'Gone Girl' Starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike'. Directed by David Fincher.
In the U.S. heartland state of Missouri, a weird story unfolds. Nicholas Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home and finds his wife (Rosamund Pike) missing.
From then on, the movie moves backwards and forwards creating a suspense-filled flick as it does. In the end Nicholas and Amy are re-united. The film is directed by David Fincher and scripted by Gillian Flynn who also wrote the novel on which the film is based.
Ben Affleck fills the screen in his role as the bewildered hunk of a husband. Yet in the end, the flick doesn't make sense. As one feminist told me years ago," The most dangerous man a woman will meet is her former husband and/or lover." Crime statistics bear this out. Yet 'Gone Girl' doesn't back up this fact at all.
Also in the film, Amy Dunne suddenly reveals her true character, or the film reveals it. In any case the sudden revelation of where this lady's head is really at, comes too suddenly for this observer. Rosamund Pike tries hard to make her role as Amy Dunne look credible. Yet in the end she fails.
"You have a world class vagina," Nicholas tells Amy in public as they plan to get married in New York City. This is the place where these two writers meet and fall in love. At film's end, a psychically-battered Nicholas asks Amy, "What will we do?"
Quite frankly I couldn't give a damn about the answer to that question. 'Gone Girl' has some good moments and a very good supporting cast that includes Tyler Perry as lawyer Tanner Bolt . Yet in the end I turned thumbs down on 'Gone Girl" It deserves 2 1/2 stars and no more.
Monday, 27 October 2014
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Brooklyn Gangsters
'The Drop'. Starring Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace. Directed by Michael R. Roskam.
Do you like watching people smoke, drink, kill and caress a pit bull dog? If you do you'll like 'The Drop'.
Based on a short story by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the film's script, 'The Drop' stars Tom Hardy, as Bob, a Brooklyn bar tender. "I just tend the bar," Bob Says. He works in a very busy bar that was once owned by his cousin Marv, played by the late James Gandolfini. But eight years ago or so, a group of Chechen gangsters took over the bar and turned it as a drop for illlegal crime money.
Marv still seethes about that. Then a hold-up in the bar, maybe makes him even more angry.
Enter Nadia (Noona Rapace) who helps Bob save a wounded pit bull. To make things even more frightening, along comes a creepy stalker(Matthew Schoenarts), who claims to be a killer, the pit bull's past owner and Nadia's one-time lover.
Nearly all the people in the film are either crooks, killers or both. Nadia may not be. One man who isn't crooked is Detective Ortiz (John Torres). He knows the bar is a front for organized crime. Yet how can you prove this when everybody's closemouthed. And if they tell the police anything, they can be killed.
Belgian director Michael Roskam has given us a sometimes slow moving but scary take on criminals working in gritty working class neighbourhoods in Brooklyn. Nobody here it seems usually talks in anything but monosyllables.
"I was feared," Marv boasts to Bob, Here, Gandolfini is a fine actor, playing in his last film role. In the film, as usual Gandolfini is way overweight and smokes many cigarettes. I guess Brooklyn gangsters believe that cigarettes and alcohol aren't dangerous when compared with real live bullets.
In any case, in 'The Drop' the British actor Tom Hardy overshadows James Gandolfini. Hardy is the film's real star. He looks so innocent and acts so kindly. Yet in 'The Drop' it seems everbody's got blood on their hands.
Do you like watching people smoke, drink, kill and caress a pit bull dog? If you do you'll like 'The Drop'.
Based on a short story by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the film's script, 'The Drop' stars Tom Hardy, as Bob, a Brooklyn bar tender. "I just tend the bar," Bob Says. He works in a very busy bar that was once owned by his cousin Marv, played by the late James Gandolfini. But eight years ago or so, a group of Chechen gangsters took over the bar and turned it as a drop for illlegal crime money.
Marv still seethes about that. Then a hold-up in the bar, maybe makes him even more angry.
Enter Nadia (Noona Rapace) who helps Bob save a wounded pit bull. To make things even more frightening, along comes a creepy stalker(Matthew Schoenarts), who claims to be a killer, the pit bull's past owner and Nadia's one-time lover.
Nearly all the people in the film are either crooks, killers or both. Nadia may not be. One man who isn't crooked is Detective Ortiz (John Torres). He knows the bar is a front for organized crime. Yet how can you prove this when everybody's closemouthed. And if they tell the police anything, they can be killed.
Belgian director Michael Roskam has given us a sometimes slow moving but scary take on criminals working in gritty working class neighbourhoods in Brooklyn. Nobody here it seems usually talks in anything but monosyllables.
"I was feared," Marv boasts to Bob, Here, Gandolfini is a fine actor, playing in his last film role. In the film, as usual Gandolfini is way overweight and smokes many cigarettes. I guess Brooklyn gangsters believe that cigarettes and alcohol aren't dangerous when compared with real live bullets.
In any case, in 'The Drop' the British actor Tom Hardy overshadows James Gandolfini. Hardy is the film's real star. He looks so innocent and acts so kindly. Yet in 'The Drop' it seems everbody's got blood on their hands.
Monday, 25 August 2014
Woody Allen's Latest Film Lacks magic
'Magic In The Moonlight'. Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Colin Firth, Simon McBurney, Emma Stone, Marcia Gay Harden and Hamish Linklater.
First off, credit where credit is due. Woody Allen is 78 years old and started making movies in the late 1960's. He has outlasted nearly all of his contemporaries like Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and other big names who started making films at about the same time as Allen.Unlike them, Allen is still going strong.
So for film goers and Woody Allen that's a good thing. "I don't care about my films being immortal," Allen once said. "I want to be immortal."
Yet his latest film 'Magic in the Moonlight' won't save Allen's life or help his reputation. It's not a great film or even a good one. Still, there are some good things in the film. One of them is the main character Stanley Crawford played by Colin Firth. He's a famous magician in the 1920's who's called Wei Ling Soo when he's performing tricks. Stanley is an ill-tempered abusive rationalist who doesn't believe in spiritualism. So one of his magician friends played by Simon McBirney hauls him off to the south of France.
Here he meets Sophie Baker (Emma Stone), a medium and her mother played by Marcia Gay Harden. Baker can communicate with dead people and is in the film speaking with the dead Mr. Catledge. His wealthy son Brice (Hamish Linklater) is in love with Sophie and expresses his affection for her by playing songs for her, backed up by his harmonica.
Stanley falls in love with Sophie and shows an amazing ability to know Stanley's past and present. "Not another fake psychic," complains Stanley when he first hears about Sophie.
Alas, 'Magic In The Moonlight' lacks the magic of many of Allen's past films. The film is saved from being a complete dud by the acting of Colin Firth and the wonderful camera work of cinematographer Darius Khondji. At times Khondji's camerawork can make a viewer think that he or she is in a landscape painting by Claude Monet or Auguste Renoir.
Yet elsewise, 'Magic' never quite takes off. Emma Stone's character, Sophie Baker, comes off at times as lifeless and dull. The sparks that should fly between Stanley and Sophie, aren't there.
Let's hope that Allen's next film will be a better work than "Magic In The Moonlight'. For this flick lacks the tensions and suspense of Allen's past films.
First off, credit where credit is due. Woody Allen is 78 years old and started making movies in the late 1960's. He has outlasted nearly all of his contemporaries like Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and other big names who started making films at about the same time as Allen.Unlike them, Allen is still going strong.
So for film goers and Woody Allen that's a good thing. "I don't care about my films being immortal," Allen once said. "I want to be immortal."
Yet his latest film 'Magic in the Moonlight' won't save Allen's life or help his reputation. It's not a great film or even a good one. Still, there are some good things in the film. One of them is the main character Stanley Crawford played by Colin Firth. He's a famous magician in the 1920's who's called Wei Ling Soo when he's performing tricks. Stanley is an ill-tempered abusive rationalist who doesn't believe in spiritualism. So one of his magician friends played by Simon McBirney hauls him off to the south of France.
Here he meets Sophie Baker (Emma Stone), a medium and her mother played by Marcia Gay Harden. Baker can communicate with dead people and is in the film speaking with the dead Mr. Catledge. His wealthy son Brice (Hamish Linklater) is in love with Sophie and expresses his affection for her by playing songs for her, backed up by his harmonica.
Stanley falls in love with Sophie and shows an amazing ability to know Stanley's past and present. "Not another fake psychic," complains Stanley when he first hears about Sophie.
Alas, 'Magic In The Moonlight' lacks the magic of many of Allen's past films. The film is saved from being a complete dud by the acting of Colin Firth and the wonderful camera work of cinematographer Darius Khondji. At times Khondji's camerawork can make a viewer think that he or she is in a landscape painting by Claude Monet or Auguste Renoir.
Yet elsewise, 'Magic' never quite takes off. Emma Stone's character, Sophie Baker, comes off at times as lifeless and dull. The sparks that should fly between Stanley and Sophie, aren't there.
Let's hope that Allen's next film will be a better work than "Magic In The Moonlight'. For this flick lacks the tensions and suspense of Allen's past films.
Thursday, 31 July 2014
a movie about boyhood
"Boyhood' A film starring Ella Coltrane, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke. Directed by Richard Linklater.
"The child is father of the man," the poet William Wordsworth wrote over 200 years ago.Whatever kind of man, Mason played by Ella Coltrane turns out to be the film 'Boyhood' turns out to be a pretty good flick.
Spread out over 12 years 'Boyhood' takes place in the state of Texas in the 21st century. When we first meet Mason he's a small child. At the film's end, he's a newly enrolled university student, poised for another romance.
During these 12 years that director Richard Linklater filmed from 2001 to 2013, Mason's parents played all the time by Patricia Arquette and Nathan Hawke, have split up. They live in separate places at the film's beginning.
Arquette marries again to a university professor. "This is the reality," he says at dinner time. "I'm a parent." But he's also a dictatorial alcoholic and a wife beater. End of Arquette's second marriage. And she's on her third coupling at 'Boyhood's' end with an Iraqi veteran.
So goes part of Mason's life as he fights and then bonds with his sister played by director Linklater's daughter, Lorelei Linklater.
Maybe there'll be more future chapters to this film that stretches out for over 166 minutes. One other theme dominates this film and that's the Texas roads and highways. Like life in all the burbs, much of the film's drama takes place in the back or the front of cars.
That too is part of the charm of 'Boyhood'.
"The child is father of the man," the poet William Wordsworth wrote over 200 years ago.Whatever kind of man, Mason played by Ella Coltrane turns out to be the film 'Boyhood' turns out to be a pretty good flick.
Spread out over 12 years 'Boyhood' takes place in the state of Texas in the 21st century. When we first meet Mason he's a small child. At the film's end, he's a newly enrolled university student, poised for another romance.
During these 12 years that director Richard Linklater filmed from 2001 to 2013, Mason's parents played all the time by Patricia Arquette and Nathan Hawke, have split up. They live in separate places at the film's beginning.
Arquette marries again to a university professor. "This is the reality," he says at dinner time. "I'm a parent." But he's also a dictatorial alcoholic and a wife beater. End of Arquette's second marriage. And she's on her third coupling at 'Boyhood's' end with an Iraqi veteran.
So goes part of Mason's life as he fights and then bonds with his sister played by director Linklater's daughter, Lorelei Linklater.
Maybe there'll be more future chapters to this film that stretches out for over 166 minutes. One other theme dominates this film and that's the Texas roads and highways. Like life in all the burbs, much of the film's drama takes place in the back or the front of cars.
That too is part of the charm of 'Boyhood'.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
The revolutionary Jesus
'Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth'. A book by Reza Aslan.
Friedrich Engels, the longtime friend and confederate of Karl Marx, once noted how the ideas of communism and early Christianity were pretty similar.
At first mainly slaves and poor peasants became Christians. "Like socialism" writes Sylvia M. Hale, "Christianity promised forthcoming salvation from bondage and misery." .Of course, Christianity said all of this would happen in the afterlife and not on earth. Socialism differed on this point and at one time promised freedom in the here and now.
Now Reza Aslan, an Iranian-born author has brought back to life the supposedly real Jesus. And Aslan's Jesus is a revolutionary. In the historic Israel of 2,000 years ago there were dozens of revolutionary Jews. They sought to overthrow the Roman rulers and kick out the wealthy Jews who supported Rome. Aslan does a good job here of showing what Roman-ruled Israel was like. It certainly was no paradise.
Jesus, according to Aslan was a revolutionary. So was John the Baptist who, says Aslan, was Jesus's mentor. And as Aslan points out these two men weren't the only hell raisers around. All these people rallied poor Jews to their side. Yet in the end all these Jews were crushed. From 66 to 70 C.E. the Roman legions wiped out the revolutionary Jews and scattered them to the four corners of the world.
"In this imaginary Kingdom of God," Aslan says about the hopes of the revolutionary Jews, "wealth will be distributed and debts will be cancelled."" The rich will be made poor and the powerful will be become powerless.
Aslan's Jesus doesn't believe in non-violence either. He urged the Jews to use violence if necessary.
But though I like this version of Jesus, is it the true one? Some reviewers and biblical scholars, who are far more knowledgeable on biblical matters than me, have doubted Aslan's story. One other reviewer points out that Aslan's use of the Gospels is inconsistent. On some points he uses the Gospels. At other times he trashes them.
So if you want a revolutionary version of Jesus, a sort of Hugo Chavez of 2,000 years ago, pick up and read Aslan's book. Yet if you favour a more conventional type of Jesus, stay away from 'Zealot'. I liked the book but it may be untrue.
Friedrich Engels, the longtime friend and confederate of Karl Marx, once noted how the ideas of communism and early Christianity were pretty similar.
At first mainly slaves and poor peasants became Christians. "Like socialism" writes Sylvia M. Hale, "Christianity promised forthcoming salvation from bondage and misery." .Of course, Christianity said all of this would happen in the afterlife and not on earth. Socialism differed on this point and at one time promised freedom in the here and now.
Now Reza Aslan, an Iranian-born author has brought back to life the supposedly real Jesus. And Aslan's Jesus is a revolutionary. In the historic Israel of 2,000 years ago there were dozens of revolutionary Jews. They sought to overthrow the Roman rulers and kick out the wealthy Jews who supported Rome. Aslan does a good job here of showing what Roman-ruled Israel was like. It certainly was no paradise.
Jesus, according to Aslan was a revolutionary. So was John the Baptist who, says Aslan, was Jesus's mentor. And as Aslan points out these two men weren't the only hell raisers around. All these people rallied poor Jews to their side. Yet in the end all these Jews were crushed. From 66 to 70 C.E. the Roman legions wiped out the revolutionary Jews and scattered them to the four corners of the world.
"In this imaginary Kingdom of God," Aslan says about the hopes of the revolutionary Jews, "wealth will be distributed and debts will be cancelled."" The rich will be made poor and the powerful will be become powerless.
Aslan's Jesus doesn't believe in non-violence either. He urged the Jews to use violence if necessary.
But though I like this version of Jesus, is it the true one? Some reviewers and biblical scholars, who are far more knowledgeable on biblical matters than me, have doubted Aslan's story. One other reviewer points out that Aslan's use of the Gospels is inconsistent. On some points he uses the Gospels. At other times he trashes them.
So if you want a revolutionary version of Jesus, a sort of Hugo Chavez of 2,000 years ago, pick up and read Aslan's book. Yet if you favour a more conventional type of Jesus, stay away from 'Zealot'. I liked the book but it may be untrue.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
The Holy Land Revisited
Bethlehem; Starring Tsahi Halevi and Shadi Mar'i. Directed by Yuval Adler. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.
Do Palestinians and Israelis ever agree on anything? Sometimes they do. For they've both recently made films on young Palestinians who have links to Israeli intelligence agents.
'Bethlehem' directed by Yuval Adler an Israeli, isn't a love story like 'Omar' that was directed by a Palestinian. Yet like 'Omar' this film doesn't have a happy ending.
In 'Bethlehem' the young Sanfur (Shadi Mar'i) is in constant contact with Razi (Tsahi Halevi) an Israeli agent. Yet Sanfur has a brother Ibrahim who is a terrorist, at least according to the Israelis. The Arabs would call him ' A freedom fighter'.
"You want to search my underwear too?" Sanfur snaps at an Israeli soldier. And a freedom fighter/terrorist says after Ibrahim is captured, "We will turn Tel Aviv into a big graveyard."
No Israeli or Arab film I've seen has caught so well the terrible hostilities that erupt between Israeli and Palestinian and between Palestinians and Palestinians as 'Bethlehem' does. Armed men pop up everywhere, all of them ready to kill and be killed. A wonderful scene in a hospital where a wounded Razi plays backgammon with an older Palestinian, tells us graphically what happens to Palestinian informants.
Yet here I think director Adler goes overboard and weights the film in favour of Israel. Nor is this the only time when the film seems stacked against the Palestinians.
Still, perhaps this is the only fair viewpoint of many Israeli citizens .
In any case Sanfur does get his revenge. "Don't ever call me again," Sanfur tells Razi over the phone. Yet the two do get together one last time with tragic results.
Maybe one day Israelis and Palestinians will live together in peace and harmony. Yet as 'Bethlehem' shows, as did 'Omar', that day may be a long way off.
Do Palestinians and Israelis ever agree on anything? Sometimes they do. For they've both recently made films on young Palestinians who have links to Israeli intelligence agents.
'Bethlehem' directed by Yuval Adler an Israeli, isn't a love story like 'Omar' that was directed by a Palestinian. Yet like 'Omar' this film doesn't have a happy ending.
In 'Bethlehem' the young Sanfur (Shadi Mar'i) is in constant contact with Razi (Tsahi Halevi) an Israeli agent. Yet Sanfur has a brother Ibrahim who is a terrorist, at least according to the Israelis. The Arabs would call him ' A freedom fighter'.
"You want to search my underwear too?" Sanfur snaps at an Israeli soldier. And a freedom fighter/terrorist says after Ibrahim is captured, "We will turn Tel Aviv into a big graveyard."
No Israeli or Arab film I've seen has caught so well the terrible hostilities that erupt between Israeli and Palestinian and between Palestinians and Palestinians as 'Bethlehem' does. Armed men pop up everywhere, all of them ready to kill and be killed. A wonderful scene in a hospital where a wounded Razi plays backgammon with an older Palestinian, tells us graphically what happens to Palestinian informants.
Yet here I think director Adler goes overboard and weights the film in favour of Israel. Nor is this the only time when the film seems stacked against the Palestinians.
Still, perhaps this is the only fair viewpoint of many Israeli citizens .
In any case Sanfur does get his revenge. "Don't ever call me again," Sanfur tells Razi over the phone. Yet the two do get together one last time with tragic results.
Maybe one day Israelis and Palestinians will live together in peace and harmony. Yet as 'Bethlehem' shows, as did 'Omar', that day may be a long way off.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Violence in Cuba but not from Castro
'3 Days in Havana' Starring Gil Bellows and Greg Wise. Directed by Tony Pantages and Gil Bellows.
Be careful of Canadian tourists.
That's the message Cubans and others may take away after seeing '3 Days in Havana'. Jack Petty (Gil Bellows) seems like a polite Vancouver-based insurance salesman who comes off the tarmac in Havana looking like innocence itself.
Bellows played in t.v.'s 'Ally McBeal' for many years.
Then he meets a Scotsman named Harry Smith. He's supposedly a travel journalist. Yet played by Greg Wise, a t.v. star from the U.K., Smith in fact is a cocaine-sniffing gangster.
Co-directors Vancouver's Tony Pantages and Bellows show us all the sights and sounds of touristy Havana. There's crumbling sidewalks, dance halls full of exotic-looking women, dozens of Cuban cigar smoking people, old model U.S. cars and even synchronized swimmers who do their stuff in near empty swimming pools.
Cinematographer Peter Stathis has given a wide view of Havana which includes a visit to Ernest Hemingway's old drinking spot. Here, a bronze statue of Hemongway leans on the bar waiting to be served another whisky.
"You've been playing both sides, haven't you?" one man who follows Petty around, tells him. Soon Petty ends up in the hands of gangsters who nearly beat him to death.
"You're the unluckiest fuck in this planet," one of his torturers tells him.
Yet the beginning and end of this film don't seem to fit the film. Some other scenes seem pasted on for effect. And Petty's sudden turning from a regular insurance salesman into a snarling man of action, strikes me as unreal.
In any case, '3 Days in Havana' is full of fun, drinking, and alas, murder. So Cubans beware! Some Canadian tourists could be dangerous, even if they say, "I just sell insurance."
Be careful of Canadian tourists.
That's the message Cubans and others may take away after seeing '3 Days in Havana'. Jack Petty (Gil Bellows) seems like a polite Vancouver-based insurance salesman who comes off the tarmac in Havana looking like innocence itself.
Bellows played in t.v.'s 'Ally McBeal' for many years.
Then he meets a Scotsman named Harry Smith. He's supposedly a travel journalist. Yet played by Greg Wise, a t.v. star from the U.K., Smith in fact is a cocaine-sniffing gangster.
Co-directors Vancouver's Tony Pantages and Bellows show us all the sights and sounds of touristy Havana. There's crumbling sidewalks, dance halls full of exotic-looking women, dozens of Cuban cigar smoking people, old model U.S. cars and even synchronized swimmers who do their stuff in near empty swimming pools.
Cinematographer Peter Stathis has given a wide view of Havana which includes a visit to Ernest Hemingway's old drinking spot. Here, a bronze statue of Hemongway leans on the bar waiting to be served another whisky.
"You've been playing both sides, haven't you?" one man who follows Petty around, tells him. Soon Petty ends up in the hands of gangsters who nearly beat him to death.
"You're the unluckiest fuck in this planet," one of his torturers tells him.
Yet the beginning and end of this film don't seem to fit the film. Some other scenes seem pasted on for effect. And Petty's sudden turning from a regular insurance salesman into a snarling man of action, strikes me as unreal.
In any case, '3 Days in Havana' is full of fun, drinking, and alas, murder. So Cubans beware! Some Canadian tourists could be dangerous, even if they say, "I just sell insurance."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)