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Reviews
Deadfall (2012)
Decent story, interesting, thrilling, violent and good performances.
DEADFALL is about a criminal brother and sister duo Addison and Liza (Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde) who separate in freezing blizzard conditions after their car hits a deer and kills their driver. Addison begins a killing spree which police are soon on the scene warning nearby residents that he is on the loose.
Liza meanwhile is on the verge of freezing to death when she is picked up by Jay (Charlie Hunnam), a man just released from prison who was planning on visiting his folks for thanksgiving (Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek). What this all leads up to is a relationship blossoming between Jay and Liza and Addison finding out information about his sisters whereabouts and holding Jay's parent hostage in the family home.
This final 20 minute segment is where the main actors shine: Bana is incredibly disturbing as the villain taking control of the situation; Wilde displays the perfect blend of manipulation, ambiguity and in the end, good heartedness; Kristofferson honestly looked comatomsed the entire film and Spacek had an unsettling calmness about her despite having a gun pointed at her head for half of her performance. The awfully cute and decent Kate Mara is also prominently featured as a young female cop assisting into the investigation, and her asshole sergeant father is played by Treat Williams. Recommended, a decent movie with plenty of thrills and enjoyable story.
Mother's Boys (1993)
Poor effort, unexciting, unoriginal.
It seems the late 80s/early 90s really thrashed the 'attractive woman from hell' storyline to death, from Fatal Attraction, Poison Ivy, Misery, Single White Female, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle etc., MOTHER'S BOYS was chronologically one of the last in the cinematic phase and quite frankly shouldn't have been made in the first place. The whole story has been done to death, This time instead of a one night stand or a new roommate, it is the abandoning mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) who wants her family back and will stop at nothing to get her way, especially when her ex (Peter Gallagher) is dating the assistant principle (Joanne Whalley) of the school their sons are going to.
So Curtis's character initially plays the wholesome, reformed mother who has learned from her mistakes and manages to gain time with her sons, managing to manipulate her eldest son against the new woman in their dad's life. Vanessa Redgrave rocks up in a few scenes as the grandmother, and she not only looks out of place but is just too good of an actress to be in such a crap film and part. Jamie Lee Curtis, looking amazing, is a great actress and really tries but fails as the script lacks any development for her character or any character to interest the audience. The film flopped big time at the box office when it was released and was soon welcomed to VHS/late night TV screenings where it belonged. Give it a miss.
Another Happy Day (2011)
Incredibly depressing story of a family reunion weekend, with some fantastic performances
"Another Happy Day" is an independent/low budget film from newcomer director Sam Levinson that focuses on a middle aged woman Lynn (Ellen Barkin) and her incredibly troubled family coming together for her eldest son's wedding.
The family ties here are quite complicated; Lynn has three sons and a daughter. Dylan, the groom and her eldest son was mostly raised by ex- husband Paul (Thomas Haden Church) and conniving second wife Patty (Demi Moore), Lynn's daughter with Paul is Alice (introduced halfway in the film by Kate Bosworth), who was raised by Lynn and is suicidal and prone to self harm. The younger sons are chronic drug addict Elliot (Ezra Miller) and an Asperger's sufferer Ben (Daniel Yelsky). It doesn't stop there, Lynn has two unbearable sisters you want to strangle (Diana Scarwid, Siobhan Fallonn Hogan) and her mother (Ellen Burstyn), as proper and respectable as she is, lacks any warmth or support for her daughter.
The film is a depressing and an emotionally draining experience. At times it is almost unbearable especially in Lynn's position as everyone around her is either against her or verbally and mentally attacking her to shreds. Burstyn's character makes a point one night of "Why ME!?" , as she reflects on the deterioration of her husband, but the audience's sympathy should be applied to Lynn, she is continually on the verge of a major breakdown but continues to pay no attention to how bad her state is and tries to soldiers on in this "joyous" family occasion.
Despite the film's miserable tone throughout and the lack of any resolution in the end, the film offers fantastic performances all around. In particular Ellen Barkin as the lead is simply stunning and should be recognized for her work here, her career has somewhat stalled in the last 10 years but hopefully with this performance and her recent Tony win we can see more performances of this caliber in the future. Another standout is the very engaging performance of Ezra Miller who plays the son from hell in another 2011 film this year (We Need to Talk About Kevin), and we shall hopefully see a lot more of him in the future. Ellen Burstyn was her usual wonderful self, her scene in the kitchen late at night with Barkin is incredibly intense and realistic, she take your breath away. Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore (a real bitch in this) and Thomas Haden Church are also at their best. Gloomy film, but wonderful cast, and recommended.
Bolero (1984)
Bolero: It wasn't THAT Bad.... (lets be positive)
OK, maybe it was bad... pretty bad. Some of this John/ Bo Derek collaboration is incredibly stupid, flawed and confusing, the editing is a little all over the place and inconsistent and Bo Derek simply cannot act. However, it isn't one of the worst movies in the world.
Circa 1920s, A recent beautiful-mega rich school graduate, Lida "Mac" MacGillivery (Derek) and her irritating BFF Catalina (Ana Obregón) spontaneously decide to travel overseas to lose their virginities, Mac has her standards and wants it to be perfect and we follow their pathetic story of love, sex, friendship and frustration.
I sat around watching the whole thing, it felt like 4 hours (only was 105mins), but I did watch the whole Derek project. Bo Derek is absolutely stunning, she is gorgeous and an absolute knockout in this film-- at her prime. Throughout this movie, viewers are treated to her getting nude every 15 minutes (flawless body) and getting screwed a by her Spanish man Angel (Andrea Occhipinti), we also get to watch Lida ride horses (once nude) and participate in bullfighting. The locations are impressive, the score fits, and the sex scenes are weird but erotic at the same time.
Bo Derek has a love for animals, particularly horses, and purposely incorporated them into this film, her love for the creatures really show throughout which I appreciated.
Now I'm looking for Ghosts Can't Do It, apparently an even worse film, last night went through the old video tapes at my local video store to no avail.
Endless Love (1981)
So-So Teenage Film about Love...
David Axelrod (Martin Hewitt) and Jade Butterfield (Brooke Shields) are two teenage lovers. He is 17, she is only 15.
One night the two, after a party held at the Butterfield house, have sex by the living room fire, witnessed by Jade's mom (Shirley Knight). What follows is a story of strong love and separation that follows David's life as he is banned from seeing the one that he so badly loves.
This film is no way a fantastic film, but it also isn't terrible. Brooke Shields is absolutely stunning in this film (her acting on the other hand...) and her co-star Hewitt does a reasonable job as the lead. Although the film does have its faults and flaws, it is also a tender tale some can relate to... to some point.
Shirley Knight is touching as the mother and Ian Zeiring and James Spader also star as Jade's brothers. Look out for a nerdy and quite irritating Tom Cruise (with a high pitched voice) in a small scene.
I only rated it 10, because it doesn't deserve its 3.9 rating. I would give it a 6 or 7.
Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
Average Drama/Thriller Featuring Donald Sutherland and Amy Irving...
This 1993 drama/thriller 'Benefit of the Doubt' stars Donald Sutherland and Amy Irving. Sutherland delivers a strong performance (as does Irving) in a rather "straight to video" quality film.
Amy Irving plays a character very unlike her other performances (such as Carrie, The Fury or Anastasia). For one thing she doesn't have her trademark curly hair but is a straight blonde, she plays Karen an Arizona single mom who works in an adult bar and smokes cigarettes. She has daddy issues, 22 years ago her father Frank (Sutherland) was arrested and placed into prison with the help of Karen after attacking his wife and killing her.
Frank is released and Karen is hysterical when she first finds out her son Pete (Rider Strong) has had a harmless encounter with her father. Karen tells her son to promise her not to see him again but Frank finds ways trying to enter her life again and seems harmless doing it. What Karen doesn't know is if what she saw that night 22 years ago actually happened and if she can trust her father again, a man she help stay in prison for such a long time.
One word can describe Amy in this film, and that is 'HOT', she is incredibly sexy and has a racy scene with her on-screen boyfriend Dan (Christopher McDonald), Sutherland is 'good' in his role. I watched this not expecting much and is good, just good. It wasn't incredibly well made but it passes for a good midday movie or if you are suffering from incredible boredom.
6/10.
Music and Lyrics (2007)
Music & Lyrics- By "Charlie"
This movie had two great actors and was heading in the right direction for a great movie, but what happened. This could have been a bit more romantic and Sophie (Drew Barrymore), why was she so... annoying? It made the movie some how meaningless. There was supposed to be a love connection between Drew and Hugh and they brought it out from the best of their abilities but there was something missing. Watching Drew in this role was really good, to see her do something different and It was a movie that displayed her interest in music and arts. Her profession as a water plant person really showed and the transition from timid water planter to out there inspired lyricist is amazing, Drew should really be applauded for that. I love Drew!!! I would consider watching and with it's great songs 'Pop goes my heart' and 'Back into Love' it makes the movie so much enjoyable to watch. Charlie.