For what it’s worth...a movie review
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The Wind
The Brave One
My husband has a crush on Jodie Foster, so when a new Jodie film come out, we must be the first in line to see it. So off we went.
Erica Bain, brilliantly portrayed by Foster, is a New York radio host who shares the sounds of the city with her listeners. With a very mellow voice, mild, soothing, and sometimes memorizing sounds come from Jodie and it struck me as sort of odd, in a way. Wondering what kind of kook is this. She is madly in love with and planning a wedding with fiancé’ David Kermani, played by Lost’s Naveen Andrews. Foster is young, sweet, vulnerable, happy and enthralled with life as she and Andrews take the dog for a walk in Central Park. In a random act of violence, they are both severely beaten, he to death and she nearly.
Overwhelmed with fear, she no longer feels safe in the city in which she used to collect sounds to share with her listeners. In desperation, she buys a gun. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she kills or is killed. So begins her vigilante therapy.
She befriends Police Detective Sean Mercer, played by Terrence Howard, who is trying to stop New York’s Vigilante. Too soon, in my opinion, he figures out it is the radio host, and is out to stop her. Or is he?
Jodie Foster is at her mesmerizing best in The Brave One. However, I think the title is wrong. I don’t think she was brave at all, but driven by fear and revenge. This film is edge-of-your-seat gripping. Once it evolves into an action piece, it never lets up. With each act of revenge, there was a spattering of nervous applause. But like in Charles Bronson’s Death Wish, you really are waiting to see that villain blown into oblivion, no matter how PC it isn’t! By the time she reaches the line; ‘I want my dog back’, the applause is no longer a spattering, but all out cheers! Mine among them!
There were flaws in the film; such as Det. Mercer figuring out she was the vigilante way too easily. With quite a wound on her forearm, she effortlessly lifts and carries a heavy box without even a grimace. The ending, though very satisfying, was a little out there. But, again, cheers from all. This film didn’t get good reviews for the most part, but I thought it was great! I give this film a 9. I gave Death Sentence an 8.5. Seems to be the summer of revenge films. I figure if we put Jodie Foster and Kevin Bacon together, we could annihilate crime all together!
If you see this film, let me know what you think.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Once
For what it’s worth...a movie review
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The Wind
Every time I see a foreign film, I come away with the same feeling. Those poor people! They always seem depressed, sad, and just a little off.
Once is billed as a musical, but not the usual Broadway style, but more, I don’t know, Hard Days Night? Maybe....
Glen Hansard, frontman for the rock band Frames, plays a street performer who I don’t think ever has a name....but plays guitar for change and fixes Hoovers with his Da. He meets a girl, again, no name, played by Marketa Irglova. There is an instant connection between the two musicians, he a guitarist and songwriter and she a pianist. You immediately love these two characters. Tho, so brilliantly played by both, I was never really sure they were acting, or we were just peering into their lives on the streets of Ireland. The production value of this film was not existent, but somehow, I didn’t care. I found this almost relationship so endearing, I just wanted to bring them home and give them a good meal and tell them everything was going to be alright!
Each one with baggage; he, pining over a lost love, and she, an unhappily married immigrant from the Czech Republic, with a 2 year old little girl...who, oddly had a name; Ivanka.
Director John Carney, also from the rock band Frames, never entered my mind. Like I said, it was as if we were just watching them walk through life. I guess that makes him a great director.
The music was haunting and, well, sad. Good music, great, I suppose, if you like the genre. I believed the immediate connection with these two nameless people, whose love for each other’s music was real and binding. There is a scene where he is playing one of his songs for her and she joins in, and it is so unrehearsed and raw, I can’t imagine they even knew the camera was on them. It was just two musicians joining each other’s gifts for the first time.
However...........the ending was such a disappointment. It was abrupt and we deserved better! It felt as if they just ran out of film and stopped...if only that were true, I’d send them some more film and tell them to finish the story!!!!
As in La Vie En Rose, I left the theatre not sure if I liked this film or not.... it took me a few hours to decide. I think I did.... I know I thought about it all afternoon...still wanting to bring the two nameless ones home...ask them how they would have ended it...yes...I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I liked it....
It’s a good film. I give it a 6 for story, but an 8 for the endearing couple who I have named Michael and Ilsa.....and they lived happily ever after....in my version....
If you have seen it, let me know what you thought....
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The Wind
Every time I see a foreign film, I come away with the same feeling. Those poor people! They always seem depressed, sad, and just a little off.
Once is billed as a musical, but not the usual Broadway style, but more, I don’t know, Hard Days Night? Maybe....
Glen Hansard, frontman for the rock band Frames, plays a street performer who I don’t think ever has a name....but plays guitar for change and fixes Hoovers with his Da. He meets a girl, again, no name, played by Marketa Irglova. There is an instant connection between the two musicians, he a guitarist and songwriter and she a pianist. You immediately love these two characters. Tho, so brilliantly played by both, I was never really sure they were acting, or we were just peering into their lives on the streets of Ireland. The production value of this film was not existent, but somehow, I didn’t care. I found this almost relationship so endearing, I just wanted to bring them home and give them a good meal and tell them everything was going to be alright!
Each one with baggage; he, pining over a lost love, and she, an unhappily married immigrant from the Czech Republic, with a 2 year old little girl...who, oddly had a name; Ivanka.
Director John Carney, also from the rock band Frames, never entered my mind. Like I said, it was as if we were just watching them walk through life. I guess that makes him a great director.
The music was haunting and, well, sad. Good music, great, I suppose, if you like the genre. I believed the immediate connection with these two nameless people, whose love for each other’s music was real and binding. There is a scene where he is playing one of his songs for her and she joins in, and it is so unrehearsed and raw, I can’t imagine they even knew the camera was on them. It was just two musicians joining each other’s gifts for the first time.
However...........the ending was such a disappointment. It was abrupt and we deserved better! It felt as if they just ran out of film and stopped...if only that were true, I’d send them some more film and tell them to finish the story!!!!
As in La Vie En Rose, I left the theatre not sure if I liked this film or not.... it took me a few hours to decide. I think I did.... I know I thought about it all afternoon...still wanting to bring the two nameless ones home...ask them how they would have ended it...yes...I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I liked it....
It’s a good film. I give it a 6 for story, but an 8 for the endearing couple who I have named Michael and Ilsa.....and they lived happily ever after....in my version....
If you have seen it, let me know what you thought....
Monday, September 10, 2007
The Shooter
For what it’s worth...a movie review
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The Wind
I’m not wild about conspiracy films because they totally confuse me....as this one did in the beginning. Mark Wahlberg is at his stellar best as retired US Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger. His is disillusioned after being betrayed by his commanders and losing his best friend in a firefight. 36 months later a group that leads him to believe they are Federal Agents using him to entrap an assassin who may attempt to shoot the President approaches him. He is framed for the attempt on the president and hunted by every law enforcement around. The actual assassination of an archbishop, he discovers, is a cover up for genocide by an American Corp. with oil interests, headed up by Senator Charles Meachum, and played by Ned Beatty. He then must rely on his marine training to survive and clear his name.
Danny Glover as Col. Isaac Johnson and Elias Kateos as Jack Payne are perfect foes in this fast paced piece of espionage.
Mark Wahlberg has become one of my favorite action heroes, as it were, and is perfect in this role. He is sullen and angry, but still a patriot thinking he is protecting the president. Another standout is Michael Pena as Nick Memphis, a rookie FBI agent who knows things just don’t add up and becomes Bob Lee’s ally. Together they take out all involved! Boy, do they take them out!!! There is one scene in the snow that is awesome!!!!
This is a good film. After I figured out what the heck was happening, I was riveted! I give this film a 7.5. It’s no Bourne series, but it is worth seeing.
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The Wind
I’m not wild about conspiracy films because they totally confuse me....as this one did in the beginning. Mark Wahlberg is at his stellar best as retired US Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger. His is disillusioned after being betrayed by his commanders and losing his best friend in a firefight. 36 months later a group that leads him to believe they are Federal Agents using him to entrap an assassin who may attempt to shoot the President approaches him. He is framed for the attempt on the president and hunted by every law enforcement around. The actual assassination of an archbishop, he discovers, is a cover up for genocide by an American Corp. with oil interests, headed up by Senator Charles Meachum, and played by Ned Beatty. He then must rely on his marine training to survive and clear his name.
Danny Glover as Col. Isaac Johnson and Elias Kateos as Jack Payne are perfect foes in this fast paced piece of espionage.
Mark Wahlberg has become one of my favorite action heroes, as it were, and is perfect in this role. He is sullen and angry, but still a patriot thinking he is protecting the president. Another standout is Michael Pena as Nick Memphis, a rookie FBI agent who knows things just don’t add up and becomes Bob Lee’s ally. Together they take out all involved! Boy, do they take them out!!! There is one scene in the snow that is awesome!!!!
This is a good film. After I figured out what the heck was happening, I was riveted! I give this film a 7.5. It’s no Bourne series, but it is worth seeing.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Death Sentence
For what it’s worth...a movie review
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The
in.tense (in tens’) adj. Strained to the utmost, earnest, zealous, very strong, violent, extreme, vivid, firm purpose, strong emotion. Those are just some of the definitions Webster gives for intense. Not even close!
Nick Hume helplessly watches as his son, Brendon, is murdered in a random gang initiation and his life changes. That, too, is an understatement. The next 90 minutes takes you places you don’t think you could ever go. Or could you...
Re.venge (ri venj’) To inflict damage, injury, punishment in return, avenge, a chance to retaliate or get satisfaction. Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume is out for so much more than revenge. Kevin is brilliant as a mild mannered father of two sons who takes on the gang responsible for the murder of his oldest son, Brendon, played by Stuart Lafferty. Kelly Preston is equally at her best as the grief stricken wife, Helen.
John Goodman as Bones Darley will surprise you as the father of one of the gang members. Truly evil and just a tiny bit of comedy relief, much needed in this rough film.
This is a good film. It will make you think and really wonder just how far you would go to protect your family. Director James Wan did something I appreciated; the film was shot a little under color. It made the necessary violence not so vivid. It is a truly violent film, but the filming technique made it tolerable for us who aren’t really into such things! I’m not sure I really knew the ‘F’ word had quite so many applications as it apparently does, but I assure you that each and every one was covered in this movie! At one point you will think the end of the film has come, sadly, to a close. Not so much. It goes on and comes to the only appropriate end possible.
We saw this Death Sentence because there was nothing else we thought worth seeing. It was worth it. I give this piece an 8.5, as there were some flaws in the screenplay and one bit of corny dialog. But it is worth seeing.
My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The
in.tense (in tens’) adj. Strained to the utmost, earnest, zealous, very strong, violent, extreme, vivid, firm purpose, strong emotion. Those are just some of the definitions Webster gives for intense. Not even close!
Nick Hume helplessly watches as his son, Brendon, is murdered in a random gang initiation and his life changes. That, too, is an understatement. The next 90 minutes takes you places you don’t think you could ever go. Or could you...
Re.venge (ri venj’) To inflict damage, injury, punishment in return, avenge, a chance to retaliate or get satisfaction. Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume is out for so much more than revenge. Kevin is brilliant as a mild mannered father of two sons who takes on the gang responsible for the murder of his oldest son, Brendon, played by Stuart Lafferty. Kelly Preston is equally at her best as the grief stricken wife, Helen.
John Goodman as Bones Darley will surprise you as the father of one of the gang members. Truly evil and just a tiny bit of comedy relief, much needed in this rough film.
This is a good film. It will make you think and really wonder just how far you would go to protect your family. Director James Wan did something I appreciated; the film was shot a little under color. It made the necessary violence not so vivid. It is a truly violent film, but the filming technique made it tolerable for us who aren’t really into such things! I’m not sure I really knew the ‘F’ word had quite so many applications as it apparently does, but I assure you that each and every one was covered in this movie! At one point you will think the end of the film has come, sadly, to a close. Not so much. It goes on and comes to the only appropriate end possible.
We saw this Death Sentence because there was nothing else we thought worth seeing. It was worth it. I give this piece an 8.5, as there were some flaws in the screenplay and one bit of corny dialog. But it is worth seeing.
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