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The Killing Room starring Timothy Hutton

Posted on August 20, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Killing Room starring Timothy Hutton, Clea DuVall, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Stormare, Nick Cannon and Shea Whigham

The Killing Room is a wonderfully chilling and solid claustrophobic thriller. Yes, it is rated on 5.7 on IMDB, voted by over 2000 people, but even the discussions on whether this is believable or even possible don’t underestimate the movie’s decent effort. Here’s what happens:

4 subjects volunteer for a psychological experiment: 1 woman, 3 guys: Kerry (Clea DuVall), Crawford (Timothy Hutton), Paul (Nick Cannon) and Tony (Shea Whigham). These 4 strangers are in the experiment to make extra cash. Crawford is a veteran at being a lab rat and is the most comfortable of the 4.

They are in a white room with steel furniture nailed down to the floor. They are being watched and listened to by the leader of the project, a Dr. Philips (Peter Stormare), a group of other scientists who are following orders and a young psychologist called Emily (Chloe Sevigny).

At first it seems innocent and normal enough. Scientists are observing and this is a part of Emily’s recruitment, whether or not she will be a part of this project. Subjects do surveys, chat a little bit. After that Philips comes on, answers their questions and at about 17 minutes into the movie, we know for sure that this is one deadly experiment and whether any of the subjects will survive is highly questionable. But who the hell are these people? Why are they conducting a deadly experiment with 4 Americans with no criminal record? And how much can Emily take?

As I said, chilling, claustrophobic and not very predictable. The acting is just fine. I don’t want to give away spoilers but I will just hint that Timothy Hutton does have more screen time than 17 minutes. So if you don’t like psychological thrillers, it will be worth watching for him.

However, regardless of who and/or what you are watching this movie for, it is worth the time It makes you ask questions. You question how far people can go under extreme circumstances. You certainly keep writing your own explanation and script until the very end. I think the ending was just brilliant. Not the one I was guessing or hoping for, and this is a good thing. And yes, I knew almost all the actors from other films but even if you know none, it doesn’t matter. The acting is good but it is about the room, and the story rather than their faces.

It is hard to make a good thriller without much effects and constantly relying on other people’s minds working. This one pulls it off. But whether you will believe it -any part or entire movie- is possible will depend on what you think about the American government. Written by Gus Krieger and Ann Peacock. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman.

8 or 9/10 from me. You may not like it, but you won’t be bored either.

Other Posts on Timothy Hutton

Ordinary People starring Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch

Serious Moonlight starring Timothy Hutton and Meg Ryan

Taps starring Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn

Leverage TV Series starring Timothy Hutton

The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. Feat. Timothy Hutton

The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. Feat. Timothy Hutton

Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle

Posted on August 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

Brooklyn's Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes — Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. 2009. Image via: filmizlefull.net

Brooklyn’s Finest tells the story of 3 Brooklyn cops that are going through a problematic time in their lives:

Sal (Ethan Hawke) has already more kids than his cop salary can support but his wife (Lili Taylor) is pregnant with twins. Moreover they live in a small house, whose wood mould is endangering both her and her pregnancy. He feels stuck. He has to move his family to a big house and to be able to afford it, he has to steal. So he chooses to steal from ruthless criminals. But how can he manage to get away with stealing dirty money in the middle of dangerous operations?

Tango (Don Cheadle) has gone undercover among drug dealers. It has been a long time on the job and he feels like he needs to get out. His loyalties are getting blurry and his wife is divorcing him. He is expected to give Caz (Wesley Snipes), a dealer who is trying to get out but he has developed a strong bond and friendship with him.

Eddie (Richard Gere) is 7 days away from his retirement. He is lonely, he drinks a lot, is depressed and even suicidal. His only friend seems to be a hooker and he really hates the assignment given to him on his last week: he needs to train rookies. What can be more dangerous than keeping young, red-blooded rookies just trying to start being cops?

The movie concentrates on both the internal and external conflicts of these characters. And even though most of their misery could have been prevented (especially Sal’s – he should have known better than having so many kids on a cop’s salary and a sick wife), you can’t help but feel for their humanity, identity crisis and the choices they need to make. It is a plot that becomes stronger with the acting. The story is a lot more intriguing and depressing than it looks on paper.

These three cops’ destinies eventually will intersect to give the audience a pretty good finale.

This is a solid crime/drama. It is powerful but you might get distracted by how much swearing is going on, especially in Tango and Caz’s scenes. It might be authentic but it is open for discussion whether or not it distracts you.

Written by Michael C. Martin and directed by Antoine Fuqua – the director of Training Day- the movie that brought Denzel Washington Best Actor Oscar and Ethan Hawke a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Rated at 7.0 on Imdb. 7 from me as well. It is worth your time, just don’t watch it if you are in the mood for something uplifting or if you want to be a cop. Note that the film comes with a great supporting cast too: Ellen Barkin, Vincent D’Onofrio (cameo) and Will Patton. It may not be a great film but it is a pretty good film.

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Other Posts About Ethan Hawke

– Ethan Hawke trivia

– Cheating Celebrity Trivia: 8 Male Celebrities That Cheated (feat. Ethan Hawke, Jude Law…

– Before Sunrise

– Before Sunset

– 10 Celebrity Break-ups You May Not Have Seen Coming

– 10 Most Entertaining Sci-fi Movies: Favorite Sci-fi Movies of a Non-fan

– Reality Bites starring Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller

Alias

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Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts

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French Kiss starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline

Posted on August 17, 2010 Written by ripitup

French Kiss starring Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, Timothy Hutton, Jean Reno and Susan Anbeh. Image:farm4.static.flickr.com

American Kate (Meg Ryan) is living in Canada with her fiancé Charlie (Timothy Hutton). And as far as she is concerned, life is bliss: she is closer to Charlie’s parents than Charlie is, is about to be a Canadian citizen and she is finally able to afford the house of their dreams. Even though Charlie is a bit freaked, he seems happy and content enough…until he goes to Paris for a work event. Kate needs to stay in the country because of the immigration process and she is afraid to death of flying anyway…

However, one day she gets a phone call from Charlie that changes her life forever. He tells her that he has fallen in love with a French woman and is not coming back. Kate gets on the next plane. She just has to go to France and take Charlie back. She ends up sitting next to a French guy named Luc (Kevin Kline), who just provides a distraction for her to survive the flight. However, Luc really needs to get an item through the customs and uses Kate for it, without her knowing of course.

But it is not long before Luc loses Kate, Kate’s bags are stolen, the French police are after Luc- who is after Kate who tries to survive in Paris until she can persuade Charlie to come back…Of course many funny scenes, confusion and romantic feelings follow. Can Kate take Charlie back with Luc’s help? Or will she even want Charlie after spending all that time with Luc?

French Kiss is a really entertaining, funny and romantic film, mostly set in France. It co-stars Jean Reno as the friendly cop who owes Luc a favor and Charlie’s French goddess Juliette is played by Suzan Anbeh, an actress half-French and half-Iranian.

Admittedly, I hadn’t loved this film so much when I saw it years ago. But back then, I hadn’t been to France, met French guys, listened to many French accents, wasn’t a fan of the cast except Meg Ryan. But years later, after having done all that, and having followed the work of Timothy Hutton, Kevin Kline and Jean Reno, and well, having experience the French culture many times, I just had a blast with. I believe French Kiss to be a guy-friendly romcom. Yeah sure, you can make all the usual complaints: “I knew the ending from the get-go” (yeah, so did everybody else),” it was predictable”,” would have been more original if Luc ended up with Juliette….” . So? This might be a typical romantic comedy with some fun criminal aspects involved, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is spot on with so many jokes and it is just an overall charming and entertaining movie. Oh yes, Kate is pretty much the same gal Meg Ryan always plays but some actors do have a trademark: Sylvester has been cashing on all these years: Meg Ryan is the romcom princess and he uses the muscles. They don’t really make movies to shatter the earth, they make money and entertain by using money-making clichés.

Now, it is also fun to note that this is not the only movie where Timothy Hutton’s character wants to leave Meg Ryan’s for another woman- in 2009’s Serious Moonlight, he wants to leave their long-term marriage but suffers a totally unexpected faith. This is also not the only romcom where Meg Ryan goes by the name of Kate. She played Kate in Kate and Leopold, opposite Hugh Jackman.

You have got the clichés and the stereotypes but you also have a hilarious performance from Kevin Kline, Timothy Hutton as your scumbag, Jean Reno for an inspector and a lovely, natural Meg Ryan. And this is pretty much all I wanted from this 1995 “chick flick”, which happens to be written by a guy (Adam Brooks) and directed by another guy (Lawrence Kasdan). Just enjoy yourself. 6.1 on IMDB, 7/10 from me.

Fun note: In 2007,Meg Ryan starred in In The Land of Women, a romantic drama written and directed by Jon Kasdan, son of director Lawrence Kasdan.

Other Posts on Timothy Hutton

Ordinary People starring Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch

Serious Moonlight starring Timothy Hutton and Meg Ryan

Taps starring Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn

Leverage TV Series starring Timothy Hutton

The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. Feat. Timothy Hutton

The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. Feat. Timothy Hutton

Other Posts on Meg Ryan

You’ve Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors Part 4: Hugh Laurie, James Denton and Greg Grunberg a.k.a. The Band From TV

Posted on August 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

Band from TV featuring James Denton, Greg Grunberg and Hugh Laurie — Band from TV featuring James Denton (on the left), Greg Grunberg (right) and Hugh Laurie (lying).Image from 22dakika.org

When you are talented and have the time and money to pursue your hobby, it would be a shame not to just give it a shot. Well, it is very common for musicians to step into acting, and for actors to play in bands. Some even get successful enough to overshadow their acting careers and some just have a blast. Previously I covered Kevin Bacon, Keanu Reeves and Jon Bon Jovi, John Travolta, Bruce Willis; David Bowie and Shane West. Here are 3 more rockin’ actors
James Denton, Hugh Laurie and Greg Grunberg appeared in movies alright but they didn’t shoot to fame and stardom until they got leading or co-starring roles on hit TV shows. They formed the band to help raise money for charities, but they are also having a blast. The band also features other celebrities, but I’ll be talking about these 3 men a lot of us know and like.

James Denton has been playing Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives since the show first aired in 2004. He has been the love interest of Susan (Teri Hatcher).Mike and Susan had their ups and downs but they are currently happily married. James is not one of the housewives- obviously- but the show just wouldn’t be the same without this ruggedly handsome plumber named Mike. His character also joins some jamming sessions with the husbands/boyfriends of the other housewives on several episodes. Old D

You might also catch a younger James in the movie That Old Feeling starring Bette Middler and Dennis Farina.

Greg Grunberg might have increased his popularity with his character Matt in the TV series Heroes but I first saw and liked him as the adorable CIA agent Eric Weiss, best friend and partner of Michael Vaughn in Alias.

Hugh Laurie: And, if you haven’t caught at least caught one glimpse of Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House in House, I would really have to ask you what rock you’d been hiding under for the past 6 years!

So as very cleverly called The Band from TV, these men rock out to their liking. Being a good singer, piano and guitar player are not only talents of actor Hugh Laurie- he is also a published author of a crime novel.

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors, part 2: John Travolta and Bruce Willis

Actor musicians and musician actors, part 3: Shane West and David Bowie

Desperate Housewives starring Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and James Denton

Alias starring Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan

Other Posts feat. Hugh Laurie and House

Absolute Hugh Laurie and House Trivia: 21 Facts About Hugh Laurie and His TV Series House

Use of Social Media in TV Series featuring Castle, The Mentalist, House, Cougar Town and NCIS Los Angeles

Television’s 3 Most Brilliant, Emotionally Broken Men: Patrick Jane, Gregory House and Jack Bauer

House starring Hugh Laurie

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