Dispara! (Outrage) with Antonio Banderas and Francesca Neri
For me there can be two reasons not to watch the same movie twice: Either I hated the movie or although the storytelling is captivating, it is far too depressing to revisit. For Dispara, it is the latter. It’s a Spanish movie from 1993, starring Antonio Banderas and Francesca Neri. The story is drama and not really action – so don’t let the poster and the title fool you. Some of the actions of the lead characters border on being unbelievably foolish and you can’t help feeling frustrated. But then again, the situations they are both in are disturbing and well, you can understand to why they panic.
Ana (Francesca Neri) works at a circus. She is a good horse-rider and a master at shooting. She performs impressive shows using both her talents. One night journalist Marcos (Antonio Banderas) cathces her show as an assignment for his newspaper and he really is captivated by Ana’s both beauty and on-stage performance. He tries and finally manages to get an interview from her. She has had an interesting life and she is genuinely nice. After spending little with each other, they fall in love. Marcos leaves town for a job and has every intention of seeing her again.
But then something horrific happens. Three mechanics working on a circus vehicle set their eyes on Ana and one night they rape her. They are violent and Ana is more than shaken by what she goes through. The next morning, she takes their address, her bullets and rifle and sets out to kill them. This time the men do not stand a chance. She shoots and kills all three of them. Although there is one eye-witness, she could probably have gotten away with it but one unfortunate event follow another: she is badly injured and has internal bleeding from the previous night’s rape, Marcos has come to her place to find out something has gone terribly wrong- when he gets a hysteric message from her and learns about the deaths of the three man, he intuitively thinks it’s her and makes some bad judgment calls- and well….the movie gets more and more depressing.
The last time I got this depressed by a movie happened during Requiem for a Dream. While this movie does have its faults (it doesn’t have the perfect visual quality but maybe it was just my DVD) but I couldn’t help but thinking how the director just could have shot some scenes better, especially the beginning.
The characters are both easy to empathize with, although but make mistakes with horrible results. You might also think the strange combination of romance, drama and vengeance do not work. It all depends on your expectations. As long as you are not looking for a masterpiece but a heartfelt yet disturbing drama, you will not be disappointed. Plus the performances are solid.
P.S. This is the only video I could find on the movie:
The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. Also starring Justin Bartha and Heather Graham. Directed by Todd Phillips. Image via abrilosojos.com
I really have to see this movie again. Not too soon, but after I forgot some of the jokes. I don’t know why a friend of mine said this film wasn’t that funny: I was laughing my butt off during the entire movie.
I like Bradley Cooper. I have been watching him act since Alias (2001-2006). The first role I had seen him was of a very nice guy. He played the best friend to Jennifer Garner‘s Sydney. Then I saw him as the ultimate asshole in the Wedding Crashers that gave hell to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson’s characters. His roles haven’t exactly been very difficult or diverse but he is believable and fun to watch whether he is a nice guy or the jackass. He has given the performance that his roles required him too. In The Hangover, he is neither a sweetheart like his Alias character Will Tippin nor a psycho. He is a nice guy at school- he is a school teacher. And with friends, he is the ultimate party animal who is never shy of speaking his opinion or making fun of his friends.
The plot gives enough potential for a good time: The groom-to-be Doug (Justin Bartha), Doug’s future wife’s wacky brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug’s two oldest best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms). Phil is married with a kid and there’s no way he is going to miss a bachelor party in Las Vegas. Stu has been with his dominating, bitchy and controlling girlfriend for 3 years and though he is planning to marry her, he is also more than glad to be in Vegas whereas she thinks he is in Napa Valley. Alan is….Alan is a hilarious sight to look at. He is not normal and not very predictable, to say the very least. Doug seems like the most normal man among them. He is ready to commit and is happy to be getting married, despise Phil’s ranting about how awful marriage is. So they get on the car Doug’s father-in-law gives him they head out.
It all starts harmlessly but funnily enough. They get dressed, have drinks and go out. The movie cuts to the morning after. The room has been thrashed, there is a hem walking around, there are women leaving and when Alan goes to the bathroom there is real,life-size tiger waiting for him! In a panic he wakes Phil up. They are all suffering from the worst hangover, and worst of all Doug is nowhere to be seen. There is a baby in a closet and no one can recall anything!
So they put they heads together and try to trace their steps back. Three best-men and no groom!
When the movie finished, my stomach was hurting from laughing too hard. While the concept of a Vegas bachelor party gone awry is not original, what happens to the guys are. Another interesting thing about their story is that we don’t know what happened and they don’t know what happened. Every piece of the puzzle is more entertaining than the one before. Of course it is below the belt, crude and sometimes well…the movie takes it too far but it doesn’t matter in he end ’cause you just had a blast watching it! One of the funniest movies I have ever seen.
END NOTE: The movie was written and directed by Todd Phillips who also co-wrote and directed Old School and Road Trip. Road Trip was OK, and Old School was really funny. However I think I prefer Hangover. See it.
The Hangover: The baby belongs to a woman who....Nah, I am not gonna say it. Just know that his mother is played by the gorgeous actress Heather Graham.
Funny People with Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Eric Bana
I was really looking forward to this movie. I had seen the trailer and I thought : “Cool! We are going to watch a half-funny, half- dramatic film!” Well the movie was a little dramatic and a little funny but that’s all. And that can’t really get you through 153 minutes (146, if it is not unrated). I am not saying it was all bad, but there were so many unnecessary scenes and so many useless lines- it just doesn’t work.
So George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a successful, highly popular and very rich comedic actor. He has come a long way from stand-up comics. He doesn’t have a problem picking women and all looks fine for him-until he goes to the doctor’s and finds out he is terminally ill. He examines his life. He realizes he has screwed up when he ruined things with the love of his life, Laura (Leslie Mann). Laura left George when he cheated on her and went on to marry an Australian called Clarke (Eric Bana) who apparently cheats on her too. But she has two kids with him…
George doesn’t have any real friends either. When he goes back to the stage for live comedy (probably for nostalgic reasons), he meets a clumsy,not-so-funny Ira and for some reason decides to have him work for him. Ira is ecstatic- he is writing jokes and assisting his favorite funny man.
Ira has two close friends: Leo (Jonah Hill) a comic a little funnier (supposedly) than him and Mark (Jason Schwartzman) who plays in a sitcom that Ira can’t really stand to watch.
So the movie concentrates on relationships and trusts the dialogs: Between George and Ira, Ira and his buddies, Ira and Laura and later on my favorite : when Clarke comes from a business trip to find George and Ira at home with his wife and kids.
There are things I like about the movie, I can’t say I despised it. Let me write down the likes first:
Likes:
+ Eric Bana: Don’t tell me it is because he looks good because he doesn’t , not here. But he is a good actor and his role & over-the-top Australian accent is funny. He is a real Aussie but that’s not how he actually speaks…And there were some good jokes that came from Ira about why they shouldn’t mess with him.
+ Seth Rogen: I normally don’t like him. I despised his character in Knocked-Up, he just wasn’t funny. But in this movie, he is the only character that is well…humane and at least slightly likable. With all his failures and good intentions, he was fun to watch. He has also some funny takes on who makes it successful in life. And Ira’s stand-up scenes at least one or two funny moments.
Dislikes:
– Leslie Mann’s Laura: She was fine and likable at first but later she just got…OK, so she can forgive a cheater ex (Adam Sandler) because he is dying. Fair enough. But then he gets better and she suddenly acts like he is the one that got away and her husband is an asshole..and..yeah the problem is Clarke isn’t actually that big an asshole, he is certainly not worse than George. So you sympathize with…no one, really! Ira is OK but then he really acts like a crybaby most of the time and you just want him to tell George to stick it.
-The Brat Pack: I don’t have anything against Brat Packs or crude comedy- as long as the combination works. I like the group of Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson and well, I adore Old School. But if you are going to throw in lots of swearing and abrasive language, please make sure it is funny!
-The stand-up acts: The movie involves so many scenes with them. It just slows the movie down. Really slows it down, because they are just not funny 99% of the time.
– Duration : You really shouldn’t have a story pretending to be profound for 153 minutes, when you could have a much more effective and much funnier story told in 90 minutes! I thought it was ironic. In one scene Laura tells George to cut the swearing and he jokes that then he wouldn’t have a third act. I wish Leslie Mann had told the same thing to real life husband Judd Apatow. Yes, brat pack and family members….Ouch!
In wish I had known the movie was Judd Apatow’s and his brat pack’s.His movie making is just my style. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy 40-year-old virgin, the movie had a lot of funny moments. But I was really bored during Knocked Up. It wasn’t funny, I didn’t like any of the characters and if a comedy doesn’t make you laugh, you feel bad. I have nothing against Sandler- I actually really like some of his movies, like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, The Longest Yard and Anger Management. But the elements in the movies just don’t work. Indiviudally, Bana,Sandler and Rogen are good. The idea of the story is fine. Cameos are fun. But..that’s pretty much it. And it certainly didn’t help that I watched this movie on the same day I watched Hangover. The Hangover is my next post- it is directed by the Old School director Todd Philips. And it is a perfect example of how you can be crass and funny without being boring and irrelevant.
Have you seen Matthew Perry‘s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip? It is a solid drama that takes you behind the scenes of a sketch-comedy TV show and shows the interesting yet frustrating life of its makers. The fictional comedy show epicted in the series really remind me of Saturday Night Live. Maybe they were inspired by it, I don’t know. I guess it can be pretty challenging to come up with funny ideas week after week. As a result, you can’t make everyone happy and you can’t make everyone laugh till they cry with every sketch. So while it is fun to check out Saturday Night Live once in a while, I am not a regular viewer. It is not always funny, hell- not all sketches in one night can always be funny. Hey, my favorite comedian is Jim Carrey and some of his stints there sucked!
That being said, I love seeing Gerard Butler on TV. He is very funny and has a good sense of humor: The guy knows how to entertain. So I checked out how funny Butler could be in such a different format than he is used to. He has played in a lot of movies and tv shows that belong to different genres but this is his first time hosting (and acting in) a show like this.
THE INTRO:
Gerard Butler singing The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera
Now, my favorite moment might be when Gerard first comes to the stage. He looks fun, cool and handsome. And he starts with how proud he is about being the first Scot to host SNL. He does later categorize his movie parts into two parts: the ones where he wears a shirt and the ones he doesn’t. So he decides to make a little tribute to the Phantom of the Opera-and starts singing The Music of the Night. Of course then people in funny costumes (tributes to Attila, Beowulf and Grendel) and other action movies come and try to kill him- but he manages to dispose of them, while maintainig his beautiful singing voice. But him singing a serious opera song with Vikings and ninjas attacking him and him fighting them on stage is hilarious. Just when he thinks he is safe and is joined by one of the female regulars of SNL, she takes out a dagger and tries to stab him while shouting: “Take your shirt off!! Take your shirt off’!”. I had fun!
So take a look at what happened with the ones that feature Gerry:
The Beauty and the Beast
Gerard Butler is playing the Beast! Ha- bloody ha!
– As ridiculous as it sounds, Gerard Butler plays the beast. But the funny part about this stint is that The Beast thinks he is the pretty one. Imagine the shock of The Beauty when she finds out!,
Cottage Cheese
I honestly have no idea why this is supposed to be funny, but the weird secretary’s shrill of a voice still haunts me. I go around the house imitating “Thomasssss…. Thomasss…. Look!”
300
Gerard Butler makes a parody of his character in 300 and the movie itself. This is priceless!
I am not that much of a fan when it comes to 300 though I appreciate the hard work and talent that has been put into the movie. Hell, Butler himself went through an excruciating exercise routine to get the body he had as Leonidas the King of Sparta (he worked out up to 6 hours a day) and all the soldiers were similarly well-built. It also takes one hell of an imagination to act in front of a blue screen all the time, since most of the background was added afterwards. But I am not crazy about the movie. And the parody is just hilarious. It rotates around the “fact” that how gay the 300 men were. You really should see it. All jokes are funny. Loved it.
Leonidas: 40% of Sparta considers homosexuality an illness.
A soldier: 40% of Sparta doesn’t believe you were born in Greece!
Leonidas: (takes out a stone tablet that his name is carved on) I have a birth certificate!!!
DAVEHEART
Daveheart is a hilarious Braveheart parody. Now Braveheart is my favorite movie. I love everything about it, but it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good parody. This one is hilarious. If you haven’t seen Braveheart, a quick reminder: William Wallace is an actual Scottish hero, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie. The English rule unfairly and violently. Wallace marries the girl he loves secretly because The English are known to invade weddings and claim the bride. But they kill her and in order to take revenge, he gathers the Scots into an army. The movie is famous for one of the most inspiring battlefield speeches. In the movie, soldiers are scared and Wallace turns unwilling peasants into brave warriors. So yeah- there is no Dave in the movie. :D.
SOLDIER: How can we surrender? The English deflower our virgin brides on their wedding nights!
DAVE: Well, first of all none of your wives were virgins on their wedding nights. There’re six girls in our village and like a hundred guys…So noone is a virgin.
Gerard Butler is supposedly Dave, William Wallace's cowardly brother.
THE TRANSLATION
Gerard Butler joins the news as himself, and wants to talk to his family in the heaviest of Scottish accents and asks the anchorman to translate. Of course the translation is a little bit different…
Butler:… most fun I have had since I made 300. Man, that movie was great.
The Anchor: … most fun I have had since I made 300. Man, that movie was gay.
WHITE PETE
OK- I have no idea how this stint is supposed to be funny – but Gerry’s weird singer character and his mimics can put a grin on your face. Oh, and I don’t know what James Franco is doing there- but I like the guy, so…yeah, that’s about it.
P.S: The one with The Rock: Now the first sketch doesn’t involve Gerry but I really enjoyed it: Barack Obama is having a difficult time with the healthcare reform – people just want him to fail. So he gets really angry and angry- and…remember what happens to the Hulk? Except Obama doesn’t turn into a green giant of a man but to The Rock- Dwayne Johnson. Now- yeah, that does intimidate the White House guests…
Want more Gerard Butler-related posts? You might want to check out:
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