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Gravity (2013)
"Gravity is one of the best films of the year!"
The recently released space thriller film, "Gravity" (which I watched in the movie theaters about three weeks ago) focuses on the innovative tale spin story about hope and survival in space (In other words, original, intense and thrilling plot).
For astronaut films, watching "Gravity" is like watching a hi-tech version and exact opposite of "The Right Stuff" (1983). It's also the exact opposite of other survival films such as "Alive," "Cast Away," and "127 hours." Watching the suspense thrills in "Gravity" will have your heart pounding (which I felt when I first saw it).
The two surviving astronauts were brilliantly portrayed by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Their performances are all the more brilliant because they have never been in this type of survival picture or have played these types of characters.
Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey were originally cast as the two main characters, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. After Jolie dropped out, other actresses such as Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Natalie Portman, Marion Cotillard, Abbie Cornish, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller, Scarlett Johansson, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall and Olivia Wilde were all subsequently tested or approached for the lead role, but it was Bullock who landed the lead.
The film also costars Ed Harris as the voice of mission control.
The thrilling plot is about a medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) who is a mission specialist on her first space shuttle mission along with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) commanding his final flight before retiring.
Disaster ensues during a spacewalk when asteroid pieces and the remains of a space satellite hit the shuttle where the two astronauts are working. The two are separated and left adrift in space leaving you to witness their fight for survival.
Alfonso Cuaron, who also directed the film, wrote a great original screenplay for this film. Before "Gravity" there had not been a disaster film involving astronauts - that's part of what helps make the screenplay so great. Although "Gravity" does not involve terrifying extraterrestrials killing humans as in Ridley Scott's "Alien," when it comes to survival and suspense thrills, this film does not disappoint.
Every motion cinematic shots of this film was wonderfully taken by the amazing Emmanuel Lubezki, who also worked on Cuaron's "Children of Men." The cinematography shots of outer space are one of the great things of this film. It's not just this, it's so far one of the best cinematographies of this decade along with "Black Swan", "127 Hours", "The Tree of Life"etc. The cinematography is truly unbelievable in this film.
"Gravity" is one of the best movies so far of this year. The tremendous special effects, space survival story, cinematography and acting makes this film so enjoyable. I also loved the 91 minutes of the green screen effects. The talent director picked the perfect two A-list movie stars.
If this film is nominated for an Oscar for Best Special Effects, I would put my money on it. I also think this film should be one of the nominees for Best Picture of the year. I would choose this film because it includes that 20% drama (most Oscar nominated films are dramatic). There were two astronaut films which have been both nominated for Best Picture: "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13." Given its genre, it would be a significant milestone if "Gravity" took home the Oscar for Best Picture.
"Gravity" is still out in theaters and it's worth buying a ticket to see the movie. For people who haven't seen a good astronaut flick in a long time, go see this one. I also recommend this film for astronomers and NASA scientists. You all should see it before it comes out on Blu-ray.
I give the film a powerful four out of four stars.
This film is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Existential terror and the salty language.
Cast & crew info:
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón; written by Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón; director of photography, Emmanuel Lubezki; edited by Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger; music by Steven Price; production design by Andy Nicholson; costumes by Jany Temime; visual effects by Tim Webber; produced by Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman.
Released by Warner Brothers Pictures.
Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes.
Starting: Sandra Bullock (Ryan Stone), George Clooney (Matt Kowalski) and Ed Harris (Voice of mission control).
Days of Heaven (1978)
"Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times!"
The romantic drama flick, Days of Heaven was Terrence Malick's second and last film that he directed, before he took a big break from filmmaking for 20 years (1978-1998). The film's title is a reference to Deuteronomy 11:21: "That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth."
The film starts with a 29-year old then-newcomer Richard Gere (it was his second major picture as a lead role), Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, and Linda Manz. Mr.Malick also wrote the original dramatic love story of this film.
This story is set in the year 1916. Bill (Richard Gere) is a poor Chicago laborer, who moves to the Texas Panhandle with his lover Abby (Brooke Adams) and teenage sister Linda (Linda Manz) because he'd knocked out and killed his boss at a steel mill. Then, they get hired to work with the large group of seasonal workers, which is run by a rich farmer (Sam Shepard). When Abby finds out that the farmer is in love with her, despite being his girlfriend, Bill convinces her to marry him (it's obviously a false marriage),knowing that he is suffering from a serious illness and has only a year to live. So, Bill and Abby pretend that they are brothers and sisters.
Linda narrates the film, just like the characters from Mr.Malick's other films like Badlands, The Thin Red Line, and The Tree of Life. She mostly narrates the beginning and the ending. Linda Manz does a really striking narration and very well explains the moments that happened in this film.
The cinematography is phenomenal and the entire 92 minutes of this film was very well recorded. One of the beautiful camera shots is a close up of a locust standing on top of the wheat. It was the first film to use the Panaglide, an early form of Steadicam. It was recorded by the very talented cinematographer named Nestor Almendros, who won an Oscar for his work on this film. Here's a fact: he was going blind during production. Before each shot, he would have his assistant take a picture with a Polaroid camera and then would view it under a high-powered magnifying glass. He also recorded other dramatic flicks like Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie's Choice.
At the time Richard Gere starred in Days of Heaven, he was still relatively unknown, although he began gaining fame during the early 1980s, after playing the lead role in the crime-drama called "American Gigolo (1980)".
Here's a cool fact: both actors, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino actually auditioned for the role as Bill. Mr.Gere gave a brilliant performance along with the rest of the cast. Their confident and acting along with the dialogue was the reason why their performances came out as brilliance.
The film score is dazzling & emotional and it gets stuck in my head every time I watch this movie. It was composed by Ennio Morricone, who also composed the music for Sergio Leone's films like "The Man with No Name Trilogy", "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Once Upon a Time in America ".
Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times! The screenplay written by Mr.Malick for this film was impressively original and extraordinary because of the dialogue he created. His film directing is always excellent and he really has amazing trademarks. His films are mostly filmed entirely outside, heavy use of Stedicam, always includes narration by one or more characters, visual dialectics through images, and rarely uses artificial light.
Days of Heaven is currently out on the Criterion Collection edition on Blu-ray, and it's really worth buying. I highly recommend this picture for people in general. I give it a truly 4 out of 4 stars!
Original release date: September 13, 1978.
Released by Paramount Pictures.
Cast and crew info:
Crew:
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, director of photography, Nester Almendros, edited by Billy Weber, music by Ennio Morricone; art designer, Jack Fisk, produced by Bert and Harold Brackman.
Cast:
Richard Gere (Bill), Brooke Adams (Abby), Sam Shepard (The Farmer), Linda Manz (Linda), Robert Wilke (The Farm Foreman), Jackie Shultis (Linda's Friend), Stuart Margolin (Mill Foreman), and Tim Scott (Harvest Hand).
Logan's Run (1976)
"For Sci-Fi fans, who wants to watch Pre-Star Wars films, I recommend this picture".
The MGM Sci-Fi flick Logan's Run (which was theatrically released on June 23, 1976) is one of those films that relates the idea of isolated society versus the outside world, just as seen in the movie "The Truman Show". The specific genre of the Logan's Run is a futuristic dystopian/Sci-Fi film (Just in case if you don't know what dystopian means in our current era : A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening.). The movie was made on a big budget of $9,000,000 - a budget similar to the well known Sci-Fi 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968).
This futuristic story takes place in the year 2274 (23rd century). The survivors of a holocaust now live within an isolated city called Domed City. There men and women are only allowed to live until 30-years old due to population control and limited resources. At 30 the people have two choices: They can either take part in a extermination ceremony called "Carousel" where they are promised a rebirth or they can go on the run and escape to outside the Domed City.
Michael York portrays the main protagonist named Logan 5, who is a Sandman (police assassin). His main job is to terminate and hunt down all "Runners" who refuse to be exterminated on Carousel and escape to outside the city. Logan finds a symbol and the computer, that controls all life in the city, gives him a secret assignment: find and destroy a mysterious place called Sanctuary by disguising himself as a runner. He must also erase the last four years of his life from the crystal on his pawn. Logan ends up on the run himself and hunted by his partner and best friend Francis 7. He and a beautiful woman named Jessica 6 (portrayed by Jenny Agutter) end up working for an underground resistance group helping all Runners search for Sanctuary escapes. They manage to escape from the Domed City and find themselves in a devastated Washington D.C, where they discover another world. Realizing there is much to live for, Logan begins to question the system. It's at this point in the film that they discover and befriend an elderly man (played Peter Ustinov).
Farrah Fawcett, then recognized as a blonde sex symbol, is cast in this film in the supporting role of Holly, a woman who works in the face surgery department.
Even though I am a movie buff of both old and contemporary films, I found most of the visual effects cheesy and outdated. Here's a moment of the movie that shows an unrealistic and outdated visual effect: Logan and Jessica look at the Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, which showed an art painting effect style. It would have been better if the Abe Lincoln statue had been made by the film production team. Today I find films from the 1970s, showing an art painting effect style, to be very outdated.
The way that most of the cast played their characters was actually not bad at all. If anybody is big into science fiction, you will be entertained by the acting performance of the characters. The concept of the performance of the movie is pretty much the same way as the acting from the old 1930s & 40s Sci-Fi short subject films just like Flash Gordon. The way the cast spoke their lines and acted out on their characters mimicked the earlier style of Sci-Fi shorts.
The film score that Jerry Goldsmith composed for the film, I found really catchy. Mostly the sounds and chorus of the score are what make the score so catchy. The moment during the score when it sounds epic is when Logan and Jessica get out of the ice cave into the outside world.
For Sci-Fi fans, who wants to watch pre-Star Wars films, I recommend this picture. There are other great Sci-Fi pictures that came out before George Lucas released Star Wars - like Metropolis (1927), The Time Machine (1960), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
I give that film a 3 out of 4 stars.
Elysium (2013)
"Elysium was overall enjoyable, but the middle of the film dragged out."
South African film director and producer Neil Blomkamp introduces us to his second sci- fi/action flick "Elysium" which I recently watched in the theater.
The picture has a little bit of familiar elements from "Distirct 9", which was the first official picture that Blomkamp directed and produced . Los Angeles in Elysium has the same elements of the slums of South Africa found in District 9 but, without the aliens of Elysium.
The film takes place in the year 2154 when two classes of the people exists. The wealthy class who live on a luxurious space station called Elysium built by the Armadyne Corporation. The CEO of the Armadyne Corporation is John Carlyle portrayed by character actor William Fichtner. On Elysium there is no poverty, disease, or war, and there are affluent homes. The poor live on over-populated and ruined Earth.
In Elysium, Matt Damon portrays an ex-con named Max De Costa, who lives in the ruins of Los Angeles and works in one of Armadyne's factories. Max reconnects with an old childhood friend Frey (Alicia Braga) who is a nurse at the hospital. Frey has a daughter named Maltida, who is dying of Lukemea. Damon did a pretty good job playing the role of tough guy akin to his role as Jason Bourne from The Bourne films. By the way, Elysium is not Damon's only Sci-Fi flick. He did a voice role in the 2000 animated Sci-Fi adventure film "Titan AE", which I grew up with and saw it in theaters when it was released.
Here's the main story of the film: Max had a rough past that involves his female childhood friend Frey, but he's struggling to stay on the right side of the law when he realizes that his only hope for survival after being exposed to deadly radiation is to reach Elysium. Should Max succeed, he will strike a major blow for equality in the eyes of his fellow surface dwellers; should he fail, it will mean certain death. In his quest to become the hero who can restore the balance between the rich and the poor. He joins a group of smugglers to get to Elysium and they made him wear a robotic HULC suit. One of the antagonists of the film is Agent C.M. Kruger played by Sharlto Copley, who also started in District 9.
The actress amazing and talented Jodie Foster also stars in the film. Every dramatic or suspense role she performs never fails. I consider her to be one of the greatest movie actresses. In Elysium she portrays Jessica Delacourt, who is the secretary of defense of Elysium. The European accent she feigned made her role all the more powerful. Elysium was Jodie Foster's second Sci-Fi film she star in. Her first Sci-Fi film was Contact, which was released in 1997.
I would have to say, the CGI special effects of the Elysium space station was tremendous. The CGI of the space station made it very realistic. I was also impressed by the special effects of the daytime in the Elysium space station. The Mercedes Benz symbol shaped space station reminded me of the space station from 2001: A Space Odyessey (1968) due to the way it moved.
Elysium was overall enjoyable, but the middle of the film dragged out. The middle point of the plot was not achieved until it was close to the end.I still thought this film was entertaining.
I highly recommend this film for people who loved District 9 and it's still worth buying a ticket to see this picture. I give it a 3 out of 4 stars.
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
"The first time I watched this film, I was so impressed by the powerful acting of the characters."
Boys Don't Cry (which was release on October 8, 1999) has an heartbreaking true life story about Brandon Teena, who is a transgender-man (female-to-male non-operative transgender man).
The picture explores the themes of freedom, courage, identity and empowerment. The film was directed and written by an (previously) unknown female film director Kimberley Price. The movie title was actually named after a song of the same name by an English rock band called The Cure. It's a of those films involving a same-sex relationship - just like Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Hilary Swank is a "down-to-earth" movie actress who portrayed the role as Brandon Teena. Here's an interesting fact about her role: To prepare for the role, she lived her life as a man for about a month, including wrapping her chest in tension bandages and putting socks down the front of her pants much the same way that Brandon Teena did. I believe this is the main reason why her portrayal was so outstanding. Boys Don't Cry was the film that made Hilary Swank into Hollywood stardom.Her performance in this film earned her first Oscar for best actress. She deserved it.
This is a true story about Brandon Teena and it takes place in 1993. He is the popular new dude in the small Nebraska town of Falls City. He hangs out with the guys, drinking, cussing, and bumper surfing, and he charms the young women, who've never met a more sensitive and considerate young man. He even loves hanging out in gas stations and roller rinks. Life is pretty good for Brandon now that he's one of the guys.
He also develops a relationship with a blonde beauty named Lana Tisdel (played by Chloe Sevigny). However, he doesn't mention to his friends and girlfriend that he is actually a trans man. Later in the film, his friends discover that Brandon is actually a woman. He is brutally raped and beaten by two of his friends (which of course actually happened and it doesn't count as a spoiler if anybody has heard about Brandon Teena's story). Her life, as shown in the movie, became tormented (If you are wondering about the torment, you all have to watch the full movie for yourselves).
There is a scene in the film that employs a great cinematography structure technique inspired by a scene from Victor Fleming's" The Wizard of OZ (1939)". In the Oz film, the cinematography structure technique is in the scene where Dorothy exits her house and steps into Munchkin land.
In Boys Don't Cry, the technique is reflected in the scene in which the audience see Brandon Teena enter a roller rink and the song "Just the Way That I Needed" by The Cars is playing. After a shot of the character, he then seen walking through the door. The viewer sees the door opening; the character goes through, the door, and the viewer go through the door. The way that they used this cinematography technique is really fascinating due to the cinematic inspiration.
The first time I watched this movie, I was so impressed by the powerful acting of the characters. The skills of the main cast playing really make the movie. Any great film based on a true story should always hire actors and actresses with great acting talent and skills. If an actor or actress doesn't have the necessary skills, the role could turn out badly - just like Faye Dunaway's (even though I still think she is an amazing actress) role as Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest (1981)".
Boys Don't Cry is undoubtedly eighth best film of 1999 on my list of top ten best films of 1999. The story in the film was specifically and wonderfully written by Kimberly Price. The film depicts very well a true life story, just like several other true life depictions in: "Malcolm X", "Ray", "Alive","Lincoln", and "Raging Bull".
"I highly recommend this movie for people, who like movies such as Brokeback Mountain and especially films that are based on true stories"." I give this film a 4 out of 4 spectacular stars!"
North (1994)
"North is one of the worst movies that I have ever seen in my life!".
The film North (which was released on July 22, 1994) features a comedy-drama-adventure plot written by Alan Zweibel and Andrew Scheinman and directed by Rob Reiner. The story is based on the novel North: The Tale of a 9-Year-Old Boy Who Becomes a Free Agent and Travels the World in Search of the Perfect Parents by Alan Zweibel. North was Rob Reiner's first recent family-friendly movie. Rob Reiner also directed the greats such as "This is Spinal Tap (1984)", "Misery (1990)", and "A Few Good Men (1992)".
The film stars a talented then 13-year old actor Elijah Wood as the main protagonist, North. At the time the film was released in 1994, Elijah Wood was starting to become a somewhat well known celebrity. The film also stars Jon Lovitz, Jason Alexander, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Faith Ford, Graham Greene, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reba McEntire, John Ritter, and Abe Vigoda. It is also Scarlett Johansson's debut film, who's gone on to be considered one of the sexiest actresses of our era .
North (Elijah Wood) is a eleven year old kid, with busy parents (Julia Louis Dreyfus & Jason Alexander) not giving him the attention he needs. So, North and his lawyer Arthur Belt (Jon Lovitz) file a lawsuit against them. The judge played by Alan Arkin decides that North should either find new parents or return to his own parents by Labor Day – a deadline of two months. If he hasn't found new parents or returned to his by the deadline, he will be sent to an orphanage.
So North sets out traveling the world in search of parents who really care about him. His first stop is Texas where he takes a shot at getting to know potentially new parents played by Dan Aykroyd & Reba McEntire. That doesn't work out very well and he moves on to Hawaii and Alaska where he meets an Eskimo mother played by Oscar-winning movie actress Kathy Bates.
The parents he encounters in the movie aren't funny, although they aren't serious and turn out not to be helpful to North. Either way, I believe the actors in the movie don't play their characters in the humorous way needed. The film is narrated by Bruce Willis in the form of a mysterious characters who follows North throughout the movie in various character forms - the Easter bunny, a Texan cowboy, a beach bum and a Fed-Ex driver.
The narrator first meets North at a mall wearing an Easter bunny costume a role difficult to reconcile with Willis' usual tough-guy role. His role as narrator in the film really falls short. The narrator, in my mind, is not helpful to the movie. One example of this is the way that the narrator verbalizes to North about his terrible parents.
Rob Reiner's biggest mistake as a film director takes place with creation of this motion picture, a mistake he himself acknowledged: "North is one of the worst movie that I have ever seen in my life!".
I feel sorry for Rob Reiner with respect to his directing of this film, but he, of course, was unaware while directing the film that it would turn out as bad as it did and he probably shouldn't have even made the film whose greatest weakness is the screenplay and film production itself. (Alan Zweibel and Andrew Scheinman also produced the film.)
The film North has one of the stupidest stories ever and I disliked every character portrayed in the movie. Even the film was really poor, I still respect Rob Reiner because it is his only failure of a movie; the only truly bad film he's ever directed. Here's my advice: "Do not watch this film! However, you could watch it just to see how bad the movie truly is!" I give that film a 0 out of 4 stars!
Medium Cool (1969)
"Medium Cool is an extraordinary piece of cinematic art of the cinema verite-film style by Haskell Wexler".
I often like to watch films more than once and I recently did that with Medium Cool, which was originally released on August 27, 1969.
The film was directed, written, and cinematography recorded by Haskell Wexler. He invented and used an unforgettable cinema vérité-style documentary filmmaking technique, as well as combining fictional and non-fictional content.
Medium Cool was actor Robert Forster's first film in a lead role. Medium Cool is one of those films that shows cinematic footage of a nonfictional event in the movie - the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity. At that convention the protesters and the Chicago Police Department fought in the streets of Chicago while the US Democratic Party met during the convention in the International Amphitheater.
John Cassellis (played by Forster) is a Chicago television news reporter and cameraman. Cassellis and sound man Gus (played by Peter Bonerz) are reporting about the violence and racial tensions in the ghetto. One of people that interviewed is an African American taxi driver who lives in the ghetto. Cassellis later discovers that his network had helped the FBI by providing some of his video footage from the protests in order to aid the FBI in their search for suspects. When Cassellis protests, he is fired at which time he then decides to go to the convention to record more footage.
Cassellis ends up befriending Eileen (played by Vena Bloom), a welfare recipient who'd moved from her West Virginia home when her husband was sent to Vietnam. Eileen has a 13 year old son named Harold (Harold Blankenship).
Ruth (Marianna Hill) is an attractive nurse, who has a relationship with Cassellis.
Medium Cool is an extraordinary piece of cinematic art of the cinema verite-film style by Haskell Wexler. The way that the film combines a fiction and non-fiction story was very well explained and detailed due to Wexler's filmmaking style. The cinema verite genre combines well with a dramatic genre. One example: the argument scenes in the film that involve John Cassellis.
Haskell Wexler did an amazing job with the cinematography. The way that he recorded the 111 minutes of the movie was very well accomplished. I especially found his cinematography style of the film to be influential. Wexler's amazing style of the film could influence other filmmakers. The reason why it could influence filmmakers because the cinema verite style that used was very revolutionized for its time and young filmmakers has never laid eyes on this type of film style before. Wexler's film style mostly influenced documentary film makers.
The plot of the film was excellent and enhanced by the realism of the footage containing political protests of the late 1960s. I loved how the plot well captured and symbolized America in the 1960s and its political protests. One particularly interesting moment to me in the film is showed people setting up for the convention. Then, the black screen appears with the sentence: "America is wonderful". After that, John and Eileen are dancing in a psychedelic rock concert. This matters to me because this moment of the movie could bring back memories for people, who experienced late 1960s political conventions and psychedelic rock music concerts.
Here's my advice: The movie is a definite must see for all generations. I give the film an strong 4 out of 4 stars.
This Is the End (2013)
"This is the End is one of the funniest movies I've seen in quite a while - the last one being Ted (2012)"
A few days ago I saw This is the End, released on June 12, 2013. This apocalyptic-comedy flick stars contemporary movie actors like Seth Rogan, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel , Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson as fictional versions as themselves in the aftermath of global apocalypse. The film also stars in a supporting role Emma Watson (the 23 year old English actress, who was well known for her role as the female wizard Hermione from the Harry Potter film series), Michael Cera , Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rihanna, and Channing Tatum as fictional versions of themselves. Most of the actors that star in the film are, of course, mostly modern day comedic actors. Both Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg wrote and directed the film. Speaking of which, here's a fun fact: Seth Rogan said that "the party scenes were the most stressful for me to direct because there was so much going on".
Just as Wes Craven's awful slasher/horror film, New Nightmare (which was released on October 14, 1994), This is the End stars people as themselves. The plot of This is the End starts off with a Canadian comedic actor Jay Baruchel, arriving in Los Angeles to visit an old friend and actor Seth Rogen. Seth then invites Jay to attend a housewarming party hosted by James Franco where they find other celebrities like Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Craig Robinson, and Christopher Mintz-Plas.
At the raucous party, there is drinking, drugs, sex and other questionable acts. While the party is still going on, the global apocalypse begins. So, the movie stars like Seth, Jay, Danny, Craig, and Jonah decide to remain with James Franco at his house.
"This is the End is one of the funniest movies I've seen in quite a while - the last one being Ted (2012). The humorous acting and writing is in great part what make the film so hilarious. One example is Danny McBride's well timed remarks: "Hermione stole all of our s—t". But if you're wondering what makes that so funny, you will have to see it for yourselves. Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg did an awesome job writing the screenplay's funny one-liners.
This is the End has an element of a horror-comedy genre. The horror comedy genre actually perfectly fits into the movie because it makes the film hilarious and suspenseful. In what is probably the funniest scene of the movie, Jonah Hill is shown possessed by a demon (same scene in the television commercial for the movie). That scene recalls to two classic exorcism-horror films : Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973). I really appreciated how that similarity pays tribute to the classic exorcism-horror films.
Although the movie is good, the one disappointment is the ending. The physical moment of the ending just didn't really fit in. The ending also didn't take the film seriously. If you are at all curious about how the movie ended, you all have to see it for yourselves. Disappointing ending or not, the movie is still worth watching and paying for in the movie theaters.
106 minutes of the film was overall very funny due to the acting, jokes, and one-liners. I give the film 3 out of 4 stars.
The Tree of Life (2011)
"The first time I watched this film I was very impressed due to the artistic cinematography and the superb non-linear narrative as well as the structured dramatic story".
I just watched Terrence Malick's artistic dramatic masterpiece The Tree of Life (released on May 27, 2011) on Blu-ray disc for the fifth time. The film contains experimental elements and a non-linear narrative story.
The first time I watched this film I was very impressed due to the artistic cinematography and the superb non-linear narrative as well as the structured dramatic story. One of the other movies that I've also watched multiple times that also has a non-linear narrative story is Quentin Tarantino's 1994 dark-comedy, crime drama Pulp Fiction.
The idea for Tree of Life goes back to the late 1970s. Terrence Malick directed Day of Heaven (1978). He was working on a project named "Q" that would explore the origins of life on earth. He ultimately abandoned the project, but Pulp Fiction contains elements from it.
The Tree of Life begins with a mysterious, wavering light, resembling a flame, which flickers in the darkness. I consider the development of the characters in the film to be truly artistic and the acting in the film was truly enjoyable.
Sean Penn portrays a modern day, middle-age architect Jack O' Brian. He shows the audience his childhood life in suburban Waco, Texas in the 1950's with his parents, and his two younger brothers, R.L. and Steve.
Jack's strict father Mr. O'Brian is portrayed by Brad Pitt, a man who easily loses his temper as he struggles to reconcile his love for his sons with wanting to prepare them for a world he sees as corrupt and exploitative. Mr. O'Brian also has passion for playing the piano.
Jessica Chastain portrays Jack's mother Mrs. O'Brian. Jack's childhood flashbacks offer the viewer a glimpse into how he and his two brothers were often rebellious.
The cinematography was sensational in great part because of the cinematographic close-ups of the underwater waves. The creation of the galaxy and earth was very well visualized due to the special effects and the cinematography of the film. Emmanuel Lubezki, the Mexican cinematographer on this film, should also be considered for an Oscar for best cinematography for his sensational work.
Terrence Malick did an amazing job directing this film through his great command of his film crew. He should receive an Oscar for best director due to his outstanding film direction.
Just like Citizen Kane (1941) and Memento (2001) once did, The Tree of Life is one of those films that adeptly handles flashbacks as integral to the story. I call this film an art film for its artistic cinematography and special, visual effects.
139 minutes of the film was overall amazing. Here's my advice for the movie: It's definitely a must see! I give the film 4 out of 4 stars.
Man of Steel (2013)
"Zack Snyder seriously made Superman into a realistic superhero in this contemporary world."
Zack Snyder introduces his second superhero film direction of Man of Steel. Zack Snyder seriously made Superman into a realistic superhero in this contemporary world.Speaking of which, me and a friend of mine saw the midnight premier showing of Man of steel.The film contains the story that is loosely based on the Superman comic books but, the film shows some differences that is not related to the comic books.The picture is very well casted with major actors and actresses like: Henry Cavil, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Larry Fishbourne, Michael Shannon, Ayelet Zuere and Richard Schiff.
Man of Steel tells the story of a newborn baby named Kal-El, who is transported on a small spaceship by his parents Jor-El (Russell Crowe) & Lara Lo Van (Ayelet Zuere) from the dying planet of Krypton to Earth.After the small spaceship landed in a Kansas small town called Smallville, Kal-El is found by a two farmer couple Jon (Kevin Costner) & Martha Kent (Diane Lane) and they both adopt him as his parents.They of course named him Clark Kent. About 10 or 11 years later, Clark discovered that he has unusual unique powers and he feels that he is not from Earth.Then about 20 or 22 years later, he finally discovered that he is an extra terrestrial from the planet Krypton. Then, Earth is being threatened by a group of humanoid e.t. criminals that is led by General Zod (Michael Shannon).They are also from Krypton and have the same powers as Kal-El.So, Clark Kent becomes a hero named Superman and he uses his powers to save Earth.Amy Adams portrays a journalist named Louis Lane, who works for The Daily Planet newspaper company in the fictional city of Metropolis.Louis Lane is actually fascinated of Superman's powers and home planet.Larry Fishbourne portrays Perry White, who is the editor in chief of The Daily Planet and boss of Louis Lane.Richard Schiff portrays Dr.Emil Hamlton.
The cause of Zack Snyder making Superman into a realistic superhero is the way that Henry Cavil looks like Superman due to his hair and muscles.Another reason that made Superman look realistic is the costume of his.Speaking of costumes, the costume design of the film looks very realistic.Zack Snyder's film direction of the costume design made it look realistic.Hans Zimmer's film score in the whole movie and the action scenes made the film entertaining.The film score has the same great quality as The Dark Knight Trilogy because the loud sounds of the epic film score is played during the action scenes of those films.
The special effects of the film was stunning.The cause of this was the way that the special effects looks very detailed.One of the CGI special effects is the metallic liquid that is shown in one of the computers in Krypton.I find the cinematography to be enjoyable.Every time when the film camera follows Superman flying, it makes the cinematography enjoyable.Zack picked the perfect cast for this film.The thing that makes the cast perfect is the acting of their characters.
The whole 143 minutes of the film is overall awesome due to Zack Snyder's whole direction of the film.I highly recommend that movie for comic book fans and people who want to see the movie in the movie theaters. I give the film 3 out of 4 stars.
Boogie Nights (1997)
"It's the best film of 1997"
Paul Thomas Anderson wrote an impressive original screenplay for his first official Drama film "Boogie Nights". He of course also directed the film. The story takes place in 1977 during the time when porno films were filmed on movie cameras and were released theatrically in porno movie theaters. By 1983, when the movie ended, the porno film industry has switched from theatrical release to video tape release. This era that I referred to is called "the golden age of porn flicks (1970s-early 1980s)".That is mainly involved in the plot of the movie. The film was released on October 10, 1997.
The film shows experience on how it's like becoming a famous porn star in the porn cinema industry and here's how it began in the movie : Mark Wahlberg portrays a 17 year old high school drop-out and dishwasher working in a Los Angeles nightclub named Eddie Adams. Eddie lives with his parents in Torrance, California. One night, Eddie is discovered by a porn film director named Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) at the nightclub, where he works.The Nightclub is owned by Maurice Rodriguez portrayed by Puerto Rican character actor Luis Guzman. Then, Jack became fascinated of Eddie so, he took him to his house to audition him by watching him having sex with roller girl (Heather Graham), who is a young female porn actress who always wears roller skates all the time. After Eddie succeed the audition, Jack hires him to star in his pornography films. There was a argument that Eddie and his mom had about his open relationship girlfriend and his sexual life. That's what made Eddie decide to run away home and move in with Jack Horner in his San Fernando Valley home. After Eddie agreed with Jack to get involved with the Porn film industry, he changes his name to his screen name Dirk Diggler. Speaking of which, here's a fun fact: Boogie Nights was an expansion of P.T. Anderson's short film The Dirk Diggler story (1988).After Dirk Diggler started in a couple of Jack Horner's films, he started to become a famous male porn star of pornographic films.
The films' big cast is definitely well casted just like Anderson's third film Magnolia. Julianne Moore portrays Maggie a.k.a Amber Waves, who is female porn star of Horner's films, drug addict, former housewife & mother and she develops a relationship with Dirk. William H. Macy portrays Jack's assistant film director Little Bill, he is married to porn star who constantly bangs (sex) on men. Reed Rothchild portrayed by John C. Riley, who develops a great friendship with Dirk and stars with him in a film series of action theme porn films. He has a dream of becoming a famous rock musician and a magician. Buck Swope is portrayed by Don Cheadle, who is an hi-fi stereo salesman and second-tier actor. Maurice Rodriguez the night club owner also wants to star in Jack Horner's porn films. Rick Jay portrays Jack's cinematographer. The Colonel James portrayed by Robert Ridgely is the porn film financer. The Colonel's boss is Floyd Gondolli portrayed by Phillip Baker Hall, who on New Year's Eve, 1980, breaks the news to Jack that videotape holds the future of the porno industry.Phillip Seymour Hoffman portrays Scotty J. is a gay boom operator, who is in love with Dirk.
The reason why P.T. wrote an impressive original screenplay because every line that he wrote in the script made it astonishing. It's one of those movies that has an experience type of story. It's just like the mob movie Goodfellas that features how is the experience like in the Italian-American Mafia. Boogie Nights shows you the experience of becoming a famous porn star of the 1970s.It's also just like Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War flick Full Metal Jacket (1987), it shows experience of becoming a soldier in Vietnam war.Here's another example of the perfect film that shows experience:their is also a crime drama film called Boyz N The Hood (1991) that shows experiences of growing up in the African-American ghetto of South Los Angeles.
P.T. Anderson's magnificent cinematography film style has Stanley Kubrick's same significant film style. P.T.'s same film style as Kubricks' is the film camera following the characters body movement. For example, the scene when the film camera follows the female background character gets into the pool during Jack's pool party. Stanley Kubrick was Paul Thomas Anderson's main influence and that's why he uses Kubrick's film style to make his films. Thats what makes his film style magnificent.
Burt Reynolds played the perfect role as the porn film director. His role marked him that he acted out very well for his role. Warren Beatty and Sydney Pollack were originally offered the role of Jack Horner. I am not so sure why Beatty turned down but, I Pollack attended the film's premiere and expressed regret for turning the role down. Mark Wahlberg portrayed an outstanding role as Dirk Diggler for a couple of reasons. He portrayed his first out of his element dramatic lead role. The way that Mark Wahlberg portrayed his first lead Dramaitic very talentedly. His lead role of Boogie Nights made him famous as a movie star. That is the reason why Boogie Nights is Mark Wahlberg's best film.
155 minutes of the film was overall great. It's the best film of the year 1997.Here's my advice for the film: "It's definitely worth watching ". I give it a 4 out of 4 stars ****
Crimson Tide (1995)
"Thrilling"
Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer's 1995 film production of "Crimson Tide" has a good Submarine Dramatization Action/Thriller plot that features some intense action scenes, great cast, & excellent dialogue. The director, who made this film was Ridley Scott's younger brother Tony Scott. The film was released on May 12, 1995. The plot starts off with a news report that involves Russian rebels loyal to Vladimir Radchenko, an ultra nationalist, have hijacked a nuclear missile installation and are threatening nuclear war if either the American or Russian governments attempt to confront him. A U.S. Navy nuclear submarine, USS Alabama (SSBN-731), is assigned a mission, to be available to launch its missiles in a preemptive strike if Radchenko attempts to fuel his missiles. "The incredible Gene Hackman" portrays Captain Frank Ramsey, who is the commanding officer of USS Alabama. Before they officially start the mission, they need to hire a new X.O. and the choice that they picked is Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter portrayed by Denzel Washington. Hunter is an expert in military history but, no combat experience. While on the way, there was an incident and Hunter had a disagreement with how Ramsey handled the plan, it's evident that Ramsey doesn't think too much of Hunter because he was college educated while Ramsey worked his way up. They're given strict commands to attack but when they were in the process of receiving another order, the ship's communications were damaged, so the whole message was not responded. Ramsey made a decision to continue with their previous order while Hunter wants to re-establish contact first. That's when the two men butt heads that ends with Hunter relieving Ramsey. Later when some men die, some of the officers feel that Hunter is not up to be in charge so they partner up to re-command control. But Hunter has taken precautions.
The two then-semi-famous actors Viggo Mortensen (6 years before he portrayed the role as Aragon from The Lord of the rings trilogy) and James Gandolfini (4 years before he portrayed Italian-American crime boss Tony Soprano from the HBO crime series The Sopranos) both portrayed two supporting characters deputy Peter "Weps" Ince & Bobby Dougherty. Speaking of which, there is a cool moment in movie, when Weps, Bobby, and the rest of the crew on the bus to the submarine port were talking about old submarine movies like "The Enemy below" (1957) and "Run Silent Run Deep "(1958).They were also asking trivia question about Submarine movies each other: Weps asked Bobby who played the commander from Run Silent, Run Deep and then, Bobby answered "Cary Grant". That answer is actually wrong , it wasn't Cary Grant it was Clark Gable a.k.a The King of Hollywood , who portrayed the submarine commander from Run Silent, Run Deep. Both The Enemy Below and Run Silent, Run Deep of course made the same connection of the movie due to the same submarine film genre of those two films as they were mentioned in the film that is of course also Submarine film and that's why I find this moment of the movie to be cool.
One of the deputies of the submarine, Bobby needs a little more character development. There is a realization that Bobby doesn't really have a lot of dialogue of the film but, I still think that he could be entertaining character at times. Jimmy's New Jersey accent makes his character is the main reason that make his character entertaining in the film. 36 year old James Gandolfini was still portraying supporting movie roles at the time he started in this movie. Bobby was the main deputy disagrees on Hunter taking over the submarine.
I find Hans Zimmer's film score in the action scenes of the film to be very thrilling. The sounds from the orchestra, choir and synthesizer makes the film score thrilling. Hans Zimmer won a Grammy award of this film score in 1996.This film score is one of Hans Zimmer's personal favorites along with The Lion King and Gladiator.
Both Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman acted out on their lead characters really well. The way that they were both taking command of submarine was serious in a intensive way. The arguments about their disagreements that they had, made it intensively serious.
I highly recommend that movie for people in general and especially people, who are into submarine movies like "Das Boot". I find the movie to be "Thrilling. I give a 3 out of 4 stars.
Badlands (1973)
"It's such a wonderful masterpiece!"
I just watched The Criterion Collection edition of Badlands on Bluray for the second time. The film was of course directed, produced & written by a 30 year old artistic film director Terrence Malick ,who also made other great motion pictures with artistic cinematography style like Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Tree Of Life (2011), and To The Wonder (2013).Badlands was the first official film that Terrence Malick made. The film was released on October 15, 1973.
Badlands takes place in Fort Dupre, South Dakota in the year 1959.The crime story of the film involves a fifteen year old girl named Holly Sargis (Sissy Spacek ), who is the narrator of the film and she enjoys reading music and movie magazines. One day Holly meets a 25-year old James Dean look-a-like garbage man & greaser named Kit Carruthers (Martin Sheen).Then, they both go on a cross country killing spree from South Dakota to the Badlands of Montana. The cross country killing spree all started after Kit shot Holly's father (Warren Oates) with a gun due to his disagreement with their relationship. Holly's narration describes her adventures with Kit. The story, though fictional, is loosely based on the real-life murder spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, in 1958.
I thought the movie was a fantastic masterpiece for many reasons. I really love the outstanding cinematography of the entire 95 minutes of the film. One of the reasons that makes the cinematography outstanding is the close ups of objects, animals, & plants in the film and I also find that to be very artistic. I especially the love acting roles of the characters and that's one of the things that makes the movie entertaining. I like the way that 33 year-old Martin Sheen (Charlie Sheen's father) made himself look like James Dean for his role as Kit. I also loved Holly's narration of the motion picture because I love the way she describes her life and adventures with Kit and that's what made the film extremely entertaining.
This film kind of reminds me of another crime film Bonnie & Clyde (1967) but, they both of course robbed banks during the great depression. Badlands also has elements of coming of age and road film. I highly recommend this movie for people in general. This film would also inspire people to become a film maker due to its artistic film making style. I personally think the film is fifth best film on my top 20 best films of the 1970s list. I also personally think Badlands is the number one best film of the year 1973.I give it 4 out of 4 stars.
The Hangover Part III (2013)
"It's one of the worst movies to end a film series just like The Matrix Revolutions!"
I watched The Hangover Part 3 in the movie theaters the day before yesterday. This time the main plot of Part 3 doesn't involve with a bachelor party & wedding but, in the aftermath of Leslie Chow's escape from maximum-security Thai prison and the death of Alan's father, Phil, Stuart, and Doug (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha) a.k.a The Wolfpack( that of course includes Alan) made a decision to take Alan to the mental hospital to get his mental issues treated. But things start to go wrong on the way to the hospital as The Wolfpack is assaulted and Doug is taken hostage by a gangster Marshall (John Goodman) and Black Doug (Mike Epps), who was from the first Hangover film. Marshall made them aware that, during a $42 million gold heist, Chow stole half of the gold and has escaped from the Thai prison. In order for The Wolfpack to save Doug from Marshall, they must find Mr. Chow again and get the stolen gold. The film takes place in L.A., Tijuana and Las Vegas again just like in the first film. Heather Graham reprised her role as Jade, the sexy stripper who married Stu from the first Hangover movie. The film also stars Melissa McCarthy as Lathe pawn shop owner Cassie, who is the first women that Alan immediately falls in love with.
I honestly thought the movie was awful. The motion picture pretty much did not made me laugh at all except the beginning and the post credits scene. If you are all curious about the post credits scene you all have to see it for yourselves, if you all want to. The rest of the film definitely had poor comedy & acting and it wasn't as really funny as the previous two Hangover films.In some ways, The film had two out of place genres Dramadey (Comedy-Drama) and Crime thriller. The film also had some dramatic acting that is also out place of the comedy genre of the film and it did not amazed me at all.
If the main plot of the film involves with a bachelor party and wedding it would still be terrible of course because it would pretty much repeat the same related plot and jokes from The Hangover part 1 and 2.Even The Hangover part 2 pretty much repeat the same related plot and jokes from the first one. That's the reason I think The Hangover should of have just been a stand-alone film with no sequels at all. Another problem that I have with the film is that it takes place in Las Vegas again just like the first one. The Wolfpack went to Las Vegas again just to look for Mr.Chow and the stolen gold in his condo in Caesar's palace hotel & casino and bring him to Marshall.
Here's my advice for the film: "Do not watch this film in theaters, if you buy a ticket to see this movie it would be a waste of money!" I would have to say it's so far one of the worst films of this decade.
Flight (2012)
"It's the best inspirational film of 2012'
Flight is a Drama film directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis. The picture stars Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker, Kelly Reilly as Nicole Maggen, Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang, Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson, John Goodman as Harling Mays, and Nadine Velaquez as Katrina Marquez. Flight marked Robert Zemeckis' an amazing comeback to live action films .The last film that Zemeckis directed before Flight was Cast Away and What lies beneath, which were both released in the year 2000.After Zemeckis directed Cast Away, he started to move on making motion capture computer animated films like The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2009). Zemeckis also directed Back to the future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990), Who framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Forrest Gump (1994) and Contact (1997).Flight is also the first movie that Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington worked together.
Whip Whitaker ( Denzel Washington) is an alcoholic airline pilot of the South Jet Air. Whip awakens in the morning at a hotel near the airport in Orlando with a very attractive flight attendant Katrina Marquez (Nicole Maggen) after a night of sex, alcohol, drugs and very little sleep. After Whip awakened, he snorted cocaine in the hotel room to make him active to get ready to fly the S.J.A airplane from Orlando to Atlanta. While the co-pilot Ken Evans flies the plane ,Whip was drinking orange juice secretly mixed with Vodka without other passengers and the people that work on the plane being aware of it. Then, the airplane started to have a mechanical problem and Whip crashes the plane into a field that is close to a church and he saves 96 of 102 people on board in the plane. One of the people that died in the plane is the two flight attendants that of course includes Katrina Marquez. When he wakes up from the hospital, his old friend Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) from the airline union came to visit him and later on, he introduces him to a defense lawyer Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle) to make him aware that he may have a life sentence due to his blood test indicates that he was intoxicated with alcohol and drugs. Charlie and Hugh also advise him to make him not drink alcohol in the next few days but, he kept drinking in the next few days and he is struggling to stop drinking alcohol.He even decided to stop drinking after he got out of the hospital but, he of course kept drinking. Whip realized that he was of course intoxicated while he crashed landed the plane due to drinking the orange juice mixed with Vodka. Whip also develops a relationship with a female drug addict named Nicole Maggen (Kelly Reily).
I honestly thought that the movie has a great moral. The moral of the movie is don't do drugs and drink alcohol.It's one of those movies that makes people stop doing drugs and drinking alcohol. That is the reason why I thought it had a great moral. Every moment of the movie when Whip keeps drinking alcoholic, the thought is my head keeps telling him to "stop drinking too much alcohol !".
I would have to say that the most humorous character in the movie is Whip's drug dealer Harling Mays portrayed by John Goodman. Pretty much every line he says is pretty funny, here's one of his lines "That's what we have in common Nurse Ratched, we both hate me". I said this to the nurse at the moment when he is at Whip's hospital room. The line referenced the movie character Nurse Ratched from One who flew over the cuckoo's nest.
I thought the acting was amazing and I especially thought that Denzel Washington portrayed an outstanding role. Well, the thing that made his role great is that he acted out like he is an actual alcoholic for his character, really well. Denzel Washington of course never fails at acting and thats is the reason why I think he is a very talented actor!. This picture is Denzel Washington's first academy award nominated role in 12 years. The last Oscar that Denzel won was for his role as Detective Alonzo Harris from Training Day (2001).No spoiler alert but, the very end of the film gets heartwarming.
My advice for the movie is definitely a must see for people in general ! It's also a perfect movie to watch for people who are or not struggling to stop doing drugs and drinking alcohol. The movie would inspire people not to do drugs and drink alcohol. I would specifically explain how the movie could inspire people not to do drugs and alcohol besides Whip struggling to stop alcohol but,I would not because if I explain the other reasons it would cause a spoiler alert. So you all have to watch the movie to see how the film could inspire people to do not do drugs and drink alcohol. I also highly recommend that movie for people who are fans of Robert Zemeckis' films .Flight is such a true Modern American Classic! 10 out of 10 stars.
Lincoln (2012)
"It's one of the best films that I have ever seen about a famous historical figure!"
I re-watched Lincoln on Bluray about two days ago and I thought the movie was so incredible. The movie is of course a historical drama flick directed and produced by Steven Spileberg. The movie is about the final four months of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis during an ongoing American Civil War in 1865.The plot mostly focuses on Lincoln adding the thirteenth amendment to the U.S. constitution that was passed by the United States House of Representatives to free the African American slaves. The movie is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's historical book called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. The motion picture also stars Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Robert Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Hal Holbrook (he also played Lincoln in the 1970s TV mini-series that has the same name of the movie) as Preston Blair, James Spader as W.N. Bilbo and John Hawkes as Robert Latham.
I honestly thought that Daniel Day-Lewis absolutely portrayed a very realistic role as Abraham Lincoln. Seeing D-Day Lewis portraying Lincoln is like seeing Abraham Lincoln portraying himself. The two reasons that made Lincoln look like he is portraying himself from the movie is the way that they made the makeup look realistic and D-Day Lewis speaking with Lincoln's perfect Kentucky accent. Those are also the two reasons why I thought D-Day Lewis portrayed a very realistic role as Abe Lincoln. D-Day did not just portrayed a realistic role as Lincoln, it's hands down he definitely portrayed the best Abraham Lincoln ever.
My prediction on Daniel Day-Lewis winning his third Oscar for best actor for his role as Abe Lincoln came true and those are of course the reasons why I predicted D-Day Lewis on winning an Oscar. Even though I loved Lincoln, but my favorite Daniel Day-Lewis film will always be My Left Foot (He won his first Oscar for best actor from that film).
Steven Spielberg made a perfect choice of hiring D-Day Lewis portraying Abe Lincoln due to that he looks like Abraham Lincoln pretty much with his beard and the height. Before Steven Spielberg hired Daniel-Day Lewis, Liam Neeson was his first choice to portray Lincoln ever since the development of the film began but, he decided to drop out because he felt that was too old to portray the role after waiting several years for the project to start .Even though I love Liam Neeson as an actor but, his role is not perfect because he doesn't have look the Abe Lincoln look to him on his face and he especially doesn't have a beard that looks like his.Apparently, Daniel Day Lewis is only five years younger than Liam Neeson, but D-Day's age is close to Lincoln's age in the movie.So, that is one of the reasons why he took the role.
It was very impressive on the way they did the voting of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to end slavery in the movie. The Thirteenth Amendment was of course passed and If I was one of those congressman my vote would be yes to stop slavery. Well, Steven Spielberg did an outstanding effort on directing the thirteen amendment voting scene that it felt like it the voting session was actually recorded it in a actual film camera at The House of Representatives back in 1865 and then many years later, they digitally restored it.
I highly recommend that movie for history buffs and people in general. The people that have a passion on history would of course love this movie.The film in my opinion is one of Steven Spileberg's best movies. There are even other biographical films that actors portrayed their realistic look a like real person roles just like Denzel Washington as Malcolm X from Spike Lee's Malcolm X and Ben Kingsley as Gandhi from Gandhi. I give the motion picture 10 out of 10 stars.
Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
Martin Scorsese's pretty excellent film debut!
I just finished watching Who's that knocking on my door on DVD and I thought the movie was pretty excellent for a first feature film that was directed and written by Martin Scorsese( one of my favorite film directors) before he became internationally famous.The movie is about this Italian-American J.R.(Harvey Kietel) who lives in New York City.He meets this girl (Zina Bethune) and when he gets into a relationship with her, she told him a secret that she once got raped by a man, and J.R. cannot stop struggling from the secret that she told him.I honestly thought both Harvey Kietel and Zina Bethune played great roles. The dialogue in the movie was pretty good for Marty's first flick.I especially liked the acting. I highly recommend that movie a must see for Martin Scorsese fans & movie lovers.I will definitely give the movie 10 out of 10 stars.I also think that it's definitely worth buying, as a matter of fact, they actually sell the movie on DVD for $3.00 at Big Lots.This movie is such a great American classic.