his colossal ignorance and lack of experience; however he pulls out a surprise in the end by making smart moves and by exposing the falsity of the witnesses. He goes on to win the case, barely escaping jail and severe sentence for himself.
IMDB summary:
"While heading for college, Bill and Stan are arrested in Alabama when circumstances point to them as having murdered a convenience store clerk. Unable to afford an attorney, they turn to Bill's cousin Vinny, a brash New Yorker who took six tries to pass his bar exam. Worse, until now he's only taken personal injury cases, none of which have gone to trial. Dragging along his even more abrasive fiancee Mona Lisa Vito, Vinny will have to straighten up fast, and keep out of jail himself, if he's going to win the case."
Monday, September 7, 2009
Line of Fire (19930*+
Seen on 07-09-09 - HBO movie
Cast: Clint Eastwood (Frank), Rene Russo (Lilly Raines)
Dir. : Wolfgang Peterson
A secret service agent who had failed to protect President Kennedy continues in the service of another President, but with an acute sense of guilt. He desperately needs redeem himself by saving him against an assissin he knows and one who has a personal issue with him. His enemy is playing games and drives him to frustration.
"Frank Horrigan is a secret service agent who keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when, as a hand-picked agent by President Kennedy, he became one of the few agents to have lost a President to an assassin when Kennedy died. Now, former CIA assassin Mitch Leary is stalking the current President, who is running for re-election. Mitch has spent long hours studying Horrigan, and he taunts Horrigan, telling him of his plans to kill the President. Leary plans to kill the president because Leary feels betrayed by the government -- Leary was removed from the CIA, and the CIA is now trying to have him killed. After talking to Leary, Horrigan makes sure he is assigned to presidential protection duty, working with fellow secret service agent Lilly Raines. Horrigan has no intention of failing his President this time around, and he's more than willing to take a bullet. White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent refuses to alter the President's itinerary, while Horrigan's boss, Secret Service Director Sam Campagna, is supportive of Horrigan. As the election gets closer, Horrigan begins to doubt his own abilities, especially when Horrigan's colleague Al D'Andrea is killed by Leary. But Horrigan may be the only one who can stop Leary. " IMDB summary
Cast: Clint Eastwood (Frank), Rene Russo (Lilly Raines)
Dir. : Wolfgang Peterson
A secret service agent who had failed to protect President Kennedy continues in the service of another President, but with an acute sense of guilt. He desperately needs redeem himself by saving him against an assissin he knows and one who has a personal issue with him. His enemy is playing games and drives him to frustration.
"Frank Horrigan is a secret service agent who keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when, as a hand-picked agent by President Kennedy, he became one of the few agents to have lost a President to an assassin when Kennedy died. Now, former CIA assassin Mitch Leary is stalking the current President, who is running for re-election. Mitch has spent long hours studying Horrigan, and he taunts Horrigan, telling him of his plans to kill the President. Leary plans to kill the president because Leary feels betrayed by the government -- Leary was removed from the CIA, and the CIA is now trying to have him killed. After talking to Leary, Horrigan makes sure he is assigned to presidential protection duty, working with fellow secret service agent Lilly Raines. Horrigan has no intention of failing his President this time around, and he's more than willing to take a bullet. White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent refuses to alter the President's itinerary, while Horrigan's boss, Secret Service Director Sam Campagna, is supportive of Horrigan. As the election gets closer, Horrigan begins to doubt his own abilities, especially when Horrigan's colleague Al D'Andrea is killed by Leary. But Horrigan may be the only one who can stop Leary. " IMDB summary
Journey of August King (1997)**
Seen on 07-09-09 - Star Movies
Cast: Jason Patric (August King), Thundee Newton (Annaless--the runaway slavegirl)
Dir. : John Duigan
"The Journey of August King is a multi-dimensional drama about a North Carolina farmer in 1815. August King, a widower, is on his way home as he does every year after selling his produce and purchasing the stock and goods he will need to survive the winter. On his journey, he comes upon a run-away slave, a young woman about 19 and August King must decide to violate the law and help this slave to freedom or else leave her to be hunted down and, ultimately, returned to her slave owner." IMDB summary
Cast: Jason Patric (August King), Thundee Newton (Annaless--the runaway slavegirl)
Dir. : John Duigan
"The Journey of August King is a multi-dimensional drama about a North Carolina farmer in 1815. August King, a widower, is on his way home as he does every year after selling his produce and purchasing the stock and goods he will need to survive the winter. On his journey, he comes upon a run-away slave, a young woman about 19 and August King must decide to violate the law and help this slave to freedom or else leave her to be hunted down and, ultimately, returned to her slave owner." IMDB summary
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Nanny Diaries (2007)***+
Seen on 4-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Scarlett Johansson[The Other Boleyn Girl, Scoop,etc] (Annie-Nanny), Laura Linney [Driving Lessons, The Truman Show, etc] (Mrs X), Paul Giamatti [ Sideways, Big Fat Liar, The Trueman Show](Mr.X), Chris Evans (Harvard Hottie)
Dir.: Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
"After graduating from Montclair State, New Jersey Girl Annie can't make up her mind about what to do with her life. After saving a little boy from being run over in the park, she is quickly employed as a nanny for a rich Upper East Side couple. Mr X is occupied with his business, Mrs X loves shopping and none of them really likes to spend time with their little boy Grayer. Annie quickly learns that she has more than her hands full with taking care of him. Her busy schedule doesn't give her much spare time. Mrs X fired her last nanny because she was dating and that gives Annie problems when Harvard Hottie who lives in the same building asks her out on a date." IMDB summary.
Cast: Scarlett Johansson[The Other Boleyn Girl, Scoop,etc] (Annie-Nanny), Laura Linney [Driving Lessons, The Truman Show, etc] (Mrs X), Paul Giamatti [ Sideways, Big Fat Liar, The Trueman Show](Mr.X), Chris Evans (Harvard Hottie)
Dir.: Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
"After graduating from Montclair State, New Jersey Girl Annie can't make up her mind about what to do with her life. After saving a little boy from being run over in the park, she is quickly employed as a nanny for a rich Upper East Side couple. Mr X is occupied with his business, Mrs X loves shopping and none of them really likes to spend time with their little boy Grayer. Annie quickly learns that she has more than her hands full with taking care of him. Her busy schedule doesn't give her much spare time. Mrs X fired her last nanny because she was dating and that gives Annie problems when Harvard Hottie who lives in the same building asks her out on a date." IMDB summary.
Resurrecting the Champ (2007)***
Seen on 4-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Samuel L Jackson (Champ), Josh Hartnett (Erik Kernan)
Dir. : Rod Lurie
Cast: Samuel L Jackson (Champ), Josh Hartnett (Erik Kernan)
Dir. : Rod Lurie
"Erik Kernan Jr. (Josh Hartnett) is a young sports reporter for a major Denver newspaper. He is frustrated that his editor is burying some of his reports on sporting events. Ralph Metz (Alan Alda), the editor, explains that Erik's stories are boring, too dry with no personality. Erik's father, dead for some time, had been a famous sports broadcaster. Erik apparently has profited from his father's name, but also has the burden of his style being compared to his father's. Because of his frustration with his editor, Erik is hoping to find other reporting work.
Erik has a 6 year old son who lives with Erik's wife, Joyce (Kathryn Morris). Joyce and Erik are separated. We learn that Erik has tried to make himself seem more important in his boy's eyes than he is by falsely claiming friendships with famous athletes.
Near the parking lot of a sports arena, three possibly drunk young men are deriding an old homeless man (Samuel L. Jackson), who calls himself "Champ" and claims to have been a professional boxer. They obviously don't believe him and force him to fight one of them. He resists but eventually fights back, showing that he really can fight. The three then gang up on him. Erik, leaving a fight he was covering at the arena, comes to Champ's aid. Eventually Erik learns that Champ was once a well regarded contender, Bob Satterfield, who had fought several famous fighters, such as Ezzard Charles and Jake LaMotta. People thought he died long ago.
At a job interview to be a sports writer for a weekly magazine, Erik commits to do a feature story on this fighter and what happened to him after he lost a humiliating major fight. If the magazine owner and editor liked the piece they might hire him. Erik gets Polly (Rachel Nichols), a research assistant at the paper, to dig into old records for information about Bob Satterfield's career and family, while keeping the search secret from Erik's boss. Meanwhile, Erik meets more with Champ. He takes Champ to a relatively minor fight he is assigned to cover, and becomes impressed with the man's boxing expertise that allows Champ to predict a knockout by the underdog.
Erik contacts many of the still-living people who knew Satterfield when he was still up and coming. They are surprised to learn that Satterfield is alive, saying that they had heard he died long ago. He even gets Champ and Jake LaMotta on the phone to talk about old times. However, one contact, Satterfield's son, hangs up on him as soon as he hears Erik's name. Eventually the magazine publishes Erik's article. It is extremeky well received and is picked up by the national media. People suggest it be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
But the publicity brings Erik into contact with more old timers who knew Satterfield and are pretty sure he is long dead. Eventually Erik learns that Champ is not Satterfield after all, but another lesser fighter who Satterfield defeated. Erik is faced with a moral dilemma of announcing his error or suppressing the information and bask in his "success." Erik initially makes the self-serving choice, but he does not find his success to be satisfying. Eventually he decides to tell his editors about the mistake but before he can do so he learns that he and his paper are being sued by Satterfield's son. The son is upset because he and others had long known that Champ was impersonating his father, and because Erik's story falsely said that Satterfield, Jr. and Sr. were estranged. Everyone accuses Erik of not having done due diligence in checking out Champ's authenticiy.
In the end, Satterfield, Jr. is satisfied with Erik's proposal to write another article about his error and including material about Bob Satterfield that Jr. had long wanted someone to publish. Erik discovers that his 6 year old will be proud of his father even if his father does not know the famous people he claimed to know."--IMDB summary
It sounds a little corny that Erik should go to great lengths to impress his 6-year old son that he is not a liar and that he simply trusted the impersonator instead of checking out his facts. Except for this, the film is very engaging.
Erik has a 6 year old son who lives with Erik's wife, Joyce (Kathryn Morris). Joyce and Erik are separated. We learn that Erik has tried to make himself seem more important in his boy's eyes than he is by falsely claiming friendships with famous athletes.
Near the parking lot of a sports arena, three possibly drunk young men are deriding an old homeless man (Samuel L. Jackson), who calls himself "Champ" and claims to have been a professional boxer. They obviously don't believe him and force him to fight one of them. He resists but eventually fights back, showing that he really can fight. The three then gang up on him. Erik, leaving a fight he was covering at the arena, comes to Champ's aid. Eventually Erik learns that Champ was once a well regarded contender, Bob Satterfield, who had fought several famous fighters, such as Ezzard Charles and Jake LaMotta. People thought he died long ago.
At a job interview to be a sports writer for a weekly magazine, Erik commits to do a feature story on this fighter and what happened to him after he lost a humiliating major fight. If the magazine owner and editor liked the piece they might hire him. Erik gets Polly (Rachel Nichols), a research assistant at the paper, to dig into old records for information about Bob Satterfield's career and family, while keeping the search secret from Erik's boss. Meanwhile, Erik meets more with Champ. He takes Champ to a relatively minor fight he is assigned to cover, and becomes impressed with the man's boxing expertise that allows Champ to predict a knockout by the underdog.
Erik contacts many of the still-living people who knew Satterfield when he was still up and coming. They are surprised to learn that Satterfield is alive, saying that they had heard he died long ago. He even gets Champ and Jake LaMotta on the phone to talk about old times. However, one contact, Satterfield's son, hangs up on him as soon as he hears Erik's name. Eventually the magazine publishes Erik's article. It is extremeky well received and is picked up by the national media. People suggest it be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
But the publicity brings Erik into contact with more old timers who knew Satterfield and are pretty sure he is long dead. Eventually Erik learns that Champ is not Satterfield after all, but another lesser fighter who Satterfield defeated. Erik is faced with a moral dilemma of announcing his error or suppressing the information and bask in his "success." Erik initially makes the self-serving choice, but he does not find his success to be satisfying. Eventually he decides to tell his editors about the mistake but before he can do so he learns that he and his paper are being sued by Satterfield's son. The son is upset because he and others had long known that Champ was impersonating his father, and because Erik's story falsely said that Satterfield, Jr. and Sr. were estranged. Everyone accuses Erik of not having done due diligence in checking out Champ's authenticiy.
In the end, Satterfield, Jr. is satisfied with Erik's proposal to write another article about his error and including material about Bob Satterfield that Jr. had long wanted someone to publish. Erik discovers that his 6 year old will be proud of his father even if his father does not know the famous people he claimed to know."--IMDB summary
It sounds a little corny that Erik should go to great lengths to impress his 6-year old son that he is not a liar and that he simply trusted the impersonator instead of checking out his facts. Except for this, the film is very engaging.
Second Generation (2003)***+
Seen on 4-9-2009 - HBO movie
Cast: Parminder Nagra of Bend it Like Beckham fame (Heere), Rita Wolf (Priya), Amita Dhiri (Rina), Ompuri (Sharma), Anupam Kher (Khan), Roshan Seth (Mohan), Danny Dyer (Jack)
Dir.: Jon Sen
"BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM's Parminder Nagra gives a vivid and compelling performance as Heere, an independent young woman who flees from her repressive Indian family in this intense, dramatic, and mature British television show. London's Southall provides the setting for the show's almost Shakespearean plotting, as Heere struggles to understand her cultural identity and place in British culture."--IMDB summary
This is about the life of second generation Indians in London--a generation whose values are conditioned by their life in an alien country and not having little connection with India. They are defiant and self-assertive in a society from which they are alienated (the lyric they sing--whose words are something like "this is the way we are, this is Asian way, do you vibe with it)
Cast: Parminder Nagra of Bend it Like Beckham fame (Heere), Rita Wolf (Priya), Amita Dhiri (Rina), Ompuri (Sharma), Anupam Kher (Khan), Roshan Seth (Mohan), Danny Dyer (Jack)
Dir.: Jon Sen
"BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM's Parminder Nagra gives a vivid and compelling performance as Heere, an independent young woman who flees from her repressive Indian family in this intense, dramatic, and mature British television show. London's Southall provides the setting for the show's almost Shakespearean plotting, as Heere struggles to understand her cultural identity and place in British culture."--IMDB summary
This is about the life of second generation Indians in London--a generation whose values are conditioned by their life in an alien country and not having little connection with India. They are defiant and self-assertive in a society from which they are alienated (the lyric they sing--whose words are something like "this is the way we are, this is Asian way, do you vibe with it)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
She's the One (1996)***+
Seen on 2-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Edward Burns (Micky Fitzpatrick), Mike McGlone (Francis Fitzpatrick), Cameron Diaz
(Heather), Jennifer Aniston (Renee), Maxine Bahns (Hope)
Dir. : Edward Burns--He is also the writer as well as hero of the movie
Of the two siblings Micky drives a taxi and is bohemian knowing and not believing in the direction that his younger brother Francis, the rich Wall St. player, has taken in life. But they are fond of each other. Micky meets an art student Hope and within 24 hrs of meeting marries her. Francis married to beautiful Renee hasn't had sex with his wife for six months and, meanwhile, he has been having an affair with Heather (a former hooker) against his brother's warnings. The younger one messes up with his women although he is the one who is always giving sage advice to his contented-with-simple-life brother Micky.
--The screenplay is good and it is a fun movie.
Cast: Edward Burns (Micky Fitzpatrick), Mike McGlone (Francis Fitzpatrick), Cameron Diaz
(Heather), Jennifer Aniston (Renee), Maxine Bahns (Hope)
Dir. : Edward Burns--He is also the writer as well as hero of the movie
Of the two siblings Micky drives a taxi and is bohemian knowing and not believing in the direction that his younger brother Francis, the rich Wall St. player, has taken in life. But they are fond of each other. Micky meets an art student Hope and within 24 hrs of meeting marries her. Francis married to beautiful Renee hasn't had sex with his wife for six months and, meanwhile, he has been having an affair with Heather (a former hooker) against his brother's warnings. The younger one messes up with his women although he is the one who is always giving sage advice to his contented-with-simple-life brother Micky.
--The screenplay is good and it is a fun movie.
Factory Girl (2006)***
Seen on 2-9-2009 - Star Movies
Cast: Sienne Miller (Edie Sedgwick), Guy Pearce (Andy Warhol)
Dir.: George Hickenlooper
This controversial biopic is based on the dramatic relationship between the legendary Edie Sedgwick(1943-1971) the New York socialite and Andy Warhol, the famous American painter and filmmaker (1938-1987). Sienne Miller's performance as Edie Sidgwick is magnificent. In real life Sedgwick rose to fame because of her relationship with Warhol and later with Bob Dylan.
The film focuses on the tragic decline into obscurity of the beautiful woman who was once hailed as Andy Warhol's muse and who was to work with Bob Dylan in musical productions.
This was screened at 5 am and I sacrificed my precious early morning reading hours to see this film. Well, it was worth it.
Cast: Sienne Miller (Edie Sedgwick), Guy Pearce (Andy Warhol)
Dir.: George Hickenlooper
This controversial biopic is based on the dramatic relationship between the legendary Edie Sedgwick(1943-1971) the New York socialite and Andy Warhol, the famous American painter and filmmaker (1938-1987). Sienne Miller's performance as Edie Sidgwick is magnificent. In real life Sedgwick rose to fame because of her relationship with Warhol and later with Bob Dylan.
The film focuses on the tragic decline into obscurity of the beautiful woman who was once hailed as Andy Warhol's muse and who was to work with Bob Dylan in musical productions.
This was screened at 5 am and I sacrificed my precious early morning reading hours to see this film. Well, it was worth it.
Wicker Park (2004)**
Seen on 1-9-2009 - Zee Studio Movie
Cast: Josh Hartnet (Mathew), Rose Byrne (Alex), Diana Kruger (Lisa), Mathew Lillard (Luke)
An ad executive, Mathew thinks he has seen his long-lost love Lisa before he was to about to go to China, and he cancels his trip to pursue her. But Lisa's friend, Alex (who is Mathew's friend Luke's girlfriend) who sensed his passion for her friend Lisa impersonates her and schemes and plots to make sure he doesn't meet Lisa. A very elaborate drama follows this mistaken identity, but Alex's deceitfulness is exposed in the end and Mathew ends up finding Lisa. Before this happens he meets his fiance and tells her the truth about his childhood friend, Lisa.
"In Chicago, the former photographer and presently advertising executive Matthew (Josh Hartnett) is closing a business deal in a fancy restaurant with a Chinese representative, when he sees a woman that looks like his former passion Lisa (Diane Kruger). Two years ago, Lisa and Matthew had a love affair, and Lisa simply vanished when Matthew invited her to move with him to New York, where he had the invitation for a better job, and Matthew is still obsessed with her. Matthew decides to follow Lisa, and when he meets her, he realizes that Lisa is indeed another woman (Rose Byrne) with the same name. Instead of going on a business trip to China, Matthew stays in Chicago with his friend Luke (Matthew Lillard) and decides to investigate the mystery."--IMDB summary
Cast: Josh Hartnet (Mathew), Rose Byrne (Alex), Diana Kruger (Lisa), Mathew Lillard (Luke)
An ad executive, Mathew thinks he has seen his long-lost love Lisa before he was to about to go to China, and he cancels his trip to pursue her. But Lisa's friend, Alex (who is Mathew's friend Luke's girlfriend) who sensed his passion for her friend Lisa impersonates her and schemes and plots to make sure he doesn't meet Lisa. A very elaborate drama follows this mistaken identity, but Alex's deceitfulness is exposed in the end and Mathew ends up finding Lisa. Before this happens he meets his fiance and tells her the truth about his childhood friend, Lisa.
"In Chicago, the former photographer and presently advertising executive Matthew (Josh Hartnett) is closing a business deal in a fancy restaurant with a Chinese representative, when he sees a woman that looks like his former passion Lisa (Diane Kruger). Two years ago, Lisa and Matthew had a love affair, and Lisa simply vanished when Matthew invited her to move with him to New York, where he had the invitation for a better job, and Matthew is still obsessed with her. Matthew decides to follow Lisa, and when he meets her, he realizes that Lisa is indeed another woman (Rose Byrne) with the same name. Instead of going on a business trip to China, Matthew stays in Chicago with his friend Luke (Matthew Lillard) and decides to investigate the mystery."--IMDB summary
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