Sunday 30 October 2011

Movie Review: Ghost Ship (2002)


A horror movie that mixes gore with suspense, Ghost Ship cannot fully overcome an identity crisis. There is reasonable talent in the cast and kernels of intriguing ideas in the script, but too much time is wasted decapitating bodies and skulking around dark corners rather than exploring the ghost themes and developing the creepy psychological elements.

In 1962, passengers enjoying lavish entertainment on board the Italian luxury liner Antonia Graza suffer a horrible fate: a taut thin wire chord is unleashed like a blade, slicing through bodies and heads, causing mass death by dismemberment. Katie (Emily Browning), a young girl travelling alone, survives the carnage.

Forty years pass. Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) is the captain of the Anchorage-based salvage tugboat Arctic Warrior and her scrappy crew, including Epps (Julianna Margulies) and Greer (Isaiah Washington). They are approached by Jack (Desmond Harrington), a small plane pilot who has spotted a large vessel floating aimlessly in the Bering Sea. Jack joins the Arctic Warrior crew and they soon intercept the mystery ship, which turns out to be the Antonia Graza. When the salvagers board the abandoned ship, it does not take long for eerie things to start happening. 

With Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver among the co-producers, Ghost Ship had some Hollywood heavyweights behind it. But the push towards greater commercial potential appears to have also resulted in a significant shift away from the more subtle psychological suspense journey initially planned and towards a more shocks-and-blood narrative, with the final product falling into the cracks between two sub-genres.

The better moments are undoubtedly the calm but chilling encounters between the salvage team members and the on-board ghosts. The scenes between Epps and Katie; Murphy and the Italian captain; and Greer and the sultry lounge singer are gratifying ghost encounters tapping into fragile human psychology. Epps has no family of her own and Katie is a metaphorical daughter. Murphy's career is stalled at the tugboat level, with alcohol issues a likely cause; he gets to share a drink with the captain of a bygone era's grand luxury liner. And Greer is about to get married: the passion he feels for the seductive singer is the farewell to his old life.

Despite some good visual moments delivered by director Steve Beck and the best effort of Margulies and Byrne, Ghost Ship is hampered by significant levels of triteness. There are gruesome deaths aplenty, grotesquely deformed bodies hidden behind closed doors, and endless stock scenes of search lights peering into dark shadows within the bowels of the massive ship.

Ghost Ship eventually sails away quietly, leaving faint memories of what could have been a good movie.






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Wednesday 26 October 2011

Movie Review: The Last Days Of Disco (1998)


A confused look back at the New York club scene in the dying days of disco music, The Last Days Of Disco is an attempt at glossy art that is patchy at best, inhabited by self-indulgent characters keen to demonstrate a faux intellectualism while partying and snorting themselves to waste.

The thin story line centres around Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale), two lowly book readers trying to get a promotion to Associate Editors at a New York publishing house. Alice and Charlotte are not exactly friends, and in fact Charlotte dominates an asymmetrical relationship, but they move into an apartment together. They have fun by regularly going to a disco and hanging out with colleagues and friends from college days.

The men in the movie are plenty, and with quantity comprehensively trumping quality they are utterly lacking in presence and charisma. Des is a womanizer with a healthy drug habit who pretends to be gay when he wants to dump girlfriends. Jimmy is in marketing and is not welcome at the club but always anyway finds a way to gain entry. Tom is a lawyer who has a one night stand with Alice and infects her with sexually transmitted diseases (plural). Josh is with the District Attorney's office, a manic depressive on assignment with a unit investigating tax evasion at the club. Dan is a co-worker with Alice and Charlotte, critical of their lifestyle but nevertheless spending an unhealthy amount of time with them. Bernie is the uncompromising owner of the club. Van works at the club mostly doing Bernie's dirty work. None of them establish any momentum as characters that we could care less about.

Writer and director Whit Stillman is celebrated in some circles, but the The Last Days Of Disco is as interesting as watching a disco ball. Captivating for a few minutes, the experience quickly becomes repetitive, rotational and yes, childish. All that needs to be said about the film's attempt at appearing cerebral is that one of the main conversations centres around the motivations of the characters in Disney's Lady And The Tramp. The Last Days Of Disco is the worst kind of vapid: boredom that is not self-aware.

The film is full of supposedly educated male characters obsessed with entering the right clubs, engaging in tax evasion, snorting coke and passing on sexually transmitted diseases. Yes, the disco era may have been all about that for those sucked into the lifestyle, but The Last Days Of Disco's attempt to cloak the culture with wordy discourse is either failed irony or just a plain fail. It's better, if more painful, to face the facts that chasing the good times on the disco floor on a nightly basis and snorting white powder were somewhat incompatible with the basic intelligence required to achieve success.

Despite the poor material, the two female leads shine, and along with the soundtrack of non-stop disco standards almost succeed in making the movie watchable. Chloe Sevigny acts with head tilts, eye angles and a sceptical mouth; her Alice is unconventionally attractive as an insecure wannabe book editor, easily influenced by her friends. Kate Beckinsale as Charlotte is more familiar and more bewitching as a self-confident, overbearing source of unsolicited advice delivered with utter coquettishness, quick to victimize Alice with a pile of amateur psychoanalysis designed to trample Alice's self-esteem and inflate Charlotte's insatiable ego. The relationship between Alice and Charlotte never seems real, but is nevertheless fascinating to watch as pure theatre.

The clothes, haircuts and volume of noise in the The Last Days Of Disco all seem suspiciously understated. The characters' appearances seem ironically stuck in the corporate world of the late 1990s, when the film was made, rather than the very early 1980s club scene. The conversations in the clubs take place in relaxed tones: in reality, no club worth the name played music at any volume except deafening, requiring conversations to be either shouted at close range or otherwise abandoned out of sheer exasperation.

The Last Days Of Disco ultimately achieves it's objective, although unintentionally: it is as lost as the culture it depicts.






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Movie Review: When Harry Met Sally...(1989)


A delightful romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally... established the new standard for the genre. Warm-hearted, funny and quirky, the film's two main star-crossed protagonists grow ever more likeable as they tentatively take their multi-year journey towards a cupid-defined destiny.

It's 1977. New graduates Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) share an 18 hour drive from the University of Chicago to New York, where they are both starting their careers, Harry as a lawyer and Sally in journalism. Prior to the drive they don't know each other, but during the journey they become sure that they don't like each other: Harry is an arrogant, fast-talking pessimist who is sure that he has the world already figured out. Sally is detail-oriented and a bit uppity. They argue about everything, including whether a man and woman can be just friends. Harry does not believe it to be possible: the sex part always gets in the way. Sally convinces herself that Harry is a creep because he seems to be coming onto her despite already having a girlfriend. They arrive in New York and coldly part ways.

Five years later, they accidentally meet again during a flight. Harry is mellowing a bit, now engaged to Helen, but still a motor-mouth with all the answers. Sally is in the throes of a deepening relationship with Joe, and optimistically love-struck. Although more civilized, they again part ways as soon as the flight lands.

Five years further on, they meet again at a New York bookstore. Both relationships have ruptured badly. Harry is heartbroken by the breakup of his marriage to Helen, while Sally is trying to hold herself together despite Joe leaving her because he did not want to start a family and she did. Gradually, Harry and Sally become best friends, sharing all the details, joys, and sorrows of their lives, supporting each other and developing a deep bond of dependence and affection while continuing to date other people. Sally's best friend Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Harry's best friend Jess (Bruno Kirby) also end up in a relationship together.

Sally is devastated when she hears that Joe is getting married and starting a family with a younger woman. When Harry comes to her apartment to comfort her, they end up making love, shattering the basis of their friendship. Harry and Sally have to decide whether or not to pick up the pieces and turn the wreckage of a friendship into the green roots of a romance.

The success of When Harry Met Sally... is based on a Nora Ephron script that works diligently to create two fully-rounded characters. The mannerisms, reactions, and emotions of Harry and Sally are established early on when they are brash graduates, and gradually evolve, soften and mature as life gently but surely scrubs away the edges. Director Rob Reiner guides the romance with a gentle hand, delicately adding New York City garnishings to create a perfect but understated feast.

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were both catapulted into deserved stardom for their performances. Crystal had earlier made an impression in The Princess Bride and Throw Momma From The Train (both also directed by Reiner), but his performance as Harry elevated him into a leading star as a sensitive comic talent. Harry's journey is the more pronounced, including a detour into a long friendship that threatens to disprove his theory about friendships between men and women, but he then has to endure a lot of pain and no pleasure when the inevitable intervention of "the sex part" indeed proves his initial belief to be true.

Meg Ryan was designated as America's sweetheart and leading romantic lady after her performance as Sally. Defiant yet vulnerable, argumentative yet appealing, and attractive yet down to earth, Sally is most memorable for being so real: she captures, with just a dash of comic exaggeration, deeply human traits found in most women. And her impressive fake public orgasm in a New York deli immediately entered the hall of fame of classic movie scenes.

The central theme of the film is the nature of friendship between men and women, and the movie's warmest moments portray Harry and Sally as friends. There is a magical emotional depth to the scenes portraying the couple becoming platonic soul mates, and the film provides a complex answer to its core conundrum: yes, a strong bond of friendship may be formed between a man and a woman, but perhaps such a deep connection is really a pilot light for a flame waiting to be lit.

It takes them a long time, but not only do Harry and Sally finally realize that they are meant for each other, they also join the distinguished ranks of most memorable movie characters.






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Monday 24 October 2011

Movie Review: Heartbreak Ridge (1986)


A character study movie requires a multi-faceted personality with subtleties of behaviour and perhaps some hidden secrets that can be probed for a couple of hours. Heartbreak Ridge focuses on Thomas Highway, an old-school Gunnery Sergeant with the Marine Corps who is as old fashioned and utterly predictable as they come. Highway would be the secondary role in most other war movies; building a story entirely around him is the equivalent of eating the icing in the absence of a cake.

Although he is an entertaining character, everything we need to know about Highway (Clint Eastwood, who also directs) we find out in the first 10 minutes. Battle hardened, frequently drunk, divorced, believes in the traditional military values, does not suffer fools, an expert in hand-to-hand combat, and quick with the one-liners, mostly to do with the hurt that he will lay on the next person to sneer in his face.

The problem is that the film has another two hours to kill, and spends the time entrenched in cliché land as Highway trains a group of misfits in a recon unit, with scenes alternating between poorly conceived comedy, macho fist fights to excite the young adolescents, and utter disrespect for the military. By the time the film completes it's depiction of the 1983 United States invasion of the tiny island of Grenada (population: 100,000), a war as unnecessary as this movie, the snarly line of dialogue about "ripping your head off and crapping down the hole" in all its variants has been repeated about a dozen times. Or so it feels.

Despite the character offering nothing new, Clint Eastwood is the only thing worth watching in Heartbreak Ridge, and he makes a valiant attempt to save the movie, his "Gunny" Highway hard as nails, spitting bullets, and unleashing equal torrents of hatred at his untested superiors and his slacker subordinates. There are a few clever moments, such as Highway's obsession with reading women's magazines to improve his soft side, and the film gains a few points for recreating the true story of American soldiers pinned by enemy fire during the Grenada invasion using a credit card to call collect for fire support.

Unfortunately the supporting roles are poorly developed, Marsha Mason suffering the most as Highway's ex-wife, with the script never bothering to reveal what she ever saw in the man nor shedding any light as to why she would ever consider going back to him. Mario Van Peebles is a laughably unreal wannabe guitar rock star Marine, and Everett McGill as Highway's commanding officer and chief nemesis is as stiff as a target board at the far end of the firing range.

In Clint Eastwood's stellar career as both actor and director, Heartbreak Ridge is a boorish misfire.






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Sunday 23 October 2011

Movie Review: Cold Mountain (2003)


A sprawling epic of the Civil War, Cold Mountain is an old-fashioned grand romance set against the backdrop of a brutal war, with classic themes of hope, survival, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit against barbarous adversity.

Reverend Monroe (Donald Sutherland) and his daughter Ada (Nicole Kidman) relocate from the deep South to the small town of Cold Mountain, North Carolina, where the crisp air is healthier for the Reverend's ailing health. Ada is immediately attracted to the quiet and awkward but resourceful outdoorsman W.P. Inman (Jude Law), and although few words pass between them, there is an undeniably mutual attraction. The Civil War breaks out; Inman joins the Confederate Army, along with most of Cold Mountain's men. For the next several years, Ada's life becomes one long patient wait for Inman to come back to her. She writes a stream of  letters, hears little in return, and lives on nothing but hope and the memory fragments from the few moments they shared prior to the war.

Inman's journey home rivals the Odyssey. He is blown up by Union troops outside Petersburg before surviving a meat grinder of a close-quarters battle, only to be shot in the neck in a subsequent skirmish. Nursed back to health, he defects the Confederate Army before encountering the lascivious Reverend Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Inman is eventually captured as a defector, but another skirmish with Union soldiers leaves him wounded, abandoned and chained to a gang of dead men. He is rescued again and healed by a recluse living deep in the woods. Inman next encounters the young widow Sara (Natalie Portman) and her young infant, and helps her to fend off marauding and starving Union troops before continuing his long walk home.

Meanwhile, Ada is holding on to the forlorn hope that Inman will one day return to her, and struggling to survive on her own after her father dies. Knowing nothing about running a farm, least of all how to stay alive in the harsh Cold Mountain winters, Ada is near starvation when the spirited and resourceful Ruby (Rene Zellweger) arrives at her doorstep, and the two gradually become a formidable team, surviving and thriving against the elements. The biggest threat to their well-being emerges in the form of the self-appointed Confederate home guard, under the leadership of the power-drunk Teague (Ray Winstone), who sees the Civil War as his opportunity to reclaim his family's long-lost land holdings in Cold Mountain.

Nicole Kidman manages to glow like a Hollywood star even when close to starvation, her performance adequate without being memorable. Kidman is more comfortable in the scenes when she is taking charge or falling in love, and a lot less believable as a struggling woman depending on the charity of others to survive. Jude Law, having just survived another blood-flows-in-the-streets battle in Enemy At The Gates finds himself back up to his knees in gore, and his performance is all about the determination to survive in the name of love, fending off the grim reamer countless times in his quest to fulfil his destiny with Ada.

More interesting than the two leads are two supporting actresses. Renee Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her feisty Ruby, a bundle of positive energy that still makes plenty of room for seething anger at her father's neglect. Even more engaging is Natalie Portman, her brief 15 minutes on the screen as Sara leaving a lasting impression. Her pleading with Inman for platonic comfort in her bed is the most searing metaphorical scream of horror that the movie offers against the devastation caused by war.

The supporting cast is deep in talent, and in addition to the sage Donald Sutherland and lustful Philip Seymour Hoffman, the likes of Kathy Baker and Giovanni Ribisi provide continued texture.

Director Anthony Minghella and cinematographer John Seale mix lavish shots of surreal natural beauty in all seasons with horrific scenes of war, and Minghella keeps the drama surprisingly nimble despite the complete lack of any humour or relief from the overwhelming sense of doom surrounding both Ada and Inman.

Cold Mountain never shies away from portraying the harsh natural and man-made challenges that stand in the way of happiness, but it also never veers from the journey to ultimately find the warmth that emanates from the well-meaning human spirit.






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Thursday 20 October 2011

Movie Review: American Wedding (2003)


Too much Stifler. Not nearly enough sizzler. American Wedding, the second sequel to American Pie, attempts a withdrawal from the account of bankrupt ideas, and emerges with a stained handful of excrement.

Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are planning to get married. Before he gets to the big day, Jim has to overcome two main hurdles: impress Michelle's parents (Fred Willard and Deborah Rush), and keep his vulgar friend Stifler (Seann William Scott) as far away from the wedding as possible. Nothing goes according to plan, with Jim embarrassing himself in front of his future in-laws at every opportunity, and Stifler forcing himself into the wedding planning arrangements and proceeding to instigate or fall victim to one disaster after another.

In the meantime, Michelle's game sister Cadence (January Jones) attracts the attention of both the boorish Stifler and the relatively more suave Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), while Jim's hapless dad (Eugene Levy) doles out his dorky advice when it's least needed.

American Wedding huffs, puffs, and works up a smelly sweat to create a series of set-piece comedy tableaux, to place either Jim or Stifler in the most contrived and awkward situations possible. So Jim is contorted to appear as though he is shagging a dog when he first meets Michelle's parents, and Stifler has to endure both eating dog poo and having intercourse with a hideous grandmother in the dark. The comedy stubbornly stays at this sewage-dwelling level throughout, and it's clear that writer Adam Herz ran out of  clever ideas a couple of scripts back. And if director Jesse Dylan inherited any creative genes from his father Bob, he certainly did not display them here.

American Wedding aims for the lowest common denominator and still manages to under-deliver.






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Movie Review: Easy A (2010)


A high school comedy that cleverly tones down the raunchiness in favour of wit, Easy A has a lot going for it: a bright premise, a likable Emma Stone, an astute commentary on promiscuity, and lots of laughs.

Olive Penderghast  (Stone) is a generally anonymous high school student. Trying to impress her flashier friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), Olive lies and pretends that she has slept with a college student. Immediately the news spreads throughout the school and she gains an unwanted reputation as a tramp. Among the horrified classmates is Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the leader of a small group of strictly religious students. Marianne condemns Olive's behaviour but takes on the mission of leading her back to the right path.

Instead of listening to anything that Marianne has to say, Olive decides to put her fake reputation to good use: at a house party she pretends to have energetic sex with the gay Brandon (Dan Byrd), to put a stop to the bullying directed his way. Her notoriety as a slut enhanced, Olive finds herself branded as an adulteress, and finds her life mimicking the classic novel The Scarlett Letter, that she happens to be studying in the English class of Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church). Olive starts to dress the part, and to cash in: loser boys start paying her to spread rumours that she slept with them, to help overcome their geeky images.

Despite not actually having had sex with anyone, Olive's high school life spirals totally out of control, and she finds herself embroiled in a marital sex scandal between Mr. Griffith and his wife (Lisa Kudrow). She needs to find a way to put a stop to all the rumours and regain some normalcy.

Easy A has fun asking all sorts of questions: what's the difference between reputation and reality? Is a promiscuous reputation worth maintaining? How long can a chain of lies hold together, and what happens when one lie too many overwhelms the entire structure?

Director Will Gluck brings the script by Bert V. Royal to life with a light touch and an emphasis on humour rather than the more common over-the-top bawdiness that has come to define the genre. Easy A avoids the cliches and tones down the jokes about body fluids, and instead achieves an irreverent, self-dismissive and breezy vibe perfectly suited to the emotional chaos that often accompanies the high school experience. At times, the film tilts into choreographed operetta territory, with repeated shots of exaggerated emotions sweeping through the school and all the students stopping to stare at Olive. It's flashy technique, but not always necessary.

Emma Stone emerges from the turmoil of high school travails with a burgeoning reputation as an emerging star with a deft comic touch, capable of carrying a film through a winning combination of natural appeal and self-depreciation. With the secondary cast filled out by the likes of Malcolm McDowell as the school principal, Stanley Tucci as Olive's dad and Patricia Clarkson as her mom, Easy A has quirky performances hiding behind every corner.

By delivering a fresh and engaging course on navigating the sexual waters of high school life, Easy A is a solid B+.






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Tuesday 18 October 2011

Movie Review: Easy Rider (1969)


And this is how the 1960s ended.

Easy Rider is the punctuation mark at the end of a decade's worth of social upheaval and rejection of traditional norms. Living the life of freedom translates to riding the open highway on mammoth motorcycles, smoking weed, dealing drugs, smoking weed, visiting communes, smoking weed, landing in jail, smoking weed, being met with suspicion by every establishment man, smoking weed, exploring a whorehouse, smoking weed, and attracting lustful women by the mere fact of existing.

Dennis Hopper directed, Peter Fonda produced, and together with Terry Southern, they co-wrote the Easy Rider script. And as the laid back Captain America (Fonda) and the more highly strung Billy (Hopper), they gave life to two iconic characters. Their most memorable travelling companion is George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), a hard-drinking, philosophical son of influential parents, quick to abandon his life and join a trek to New Orleans.

Easy Rider is a buddy road movie, exploring the alternative life of checking-out and specifically the end-result of all the rule-breaking. The very thin thread of plot has Captain America and Billy making their way to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, stopping at various off-the-beaten-track locations and picking up an assortment of characters along the way. But the film is really about physically and emotionally breaking away from any expectations and responsibilities, with no shortage of open-highway, landscape-rolling-by shots, interrupted by discussions about what it means live by no rules and the consequences of spinning away and creating unique orbits.

Nicholson had been making movies since 1958, but in a star-making role he brings a just slightly unhinged intensity to the quest for freedom, viewing life through the thick lens at the bottom of the bottle and quickly cutting through all the nonsense. Fonda and Hopper allow Nicholson to have the final say on a convulsing nation's split attitude:

Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.

The other two stand-out stars are the two monstrous motorcycles, custom-built for the movie and either destroyed or stolen during filming. With roaring engines, Hopper and Fonda pessimistically present the quest for individuality as enjoying its moments but doomed to tragic failure, fabric woven over many years proving inhospitable to upstart freedom seekers. 

Easy Rider is a nontraditional adventure, and a prescient generational eulogy.






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Saturday 15 October 2011

Movie Review: Hollywoodland (2006)


A muddled attempt to create a story where there may be none, Hollywoodland stumbles around looking for a cool gumshoe vibe but emerges with a dull mess.

The real death of actor George Reeves at age 45 in 1959 of a gunshot wound to the head was ruled a suicide, but suspicions remain that maybe he was killed. Reeves was television's Superman, but at the time of his death was comprehensively underemployed and likely depressed. It is understandable that Superman committing suicide is a hard story to swallow, but Hollywoodland does the conspiracy theories no favours.

The film centres around low-level private detective Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), desperate for any client, pursuing the rumour that there was more to the death of Reeves (Ben Affleck) than the official story. Simo's ineffective bumbling around the events of Reeves' death are mixed with flashbacks of the actor's career.

The script by Paul Bernbaum works hard to create a villain out of MGM executive Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), whose wife Toni (Diane Lane) carried on an open affair with Reeves for many years. Rumours and legends have long swirled around Mannix, for his alleged gangland connections and unofficial role as one of MGM's "fixers", arranging cover-up stories for the studio stars when their behaviour landed them in more trouble than was helpful for their careers. Hollywoodland labours to float theories that either Mannix or his wife may have purposefully or accidentally caused Reeves death. But director Allen Coulter back pedals meekly, conjecturing a full circle and tepidly parking the film where it started.

Affleck surprisingly emerges as the best thing in the movie, thanks to his human portrayal of Reeves as a gentleman, a modest acting talent seeking a better opportunity in the glamorous movie business, but pigeonholed as a kids' superhero on a cheesy TV show. The lovingly recreated scenes of Reeves portraying Superman and his interaction with the young fans of the show suggest that there was an intention of a whole other type of movie somewhere along the line: the detective Simo angle emits the foul odour of a hastily slapped together narrative to convert a lightweight homage into a failed mystery.

There are plenty of sordid tales to tell from the history of Hollywood. Hollywoodland targets the wrong legend and fumbles it.






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Movie Review: American Pie (1999)


A teen sex comedy that not as much pushes the envelope as shoves it through the shredder, American Pie is a wild and raunchy film that reset the standard for a questionable sub-genre, and it is also much better than it has any right to be.

Four horny high school friends are about to graduate, and they are all still virgins. Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Oz (Chris Klein), Jim (Jason Biggs) and Paul (Eddie Kaye Thomas) make a pact that by the end of prom night, they would each have had their first sexual encounter.

Kevin and Vicky (Tara Reid) are a steady couple: she wants to hear from him that he loves her before they sleep together; Kevin is not so sure that he can utter these words. Oz is a jock on the school lacrosse team; he decides to recast himself as a sensitive choir singer to improve his chances with girls. Sure enough Oz meets Heather (Mena Suvari), and she has to decide whether a reinvented Oz can be trusted.

Jim is hopelessly awkward around girls, and has to deal with a terribly gawky if well-meaning dad (Eugene Levy). After a massively failed attempt to have sex with hot foreign student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) is broadcast throughout the school intranet, Jim has to settle with taking blabbermouth Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) to the prom, and she can't stop yacking about band camp. Despite his best efforts to create a fake cool persona, Paul has no prospects when prom night starts; but he unexpectedly meets a cougar in the basement.

Earlier generations had Animal House (1978) and Porky's (1982) as defining films in the never-ending young male's quest to discover the joys of mating. In the very late 1990s, American Pie created it's own mini earthquake of a cultural impact. Sexy pies, MILFs, horny teens watching scrambled cable porn, early internet sex broadcasts, and fun with laxatives: the script by Adam Herz captured and then extrapolated what it meant to be a sex-obsessed teenager at the turn of the millennium, and made no apologies for being all about wanting to get laid.

The young cast of unknowns help make the film relevant to its intended audience, the only surprise being that none of them broke through to a significant career beyond the obvious sequels. The guys mostly disappeared into grade C productions, and the girls generally descended into Maxim photoshoots and faux celebrity status.

Accepted for what it is, American Pie is consistently funny, and wins high marks for boldness and originality. And for a generation of boys who grew up with the film, freshly baked pies would never look the same.






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Friday 14 October 2011

Movie Review: Year Of The Dragon (1985)


Michael Cimono's once-promising career was destroyed by the Heaven's Gate fiasco; that he was allowed to direct any more movies is in itself a surprise. Certainly Year Of The Dragon, Cimono's first movie after Heaven's Gate sank a studio and ended the era of wonderkid directors, does nothing to resuscitate his reputation.

Producer Dino De Laurentiis was always the risk taker, and he put his faith in Cimono to bring to the screen the story of hard-boiled idealistic cop Stanley White (Mickey Rourke) sticking his nose into a New York Chinatown gang conflict. White is of Polish origin and a Vietnam War veteran, and although he doesn't know it, he is still fighting that war. Sticking him into the middle of a brutal battle between rival Chinese warlords was never going to end well, and sure enough, the body count meter kicks into overdrive when White starts to poke around the affairs of the triads.

Joey Tai (John Lone) instigates most of the bloodshed as a young and aggressive gang leader, eager to push the old guard out of the way and expand the business into large-scale drug import and distribution. White, who trusts no one within the police ranks, teams up with reporter Tracy Tzu (Ariane) to expose Joey's corruption and violent methods. Not unexpectedly, both White and Tzu become attractive targets for Joey to dispose of.

Year Of The Dragon is unnecessarily long, flabby, and lacking in any genuine emotion. The characters are strictly linear and utterly predictable. Cimono does capture some chaotically gritty Chinatown locations, and a few of the set-pieces, notably a Chinese restaurant bullet fest, are well-executed. The film also benefits from an adequate Mickey Rourke performance, still a relative up-and-comer and not yet the parody of himself that he would morph into within a couple of years. But even Rourke struggles with the wooden script, co-written by Oliver Stone and Cimono, and filled with atrocious dialogue that would only sound real to a 12 year old boy discovering that initial jolt of testosterone.

Ariane is both a victim of the movie and a significant contributor to its failure. A questionable acting talent to begin with, she is saddled with an unrealistic character and atrocious lines that she reads into the camera with all the confidence and conviction of a fashion model suddenly asked to open her mouth. Year Of The Dragon was Ariane's first, and mercifully last, foray into the movies.

But Cimono would carry on for three more films, each faring worse than its predecessor in terms of box office performance, until his last directing effort, The Sunchasers (1996), was ignominiously released straight to video. Whether he was a talent lost to megalomania or whether there was ever any talent is a debate typically driven by individual opinions about his much-celebrated The Deer Hunter (1978). Either way, Year Of The Dragon is a perfunctory effort at best.






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Thursday 13 October 2011

Movie Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)


A romantic comedy that resembles a Where's Waldo? puzzle: a large crowd of interesting characters, something quirky happening in every corner, and a fairly delightful aha! moment. Crazy, Stupid, Love is all about love, cheerfully crazy, quite silly but not all that stupid.

Carl (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) Weaver have been married for a long time, and the relationship spark has long been extinguished. Driving back from another listless dinner, Emily breaks the news that she has slept with a co-worker, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Carl throws himself out of the car. The Weavers have a 13 year old son Robbie, who is madly in love with his 17 year old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). Jessica, in turn, has a mad crush on Carl.

Despondent after the break-up of his marriage, Carl starts to spend long hours at the local singles bar where he is hapless at impressing women, but where he does meet Jacob (Ryan Gosling), the smoothest of operators. Jacob can seduce any woman within minutes, and leaves the bar with a different conquest every night, although he does unexpectedly strike out with attractive law student Hannah (Emma Stone). Jacob takes Carl under his wing, polishing up his skills and image to the point where Carl becomes quite the ladies man. With his new found confidence, Carl talks the high-strung and somewhat desperate Kate (Marisa Tomei) into spending the night with him, not knowing that Kate is one of Robbie's teachers.

Carl misses Emily, Robbie pines for Jessica, Jessica starts sexting Carl, David woos Emily, Kate is disgusted that Carl and Emily still seem to care for each other, and Hannah is ignored by a dishy lawyer and throws herself at Jacob. Then things start to get really crazy.

It is all hyper-kinetic light-hearted fun, the laughs are steady and mostly on the mark, and there is enough intelligent comedy to make up for the occasional dips into outright raunchiness. Crazy, Stupid, Love is perhaps over-reliant on the singles bar set, where the whole neighbourhood seems to frequently congregate, but the Dan Fogelman script is otherwise sharp and sprightly.

Co-directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are able to wrestle the various convoluted and hormone-drenched  narratives into pretty decent shape, allowing each of the sub-stories enough time to develop and mature. And despite the love and lust overflowing from all the pores of the movie, the most interesting dynamic proves to be the eventually mutual mentorship between Carl and Jacob, a relationship that goes through surprising evolutions not usually associated with romantic comedies. Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling inject just enough genuine emotion into their roles to humanize the two men, and they carry the thread of sanity that streaks through the otherwise insane proceedings all around them.

Compared to many romantic comedies, Crazy, Stupid, Love is catchy, lucid, and a notch above.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Wednesday 12 October 2011

Movie Review: Contagion (2011)


A matter-of-fact medical thriller that enhances its impact by avoiding melodramatics, Contagion is an only slight extrapolation of the recent real-world threats caused by the SARS and H1N1 viruses.

Married businesswoman Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow), on a trip to Hong Kong and Macao, contracts an unknown virus. She infects an illicit lover while on a stopover in Chicago before flying home to Minneapolis. Beth dies after suffering violent seizures, as does her young son. Beth's husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is quarantined but proves to be immune to the virus, soon named MEV-1. The virus spreads rapidly throughout Minneapolis, Chicago, and China, and is soon a global threat.

At the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, Dr. Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and his team try to identify the virus, the first step towards developing a vaccine. Cheever sends Dr. Mears (Kate Winslett) to Minneapolis to track back the source and warn those who have come in contact with Beth; but Dr. Mears soon succumbs and joins the rapidly lengthening list of victims. Dr. Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) of the CDC gets help from Professor Sussman (Elliott Gould) in San Francisco and finally isolates the virus, triggering the frantic rush to develop and test a vaccine.

At the World Health Organization, Dr. Orantes (Marion Cotillard) traces the origins of the outbreak and travels to China. As she gets close to identifying the source, local authorities hold her hostage to ensure that their worst-affected villages receive the vaccine quickly once it is developed. In the meantime, borderline crackpot and pandemic blogger Alan (Jude Law) spreads misinformation and fans the flames of a conspiracy and government cover-up that exist only in his head, confusing the public and adding to the stress of the scientists trying to counter the threat of the lethal super bug. It is finally Dr. Hextall who has to take a calculated risk, if humanity is going to have a chance to turn the tide of annihilation .

Director Steven Soderbergh approaches the Scott Z. Burns script with the precision of a skilled laboratory technician handling toxic material: Contagion's structure most closely resembles a serious documentary, with the filmmakers fortunate enough to have cameras at strategic hot spots as the virus spreads. There are no car chases, evil conspirators, explosions or theatrical deaths: just scientists frantically trying to understand and then control a brutal microscopic foe, and humanity at large struggling to cope.

The ensemble cast performs with uncontaminated competency, Laurence Fishburne coming closest to having a leading role as the fatherly Dr. Cheever, trying to care for his employees while leading the efforts to get ahead of the virus-caused carnage. Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Elliott Gould and Jude Law are all appropriately serious, angry or both as the disease ravages their lives, while Gwyneth Paltrow gets the only carefree role, as Beth is blissfully oblivious to her role in triggering a global nightmare.

In aiming for a sombre chronicling of a mammoth tragedy, Contagion sacrifices any individual emotional or theatrical high points. While this is a mostly welcome departure from the typical Hollywood approach, the film does frequently resemble an elongated nightly newscast, and Contagion becomes an extension of the reality that movies are expected to distract from. The bugs may be deadly, but they would be more memorable if their fictional battle with the humans was as entertaining as it was dangerous.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Tuesday 11 October 2011

Movie Review: The Kids Are All Right (2010)


A family drama with an intriguing premise, The Kids Are All Right has a high freshness quotient and strong acting talent to overcome a few vapid moments of self-absorption.

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a middle-aged couple in a long-term relationship, raising two teenagers conceived with the help of the same anonymous sperm donor. The more assertive Nic is a doctor, while the more mild-mannered Jules is still looking for herself and dabbling in a landscaping business. Their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) has just turned 18, allowing her to seek information about her dad. Prodded on by younger half-brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson), the two kids track down Paul (Mark Ruffalo), who donated the sperm for both of them back in his younger, wilder years.

Except that Paul is still somewhat wild and young at heart. A free-spirited and unattached restaurateur, Paul quickly establishes a warm connection with Joni and Laser, hires the eager Jules to landscape his backyard, and Jules soon progresses to taking care of Paul's more intimate bedroom needs. Nic is the only member of the family not taken by Paul's charms: she has to deal with her kids falling under the influence of a man she never cared to know, and her partner having an affair.

Director Lisa Cholodenko, who co-wrote the script, maintains interest by creating an appealing love triangle and then allowing her three characters to tug at the corners. Cholodenko sneaks into the bedroom of Nic and Jules to capture the pillow talk that betrays the irritants inherent in all long-term relationships. Unknowingly, Paul charges into a family ripe for a crisis and tips the balance into bedlam, delicious to watch but painful to navigate.

The dialogue sometimes dips into oily "but what about my feelings" self-help territory, but the performances by Bening and Moore manoeuvre expertly around the icky spots. Bening carries in her eyes the tension of an overworked doctor supporting a less-than-focused partner, with more than a hint of a growing dependency on alcohol to dull the imbalance in the relationship. Moore is more vulnerable as Jules, an adult still uncomfortable with all the responsibilities that come with the title, more used to being taken care of than taking care of her life, and susceptible to Paul's easy-going attention.

Ruffalo breezes through the movie with the ease of a man gaining familial affections without earning them, while Wasikowska and Hutcherson both display the uncanny teenage ability to sort through messy situations more easily than the flustered adults.

The Kids Are All Right succeeds in portraying a gay relationship as subject to the same risks of turbulence as a committed heterosexual union, but ultimately rises above the obvious message and delivers a compelling character-centred drama.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Thursday 6 October 2011

Movie Review: Splendor In The Grass (1961)


A strikingly frank exploration of sexual repression, Splendor In The Grass launched the career of Warren Beatty, revitalized the fortunes of Natalie Wood, and ushered in a new decade of dramatically increased sexual openness in both the movies and society.

The setting is Kansas in the late 1920s, just ahead of the stock market crash and the Great Depression. High school sweethearts Deanie Loomis (Wood) and Bud Stamper (Beatty) are planning their futures and barely able to restrain themselves from having sex. Bud is more than willing, but Deanie wants to wait: she comes from a relatively modest family, and although her parents are thrilled she is dating the high profile Bud, Deanie's frigid mother (Audrey Christie) is adamant good girls do not enjoy sex.

The Stampers are wealthy oil tycoons, and patriarch Ace Stamper (Pat Hingle) encourages Bud to seek sexual relations with other girls until he marries Deanie. Ace also has Bud's future all laid out for him, including sending him to Yale for an education Bud does not care for. The desires and intentions of the lovers and their parents will face severe tests.

Directed by Elia Kazan and written by William Inge, Splendor In The Grass features two memorable characters buffeted by the currents of destiny. Bud and Deanie start as two hopeful teens and transform over two hours to jaded adults, a journey filled with mounting desperation that life may indeed conspire to comprehensively sabotage true love's destiny.

Bud Stamper walks a tightrope between loving Deanie and lusting after her while alternating between respect and contempt for his father. Bud at least maintains most of his composure; his forlorn soul mate is less fortunate. Deanie's plight is an astonishing reminder that until early in the 20th century, female hysteria was a common diagnosis for women suffering through sexual dissatisfaction. She tries to repress raging sexual desire, conflicted between raw attraction for Bud and all the stop signs planted in her path by an icy cold mother. She emerges from her ordeal a tightly wired cage of suppression, a tense smile working overtime to beat down rage.

Inge pokes at the generational divide and hacks away at the wisdom of parents and adults. Deanie and Bud's downward spiral towards emotional misery is a direct result of respecting their parents wishes. Deanie's mother and Bud's father do all the overt damage, but by their lack of active intervention to provide a counterbalance, Deanie's father and Bud's mother contribute to the ruin by simple neglect. When Bud turns to a doctor for advice, he receives none. 

Wood is a revelation in a physically adventurous and mentally tortuous role, while the enigmatic Beatty's performance is remarkably assured for a young actor stepping into his first big screen role. Pat Hingle towers over every scene he is in, Ace Stamper the manifestation of caring annihilated by domination.

Splendor In The Grass is a powerful drama, tackling taboo subject matter with daring, sensitivity, and bravado.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Monday 3 October 2011

Movie Review: Pale Rider (1985)


A western that combines elements of the traditional and spaghetti forms of the genre, Pale Rider is a gratifying movie that builds to an enthralling climax, mixing along the way a perfect balance of grit and haunting otherworldliness.

After completing the Dollars trilogy (A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly), and early in his North American film career, Eastwood teamed up with director Ted Post for Hang'Em High (1968), and directed himself in High Plains Drifter (1973). Both were valiant but flawed attempts to bring Sergio Leone's unique brand of unhinged mysticism into mainstream productions. In Pale Rider Clint Eastwood finally succeeds in importing the Man With No Name mythology to an American film.

Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), his companion Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her daughter Megan (Sydney Penny) are part of small peaceful community mining for gold along a river bank. They lawfully own the mining rights, but rich business man Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) owns everything else in the area, including the town and the law, and wants his hands on Barret's land. LaHood's mass-scale land exploitation includes the devastating use of hydraulic mining that causes widespread permanent damage to the landscape.

Lahood's son Josh (Christopher Penn) is in charge of forcing Barret to abandon the land, and uses increasingly thuggish tactics, including deploying the brute Club (Richard Kiel) to intimidate the miners. Megan says a prayer, appealing for God's help, and soon the mysterious Preacher (Clint Eastwood) appears. With his unlikely expertise with the fist and the gun, The Preacher soon tilts the balance in favour of Barret, forcing Lahood to change tactics and call on the services of the vicious Marshal Stockburn (John Russell) and his six deputies to eliminate The Preacher and the miners once and for all.

The stranger who rides in to help a child's struggling community (Shane); the peaceful locals up against heavily armed assailants (The Magnificent Seven); and most tellingly, the man with a mysterious past and a score to settle taking on the powerful business interests (Once Upon A Time In The West). In lesser hands Pale Rider could have been an unbalanced disaster trying to combine diverse Western foundation rocks. But Eastwood taps into the rich heritage of the genre coursing through his veins and delivers with bravado, assembling all the pieces of the puzzle into a perfect fit. The Preacher may have no name in Pale Rider, but to fans of classic westerns, he is as familiar as a lifelong friend.

The film does have some weaknesses, most notably the generally forgettable music score, and a supporting cast that offers a limited counterbalance to The Preacher. The relatively young Christopher Penn buckles under the pressure of having to carry most of the load opposing Eastwood, Richard Kiel cannot get past his caricaturish Jaws persona from the James Bond films, Richard Dysart is not infused with enough menace to threaten on his own, and it is late in the game before John Russell as the corrupt Marshal Stockburn arrives with his six deputies. The Stockburn seven, as imposing as any evil presence offered up in Western movie history, finally present an interesting foe for The Preacher.

Better contributions are delivered by the actors calling on The Preacher's help. Michael Moriarty is an appropriately bland but determined Hull Barret, representing the men who quietly built the west without dominating it. Carrie Snodgress has the marks of many struggles and disappointments reflected in her eyes, and her Sarah Wheeler is a salute to the women who had the resolve to support their men's quest for survival in a hostile world. And finally Sydney Penny shines as Megan, a girl growing rapidly into a woman and barely able to control the emotional turmoil that arrives with the transformation.
 
Pale Rider seals its triumph with an abundance of style, some emphatic framing and dominating cinematography courtesy of Bruce Surtees, an unforgettable final confrontation, and Eastwood's sheer epic presence. Pale Rider not only pays homage to some of the best Westerns, it proudly joins them on the list of classics of the genre.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Saturday 1 October 2011

Movie Star Index


The Index for more than 800 actors and actresses, each with at least 6 movie reviews on the Ace Black Movie Blog. The Index is updated regularly.


F. Murray Abraham (10 Movie Reviews)














Amy Adams (20 Movie Reviews)



Ben Affleck (25 Movie Reviews)














Casey Affleck (13 Movie Reviews)














Danny Aiello (7 Movie Reviews)









Malin Åkerman (9 Movie Reviews)














Jessica Alba (7 Movie Reviews)














Alan Alda (12 Movie Reviews)










Jane Alexander (10 Movie Reviews)














Mahershala Ali (7 Movie reviews)









Joan Allen (11 Movie Reviews)














Karen Allen (6 Movie Reviews)














Nancy Allen (7 Movie Reviews)










Woody Allen (7 Movie Reviews)










Sara Allgood (6 Movie Reviews)














June Allyson (6 Movie Reviews)










Bruce Altman (11 Movie Reviews)














Judith Anderson (8 Movie Reviews)














Dana Andrews (12 Movie Reviews)














Edward Andrews (8 Movie Reviews)












Julie Andrews (7 Movie Reviews)














Jennifer Aniston (17 Movie Reviews)












Ann-Margret (8 Movie Reviews)














Anne Archer (8 Movie Reviews)














Eve Arden (7 Movie Reviews)














Alan Arkin (16 Movie Reviews)











Rosanna Arquette (8 Movie Reviews)














Gemma Arterton (8 Movie Reviews)














Jean Arthur (6 Movie Reviews)














Armand Assante (9 Movie Reviews)














Fred Astaire (13 Movie Reviews)














Mary Astor (6 Movie Reviews)









William Atherton (9 Movie Reviews)














Richard Attenborough (8 Movie Reviews)










Val Avery (12 Movie Reviews)














Dan Aykroyd (11 Movie Reviews)














Hank Azaria (10 Movie Reviews)














Lauren Bacall (14 Movie Reviews)











Kevin Bacon (21 Movie Reviews)














Carroll Baker (10 Movie Reviews)














Diane Baker (9 Movie Reviews)














Dylan Baker (17 Movie Reviews)














Joe Don Baker (9 Movie reviews)














Kathy Baker (10 Movie Reviews)














Bob Balaban (10 Movie Reviews)














Alec Baldwin (34 Movie Reviews)














Christian Bale (18 Movie Reviews)











Martin Balsam (18 Movie Reviews)














Eric Bana (8 Movie Reviews)














Anne Bancroft (11 Movie Reviews)














Antonio Banderas (10 Movie Reviews)














Elizabeth Banks (16 Movie Reviews)











Christine Baranski (9 Movie Reviews)









Javier Bardem (9 Movie Reviews)














Drew Barrymore (12 Movie Reviews)











Lionel Barrymore (9 Movie Reviews)














Jay Baruchel (7 Movie Reviews)














Kim Basinger (10 Movie Reviews)












Angela Bassett (11 Movie Reviews)














Jason Bateman (20 Movie Reviews)














Kathy Bates (20 Movie Reviews)














Anne Baxter (7 Movie Reviews)














Jennifer Beals (7 Movie Reviews)














Ned Beatty (17 Movie Reviews)










Warren Beatty (7 Movie Reviews)














Kate Beckinsale (9 Movie Reviews)














Kristen Bell (8 Movie Reviews)









Lake Bell (8 Movie Reviews)














Maria Bello (12 Movie Reviews)











Jim Belushi (13 Movie Reviews)














Annette Bening (16 Movie Reviews)














Haley Bennett (9 Movie Reviews)














Joan Bennett (7 Movie Reviews)












Tom Berenger (11 Movie Reviews)











Candice Bergen (16 Movie Reviews)














Ingrid Bergman (10 Movie Reviews)














Jon Bernthal (17 Movie Reviews)











Halle Berry (9 Movie Reviews)














Leslie Bibb (7 Movie Reviews)














Jessica Biel (8 Movie Reviews)














Juliette Binoche (8 Movie reviews)














Jacqueline Bisset (9 Movie Reviews)










Jack Black (13 Movie Reviews)














Karen Black (7 Movie Reviews)










Cate Blanchett (22 Movie Reviews)










Alexis Bledel (6 Movie Reviews)














Joan Blondell (7 Movie Reviews)














Emily Blunt (19 Movie Reviews)














Humphrey Bogart (40 Movie Reviews)














Ward Bond (24 Movie Reviews)














Helena Bonham Carter (10 Movie Reviews)











Powers Boothe (7 Movie reviews)














Ernest Borgnine (14 Movie Reviews)














Kate Bosworth (7 Movie Reviews)














Michael Bowen (8 Movie Reviews)














Charles Boyer (8 Movie Reviews)














Marlon Brando (13 Movie Reviews)











Eileen Brennan (7 Movie Reviews)














Walter Brennan (10 Movie Reviews)











George Brent (6 Movie Reviews)














Abigail Breslin (10 Movie Reviews)









Beau Bridges (7 Movie Reviews)









Jeff Bridges (17 Movie Reviews)










Alison Brie (7 Movie Reviews)














Wilford Brimley (12 Movie Reviews)














Connie Britton (9 Movie Reviews)














Matthew Broderick (13 Movie Reviews)










Adrien Brody (9 Movie Reviews)














James Brolin (14 Movie Reviews)














Josh Brolin (17 Movie Reviews)














Charles Bronson (32 Movie Reviews)










Albert Brooks (11 Movie Reviews)












Pierce Brosnan (22 Movie Reviews)











Nigel Bruce (6 Movie Reviews)














Daniel Brühl (9 Movie Reviews)










Yul Brynner (9 Movie Reviews)














Sandra Bullock (18 Movie Reviews)














Ellen Burstyn (14 Movie Reviews)














Kate Burton (9 Movie Reviews)














Richard Burton (15 Movie Reviews)














Steve Buscemi (18 Movie Reviews)














Gary Busey (10 Movie Reviews)










Gerard Butler (15 Movie Reviews)














Spring Byington (6 Movie Reviews)














Gabriel Byrne (13 Movie Reviews)














Rose Byrne (11 Movie Reviews)














James Caan (17 Movie Reviews)














Nicolas Cage (22 Movie Reviews)




James Cagney (9 Movie Reviews)














Michael Caine (39 Movie Reviews)














Joseph Calleia (8 Movie Reviews)














Colleen Camp (12 Movie Reviews)














John Candy (12 Movie Reviews)














Dyan Cannon (6 Movie Reviews)














Lizzy Caplan (9 Movie Reviews)














Linda Cardellini (6 Movie Reviews)














Claudia Cardinale (7 Movie Reviews)














Steve Carell (21 Movie Reviews)















Harry Carey, Jr. (12 Movie Reviews)














Jim Carrey (14 Movie Reviews)














Leo G. Carroll (15 Movie Reviews)













Jack Carson (11 Movie Reviews)














Veronica Cartwright (7 Movie Reviews)














John Cazale (6 Movie Reviews)











Gemma Chan (6 Movie Reviews)














Kyle Chandler (13 Movie Reviews)










Stockard Channing (8 Movie Reviews)














Cyd Charisse (6 Movie Reviews)














Chevy Chase (7 Movie Reviews)














Jessica Chastain (15 Movie Reviews)














Don Cheadle (14 Movie Reviews)














Kristin Chenoweth (7 Movie Reviews)














Julie Christie (10 Movie Reviews)














Blake Clark (8 Movie Reviews)














Candy Clark (7 Movie Reviews)














Susan Clark (6 Movie Reviews)














Jason Clarke (20 Movie Reviews)














Patricia Clarkson (17 Movie Reviews)














John Cleese (6 Movie Reviews)














Montgomery Clift (9 Movie Reviews)














George Clooney (26 Movie Reviews)














Glenn Close (14 Movie Reviews)











Kim Coates (8 Movie Reviews)














Lee J. Cobb (13 Movie Reviews)














James Coburn (21 Movie Reviews)











Claudette Colbert (6 Movie Reviews)














Dabney Coleman (16 Movie Reviews)














Toni Collette (18 Movie Reviews)














Lily Collins (10 Movie Reviews)














Olivia Colman (8 Movie Reviews)









Jennifer Connelly (13 Movie Reviews)














Sean Connery (25 Movie Reviews)














Hans Conried (10 Movie Reviews)














Frances Conroy (12 Movie Reviews)










Elisha Cook, Jr. (12 Movie Reviews)














Bradley Cooper (24 Movie Reviews)














Chris Cooper (23 Movie Reviews)














Gary Cooper (12 Movie Reviews)














Gladys Cooper (8 Movie Reviews)














Kevin Costner (26 Movie Reviews)














Marion Cotillard (9 Movie Reviews)














Joseph Cotten (15 Movie Reviews)














Brian Cox (17 Movie Reviews)














Ronny Cox (8 Movie Reviews)










Daniel Craig (15 Movie Reviews)












Bryan Cranston (16 Movie Reviews)














Joan Crawford (8 Movie Reviews)














Richard Crenna (7 Movie Reviews)














Wendy Crewson (12 Movie Reviews)











Donald Crisp (12 Movie Reviews)














James Cromwell (15 Movie Reviews)














Hume Cronyn (10 Movie Reviews)














Lindsay Crouse (8 Movie Reviews)














Russell Crowe (19 Movie Reviews)














Billy Crudup (17 Movie Reviews)











Tom Cruise (32 Movie Reviews)











Penélope Cruz (10 Movie Reviews)












Billy Crystal (8 Movie Reviews)














Benedict Cumberbatch (12 Movie Reviews)










Jamie Lee Curtis (11 Movie Reviews)














Tony Curtis (18 Movie Reviews)














Joan Cusack (18 Movie Reviews)














John Cusack (20 Movie Reviews)














Willem Dafoe (28 Movie Reviews)










Arlene Dahl (7 Movie Reviews)














Matt Damon (35 Movie Reviews)










Claire Danes (6 Movie Reviews)














Beverly D'Angelo (10 Movie Reviews)












Henry Daniell (9 Movie Reviews)














Jeff Daniels (15 Movie Reviews)











Blythe Danner (8 Movie Reviews)









Paul Dano (17 Movie Reviews)














Jane Darwell (10 Movie Reviews)











Keith David (20 Movie Reviews)














Bette Davis (10 Movie Reviews)














Geena Davis (8 Movie Reviews)














Judy Davis (10 Movie Reviews)









Viola Davis (24 Movie Reviews)














Rosario Dawson (9 Movie Reviews)














Doris Day (7 Movie Reviews)









Daniel Day-Lewis (12 Movie Reviews)














Anna de Armas (11 Movie Reviews)











Yvonne De Carlo (7 Movie Reviews)














Olivia de Havilland (13 Movie Reviews)














Rebecca De Mornay (7 Movie Reviews)














Robert De Niro (46 Movie Reviews)














James Dean (4 Movie Reviews)











Albert Dekker (7 Movie Reviews)














Benicio del Toro (15 Movie Reviews)











Judi Dench (24 Movie Reviews)














Brian Dennehy (9 Movie Reviews)














Johnny Depp (12 Movie Reviews)












Bruce Dern (20 Movie Reviews)











Laura Dern (18 Movie Reviews)














Zooey Deschanel (10 Movie Reviews)










William Devane (6 Movie Reviews)














Kaitlyn Dever (11 Movie Reviews)














Danny DeVito (20 Movie Reviews)














Rosemarie DeWitt (9 Movie Reviews)














Cameron Diaz (21 Movie Reviews)










Leonardo DiCaprio (21 Movie Reviews)














Angie Dickinson (9 Movie Reviews)














Vin Diesel (7 Movie Reviews)










Marlene Dietrich (8 Movie Reviews)














Matt Dillon (10 Movie Reviews)














Melinda Dillon (9 Movie Reviews)














Vincent D'Onofrio (18 Movie Reviews)











Kirk Douglas (18 Movie Reviews)














Melvyn Douglas (10 Movie Reviews)














Michael Douglas (22 Movie Reviews)














Ann Dowd (14 Movie Reviews)











Robert Downey, Jr. (15 Movie Reviews)











Richard Dreyfuss (14 Movie Reviews)














Adam Driver (16 Movie Reviews)















Minnie Driver (6 Movie Reviews)














Olympia Dukakis (8 Movie Reviews)














Faye Dunaway (10 Movie Reviews)














Lindsay Duncan (8 Movie Reviews)



Kirsten Dunst (17 Movie Reviews)












Charles Durning (12 Movie Reviews)














Robert Duvall (33 Movie Reviews)














Clint Eastwood (32 Movie Reviews)











Aaron Eckhart (15 Movie Reviews)









Jennifer Ehle (12 Movie Reviews)









Jesse Eisenberg (14 Movie Reviews)


Chiwetel Ejiofor (13 Movie Reviews)














Jack Elam (14 Movie Reviews)














Idris Elba (11 Movie Reviews)














Sam Elliott (12 Movie Reviews)











Aunjanue Ellis (8 Movie Reviews)














Noah Emmerich (11 Movie Reviews)














Emilio Estevez (10 Movie Reviews)














Chris Evans (14 Movie Reviews)











Edie Falco (7 Movie Reviews)














Dakota Fanning (11 Movie Reviews)














Elle Fanning (12 Movie Reviews)









Anna Faris (7 Movie Reviews)



Vera Farmiga (10 Movie Reviews)














Colin Farrell (23 Movie Reviews)














Michael Fassbender (12 Movie Reviews)














Jon Favreau (13 Movie Reviews)














Norman Fell (9 Movie Reviews)














Rebecca Ferguson (8 Movie Reviews)















Will Ferrell (11 Movie Reviews)











William Fichtner (15 Movie Reviews)











Sally Field (13 Movie Reviews)














Ralph Fiennes (18 Movie Reviews)














Albert Finney (11 Movie Reviews)














Colin Firth (21 Movie Reviews)











Laurence Fishburne (19 Movie Reviews)











Carrie Fisher (17 Movie Reviews)














Frances Fisher (13 Movie Reviews)














Errol Flynn (9 Movie Reviews)














Bridget Fonda (8 Movie Reviews)











Henry Fonda (27 Movie Reviews)














Jane Fonda (19 Movie Reviews)














Joan Fontaine (11 Movie Reviews)














Glenn Ford (11 Movie Reviews)














Harrison Ford (31 Movie Reviews)











Robert Forster (17 Movie Reviews)














Ben Foster (16 Movie Reviews)









Jodie Foster (14 Movie Reviews)














Jamie Foxx (20 Movie Reviews)









Claire Foy (6 Movie Reviews)














James Franco (23 Movie Reviews)











Morgan Freeman (38 Movie Reviews)














Clark Gable (12 Movie Reviews)











Sarah Gadon (6 Movie Reviews)











James Gandolfini (13 Movie Reviews)










Victor Garber (12 Movie Reviews)











Greta Garbo (7 Movie Reviews)














Andy Garcia (19 Movie Reviews)














Ava Gardner (17 Movie Reviews)














Judy Garland (7 Movie Reviews)














James Garner (13 Movie Reviews)














Jennifer Garner (16 Movie Reviews)














Janeane Garofalo (9 Movie Reviews)














Teri Garr (7 Movie Reviews)














Greer Garson (6 Movie Reviews)














Richard Gere (18 Movie Reviews)














Gina Gershon (9 Movie Reviews)



Greta Gerwig (7 Movie Reviews)












Paul Giamatti (27 Movie Reviews)














Mel Gibson (22 Movie Reviews)












John Gielgud (13 Movie Reviews)














Annabeth Gish (7 Movie Reviews)














Brendan Gleeson (17 Movie Reviews)














Domhnall Gleeson (10 Movie Reviews)











Scott Glenn (16 Movie Reviews)











Danny Glover (16 Movie Reviews)










Joanna Going (6 Movie Reviews)









Jeff Goldblum (18 Movie Reviews)














Cuba Gooding, Jr. (11 Movie Reviews)









John Goodman (25 Movie Reviews)














Joseph Gordon-Levitt (19 Movie Reviews)










Ryan Gosling (18 Movie Reviews)










Elliott Gould (14 Movie Reviews)














Heather Graham (9 Movie Reviews)











Gloria Grahame (8 Movie Reviews)














Cary Grant (18 Movie Reviews)














Hugh Grant (15 Movie Reviews)














Lee Grant (9 Movie Reviews)














Coleen Gray (6 Movie Reviews)














Sydney Greenstreet (7 Movie Reviews)














Bruce Greenwood (23 Movie Reviews)














Judy Greer (18 Movie Reviews)














Melanie Griffith (10 Movie Reviews)











Charles Grodin (7 Movie Reviews)














Carla Gugino (8 Movie Reviews)











Alec Guinness (13 Movie Reviews)














Mamie Gummer (6 Movie Reviews)














Bob Gunton (13 Movie Reviews)














Luis Guzmán (20 Movie Reviews)










Jake Gyllenhaal (28 Movie Reviews)










Maggie Gyllenhaal (11 Movie Reviews)










Gene Hackman (34 Movie Reviews)














Julie Hagerty (8 Movie Reviews)














Kathryn Hahn (11 Movie Reviews)














Alan Hale, Sr. (13 Movie Reviews)














Philip Baker Hall (18 Movie Reviews)














Porter Hall (8 Movie Reviews)














Rebecca Hall (11 Movie Reviews)













Mark Hamill (6 Movie Reviews)














Murray Hamilton (10 Movie Reviews)











Tom Hanks (40 Movie Reviews)














Daryl Hannah (9 Movie Reviews)











David Harbour (11 Movie Reviews)










Marcia Gay Harden (12 Movie Reviews)














Tom Hardy (9 Movie Reviews)











Woody Harrelson (30 Movie Reviews)














Ed Harris (34 Movie Reviews)










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Photo: "Pilot" -- Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) lawyer and daughter of the New York Chief of Police (Frank Reagan, played by Tom Selleck), stars in BLUE BLOODS, premiering, Friday, Sept. 24 (10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. BLUE BLOODS is a drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement.   Photo: Heather Wines©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.



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Maya Rudolph (12 Movie Reviews)














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Sam Shepard (17 Movie Reviews)














Ann Sheridan (7 Movie Reviews)














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Akim Tamiroff (9 Movie Reviews)














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Reese Witherspoon (17 Movie Reviews)












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