Archives for November 2012

Worth Winning starring Mark Harmon & Madeleine Stowe: For 80s Nostalgia

Posted on November 25, 2012 Written by ripitup

Worth Winning starring Mark Harmon & Madeleine Stowe: For 80s Nostalgia — Image via filmous.com.

Taylor Worth (Mark Harmon) has it all to live every bachelor’s dream: the looks, the money, the job and the popularity, with a fun personality and seduction skills to match. This makes all his married friends jealous, especially his best friend Ned who wants him to experience a heartache once.

So Ned offers a bet: Taylor is to score “yes” to 3 marriage proposals to 3 women Ned’ll pick, and Taylor just has 3 months. To top it all, he has to videotape the proposals as proof. Ned is certain Taylor won’t make it as the women are the married Eleanor (Lesley Ann Warren), the gorgeous -but well protected by her big male friends, Erin, and Ned and his wife’s free-spirited musician friend Veronica (Madeleine Stowe).

The first two prove to be no challenge, but Veronica keeps shutting him down. But when he finally manages to charm her, he is beyond charmed himself. What’s got a guy to do?

Worth Winning is the perfect example of a what-you-expect-is-what-you-get movie. From a 1989 romantic comedy with a premise like that, you expect bad hair, bad fashion, younger versions of your favorite actors, cheesy situations and lots of clichés.

But while Worth Winning is the perfect example of why romcoms aren’t taken seriously, it should not be judged as a viewer from the 2010s. First of all, there is a chance we could have fallen victim to those clothes (I know I have some embarrassing pictures from childhood). Then there is also the fact that in 1989, it was a little less of a cliché.

In an era where rockers dressed like women, and Mark Harmon was so pretty (he is very handsome now, but he really was pretty at 38 (and looking younger) and Madeleine Stowe’s career was just beginning to shine…it is not that bad.

If it were shot now, it would send even the most fanatic romcom fans running to the hills. But when you judge it according to its era, it is a good laugh where mindless entertainment is concerned.

Could it have looked less exaggerated, and been more subtly acted and better written? Absolutely. But this is not a gem, it is not underrated. It’s just a fun walk down the memory lane.

Also on Madeleine Stowe:

Revenge starring Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann & Nick Wechsler

Gorgeous Actresses of the 80s and the 90s: Madeleine Stowe, Michelle Pfeiffer and Demi Moore

Blink starring Madeleine Stowe & Aidan Quinn

The Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day-Lewis & Madeleine Stowe

When adultery is okay: Revenge starring Kevin Costner, Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Quinn

21 Grams starring Naomi Watts, Sean Penn & Benicio Del Toro

Posted on November 21, 2012 Written by ripitup

21 Grams starring Naomi Watts, Sean Penn & Benicio Del Toro — Image via mltheyoungriderstv.net

Christina Peck (Naomi Watts) is a happily married mother of 2 young daughters.

Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is about to die of heart failure, and his smoking isn’t helping his survival odds.

Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) is an ex-con who tries to stay out of trouble, but he does take his faith too far.

When Jordan accidentally crashes into Christina’s husband and their daughters and kills them, the lives of Christina, Paul and Jack change completely.

Christina, unable to cope with her extreme loss, shuts everybody down and returns to her old drug habit.

Paul is transplanted Jack’s heart and starts to recover. But his unhappy marriage, the obsession of his wife to get pregnant and her reluctance to understand his desire to find his donor are preventing him to start a happy, new chapter in his life.

Jack, husband and father of 2, is wrecked with guilt and turns himself in against the will of his wife. He is also not at all sure about his faith anymore.

But things really get complicated when Paul finds out the donor’s identity, and meets Christina. Can anything good come out of him falling in love with her, and joining in her obsession to find Jack?

21 Grams is Difficult, Depressing but Addictive

This is not an easy movie to watch. A mother trying to deal with the loss of her family? A man who can barely manage his own demons, a job and a normal family life with a criminal background who has an accident and needs to add a guilty conscience to a life/personality he barely manages? A dying guy who finds a new chance in life but falls for the wife of his dead donor– a woman who is barely going through the motions?

Just like the premise, 21 Grams is abundantly tragic. But it works, as the movie provides you enough background information so that you have no problems with character dilemmas, mistakes and motivations.

However the movie uses a “tangled” way of telling the story. There are 3 different timelines (before the accidents, after the accident, after-after the accident) and even they are not told in order. It takes a while to adjust to which scene takes place then, and even after you are used to it, scenes are thrown to you in such a way that you don’t really have much choice in what to look forward to, dread or anticipate.

I know many viewers think the story-telling makes the movie, but if anything, I think it might be the movie’s only flaw. The story is compelling enough, the acting is superb and there are enough conflicts to stay with you until after the movie. But its non-linear telling distracts the audience- from understanding the movie, but from your empathy, focus and excitement.

Rated at 7.8 on IMDB. It’s a really good movie, and can’t object to the rating. But watching it is not a positive experience. Difficult, depressing, honest and very grey. Watch it at your own peril.

Written by Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, Babel, The Burning Plain) and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Biutiful, Amores Perros). Nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro) and Best Actress (Naomi Watts).

Also on the Cast

Fair Game starring Naomi Watts & Sean Penn

Naomi Watts Trivia

The Painted Veil with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton

The International starring Clive Owen & Naomi Watts

Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack feat. Naomi Watts

Taps starring Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn

The Dark Knight Rises: A GREAT MOVIE!

Posted on November 18, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy & Anne Hathaway

The Dark Knight Rises movie poster via iceposter.com.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), physically and emotionally damaged after what happened with Joker and Harvey Two Face, has stayed away from the public eye- both as Bruce the billionaire businessman and Batman.

Not that Gotham seems to miss Batman much. Organized crime has come to an halt, or so it seems, and the police can handle the petty criminals. And everyone remembers Harvey as a hero, blaming his death on Batman. Of course Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth, but is not quite ready to reveal it yet. Another person who intuitively knows the true nature of Batman is Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

And while Bruce is being more reclusive than ever, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) won’t let his “retirement” get in the away of her acquiring what her dangerous clients demand from her, and she is more interested saving her own butt than protecting the Gotham citizens.

But when it becomes obvious that a very dangerous ex-convict, Bane (Tom Hardy), is putting a very dangerous plan into motion, Bruce decides that it is time to put on the costume. Unfortunately his company is in financial trouble, and he needs help to protect their biggest invention yet.

His biggest allies are Fox (Morgan Freeman), board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Blake. Unfortunately, Selina keeps sabotaging his efforts and Bane is a lot smarter, more patient and more well-connected than any other villain he has encountered. And his plans…well, even Selina’s “the storm is coming” warning” doesn’t quite cover it…

The Dark Knight Rises is not just the best Batman movie I saw (and I have seen them all, apart from the George Clooney one, but you can hardly blame me for it), but it is one of the best movies I have watched. It’s just the perfect action/drama.

Now, diehard Batman (comic book) fans might prefer the first or the second movie. But as much as I love the idea of Batman, I had never been able to find the perfect Batman movie, up until The Dark Knight Rises. They were either too absurd (whether it was Burton or Schumacher – Schumacher exaggerating even further) or too dark and depressing. Nolan’s first two films didn’t make me like, respect or root for Batman. I didn’t understand him either. Bruce seemed one-dimensional, and so did the villains.

The female characters were there to complicate things for Bruce and to look pretty, but they didn’t add anything interesting to the flow. Not for me. And both movies left many questions unanswered, and I was extremely disappointed in the second movie when it came to character development and motives. We were given a second villain like 20 minutes into the movie and supposed to accept the transition. Please don’t say it is silly to expect character development from a comic book movie. It’s directed by Christopher Nolan!

But The Dark Knight Rises is different. It does add the other dimensions to all of its characters. We understand Bruce better. He is not just depressed/rich/reclusive or dark – he is human, with many other adjectives to describe his personality. There are two women, who are way more important to the plot than to being just eye candy or be part of a love triangle. Hell, it even makes me see why the first two were made.

Commissioner Gordon is more significant than ever, and the Blake character also challenges and motivates Bruce a lot more than any other ally or friend he has ever had.

And the villain…We understand him, and we are intimidated by him. He is just worthy.

The Dark Knight Rises has it all for the comic book adaptation lover that doesn’t necessarily read the comics. But in addition to being fun and engaging, it is really intense, emotional and full of good twists. I have never seen 165 minutes run faster. And it has one of the best casts ever: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Matthew Modine, Tom Hardy, Brett Cullen, Gary Oldman…And hell, we even have Liam Neeson for about 10 seconds!

Other Posts on the Cast:

Christian Bale:

Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature

Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseoh Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cottilard, Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy

10 Things I Hate About You starring Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julia Stiles & Larisa Oleynik

500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Latter Days starring Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Joseph Gordon- Levitt

Lay The Favorite Review: LTF starring Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hole, Joshua Jackson & Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted on November 17, 2012 Written by ripitup

Lay The Favorite starring Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Joshua Jackson & Catherine Zeta Jones — Image via teaser-trailer.com.

Based on the autobiography of Beth Raymer, Lay the Favorite is the story of the highly colorful background of the writer:

Beth Raymer (Rebecca Hall) gets tired of her weird clients as a stripper, and decides to live the glamorous life a Las Vegas cocktail waitress. No, seriously-she does think that it is the adventure of a lifetime. But before she can land a job as a waitress, she lands a job as a sports bettor next to the interesting Dink (Bruce Willis), who immediately takes a liking to this weirdly naive ex-stripper/porn site entrepreneur/star. Of course no wife (Catherine Zeta Jones) will be pleased to see Beth liking her husband too much, so things get a tad complicated for Beth. And to add more to the complications, she meets the cute writer Jeremy (Joshua Jackson), who happens to be the first normal guy she gets involved with.

Frankly, I prefer the trailer to the movie. I had no idea that it was a memoir, and I’d thought that I would just see a fun, if not a little quirky, comedy about 4 interesting people. Instead I got a movie that seemed off in many directions, and despite the good cast, I just couldn’t get into it. And when you can’t get into a movie your mind wanders:

11 Things Lay The Favorite Might Make You Think

1) I was thinking why anyone would want to tell this story, then I realized it was a memoir. So truth is stranger than fiction.

2) Apparently people can have sex first and have a relationship later.

3) Shy people can run porn sites and strip.

4) Diablo Cody (Juno) is not the only ex-stripper that became a successful writer.

5) Catherine Zeta Jones is still beautiful.

6) Joshua Jackson could star in Benjamin Button the Sequel- that guy does not look 34! Apply little eye cream, and he could still star as a high school senior.

7) Beth Raymer is one protagonist that is borderline impossible to identify with.

8) Bruce Wills in comedy is fun in small doses, but I’d rather have him go around kicking ass and saving the day. Can A Good Day to Die Hard come to the theaters already?

9) As much as I like Vince Vaughn, even I’m retiring from watching him play a fast-talking gambler/player/swinger/bookie. Remember the times he did movies like Cell or Return to Paradise?

10) I’d rather have Stephen Frears direct period pieces. Remember that stunning movie Dangerous Liasions?

11) I want to read Beth Raymer rather than watch a movie based on her. She has been published in pretty prestigious magazines after getting a writing MFA.

Also on the Cast

Joshua Jacskson:

Fringe starring Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv & John Noble

The Shadow Dancer- romantic drama starring Joshua Jackson, Harvey Keitel & Claire Forlani

BRUCE WILLIS:

Red starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Morgan Freeman & Helen Mirren

Surrogates starring Bruce Willis & Rosamund Pike

Top 5 Movie Endings feat. The Sixth Sense

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors feat. Willis and Travolta

What Ricky Gervais said on 2011 Golden Globes about Bruce

10 Celebrity Break-ups You Didn’t See Coming

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES