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Hugh Jackman: My favorite Australian ever

Posted on October 19, 2009 Written by ripitup

He presented the 81st Academy Awards in 2009. I traditionally watch the show every year since I was a little kid and I don’t remember having been entertained this much. His theatrics, jokes, presence were all just brilliant. He danced and sang like a pro. He was genuinely funny- I think the only guy who could do a funnier job is Jim Carrey but then again I am not sure Jim could pull of the dancing routine like Jackman.

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway at the 2009 Academy Awards

hugh-jackman_beyonce-knowles_8st-academy-awards — Who would have thought? Beyonce and Hugh dancing together

It is amazing how far Hugh has come in his career. Not that he doesn’t deserve all of his popularity, but I just hadn’t seen it coming when I first saw him in the 2001 movie, Swordfish. Since then he has been in rom-coms, dramas, thrillers and action movies. He has done theater and played the lead in hit Broadway musicals. He has done movies both in his hometown Australia and in Hollywood. Though his biggest and role has been of Wolverine, one of the most popular characters in the X-men series. Although arguably Meg Ryan was the more famous one when they starred together in the 2001 flick Kate and Leopold, right now Hugh Jackman has a much stronger status.

He is just one of the lucky men in Hollywood whose adored both by men and women; by critics and movie-goers. He is breathtakingly gorgeous. I haven’t yet met a girl who thinks that he is not attractive. I remember being in the movie theater with two girl friends of mine, watching Swordfish. We have absolutely the most opposite taste in men yet we all simultaneously agreed that Hugh was hot. On the top of all this, he is a family man. He has been married to his first and only wife since 1996 and they are raising their kids together. Oh,well-as I said, everyone loves him. And his masculinity and strength are not questioned by his fellow co-stars. Ryan Reynolds– who plays Wade Wilson actually said that Hugh would probably win, were they to engage in wrestling.

Of course there are some of his old projects that I couldn’t get my hands on (like some of his earlier Australian work) and some movies of his that I didn’t enjoy all that much, such as The Fountain and Deception. But mostly, his movies entertain. They take you from your reality to the movie’s and he makes you believe whatever reality his movie is representing. Since this guy has done so much, I think it’s best if we just consider some examples from this decade.

X-men (2000)

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He plays Wolverine. He’ll continue to play the role for three more movies, the second and third parts of the trilogy and X-men origins: Logan/Wolverine. He likes to be and work alone but he needs to join in the mutants team for the sake of Prof. Xavier and he also has the hots for Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), who is married to another X-men mutant: Scott/Cyclops (James Marsden). The plot is just to good to go into the specifics and X-men shall have their own posts.

Swordfish (2001)

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John Travolta makes a great villain. He’s tough, he’s crazy and he’s fun to watch. You just keep your fingers crossed that hacker Stanley Jobson can pull off everything so that he can save himself and others from the potential wrath of the psychotic Gabriel (Travolta) and his not so pleasant surprises.

(2001) Kate & Leopold

MPW-16315 — Romcom queen Meg and the guy of every role Hugh.

Kate (Ryan)’s neighbor/ex-boyfriend Stu (Liev Schreiber) discovers a time travel portal and manages to be tracked down by someone from 1870s: Leopold. Leopold’s process of adjustment to today’s life in New York is hilarious. Meanwhile, Kate is thinking that she always has attracted crazy men. After all, Leopold acts just like himself. Still, Leo is handsome, gentle and has a unique character. Little does she know that the uniqueness does comes from a different era…

Van Helsing (2004):

Jackman plays the famous monster hunter Van Helsing, fighting the ultimate bottle with the help of Anna (Kate Beckinsale)

(2006) The Prestige

Hugh_Jackman_in_The_Prestige_Wallpaper_1_800 — Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in The Prestige, featuring Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine.

Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play the rival magicians- one has the ultimate secret of a breath-taking trick and the other will do anything to get it. Great twists and turns however the ending really let me down.

(2008) Australia

australia_movie_poster_1 — Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in Australia. Two of my favorite Australians. Both are great actors and both are gorgeous. Perfect combination.

It’s not your typical Buz Luhrmann movie. It is epic and in some senses it i much more traditional than his other works like Romeo and Juliet or Moulin Rouge. However it is beautiful- with performances and cinematography.

Pre-World War II. British Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) comes to Australia to meet her husband and manage the land but she finds that her husband is dead and the natives are being abused. Along with the help of the loner/free-spirited cattle driver Drover, she needs to save her cattle and from an enemy.Not to mention the growing attraction between her and Drover (Jackman)…

Hugh Jackman is of course not exactly resting. He has many movies in (pre-) production stages and Wolverine II is one of them. At 41, he is at the peak of his career and his looks. He enjoys all the perks of fame without letting the whole concept get to his head. I just hope that he never tires of acting. And how lovely it would be if I ever got to see him live on Broadway.

The Time Traveler’s Wife with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams

Posted on October 17, 2009 Written by ripitup

Henry (Bana) has a some sort of a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel. He can’t control when, how often and how long. To make matters worse, his clothes do not travel with him. This “malfunction” causes complications in his life – hell, imagine finding yourself naked and without anything in a place you may or may not have been before. This adds some humor and a little action to an otherwise intense and emotional love story.

The story does not focus on why. The way it is structured first tells us Henry discovers his situation early on and does his best to live a somewhat isolated existence. Then a pretty young woman named Clare (McAdams) shows up. She says he has been visiting her ever since she was a little kid. She has seen him older and younger, has interacted with him her whole life and is totally in love with him. Though taken aback, Henry finds himself at ease with Clare. Someone knows his condition and loves and accepts him like that. We see a wonderful bond between two people. They get married and plan on having a family. But the relationship has its ups and downs, due to the fact that it is impossible to know for how long Henry will be gone for, and his disappearances can not be foreseen. But it is hard for Clare to remain angry. As Henry puts it, he is pulled in by big events and he frequently finds himself visiting Clare when she was a kid and when she was a young girl.

Ever since I first saw the trailer, I wanted to see this movie. I really wanted to see how and why these two fell for each other. I wanted to see how-if- Henry would get to control his condition. I wanted to see how he first met Clare and how they fell in love. The problem is, we never got to see why. Of course Clare is lovely and pretty and all that. But according to the movie, the first time Henry sees Clare is when she comes to him,saying that she has known him and waited for him. OK- at one point you have to have a present to go to the past from, right? You will know what I mean when you see the movie.

I am so intrigued by time-travel. It has always been such an inspiration and something that I wish was possible. It is a concept filled with such potential. Yet it takes guts to write about it, because you are in some serious danger of creating more plot holes than you can fill. Of course the first step is to accept for the length of the story that it is possible. No problem there. We are with Henry. We feel his pain and joy and we take his interesting journey with him. But there is something missing. We never get a true sense of beginning for his love for Clare.Which is worse than any dissatisfaction that any other element in the movie, because it is a love story. It would probably be better if they gave us that. But nonetheless, it is a beautiful movie. It is touching, sad, intense but it fills you with joy too. Both Bana and Adams are amazing. What’s more mesmerizing though is Bana’s performance. Because with each role he transforms himself- if you just check out Chopper or Troy, you will see my point-We buy his story.Throughout the movie, you do let go of your questions. Yes, if you give it some consideration afterwards, you do need some explanation. For instance, I am planning to read the book for answers. Yes, it was based on a book of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger. But by all means go see the movie. It may not be without faults, but it is definitely worth the time- if you do believe in true love, that is…

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[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USUDlMBR-dQ[/pro-player]

GERARD BUTLER

Posted on October 16, 2009 Written by ripitup

If there’s a Scot that threatens to be as famous as Sean Connery, it is Gerard Butler. He has been around since 1997 but his current incredibly famous status came with 300. Oh, but I managed to ignore that. You see, I am fan of epic movies in the classical sense; you know-the ones that are shot in actual location and not in front of a blue screen. Movies like Braveheart and Troy. So I blissfully ignored the yellowish colored tale of the 300 Spartans. But when “P.S.: I love you” came out, I was sold. Yes, I prefer a decent romantic movie over movies with CGI. But this movie was more than decent:

P.S. I LOVE YOU (2007) :

It was based on the book of the same name by Cecilia Ahern. And though I have read the book, I loved the movie so much more. In fact, I thought that Gerard Butler brought so much spirit to the character. He brought substance that I found somewhat missing from the book. He plays Gerry. An adorable,romantic and a full of life Irish guy who meets the love of his life- the free-spirited and colorful American Holly during her trip there. Well, actually the story is much more complicated than that. Before the credits we find out that Holly and Gerry have been married for 9 years, they are not exactly into money and have some typical marital problems. But unlike other couples, even the worst of fighting ends in making out and us realizing how mad they are still about each other. And after the credits, we learn that Gerry has died of a brain tumor, and Holly has to cope with his death. But Gerry, the lovely guy that he is, has made a plan- so that he can help Holly coping with his death. He has written her letters- each to arrive at a specif time, each including instructions and ending with the note “P.S I love you”. As Holly reads the letters and is forced to get out there and do what Gerry’s letters say, we see -not chronological- flashbacks of their relationship: how they met,fell in love, and how great they were together.

All though there are some elements of the movie that I didn’t like- (such as Holly’s interaction with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character. I absolutely love Dean Morgan but some of his scenes with Holly just didn’t feel right), it is still beautiful and very heart-warming. So Butler prove what a sweetheart he could be- and a hearth-throbbing one at that. For the trailer, photos & individual movie post: https://pinartarhan.com/blog/p-s-i-love-you/

BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL (2007) :

102195-large — Gerard Butler, Maria Bello and Pierce Brosnan in Butterfly on a Wheel

Then came Butterfly on a Wheel. A low-budget, solid thriller with Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello.

Butler plays Neil Randall, a brilliant advertising executive whose life is just perfect: the perfect marriage with a beautiful woman (Maria Bello), a lovely daughter and an amazing career. But one day as he is in the car with his wife, the car is hijacked by Pierce Brosnan‘s character Tom Ryan: They are to do exactly what Tom asks them to do, or Tom’s partner-who has their daughter-is going to kill her. His demands are complicated and hard to accomplish. They don’t know about his motives either. All they know is that Tom is dangerous and they have to find a way to survive this. Of course the premise looks simple. But the plot twists and events make sure this is not a typical story. In fact, it is the kind of a thriller that I hope I can manage to write someday. The acting performances are just as solid as the screenplay. So this time Gerard’s character is not as simple and likable as the one in P.S. I love you. In fact, as the movie progresses, your feelings and thoughts constantly change as you try to figure out this multi-layered character.

Nim’s island was a nice little family picture with Jodie Foster and Rocknrolla certainly satisfied director Guy Ritchie ‘s fans. I guess I am not such a big fan of his typical story telling with some dark humor thrown in for good measure. I can’t just be pulled into his movies. So even with Butler‘s presence, Rocknrolla was not my cup of tea. But then , The The Ugly Truth came out.

ugly_truth_posters — Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl in The Ugly Truth

I already did a post on this extremely entertaining movie so I am not going to go into detail. But let me just say that, Butler can pull of comedy. He can play a seemingly shallow and one dimensional character who slowly shows his true colors. He is charming, funny,obnoxious and attractive all the same time. He also shows he can dance and boy, I have to admit I wish I were Katherine Heigl even just for the sake of that dance floor scene. Click here for The Ugly Truth review and trailer.

the_ugly_truth_2 — Gerard shows us his moves.

So of course after this movie I looked for Gerry’s previous work. And the ones that I found were good and highly impressive. The change in his looks and diversity of his roles were also something to talk about. He plays the Phantom in The Phantom of the opera- the musical was much more rock-n-roll than I expected and Gerry can sing. Yeah, I had noticed that when he was playing the guitar and singing in P.S:I love you. He has that sexy rock voice and his just might be my favorite version of the classic Mustang Sally. Dear Frankie is a lovely story where he pretends to be the father of a deaf kid. The man is hired by the kid’s mom so his dreamworld wouldn’t be shattered. He is the Dracula in Dracula 2000. With his long, jet black long hair, clean shaven pace and younger looks, he is barely recognizable. Then there is the tale of Beowulf and Grendel– where he plays the mythical hero Beowulf. There are many more movies that I culdn’t find yet. But he has new projects are on the way.

It is always a breath of fresh air when you encounter an actor who is good at any role, look and accent. Butler is multi-talent, extremely masculine and I have no objections to the fact that he is just so handsome. Well, I am just glad Scotland gave us another great actor.

OTHER POSTS ON GERARD BUTLER:

Before Sunset starring Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy

Posted on October 11, 2009 Written by ripitup

beforeSunset_Wall7_800 — Before Sunset starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFosXeqmDg

If you haven’t seen Before Sunrise, please do. I am not saying this sequel won’t make sense if you haven’t, but trust me it will be so much more meaning ful. You see, Before Sunset is the follow-up to Before Sunrise- a great emotional movie that took place in 1995. I previously wrote about the first movie. I have seen it a lot of times and after watching Before Sunset again,I felt I had to write about it.

I will feel free to give spoilers, because what might seem like a spoiler for the first movie, is actually the obligatory introduction to the second.

In Before Sunrise, we met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). These 20 somethings met on a train while French Celine was going back to her hometown and American Jesse was on his way to Vienna where he was supposed to catch a flight the next day to the States.
Soon after they started talking, they actually bonded. Yeah, they were having fun being around each other and obviously there was attraction but the bond was also obvious. Two stranger, making a perfect connection through a chance encounter. Jesse didn’t want to let go of this and asked Celine to get off the train with him. She did. And they had an amazing day, and its night in Vienna. The bond got deeper, attraction grew and they just didn’t want to let go. To see how genuine the movie,the characters and the story go, to feel the passion and the magic of their relationship, you have to see the movie. And feel free to check imdb. It has been rated by more than 34.000 people, and it has been rated as an 8/1o. My point is if so many people agreed on this, it means both men and women liked it. It means a lot of people with different movie tastes loved it. It can’t be labeled as a mainstream movie nor it exactly fits the independent spirit where a minority seems to get the message of. It means the viwevers felt the connection as well and this does not happen very often.

So when I heard director Richard Linklater had made a sequel, I rushed to see it. You see Before Sunrise leaves you wondering whether Celine and Jesse will meet again. Whether they will have the same connection or not. The second movie answers these questions for the two characters we loved so much.

Celine and Jesse had agreed to meet 6 months later as Before Sunrise came to an end. We sadly find out that they weren’t able to. Somehow life had gotten in the way. In those 9 years, Jesse has written a book that is about their encounter. He is now at the last stop of his book tour, in Paris. As he hopes that she would, she comes to his book signing.
When she does show-up, they decided to spend Jesse’s last hours in the city together. They are both happy to see each other. So much has happened and they are more than eager to catch up. But since they are older, they seem weary of life, the heart-breaks and disapponitments they have gone through. They realize the connection is still there 9 years later. But now, things seem harder than ever. Jesse is i unhappily married with a 4-year-old kid. Celine’s hear doesn’t seem to be in the relationship she is having. Both have to face their feelings and they realize that the best time, and the best romance they had was 9 years ago,with each other,in Vienna…

It is fun,romantic,sad,heart-breaking,emotional,hopeful…It just leaves you feeling with a combination of a variety of feelings. You feel alive. Once again, it is just so easy to find yourself in Jesse and Celine. And you just cross fingers that this time they will stay together.

Is it as magical as the second movie? It depends. They were younger ,more romantic and more hopeful. They mention this in the second movie. They have grown up.We, the audience,have grown up. We have had more disappointments,heart-breaks,more journeys…We might have become more realistic and/or cynical. But the true spirit of the movie-that genuine honesty-is still the core here. Of course the romantic fool in me wished that they had met after six months. I wish that they had gotten together,stayed together,remained in love…But they didn’t. Life happened and they let life take its toll on them; on their beliefs,way of thinking. But at the same time, they didn’t change all that much. As Celine mentions in the movie, we don’t really change that much. No matter what self-defense mechanisms we develop, our hopes and dreams stay the same. So being together again just feels so right for them. It seems together that 9 years have passed.

The movie has been written by Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hence the actors have co-written the screenplay, it is even easier for them to become to be Jesse and Celine. As I said, if you have seen the first one, you owe it yourself to see this. If you haven’t seen it, than go and just find Before Sunrise. I am still looking for a movie that will make me feel the same way these two did.

Before Sunset

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ACTORS AND LITERATURE: Ethan Hawke, Hugh Laurie and Viggo Mortensen