The Brave One (2007)

The Brave One was an interesting movie, with a good characters. Its not the greatest movie ever made or life changing, but a cool story to watch unfold and develop. Its something to watch if it is playing on TNT or lifetime.

Directed by Neil Jordan (Breakfast On Pluto, Interview With a Vampire) and staring Jodie Foster and Terrance Howard as its main characters, The Brave One tells the story of Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) and her struggle with losing her fiancé. After being mugged with her husband in central park and being beaten into a coma, and her husband dying, Erica feels unsafe in the “safest city” in the world. She describes feeling as a stranger, and in order to get over what had happened to her fiancé, she had to become someone else. In order to feel protected and safe she illegally buys a hand gun for “just in case” situations. Erica’s day job is a radio talk show host that has many listeners in the New York area, including a Detective Mercer (Terrance Howard) who is a big fan. Once he hears about the beating and killing of Erica and her fiancé, he personally looks into the case and becomes close friends with Erica. As Erica goes about her daily life, with a gun always in her purse, she stumbles upon situations where she needed to use the gun for self defense, safety and justice. After several killings done by her out of self defense, Detective Mercer starts to suspect her. Many people are calling this killer a vigilante because she is killing thugs, drug dealers, pimps and so forth. Erica doesn’t shake at the feeling with killing someone, and is now determined to find the gang that killed her fiancé. The ending is surprising, and I wont spoil the movie any more than I have, but its good. What will happen? Will Mercer stop her? Join her? Help her? Or not get to her in time?

I liked and disliked this movie for many different reasons. Not a lot on both sides of the argument, but I defiantly liked the movie more than I disliked. First off, this plot has done several times, and it has been done way better. So it wasn’t something that was to original for me to see. It was slow at the begging, and didn’t really pick up for me till almost half way through. Terrance Howard got on my nerves by almost looking and sounding like he was going to cry in every scene. Jodi Foster wore these sunglasses in the movie that just bothered me, they didn’t look good at all, and she is a good looking woman. There were just some cheesy one liners that cops would say, for example, when there was a murder on the subway, one cop says “I hope this was his last stop”

Things I liked about the movie were Jodi Foster, and the bold face character she played. She truly transformed characters from the begging to the end. She went from sweet to lifeless. I really enjoyed her character. I also enjoyed the killing scenes she had. They weren’t over done, and they felt like a good justice kill. I really enjoyed listening to her talk show bits in the movie. She had a great poetic voice, and used such great words and descriptions to explain her feelings. I really liked the ending, I thought it was a good ending to this film. I liked that it took place in upper Westside. There was a shot of her getting into the 103 street subway stop, which is the one right by my apartment, and the one I take every morning. So that was cool. I also liked that it took place in New York

Overall, this movie is good. If it is on TV, I would say watch it. I see it being a lifetime movie or something. But its not something to buy, and watch over and over again. Its an alright rent, I don’t know if I would ever recommend it to someone to rent. I think its TV quality, like if its on TV, watch it, other than that, I don’t think you need to bother or are missing out on much.

Green Street Hooligans 2

(Green Street) Hooligans 2-Stand Your Ground

When I first discovered that they made green street hooligans 2, I nearly wet myself I was laughing so hard. Not to say that the first green street hooligans wasn’t good, in-fact I still love that movie. Green street hooligans was an amazing movie done by Lexi Anderson who ended up directing the new punisher movie, which is an interesting film carrier for a women director. Green street hooligans is tough to beat when you have Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) as your main characters. But that movie left no room for a sequel, or at least a good one when you think about it. This brings us to GSH 2.

GSH2 first only has one returning character from the first movie, which is “Dave” played by Ross McCall. Reading the plot of the movie before actually seeing it gave me very low expectations. But once I saw it, I was more pleased than I thought I would be. So as I give you the plot of this movie, don’t jump to conclusions on how bad you think it might be.

The plot is follows the deadly climax of "Green Street Hooligans," several members of the West Ham firm and numerous members of Millwall end up in jail. The GSE quickly discover the brutality of life on the inside, as they are constant targets of the superior numbers and better-financed Millwall crew. Football on the inside and out is followed fervently by the prisoners and wins and losses by both are quickly followed by punishment or reward. This could mean a beating or an extra shower or a day of visitation, which inspires extreme behavior. When overcrowding compels a need for the early release of a fortunate few, fate brings West Ham and Millwall together again this time on a Pitch. The stakes are the highest they have ever been for all concerned with death or freedom quite literally a goal away. Game on. So in a nut shell, lots of gang violence and fights.

The movie was mostly gang violence and fights. Well, firm (futbol gangs) violence and fights. They fight because they root for different teams. Soccer is obviously more than a game. Books and movies like fever pitch written by Nick Hornby would agree that futbol is just more than a game, but most people don’t see it that way. I have to admit, some of the violence I could just not watch. One scene a man gets beat to death with a weight in the workout room and it is a bloody mess. The actual soccer playing in the movie was complete crap as well. It was boring to watch. One great soccer movie with sweet jail revenge involved is “Mean Machine” with Vinnie Jones, but besides that, green street hooligans 2 was better than I thought it was going to be, but it was still crap.

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road

It was a great story overall. I never read the book, but from how well the writing of the script was I could tell that the book must have been amazing. It was so poetic, full of wonderful profound things. I really did like this movie, but I wouldn’t say I loved this movie. It was good, a good drama, but it was a bit slow and heavy for me. I had very mixed feelings about the movie. I will express them through out this small review.

 

One thing I did like in this movie was that there was very little swearing, and no pornography. I think that shows a lot of class when the writer can find other ways to express what he wants to say without resulting to foul language. When there was swearing in the movie it almost felt necessary somehow. But nonetheless, I thought that the writing was done really well.

 

I am usually not a huge fan of Kate Winslets looks, but I think this is the first movie where I was just drawn to her beauty. It was weird. She just looked really good in this movie, and the way she played her character made her seem and feel so young. It’s hard to compare her to her role in “The Reader” but she did a fabulous job in this movie as well. She played a very convincing immature and also confused housewife, which I feel most of them are.

 

Leo did a great job as the father and husband in this movie. He is a great and fabulous actor all around. I can’t think of to many movies with him in it where I just want to walk away or turn off. Anyways, he did great in this. He portrays a good young father who wants to do what’s best for his family, and just be able to support them at any costs.

 

Other great characters carried the movie on as well. Cathy Bates had a small part of a nosey neighborhood realtor who has a crazy smart son but cant keep his mouth shut. I really enjoyed them in this movie. David Harbour did a great job as a the family friend who tries to help Leo and Kate through out the film. But overall, Kate and Leo were the main focus of the film.

 

The cinematography and art direction was just so good in this movie. It took place in Conn. in the 1950’s. There were very many beautiful sunshine shoots, and dramatic scenes that were done with the perfect amount of light. The lighting in this movie definitely made it more dramatic, and it gave the film such a good touch. The costumes in this were good. Very old school, and some of the dresses that Kate wore in the movie were just elegant.

 

The Plot of the movie in a nut shell is A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates and directed by Sam Mendes  Who has directed Jarhead, Road to Perdition and American Beauty, this movie has a lot of things going for it. But still, I had mix feelings about it. I can’t tell you why. The movie had some good twists to it, especially at the end.

 

It was beautiful overall. Some great lines I liked in it were “But I don't. I hate you. You were just some boy who made me laugh at a party once, and now I loathe the sight of you. In fact, if you come any closer, if you touch me or anything, I think I'll scream.” –Kate Winselt. And “No, Frank. This is what's unrealistic. It's unrealistic for a man with a fine mind to go on working year after year at a job he can't stand. Coming home to a place he can't stand, to a wife who's equally unable to stand the same things. And you know what the worst part of it is? Our whole existence here is based on this great premise that we're special. They we're superior to the whole thing. But we're not. We're just like everyone else! We bought into the same, ridiculous delusion. That we have to resign from life and settle down the moment we have children. And we've been punishing each other for it.”-Kate Winselt.

 

I think that Kate took the show on this movie. She made the movie good, and Leo was the perfect support for it. All in all, I would recommend seeing it, but I would recommend to read it first. I feel that the book is tons better than the movie. I feel that there was so much more that needed to be said. 

I Love You Man!

I LOVED I love you man. It was so good. Francesco and I both agree - best comedy of 2009 thus far. It was definitely the most real comedy I’ve seen in a while. Not that I could get away with this comparison, BUT it kind of reminded me of an immature Woody Allen film. Less funny, because Woody Allen is the greatest, but in the sense that Woody tended to write romantic comedies that were actually believable and could have been based on real life. And for that, it was gold.

I think this is a good comedy that wasn’t touched by Jude Aptow. Not that I have anything against him. I loved pineapple express, but this didn’t have the same over usage of the F word, sex talk, or raunchy porn scenes. I’d say overall a good clean movie that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to see with my parents.

      Okay so the movie was written and directed by John Hamburg who did “Along came Polly,” “Meet the Parents,” and some episodes of “Stella”. He had an all-star cast, including Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Jon Favreau, Joe Lo Truglio, Jason Segel, Lou Ferrigno, J.K. Simmons and Andy Samberg. They were all so perfect for this Bromantic comedy. In my opinion, everyone did an EXCEPTIONAL job. I SERIOUSLY enjoyed this movie, and I honestly can’t get over how much I laughed throughout.

      AND for the plot- Paul Rudd has never really had guy friends, always been a girlfriend kind of guy and always puts women first. So, when he gets engaged, it starts a bit of an uproar concerning who will be his best man or his groomsmen (opposite of the usual sense, in that he has NO male friends). He ends up seeking help from his father, played by J.K. Simmons, and his gay brother, Andy Samberg. The solution is going on “man dates,” but none of them are successful. However, while trying to sell Lou Ferrigno’s house, he meets Sidney (Jason Segel), who is in attendance at the open house, hitting on divorced women. Rudd and Segel hit it off pretty well, and start hanging out everyday. At first Rudd doesn’t know how to be friends with a guy, but they end up becoming so close that Rudd puts Sidney over his Fiancé, which ends up causing more problems. Now I don’t want to spoil anymore, but ill just say that it is a completely NON-cheesy, NON-cliché ending.

       I also want to mention the amazing soundtrack, lots of great Rush songs. Oddly enough, Rush seems to bring everyone together in this movie. Also included were songs by Vampire Weekend, Black Keys, Beck and Matt Costa – all very appropriate in this case.

      So I’m gonna say that I honestly had no complaints! “I Love You, Man” was full of great one-liners, awkward situations, and everyone’s characters were SO great. It makes you want to just fall in love with a cool girl and have a good guy friend.  This is a comedy ill be watching over and over and definitely owning.

Let the Right One In

I really enjoyed this movie. I enjoy Swedish cinema in general. They aren’t so much wham bam thank you mam. They allow the characters and the plot to develop a bit more than most American films. As to what type of movie this is… I would say it’s a romantic thriller. Others may disagree, but then again, this is my opinion were reading here.

The plot of the movie is about a 12 year old boy who gets picked on a lot and is lonely, and has no friends. His next-door neighbor is a 12-year-old vampire, and she is very lonely as well. He pursues her in a relationship not knowing that she is a vampire. She has a father, who kills for her so that she can drink blood, and the town catches on and the father gets caught. No she must survive on her own, killing whom she musts in the small town.

The movie had its creepy parts, had its cute parts, funny parts and really bloody parts. The super bloody parts were not exactly scary, though they could have been made scary, but very settle allowing one to soak more of it in. The cinematography was very great. Very beautiful shots, which I think is hard to do when most of it is in the white snow. The killing scenes are actually really well done. I really enjoyed watching them. I know that might sound creepy, but when you see bright red on white snow, there is something cool about it.

I would actually recommend this as a good date movie for many reasons. First off, it’s scary enough to hold someone’s hand in, but at the same time it wont have you having nightmares or scared of the dark. It’s a good love story. And it also is a good foreign film, and girls are always into guys who like foreign things, it means they are open to change.

This is a movie I would like to buy and keep in my collection. I think the children in this movie did such a fabulous job. They amazed me and impressed me so much. I enjoyed seeing the main boy grow and struggle, and also the vampire come to grips with her life. This is so much better than Twilight, but comparing them is unfair because they are in two different leagues. I look at twilight as the romance novels you can pick up in the grocery store where it looks like Fabio is on the front, to where Let the Right One In is a novel that is a good read front to back, and it has a good ending. 

Shanghai 2009

Last night I was invited to a movie premiere of the new John Cusack film “Shanghai.” It was actually really good. My friend Justin and I got tickets to it as we were walking around union sq. This guy approached us and asked us if we wanted to go to a special screening and help review a movie. I was all over it and excited. He told us that its still in the making, there needs to be editing done, and music still, and things still added in and cut out, and they need to know audience opinions.

Doing some research on my own, I found out that the movie was Mikael Håfström, a Swedish director who has done some American films, like derailed, but mostly foreign cinema. It had Jeffery Dean Morgan (The Comedian from Watchmen), Yun-Fat Chow (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), Li Gong (Memoirs of a Geisha) and David Morse (Killer in Disturbia, bad cop in 16 Blocks). It was overall a good movie to watch. I wouldn’t say excellent, but well.

The plot was hard for me to follow, especially since going in I didn’t know anything about the movie. From what I have gathered, the plot is a WW2 drama. It takes place right before America joins the war and Japan attacks China and Pearl Harbor. John Cusack and Jeffery Dean Morgan are spies for America in Shanghai trying to figure out what Japan is doing there and what’s going on with the war. (I didn’t figure out that they were spies until the end of the movie) John Cusacks cover up is a journalist, and through out the movie he kicks a lot of ass. I was shocked because I didn’t think a journalist could be so bad ass, and then I found out he was actually a spy and it made a little more sense. Anyways, Morgan gets involved with the Japans army commanders mistress and gets wind of attack plans on Pearl Harbor. He passes it on to Cusack who tries to gather enough evidence to prove it to his superiors so that they can be prepared for an attack on Pearl Harbor. He gets involved with the Mafia leader played by Yun-Fat Chow, and his wife played by Li Gong and together/secretly/behind backs figure out what Japan and Germany are up too.

It was surprisingly action packed. I thought it was going to be a long drugged out drama with lots of romance scenes. It was really clean. No foul language, no boobies, and minor drug usage. It was an action drama movie. It was not excellent by any means, it was just a good overall film. It had some flaws, but then again I saw not a whole finished version. My only beef was John Cusack playing this bad ass spy which was hard for me to grasp because he usually plays writers in his films, or some heart broken guy who can’t find love, but then does at the end. My favorite thing about the movie though was the scenery in it. Shanghai looks sweet. They had good fighting scenes, and I thought that Yun-Fat Chow did awesome and Li Gong did even better.

I would recommend to see this movie or rent it. Not really a buy movie though. Not something I would exactly want to see twice. I usually don’t like to see long war dramas more than once, expect like classic ones (Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full metal jacket, etc...) So over all I would give it a strong 2.8 out of 5. That’s a fair rating. I wasn’t bored in the movie, I was mostly trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

I should clarify, though this movie has great actors, the fighting in it is with guns, and it’s a one shot your dead deal. The cinematography in it is beautiful, and has some amazing shots of Shanghai in it. It really does make you want to go visit the city and see the beauty of it. Though Gong is looked upon as a sex symbol who cheats on her husband, she does show herself as a true actress by the way she deeply cares for her country. The costumes in this movie are nothing special to be honest. Shanghai was a city in China that was very westernized. Most of the men in this wear suits or Navy outfits, and the women wore dresses. The dresses had some style and class, like Gong for example wears many different beautiful outfits, but nothing i would expect to be nominated in for an award.

k so i posted a new paragraph to my blog post. I am new to this, so i enjoy everyones helpful feed back. Please continue to let me know what else you would like to know about the film and i will try to add it in my post. It has been very helpful to know your opinions on my writing and what you think i should have included. Sadly Hardy, this movie portrays Gong as a sex object, but she still does amazing in this film. And Gong and Cusack dont really get it on, sorry kill bill. And Whosmurry, i haven't seen every Cusack film, but more so than not he usually is not portrayed as a killer in his movies.

Answering other questions about the movie, Wantanbe and Gong do have some scenes together. Wantanbe is a Japanese Military Commander, and close friends with Chow Yun Fat. Most of the Chinese hate the Japanese at this period, and Gong leads a group of rebels that tries to kill off powerful Japanese leaders in Shanghai. So there are scenes where she tries to kill him, and towards the end he tries to kidnap her. But other than that, there is no amazing dialogue between the two. Chow does love his wife in this movie, even though he has many mistresses. They get along, but they don’t trust each other. But when it comes down it, Chow does kill for her, and does fight for her honor. He respects her as a wife in the sense that he confides her in a lot of things. I don’t get why he cheats on her so much, and why she cheats on him. They have very open and understanding marriage that works for them. Chow and Gong both do good speaking english in this film. Chow did better than Gong, but Gong was alright. Her words were not difficult to understand, though she did speak slow most of the time. I think maybe a couple of times i leaned over to my friend to ask what she just said. I would perfer all movies to be in subtitles to be understood better. But overall, i her chiense accent while speaking english wasnt something that stood out to me as bad what so ever, but when i honestly thought about it, it could use some improvement. Its not like i walked out saying "what the hell was up with that chick who could barely speak english" I came out instead saying " So John Cusack was a spy?"

As for other characters in the movie, like Franka Potente who played the German Spy, Cusack, Gong and Fat do a stellar job. Pontente wasn’t that impressive to me. First off, she has a huge jaw that distracted me through out the movie. She had a small role and was not in the movie all that much. Her character was in love with Cusack, and it affected her work as a spy. But she honestly wasn’t anything to impressive. Rinko Kikuchi did alright, though she played a character of a drugged out addicted opium mistress/whore. She didnt have much of a big role in this film, nor did she have many lines in it. She is the girl that everyone is trying to find, protect and fight for. She knew everything that one American spy had told her, and she knew everything that the Japanese commander had told her. I am more excited to see her in "The Brothers Bloom" where she has much more of a bigger role.

Why "The Watchmen" took a nose dive

The watchmen took a huge nose dive this weekend with numbers dropping 67%. In my opinion, it is taking a huge dive simply because it had way to much hype. I don’t even know how this hype got started. If you’re not a comic book fan, you have most likely never heard of the watchmen. Then you see these previews of violence and hear it’s the same director as 300. So you think of your own “awesome” conclusions of how the movie is going to be, and you’re disappointed because it wasn’t how you wanted it to be. Well, movies are usually never how you want them to be. If you wanted it a certain way, you usually would have enough will power and direct it yourself. This was a movie that came to live from a novel. The novel itself is not action packed, it’s a story with a begging and end. It’s about people, not fighting crime. Comic book readers knew that, others didn’t. They were bummed when they found out that it was just about people, and it wasn’t all action packed and shoot em up. It blew up with high numbers when it first came out because everyone was curious, then they saw it, and explained that it wasn’t a super hero movie. It’s a movie about people who want to be super heroes. In my opinion, which I have posted earlier, the movie was kick asss. I also read the graphic novel though and knew what it was about before going in.