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Stockholm starring Ethan Hawke, Mark Strong and Noomi Rapace: One of the More Fun Heist Films Made

Posted on June 24, 2019 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Stockholm movie starring Ethan Hawke
Image via imdb.com.

 In 1973, Stockholm, Kaj Hansson (Ethan Hawke), supporting long hair, cowboy boots and a bag, enters a bank, pulls out a machine gun and barks orders. He lets all the customers go, only holding a couple of employees hostage.

When he finds out employee Bianca (Noomi Rapace) pushed the silent alarm, he is more pleased than angry. He makes her call the chief of police, and tell him that if the chief doesn’t come to the bank in 10 minutes, he will shoot her in the face.

The chief arrives with a bunch of officers, sets shop upstairs and goes in to talk to Kaj. In addition to some money and guns, Kaj has a strange demand: he wants prisoner/fellow bank robber Gunnar (Mark Strong) freed.

The confused chief begrudgingly agrees, as at this time, he has no reason to believe Kaj won’t hurt the hostages.

But as time passes and Gunnar’s brought in, an interesting dynamic unfolds. It seems that Kaj, while capable of dramatic and seeimingly violent outburts, doesn’t intend to harm or kill anyone. The hostages are really just his ticket to leaving with Gunnar alive, and he even bonds with Bianca further.

Things are never simple in a hostage situation however, as the prime minister won’t allow them to leave with the hostages, and the chief seems more interested in capturing and outsmarting Kaj than the safety of the civilians.

*

Stockholm is based on the actual heist in 1973 which is credited for the psychological term Stockholm Syndrome where hostages develop sympathy for their captors.

And Ethan Hawke’s casting couldn’t have been more perfect. He is brilliant as the slightly nutty but well-meaning robber. It’s also not far-fetched that the hostages, especially but not only Bianca, warm up to him. He shares his only piece of fruit with everyone, has brought games to help pass the time, and he is genuinely more interested in keeping everyone alive and reasonably healthy than the chief, several cops and the prime minister.

Yeah, no one wants to be held hostage at gun point, but if you were going to be in that situation, you could do a lot worse than Kaj, especially a Kaj as portrayed by Ethan Hawke. And it’s always a bliss to watch Mark Strong.

Noomi Rapace is slowly turning to one of my favorite actresses. And this is the second time I watched her on the screen where she develops a relationship with guy she really shouldn’t have. (That other movie is called Dead Man Down, and I strongly recommend it.)

Written and directed by Robert Budreau, I definitely recommend this biographic crime comedy.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ethan Hawke, heist movie, Mark Strong, Noomi Rapace, Robert Budreau, stockholm movie

Bohemian Rhapsody starring Rami Malek: A Must-See for All Music Lovers (Especially Rock Fans and Misfits!)

Posted on November 6, 2018 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Bohemian Rhapsodoy_Rami Malek
Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Image via imdb.com.

 

I saw Bohemian Rhapsody the other night, and I’m in love. Of course, I should note that I’m a Queen fan, and I love their music. I’m also a nostalgic rock music junkie, so I am a bit positively biased.

That said, the movie is currently rated at 8.4 on IMDB, there are well-deserved award nomination predictions for Malek, and after just a weekend at the worldwide box office, it almost tripled its budget.

Did I build enough buzz for you yet?

Now, what would I think of the movie if I wasn’t a rock fan? Or if it wasn’t based on an inspiring, awesome, and yet tragic life story? I think I’d still be impressed. The casting, the humor, the various emotions and conflicts portrayed, the themes of not fitting in, only being able to be yourself when you do what you are meant to do, being constantly judged and gossiped about, walking a thin line between being a star and a friend… It is very well-done.

Bohemian Rhapsody is the next best thing to having a time machine you can use to watch Queen live for real, or being the right age so you were able to catch them live in the 70s and 80s.

I neither have the machine nor am I the right age, so this movie means a lot to me. It gave me an experience I couldn’t have had otherwise, and I’m grateful.

If you watch this movie and don’t have a good time while fighting the urge to sing, cry and dance, we can’t be friends. Just kidding. We can be friends. We will, however, forever disagree on the merits of the film.

Have you seen it yet?

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Bohemian Rhapsody Plot Summary

As for the plot, it starts right before Freddie is about to take the stage at Live Aid, then it takes us back to the beginning where Freddie worked at the airport during college and met the guys who would become his fellow band members, Brian May and Roger Taylor. The group also recruits John Deacon as their bass player, and the legend begins. They start experimenting with rock music, record their own album, and garner the attention of EMI records.

While the movie has its sad parts (Freddie’s loneliness, his clashes with his friends, his somewhat self-destructive habits and personality traits, his course his illness), the rest is mostly an inspiring, motivational, and incredibly fun ride where we get to see how our favorite Queen songs came to be.

Favorite Scenes: Well, all of it really, but these stand out even more:

  •  The creation and recording of Bohemian Rhapsody
  • Any time the band has funny banter.
  • The creation of We Will Rock You
  • Concert scenes, with the absolute best being the Live Aid performance

*

Verdict: Go see it, duh!

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: bohemian rhapsody, bohemian rhapsody movie, bohemian rhapsody movie review, bohemian rhapsody trailer, freddie mercury, Queen, rami malek, rami malek as freddie mercury

Hall Pass starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis & Christina Applegate: Review for the Funny and Crude Comedy

Posted on September 6, 2018 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Hall Pass movie poster.

Married best friends Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are on the fast track to middle-aged suburban “husbandhood.” They wear boring clothes, can rarely have sex with their wives, and they are comfortable in their careers.

While neither they or their married friends (played by Stephen Merchant, Larry Joe Campbell, and J.B. Smoove) are cheating on their wives, they are all obsessed with the sexual escapades they are not having.

But they are not the only ones discontent with their spouses. Rick’s wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Fred’s wife Grace (Christina Applegate) are fed up with their husbands’ crude sex talk and teenager-like antics. After a final straw, both women give their husbands a Hall Pass: A week off from marriage where they will be allowed to do anything they want with no consequences.

At first, Rick isn’t sure, but he is persuaded by Fred, and their friends join them to “watch” them hit on and score with women. As the wives, along with the two kids (Rick and Maggie’s) spend the week at Maggie’s parents, the men embark on their adventure.

But being “single” is much harder than they remember, and their pretty wives, unbeknownst to them, already have admirers. And if the men can sleep with other people, why shouldn’t they have some fun?

Review

I quite liked Hall Pass. It was fun, and I laughed out loud during several scenes. As a romantic woman, I must say I was rooting for the men to fail and women to “succeed” with the opposite sex since they both had been so crude and insensitive about the matter. They seemed to forget their wives also had to put up with them, and not just them putting up with their wives.

Ideally, a marriage is an equal partnership where both sides exercise empathy. And despite the three “visual” jokes I didn’t care for, and the crude (yet mostly very entertaining) humor, Hall Pass does a fine job of reminding us that.

The men felt unwanted. The women felt undesired. The men wanted their wives to see sex as something enjoyable, something to look forward to, something to set more time aside for. The women wanted the men to stop gawking at other women so blatantly, to stop making everything about sex, to make them feel sexy and wanted.

So while there are several stereotypes that can make both men and women cringe, they do move the story along and take you for a fun ride. And sometimes, an R-rated relationship comedy is what you are in the mood for. Because it does contain a lot of life’s truths as well.

Spoilers

Through a chain of unfortunate events on both sides, both couples come to a mutual realization, which will hopefully make their marriage stronger. You do root for Owen Wilson’s character more than you do Jason Sudeikis’, as he is the more romantic and sensible one.

The men’s failures make for some hilarious scenes.

Favorite Scenes- Spoilers

– Golf cart chase

– Food coma, day 1

– Rick’s reunion with his wife (I’m a romantic, after all.)

– The car chase with the lunatic on top and the cops behind

Verdict 

It is no Wedding Crashers, but it can show you a fun time if you let it. Also, it is currently on Netflix. You can always turn it off if you don’t enjoy it. And the crude is to be expected as it is a movie by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary; Me, Myself and Irene; Shallow Hal, Dumb and Dumber.)

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: christian applegate, farrelly brothers, farrelly brothers movies, hall pass, hall pass cast, hall pass movie review, Jason Sudeikis, jenna fischer, Owen Wilson, stephen merchant

The “Nice” Hitmen: Movies’ 6 Deadliest Cuddly Hitmen

Posted on August 10, 2018 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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As readers and writers, we’re drawn to grey characters. We can’t help it. And what’s greyer and more complicated than a hit man with a romantic side, conscience and/or high moral standards?

Sure, killing is bad. Killing isn’t a choice we can approve in real life.

That said, we don’t exactly love watching accountants (though The Accountant is a fun movie about a highly atypical accountant), angelic social workers, or extremely ethical and by-the-book lawyers on screen.

We want characters that can kick ass, draw blood and inflict pain on those who deserve it. We also want them to have a side that knows to protect the innocent.

Now, the movies  I’ve picked are mainly from the 90s or more recent. Don’t hesitate to add your favorites in the comments, from whatever era they might be. I’d love to check those movies out.

But here’re some of the first hitmen I and some of my dear friends love and remember.

  • Léon starring Jean Reno (1994)
Image via ebay.

Ah, the first gentle hitman most of my generation has been exposed to. A middle-aged contract killer saves a girl whose family is killed, and he goes on to protect and mentor her. Of course of all the relationships here, the one between Léon and his young friend (12-year-old friend, to be exact) is the most ambiguous and controversial.

Was it a father/daughter thing? Was it romantic? It kind of looked that way to some extent.

But either way, Léon keeps her alive. I need to rewatch this as it has been awhile. Oh, and Gary Oldman is the baddie.

 

  • Assassins starring Sylvester Stallone (1995)
Image via timelessmoviemagic.com.

The 90s is the era where a lot of my favorite movies come from. A lot of entertaining and dearly rewatchable movies came out of that decade. Assasins is one of my favorite action films to revisit.

First, the casting is awesome and weird:

Sylvester Stallone as the “cuddly” hitman, a gorgeous but wacky Antonio Banderas as the “villain” hitman, and Julianne Moore as an introverted, cat-loving and smart hacker. But it somehow works in that 90s way.

Stallone’s character deserves to be here because he has a strong sense of morality: He doesn’t kill the innocent (which unsurprisingly doesn’t include other hitmen who might or might not be his friends).

Banderas’ character will kill anything and anyone if it means he’ll get paid or even pleasure and convenience. And boy, does he love to kill.

So when Stallone fails to kill Moore and chooses to protect her instead, a stubborn Banderas is sent after to finish the job. Moore and Stallone become partners in crime (in getting the killers off their back, not killing), while also liking each other. And really, if you’re a cyber-criminal who doesn’t like most people, an almost-retired hitman who has a romantic side does sound eligible. Oh, and he likes cats!

 

  • Grosse Pointe Blank starring John Cusack (1997)  

 

Image via discogs.

John Cusack plays a hilariously neurotic hitman with issues. The pace (and the comedy) picks up when he needs to go to his high school reunion and kind of falls for an old classmate in the process. There’ll be a lot of shooting and blood before this guy can find his happily-ever-after.

 

  • John Wick starring Keanu Reeves  (2014)
Image via John Wick Wiki.

I’d argue John Wick is the most realistic action film here. Our hero sure does kick too much ass, and we need to suspend some disbelief, but at least he runs out of bullets and gets hurt and stuff.

But the style, pace, and fight choreography make John Wicirresistibletable addition to the genre. The character seems tailor-made for Keanu Reeves: silent, reserved, and smooth; deadly only when disturbed.

John Wick is the perfect romantic hero too: he is a bad-boy-turned-good when he falls in love and leaves the business of killing. (I didn’t see anything bad besides the job, but come on, having been a hitman for the mob is surely enough to label him bad). And he doesn’t want to return. He grieves quietly for his deceased wife with the adorable dog she gifted him and gets the adrenaline pumping by driving his beloved car.

But when his former boss’s clueless, entitled, and stupid excuse for a son kills his dog, beats him up, and steals his car, he is understandably mad and decides to kill him. It’s not his fault the boss decides to send an army after him and increases collateral damage.

But can we get behind a gorgeous, charismatic and kickass retired killer who is avenging the memory of his wife and getting rid of the world of some very bad people in the process? Absolutely.

 

  • Shoot ‘em Up starring Clive Owen (2007)
Image via FilmAffinity.

This is the funniest film on the list and also has the best soundtrack. It might be the most entertaining too. Anyway, my judgment is a bit biased. I love a good mindless entertainment flick. I also love rock music, Clive Owen, and Paul Giamatti. So… The movie might change how you feel about carrots, though. You’ve been warned.

So we have a homeless-looking, carrot-eating and very competent killer who happens to help a woman give birth. When the mother is killed, he saves the baby and just tries to survive with the baby through the whole movie. At some point, he needs the assistance of former flame/prostitute ……. who provides some motherly love for the little one, and a totally different kind of loving to our sexy hitman. 

 

  • Crying Freeman starring Mark Dacascos (1995)
Image via Tmdb.

Frankly, I don’t like Crying Freeman as much as the others, but it has its own appeal. It’s based on a comic book, and the movie goes by comic book logic and physics, which is what makes this flick fun. If you don’t take anything seriously, you’ll probably have a better time.

But the hitman is gorgeous, and when he “confronts” his supposed victim/murder witness, she’s in her bathrobe and in her bedroom. She was quite taken by him, having already painted an impressive and sizable portrait of the killer. Now, I should mention that she’s not exactly the most rational and life-loving person on the planet, having lost her parents to another hitman and blamed it on herself for about two decades.

So her reaction to about to be killed by this guy is lying on the bed and closing her eyes. His reaction to this is taking his clothes off and getting on the bed with her, and then well…you know.

Of course, he has to do some naked killing after their hot session, but it all comes with the territory. But at least these killers had the decent timing of coming after they had sex, so they didn’t give our hitman, called Crying Freeman, the chance to prove he could kill people while he’s giving his object of lust/love an orgasm. (Yes, I’m referring to the Shoot ‘em Up scene between Clive Owen and Monica Belluci.)

*

There should be a sexy and conscionable contract killers list for female characters, but honestly, I couldn’t think of anyone besides Nikita. And I’m more familiar with the TV series where she wasn’t exactly a contract killer.

So please do mention your favorite female killers that fit the context. Who are your favorite deadly but cuddly hitmen?

 

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: assassins, Clive Owen, crying freeman, grosse pointe black, Jean Reno, john cusack, john wick, Keanu Reeves, Leon, mark dacascos, movies with hitmen, Shoot 'em up, Sylvester Stallone

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