Shoot 'Em Up
Director: Michael Davis
Stars:
Clive Owen
Monica Bellucci
Paul Giamatti
Synopsis:
A complete stranger called simply, Smith (Clive Owen) becomes the unexpected guardian of a new born after he tries to help the mother fiend off killers. Smith, not a stranger to gangland style violence bucks up and takes charge. He contacts a call girl (Monica Bellucci) he usually goes to help him take care of the child. The bad guys still wanting the child have their own resources and are constantly on Smith's heels.
Review:
If you like action, this movie is for you. It has a nice blend of storyline that doesn't get in the way of the action. If you plan to watch this film with friends who are hell bent on realism tell them to leave their disbelief at the door because this movie doesn't take reality into consideration. The visuals of the movie are really good. I particularly liked wide screen over head shot of the main character walking around a field in the aftermath of a mid-air battle, he just had; it made me giggle.
I also liked the way the main character's role was written. The viewer never truly knows where he came from, what his background is, or how he got to be so resourceful. The only thing the viewer really gets to know is the guy was sitting there minding his own business, drinking a coffee when he saw a pregnant woman being chased by guys with guns. Oh and he is a wicked good shot and frequents the red light district.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Director:Chris Paine
Writer:Chris Paine
Review: A documentary about the small amount of electric cars that came out in the late 90's and early 2000's. The documentary is very informative and well thought out. I liked how the facts were presented and also how they were able to get on film car manufactures representatives contradicting themselves and trying to misinform the public about the cars. the film goes into details about certain aspects as to why the electric car failed and how not all of the information being presented was accurate or how the ad campaigns were designed to make the consumer feel disconnected from the new technology.
It is obvious the documentary was shot over years of trying to fight the car manufactures to keep the cars on the road. Which as we all know did not work, thanks to several misdeeds of the government, government officials, oil companies, consumers, and car manufactures. If you have not seen this documentary I suggest you do. It is an eye opener and it is sad to think we had the answer to our gas problem so long ago and no one bothered to look or we were persuaded not to look by the government, oil companies and car manufactures.
Director:Chris Paine
Writer:Chris Paine
Review: A documentary about the small amount of electric cars that came out in the late 90's and early 2000's. The documentary is very informative and well thought out. I liked how the facts were presented and also how they were able to get on film car manufactures representatives contradicting themselves and trying to misinform the public about the cars. the film goes into details about certain aspects as to why the electric car failed and how not all of the information being presented was accurate or how the ad campaigns were designed to make the consumer feel disconnected from the new technology.
It is obvious the documentary was shot over years of trying to fight the car manufactures to keep the cars on the road. Which as we all know did not work, thanks to several misdeeds of the government, government officials, oil companies, consumers, and car manufactures. If you have not seen this documentary I suggest you do. It is an eye opener and it is sad to think we had the answer to our gas problem so long ago and no one bothered to look or we were persuaded not to look by the government, oil companies and car manufactures.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Women (1939)
The Women
Director:
George Cukor
Cast:
Norma Shearer
Joan Crawford
Rosalind Russell
Mary Boland
Paulette Goddard
Phyllis Povah
Joan Fontaine
Virginia Weidler
Lucile Watson
Marjorie Main
Hedda Hopper
Florence Nash
Synopsis:
Mrs. Mary Haines (Norma Shearer) is a New York elitist's wife, who finds out he is having an affair with a perfume counter girl, Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). She finds out because two of her gossipy friends Mrs. Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell) and Edith Potter (Phyllis Povah) hear a manicurist talk about one of her friend's and Mrs. Haines's husband's affair.
Mary now has to decide if she is going to break up her family and file for divorce or swallow her pride and continue on like nothing happened. The decision to ignore it is nearly made impossible because of Mary's gossiping friends and her husband's blatant flaunting of the affair. After a confrontation with Crystal, Mary is left with saving her pride or her family.
Mary goes off to Reno where she meets The Countess DeLave (Mary Boland) and Miriam Aarons (Paulette Goddard). She has opted for the divorce and is staying at a ranch run by Lucy (Marjorie Main) for divorcee's in waiting. Later on Sylvia joins Mary at the ranch because she too is getting a divorce from her husband.
Later on Sylvia becomes friends with Crystal after she marries Mr. Haines. Mary decides stay on the outskirts of the gossip crowd, but keeps in touch with The Countess who has remarried a man named Buck and with Miriam who ended up marrying Sylvia's ex-husband. Mary still hears some of the gossip but mostly keeps to herself. After she finds out that Crystal is having an affair she decides to take back what is hers and confronts Crystal one last time.
Review:
Despite most of the characters being married it is an all female cast. No men are main characters or leads in this production which for 1939 was almost unheard of. The script is well written and the actresses play their parts very well. There is a remake coming in 2008 which I am sure will be updated to fit the times. This film is a great classic so the remake has a lot to live up to.
Watching this film shows how much hasn't really changed with the female mind set. I am speaking in terms of the cattiness that is displayed by all but one character (Mary). In a way it is sure to remind every female of that one friend who they knew really wasn't but was only there to cause trouble or stir the pot so to speak. I am sure we all have that one person we know that is more tolerated than anything.
If you are planning to catch the remake of this film then you may want to see the original first with the original cast. This way if the remake doesn't measure up you won't be put off from seeing the original.
Director:
George Cukor
Cast:
Norma Shearer
Joan Crawford
Rosalind Russell
Mary Boland
Paulette Goddard
Phyllis Povah
Joan Fontaine
Virginia Weidler
Lucile Watson
Marjorie Main
Hedda Hopper
Florence Nash
Synopsis:
Mrs. Mary Haines (Norma Shearer) is a New York elitist's wife, who finds out he is having an affair with a perfume counter girl, Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). She finds out because two of her gossipy friends Mrs. Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell) and Edith Potter (Phyllis Povah) hear a manicurist talk about one of her friend's and Mrs. Haines's husband's affair.
Mary now has to decide if she is going to break up her family and file for divorce or swallow her pride and continue on like nothing happened. The decision to ignore it is nearly made impossible because of Mary's gossiping friends and her husband's blatant flaunting of the affair. After a confrontation with Crystal, Mary is left with saving her pride or her family.
Mary goes off to Reno where she meets The Countess DeLave (Mary Boland) and Miriam Aarons (Paulette Goddard). She has opted for the divorce and is staying at a ranch run by Lucy (Marjorie Main) for divorcee's in waiting. Later on Sylvia joins Mary at the ranch because she too is getting a divorce from her husband.
Later on Sylvia becomes friends with Crystal after she marries Mr. Haines. Mary decides stay on the outskirts of the gossip crowd, but keeps in touch with The Countess who has remarried a man named Buck and with Miriam who ended up marrying Sylvia's ex-husband. Mary still hears some of the gossip but mostly keeps to herself. After she finds out that Crystal is having an affair she decides to take back what is hers and confronts Crystal one last time.
Review:
Despite most of the characters being married it is an all female cast. No men are main characters or leads in this production which for 1939 was almost unheard of. The script is well written and the actresses play their parts very well. There is a remake coming in 2008 which I am sure will be updated to fit the times. This film is a great classic so the remake has a lot to live up to.
Watching this film shows how much hasn't really changed with the female mind set. I am speaking in terms of the cattiness that is displayed by all but one character (Mary). In a way it is sure to remind every female of that one friend who they knew really wasn't but was only there to cause trouble or stir the pot so to speak. I am sure we all have that one person we know that is more tolerated than anything.
If you are planning to catch the remake of this film then you may want to see the original first with the original cast. This way if the remake doesn't measure up you won't be put off from seeing the original.
I Am Legend
I Am Legend
Director: Francis Lawrence
Actors:
Will Smith
Alice Braga
Charlie Tahan
Synopsis:
A cure for cancer causes most of the US population to become zombies. One scientist Dr. Robert Neveill (Will Smith), a military doctor stays behind in New York city which is riddled with zombies, to discover the cure and save the world. Robert himself is immune to the air borne and blood contact form of the virus. He also sends out a message on the AM radio waves looking for survivors but he doesn't really hope to find any. He surprised to find out there are survivors and possibly more but being on his own for so long has him skeptical. He feels doomed to his fate of staying behind because he feels partly responsible for the death of his family and the spread of the virus.
Review:
When I first heard of this movie two others came to mind. Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth. I Am Legend is a remake of Omega Man and is based on the book "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. The CGI is pretty good and Will Smith does a good job of carrying the movie. Since the viewer only sees one human, Robert Neveill, for over half the film it is easy to say this role is a make or break commodity for a movie, put the wrong actor in this role and the film would be buried.
I'm not saying Will Smith does a spectacular performance but he carries the movie just fine. It is also nice to see a post apocalyptic movie with zombies portray them as more than just slow moving, mindless, want to eat your brains, zombies. For Example, when Robert captured a female zombie and took her back to his lab for testing, her mate mimicked Robert's trap and effectively used it against him.
The movie toward the end showed the parallel between Robert and the male lead zombie. The leader of the zombies showed tactical thinking with creating traps and having trained zombie dogs. Robert had a military background and a trained dog. The lead zombie also showed he in a sense cared about his mate and though animal like showed emotion toward being picked on by a human.
It's a good movie but I would not call it a blockbuster. If you can catch it on a matinee cool, but if you really don't want to spend the money you can always wait for DVD which will probably have extras, alternate endings and maybe a blooper reel.
Director: Francis Lawrence
Actors:
Will Smith
Alice Braga
Charlie Tahan
Synopsis:
A cure for cancer causes most of the US population to become zombies. One scientist Dr. Robert Neveill (Will Smith), a military doctor stays behind in New York city which is riddled with zombies, to discover the cure and save the world. Robert himself is immune to the air borne and blood contact form of the virus. He also sends out a message on the AM radio waves looking for survivors but he doesn't really hope to find any. He surprised to find out there are survivors and possibly more but being on his own for so long has him skeptical. He feels doomed to his fate of staying behind because he feels partly responsible for the death of his family and the spread of the virus.
Review:
When I first heard of this movie two others came to mind. Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth. I Am Legend is a remake of Omega Man and is based on the book "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. The CGI is pretty good and Will Smith does a good job of carrying the movie. Since the viewer only sees one human, Robert Neveill, for over half the film it is easy to say this role is a make or break commodity for a movie, put the wrong actor in this role and the film would be buried.
I'm not saying Will Smith does a spectacular performance but he carries the movie just fine. It is also nice to see a post apocalyptic movie with zombies portray them as more than just slow moving, mindless, want to eat your brains, zombies. For Example, when Robert captured a female zombie and took her back to his lab for testing, her mate mimicked Robert's trap and effectively used it against him.
The movie toward the end showed the parallel between Robert and the male lead zombie. The leader of the zombies showed tactical thinking with creating traps and having trained zombie dogs. Robert had a military background and a trained dog. The lead zombie also showed he in a sense cared about his mate and though animal like showed emotion toward being picked on by a human.
It's a good movie but I would not call it a blockbuster. If you can catch it on a matinee cool, but if you really don't want to spend the money you can always wait for DVD which will probably have extras, alternate endings and maybe a blooper reel.
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