Gaumont, Screen Australia, Ciné@,

Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn, Sophie Lowe, Jessica Tovey, Gary Sweet, Alyson Standen, Skye Sutherland, Sarah Henderson

Two friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) live beside with their young sons on the sea coast in Australia. They have been friends through their whole lives. The boys are also very good friends. One is single, the other married to a man who is distant and not present most of the time. He wants to move to the mainland but his wife rejects moving with him in lieu of staying with her friend which leads people to think they are a couple. But far from it, an affair starts between the two mothers and each others sons. This, of course, requires extreme secrecy, even between the two friends until one of the sons wants to get married, and things start falling apart sending shock waves through the entire community.

This is a rather useless film. There is drama and fighting, and lots of screaming, but there’s no real point to it. The movie doesn’t take a side on this kind of behavior, but rather just gives us the attitude of “it is what it is”. To say I was shocked by this film is not true, but at the same time, I was not disgusted either. Disappointed, perhaps, is a better term. These people are acting stupidly and hiding it makes things much worse. I just was not into this movie, and found it a little off-putting. I’m not sure why it was made, but it did not have anything really that could keep my interest. It was like watching the Jerry Springer Show. You know the people are acting badly for the cameras and it really can’t shock us anymore. So pass this one by. It’s not worth it.

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Lightstream Pictures, Waypoint Entertainment, The Third Mind Pictures,

Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Francis Capra, Ben Foster, Anne Heche, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Robert Wisdom, Robin Wright, Steve Buscemi, Jon Bernthal, Jon Foster, Stella Schnabel

David Brown (Woody Harrelson) is a cop from the infamous Rampart Division of Los Angeles. David is a dirty cop. But he’s a different kind of dirty cop. Very frustrated with the way the law works, he’s not above taking the law into his own hands a little bit and delivering a little self appointed justice out on the street. He’s got some really big character flaws. He’s definitely a racist, and doesn’t try at all to hide it. He’s very egotistical, a serious womanizer, for sure, and has a cruel streak a mile wide. But David is caught on tape delivering a sadistic beating on the victim of an auto crash and finds himself dragged into internal affairs for a closer look.

This film obviously was made to address the problem of racist or sadistic bad guy cops of the LAPD. But it’s not overly preachy or judgemental. I belive it tries to show fairly how a cop can find himself caught in this trap and I belive Woody’s character is not really able to see what’s wrong with what he did.

There are two problems. One is that like many pedophiles or perverts are drawn into certain professions which offer them easy access to vulnerable children, I think many cops are frustrated guys who had no power who are drawn the the badge which gives them the right to get away with murder without any risk of prosecution. The band of brothers protect each other, and they can take it out on vulnerable citizens who are literally afraid of them, and some are drawn to that power I suspect. Additionally it must be extremely frustrating to do your very best day after day to try to clean up the streets and watch the courts turn them back out to do the same thing again because of technicalities and crowded jails. They must constantly be bombarded with idiots who laugh and mock them because they aren’t afraid of being arrested because they know they’ll be back on the street in no time. It must be very tempting to try to teach a lesson to these arrogant jerks. So there are causes and effects that bring things like this to the force.

This film takes a look at that, and David’s frustration at being picked on for doing a good job makes this a pretty interesting film. What he did was not right, but we can kind of understand why he did it.
Woody does a great job of playing the dirty cop who thinks he’s right, and though he’s the star, the rest of the cast does a fine job as well. All in all it’s a little film, not a widely seen one, but one that might be worth another look. It is out of the way, but available on DVD now, and if you like a realistic cop film, this is definitely worth checking out.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Scott Rudin Productions,

Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson, Geraldine James, Goran Visnjic, Donald Sumpter, Ulf Friberg

Mike Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a journalist who was convicted of libel and disgraced, but is offered a large sum to investigate a girl who has been missing and presumed dead for 40 years. Off he goes to a remote area to begin the investigation of the girl, a niece of a wealthy philanthropist and his very unusual family. Mike meets a young genius computer hacker with a photographic memory, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) who agrees to help him investigate the missing girl. Together they piece together a puzzle of rape, torture, and murder that spans generations, and the evil and corruption is greater than either of them could imagine.

This was one of those strange stories that intrigues people. I truly expected a lot different because prior to the movie coming out I didn’t know anything at all about the books (a trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson) and expected perhaps a Chinese martial arts film or something. It turns out it was a very intense story of rather disgusting rich families who think they are above the law. On one hand I found the story rather intense, and I have to admit I was unable to look away in the almost 3 hours that it ran. Half way through I knew I needed to pause and take care of some tasks and finish the film later in the evening, but I just couldn’t stop until I figured out the solution of the mystery. But at the same time, at the end I felt a lot of “Is that all there is”. Perhaps that’s because it’s just the first book of a trilogy, and maybe there is still more story to tell.

My daughter told me this is a sad story with a sad ending. She was certainly right, as the final scene before the credits certainly fits in the story, but certainly hits you with a sucker punch in the gut that you don’t see coming unless you really ponder on it. The acting wasn’t bad. Daniel Craig was pretty good and Rooney Mara as the punk hard ass chick Lisbeth was certainly good. Then with great actors like Christopher Plummer as the head of the Vanger family who hires Mike in the first place, and Joely Richardson, and even Robin Wright (Princess Buttercup from Princess Bride and Jenny from Forrest Gump) are all good in their roles. So I’m really torn on this film. In many ways it was pretty darn good, and in other ways I felt it lacked something, but I just can’t put my finger on it. So I have to rate it in the “fairly decent” category so that you can make your mind up. If you like raw, shocking thriller mystery and crime, you’ll probably like it. If you’re looking for classic cinema and pure entertainment, it’s probably not a good choice. Without being very graphic, it’s certainly dark and evil and disgusting in a lot of ways, kind of like the evening news lately. So I give it a guarded recommendation, as I know a lot of people won’t be crazy about it. But I know others will really love it. Choose wisely. 🙂

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Sony Pictures [United States],

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Glenn Morshower, Kathryn Morris

This is the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team in 2002 when he was faced with the lowest pool of money in professional baseball, but expected to put together a team. He met young college grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and immediately hired him when he was told his theory of how to put together a team on a budget. Facing harsh criticism, both from the insiders of baseball, and from the fans and media, they used a computer model to develop a team of under-rated players that they could afford, and in the process had a shot at securing the longest winning streak in baseball, after a lot of resistance, especially from manager Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman).

If you are a baseball fan, then you have to see this film! I have been waiting for quite a while to see it. This is a true story, and it’s a typical sports amazing achievement film, but it’s a really good look into baseball, and the problems of the “have-not” teams. Baseball has always had a serious problem, which I think is the cause of their great fall from grace as “America’s National Game”. Baseball never figured out how to even the field, with a couple teams from HUGE cities with a giant payroll competing with tiny teams that love the sport, but have a fraction of the money to spend. I spent my childhood as a Pirates fan, but got really tired of one of the greatest farm systems finding all the superstars and developing them for the Yankees, and a couple other big teams that always stole them. The few successful years they had was due to the great scouts and farm system finding excellent players for a year or two until someone with deep pockets would take them away.

This movie is the story of a system that reminded me a lot of horse racing. The very best horse handicapper is the public. The favorite wins way more than it loses. Sure bets at 6-5 and less go off every day. In order to be successful in the horse racing business, it’s finding the horses that are undervalued and underrated. You have to study hard, and find that one or two races a day where there is a horse with a decent chance to win that somehow people have overlooked. That’s the secret. Well, the same is true with baseball. Some of the players are undervalued and underrated, and this mathematical formula helped to take all the emotion out of it. (This guy has a funny swing, or the way he throws the ball looks off, or he looks like a doofus), and uses the stats and rates him based upon things the other teams never looked at. It also requires a carnival barkers skill at scamming the other teams to make them think you’re doing them a favor by taking their unwanted players.

Brad Pitt did an excellent job in this movie. This is a perfect role for him, and I think he pulled it off. I know Jonah Hill was also very proud of this role as well. He played a very serious dramatic role, and got to show off his new svelte physique. Not only did he pull off a serious role, (no Superbad nonsense here at all), but he did an excellent job. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also very good as the manager who just can’t get what these dudes are thinking. It’s a small role for him, but as usual, he was spot on. Basically this is a very interesting movie, and the time passes very quickly and it’s over before you’d like it to be. It’s got a fair amount of baseball action, that is easy to watch, but also has some great dialog and dramatic scenes that are also very well done. I enjoyed this movie all around, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the genre, or those who just love to look at Brad Pitt.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Walt Disney Pictures, ImageMovers

Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright, Cary Elwes

Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is the miserly old sinner who is haunted by 4 ghosts and learns the lessons of the past, and the present, and the warning of the future to be, and is changed in his heart forever. This imagemovers version was originally shown in IMAX 3-D, and is very accurate word by word to the Dickens novel.

This 2009 telling of the Christmas Carol story is very accurate as far as the story goes. It was acted line by line, scene by scene by Jim Carrey and the rest wearing a body suit with sensors that transmit every motion (even facial expressions) to the computer which animated it. In that sense it is not drawn, it was generated by real life movements and motions. As a result of this, it gets very creepy sometimes, and some people don’t like the animated realism that this brings. But it’s far more accurate than anyone could every create on their own. In my opinion though, it is a wonderful version of the story, and I loved it, especially on a HUGE screen in 3D. I highly recommend this version of the story to see what Dickens actually intended. It is available on NetFlix “Watch Intantly” and on TV a few times this holiday season. This is perhaps the best Christmas Carol of all.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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