At first I didn’t think the chemistry was there between the leading two actors. But, sometimes you can be surprised. I never pictured Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in a film together, it worked very well I thought. Anne Fletcher directed this, she originally started out as a choreographer on a number of productions, and I think she has found her calling as a director. Pete Chiarelli was responsible for the screenplay. He has done other films such as Eagle Eye (2008) starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.
Basically the story is about an office assistant named Andrew Paxton played by Ryan Reynolds. He gets pressured into marrying Margaret Tate played by Sandra Bullock. The reason for this is because she is Canadian and will be deported out of the country – due to complications from her Visa status. She proposes a deal with him to pretend they are in love, and for them to get married. Things between them have always been very intense. They venture off to Andrews home in Alaska. There she meets his family and discovers much more about him than she ever knew. Once she arrives you see the interweaving of the family dynamics as things come together in an oddly entertaining way.
I liked the casting also of Mary Steenburgen as Grace Paxton and her husband Joe Paxton played by Craig T. Nelson, I thought they were very believable as a couple. However, veteran actress Betty White stole the movie with her scenes. She was great as usual, and has become a Hollywood icon of sorts. Another stand out was Cuban actor Oscar Nuñez who plays Ramone; he was hilarious in this role. Denis O’Hare was quite convincing as Mr. Gilbertson the INS agent from the immigration department. I always appreciate seeing Swedish Malin Akerman in anything, she plays a character named Gertrude.
More of the cast includes: Aasif Mandvi as Bob Spaulding, Michael Nouri as Chairman Bergen, Michael Mosley as Chuck, Dale Place as Jim McKittrick, Alicia Hunt as Coffee Barista, Alexis Garcia as the Immigration Clerk, and Kortney Adams as the Colden Books Receptionist.
I highly recommend seeing this film; it was a good film for the most part. It is something you can enjoy together with friends. Ryan and Sandra both strip down in one scene which was shocking so, you may find this appealing as well.
Oppressed teen angst wrapped into a pirate radio show makes for a good time in this enlightening yet off beat film. I think you will find it to be a quality film, with some messages to say about society and how things are. Getting through the teen years isn’t easy, and this shows how a particular school gets torn apart from one student’s voice. Allan Moyle wrote the screenplay and directed this. He has done other films such as The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag (1992) and Empire Records (1995).
This film is geared towards teenagers as its target audience, but I think many will enjoy seeing it. It raises a number of issues by the time the film is over. The main story is about a teenager who decides to air his own radio pirate show which becomes a hit among his peers. Leading actor Christian Slater delivers a smashing performance as Mark Hunter (Hard Harry). His former flame Samantha Mathis in real life also stars with him in this as Nora Diniro. They have appeared together in the film Broken Arrow (1996) as well.
I believe this is one of Slater’s finest performances as he delves deep into the teen angst with his radio pirate D.J. character unlike no other. I think it is certainly a standout film, and even holds up today to some degree. He has performed other cult classic roles such as the character J.D. in Heathers (1988) among others. If you are a fan of his, I think you will like this one if you haven’t already seen it.
More of the cast includes: Annie Ross as Loretta Creswood, Andy Romano as Murdock, Scott Paulin as Brian Hunter, Mimi Kennedy as Marla Hunter, Anthony Lucero as Malcolm Kaiser, Billy Morrissette as Mazz Mazzilli, Robert Schenkkan as David Deaver, Cheryl Pollak as Paige Woodward, Ellen Greene as Jan Emerson, Keith Stuart Thayer as Luis Chavez, Jeff Chamberlain as Mr. Woodward, Lala Sloatman as Janie, and Holly Sampson as Cheryl Biggs.
The soundtrack of this film is something you can certainly pick up it has a collective group of artists on it including Concrete Blonde, Pixies, Ivan Neville, Liquid Jesus, Peter Murphy, Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Above the Law, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Robert Johnson from Cowboy Junkies, and Chagall Guevara.
It was considered a comedy drama film at its release back in 1990. The location of the school in the film (Hubert Humphrey High) was sup post to be set in Arizona, but was filmed in California. Apparently in a few tracking shots you can see the real school’s name. I think you will find this to be amusing and it certainly holds your interest throughout the story. There are a number of fine performances in it.
After having watched this, I think it was one of the most strangely entertaining films I’ve ever seen. It was written and directed by actor/comedian Bobcat Goldthwait who really seemed to capture something with this film. He has certainly come a long ways since flops such as Shakes the Clown (1991). In my opinion, one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I also remember him acting in indie films like One Crazy Summer (1986) which is a goofy cult-like comedy. One more mention about Bobscratch Goldfarb (Bobcat Goldthwait) one of his nicknames, you might also remember him from the Police Academy movies as Zed.
This story is basically about a man named Lance Clayton played by Robin Williams who is a writer, and dreams to be main-stream published one day. He is divorced and has a very unusual son obsessed with pornography among other things and is a real jerk. Lance works as a high school teacher teaching a poetry class. His son Kyle played by Daryl Sabara is embarrassed about his father working at his school and has but only one friend named Andrew played by Evan Martin. Alexie Gilmore plays Claire one of the teachers at the school who is close to Lance in a romantic relationship. Henry Simmons plays Lance’s rival named Mike Lane.
More of the cast includes Morgan Murphy as Murphy, Naomi Glick as Ginger, Dan Spencer as Dan Spencer, Geoff Pierson as Principal Anderson, Zach Sanchez is Peter, Ellie Jameson is Jennifer, Michael Thomas Moore as Chris, Alles Mist as Metal Kid, Jermaine Williams as Jason, and Lorraine Nicholson as Heather.
I believe this film would be considered a dark comedy; Robin Williams is simply wonderful as Lance and is very believable. His son Kyle played by Daryl Sabara also does a nice job and is equally convincing. The movie is about relationships and life and how we treat one another. It also shows how phony people can be in certain situations as well as some stereotypes about people. I will recommend this as a must see film.
You quite certainly get what you might have expected after seeing this one; it delivers enough edge of your seat moments, and the film is on par with other end of the world disaster films. Maybe at times some of the scenes were far too Hollywoodish, and were dumbed down a bit much. I anticipated this being visually exciting to see with all the special effects, and I wasn’t let down. Some of the scenes were surreal in their appearance; you can’t help but appreciate the hard work that went into bringing these disastrous moments to life sort of speak. German director Roland Emmerich directed this, he is known for his past contributions to end of the world films. He has been the executive producer and director for the hit film Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). Harald Kloser worked on the screenplay with Roland Emmerich.
Although I respect a number of the actors who play parts in this film, it seemed like they were a bit off in their performances and didn’t match the story as unknown or upcoming actors might have. I think this would have made the film better overall. I guess what I’m saying is there is a lack of depth to the characters; the film’s leading characters are the CGI special effects that really stood out among everything else. Perhaps the actors didn’t have enough to work with and it fell short somehow.
Many people were disappointed from the lack of the Mayan prophecies which were not explored or explained in some way and then projected into the film. Basically, the story follows around a man named Jackson Curtis and his rocky relationship between his children and wife. Liam James plays Noah Curtis and Lilly Curtis played by Morgan Lily wife. John Cusack plays Jackson Curtis and his wife is played by Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis they share many scenarios together. These trials and tribulations lead them to a somewhat predictable ending.
We also see Adrian Helmsley played by British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as a geologist who has read many books as a child and helps to predict what will happen next. Thandie Newton appears in this as the president’s daughter Laura Wilson. Danny Glover is President Thomas Wilson, Oliver Platt is Carl Anheuser, Thomas McCarthy is Gordon Silberman, Woody Harrelson is Charlie Frost, Zlatko Buric is Yuri Karpov, Beatrice Rosen is Tamara, Alexandre Haussmann is Alec, Philippe Haussmann is Oleg, and Johann Urb is Sasha.
This would be considered an action film, with some almost comedic moments of cheesy unrealistic scenes which play out. I still think however it is something you can enjoy at home while eating some popcorn.
This is an astonishing tale of a true life story about an abused prostitute who faces many tragedies in her life. She sees things from her own flawed vantage point. It is an intense roller coaster ride of sorrow and depression as we get a chance to follow Aileen Wuornos through the spiraling whirlwind of self destruction and self loathing in Daytona Beach. The film was written and directed by Patty Jenkins.
The film focuses mostly on the relationship between Selby played by Christina Ricci and the leading character Aileen played by Charlize Theron. Not only did she give an incredible performance, but the academy didn’t overlook her efforts, Charlize walked away with the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar in 2004. She also won a number of other awards around the world for her performance in this. It is rare to see such a character come to life on screen and command each scene. I would compare this to Angelina Jolie’s performance in the HBO movie Gia (1998) for example.
Bruce Dern appears in this as Thomas who is kind of friend to Aileen. Lee Tergesen plays Vincent Corey, Annie Corley is Donna, Pruitt Taylor Vince is Gene / Stuttering “John”, Marco St. John is Evan / Undercover “John”, Marc Macaulay is Will / Daddy “John”, Scott Wilson is Horton / Last “John”, Rus Blackwell appears as a Cop, Stephan Jones is a Lawyer, Tim Ware is Chuck, Brett Rice is Charles, Kaitlin Riley is the Teenage Aileen, and Cree Ivey is the 7-Year-Old Aileen.
The film’s facts are pretty accurate; you see the beginnings of her life briefly, and understand what lead her to this path in life. She is constantly plagued by physical, emotional as well as drug abuse living in Michigan, she moves to Florida later on. There things change even more dramatically for her and the story focuses on her meeting with Selby followed by their relationship together.
The film had an older look about it in the way it was filmed; it reminded me of the films from the early 1970’s in the way the scenes were done on the flip side, it also at times seemed like an artsy horror film. I think you will find the story interesting and the acting was fantastic. What a tragic tale of a woman who loses her humanity and spirit.
Like many great Hollywood magicians Clint Eastwood does it again with his directorial and acting efforts. It is not often you watch a carefully crafted film with many different elements within the story that often reflect issues of modern day society. In this, we see a representation of that and much more. The masterful eye of Eastwood captures the story of Walt Kowalski played by Clint Eastwood as an angry Polish man who fought in the Korean War; he befriends a young boy Thao Vang Lor played by Bee Vang who he mentors in the ways of life helping him see things differently and making an impression upon him. The screenplay was written by Nick Schenk, and the story was written by Dave Johannson and Nick Schenk.
Thao’s sister Sue Lor played by Ahney Her also steps into Walt’s life, she impacts him in a positive way and changes his outlooks on things as well. Christopher Carley plays the character Father Janovich who tries to figure Walt out and his intentions as he meets with him. Walt also has a family and two sons; he has been in mourning since the passing of his late wife. He has become bitter about the world and the environment he lives in as things have changed before his very own eyes.
More of the cast includes: Brian Haley playing Mitch Kowalski, Geraldine Hughes as Karen Kowalski, Dreama Walker as Ashley Kowalski, Brian Howe as Steve Kowalski, John Carroll Lynch as Barber Martin, William Hill as Tim Kennedy, Chee Thao as Grandma, Brooke Chia Thao as Vu, Choua Kue as Youa, Scott Eastwood (Son of Clint Eastwood and Jacelyn Reeves) as Trey, and Xia Soua Chang as Kor Khue.
This film will grab a hold of you and won’t let you go until the end, the characters were quite realistic and seem to be a slice from life captured and represented. I think the film also deals with many issues including race, violence, relationships, territory and dominance. It makes you think what is wrong with society and how people are different from one another. If only we all could see eye to eye on things, if people would spend time getting to know one another better there would be less misunderstandings. Perhaps this film is trying to teach this lesson to us in its own way.
The film was very polished how it was put together the scenes played out nicely. I highly recommend watching this one. It was a fantastic film, one of the better films I’ve seen in the last few years. You will have to watch to find out why the name of the film was used.
