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Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne & Matthew Lillard

Posted on December 9, 2010 Written by ripitup

Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne & Matthew Lillard

Plot

Matthew (Josh Hartnett) has a promising career in advertising and a beautiful girlfriend named Rebecca (Jessica Paré). However he is unsure about proposing, as deep down, he has never gotten over the love of his life, Lisa (Diane Kruger). She has left him without saying anything 2 years ago. When he thinks he saw her at a restaurant, he decides to ditch his business trip and look for her. The clues take him to a hotel and then an apartment. There he gets a real surprise, because the woman living there isn’t his Lisa but a brunette who claims that her name is Lisa (Rose Byrne). She also happens to be wearing Lisa’s clothes and shoes…

Matt has also run into his old friend Luke (Matthew Lillard) who runs a shoe shop and knows what Lisa meant to him. But he thinks that Matt’s quest for Lisa is crazy and he is more concerned with his love life. Despite pretending to be a player, he is actually a nice and decent guy with a huge crush on Alex, a theater actress. Alex’s behavior is highly unpredictable for reasons Luke might never find out. Alex can be the key to everything mysterious about Lisa’s disappearance. But will Matt be able to find out?

Wicker Park is a really solid mystery/romance. It is just different. It is very emotional and revolves around the 4 characters, especially Matthew, Alex and Lisa. It is a gripping drama romance with some thriller-like elements and its characters are just deliciously flawed. All of the main characters make bad choices, act stupidly and/or naively and/or selfishly. They also have redeeming qualities that make us feel for them. The music is really good (feat. Stereophonics, Coldplay, The White Stripes and more). I’d say that it is one of those rare romance movies where cynics and romantics will both have a good time.

The bad things? Oh, the characters are sometimes so monumentally stupid that it makes you want to smack them. And there is this whole string of (bad) coincidences that don’t always feel natural. And Matt is the right guy for only Lisa. For any other girl, he is one of the worst choices. So this is not a romance film where I will just talk about how unrealistically awesome the protagonist is. Because he is a very real character. So yes, the movie has its flaws but character development and a decent dose of realism are definitely not among them.

Background

Yes, the script is not technically original as It is based on the 1996 French film L’ Appartment starring Star Romane Bohringer, Vincent Cassel, Jean-Philippe Écoffey and Monica Belluci. It was written & directed by Gilles Mimount.

This 2004 American version was written by Brandon Boyce and directed by Paul McGuigan (Push, Lucky Number Slevin). I’ll see the original French film but if you haven’t already seen it, this version is pretty good.

Currently rated 6.8 on IMDB. L’ Appartement is rated 7.6. For Wicker Park, my vote is a solid 7, and in some aspects even 7.5.

Fun note: Vincent Cassel and Monica Belluci, the two starring actors of L’ Appartement,got married in 1999, 3 years after the making of the film. They have 2 kids together.

Other Diane Kruger Movies

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Jesse Eisenberg & Terrence Howard. Feat. Kruger

Copying Beethoven starring Diane Kruger & Ed Harris

40 Days and 40 Nights starring Josh Hartnett & Shannyn Sossamon

Hollywood’s Tall Actors feat. Hartnett, Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds& more

Rose Byrne

Damages TV Show Review – starring Rose Byrne and Glenn Close

Adam starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne

2012 starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover & Woody Harrelson

Posted on December 4, 2010 Written by ripitup

2012 starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover & Woody Harrelson. Directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. 2009.

The Mayans were right after all…2009. Scientists run across some scary figures that can be bad news. They try to find another explanation other than the most obvious and terrifying one: the world is coming to an end.

These results are shared with world leaders and some very rich men. Only a selected number of people will live through the disaster and unless you are really important, you don’t stand a chance: In the name of preventing anarchy, the bad news is kept from the public until the last minute (with the insistence of Oliver Platt’s character Anheuser).

Enter Jackson (John Cusack), a published but not exactly financially successful author. He is divorced with two young kids, who live with his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and her boyfriend Gordon (Thomas McCarthy).When he takes his kids to camping, Jackson realizes something is way off and they run into military officials. Then he meets a nutty blogger/podcaster/radio DJ Charlie (Woody Harrelson) who lives in a caravan at the national park and is sharing his conspiracy theories about the world’s end. Jackson at first dismisses his wild assumptions but shattering earthquakes convince him that Charlie may not be so nutty after all.

From then on, the world really starts falling apart. Jackson takes his family & Gordon and he drives them to the small plane he has rented, with the city literally coming down on them. They find the pilot dead so they rely on Gordon’ flying lessons to survive. Jackson decides to see Charlie one more time, since he had every theory right so far and he was talking about the “spaceships” the government was building.

The movie continues to get faster with bigger adventures and effects, with disaster following the family in the air, on the ground and more… Can anyone really make it alive? Will the “spaceships” work?

Now, I have to say 2012 turned out to be better than I was expecting. OK, I am not talking about the script. It is full of your typical clichés, complete with heroic characters, doting family members and all that But Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) is usually good at making the best of these clichés and providing great effects. I was bored early into the film but you just need to hang on for the first 25-30 minutes or so (the movie is about 158 minutes long).

So Roland has done it again- average story with impressive effects, typically likeable characters, an insane theory and lots of human vs. nature action. I had a lot of fun. Now, if the world was really coming to an end, would I recommend this movie? Probably not. But then again, despite being a total movie nut, I wouldn’t recommend any movie in that scenario. Hey, if we had 1 year left to live, we would go out to live life to the fullest and not watch film. Especially not by Emmerich.

5.9 on IMDB. I don’t have an overall verdict. Instead:

5 – for the story (it is as average as it gets).

6.5 – for the cast (Danny Glover, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson)

8- for the effects.

Enjoy.

Roland Emmerich Movies

The Day After Tomorrow starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sela Ward,

The Patriot starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger

Independence Day starring Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith

The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton Rampage Jackson

Posted on December 3, 2010 Written by ripitup

: The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. 2010. Directed & co-written by Joe Carnahan.

The Cast

The moment I heard about the cast, I knew I’d see the A-team. Sure, nostalgia is a part of it but I was a kid when the show aired (1983 – 1987) and all I really remember were the concept and characters. But I am huge fan of Liam Neeson. Bradley Cooper makes entertaining movies and Patrick Wilson reminds me of Patrick Swayze and Michael Keaton (yes, both of them, at the same time). Weird, I know. Oh, and I also thought Luke Wilson would be in the movie. I can’t believe how much Sharlto Copley resembles him!

So a modern adaptation with a great cast, a nostalgic trip with lots of action and comedic moments, The A- Team was an inevitable choice. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The Plot

The story starts with how the team is formed: Colonel Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson) makes his escape from the Mexicans so that he can save his friend/fellow soldier Lt. “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper) from even a worse situation. On his way he runs into B.A. Baracus (Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson), a big man and ex-soldier. After a pretty loud and fun rescue operation, they realize they need to fly in order to survive so they team up with the first pilot they run into, the nutty Captain H.M. Murdock (Sharlto Copley), who was staying in the psych ward.

Many years and successful operations later:

The movie s only gets faster from this point. The strong female part is filled in by Jessica Biel, who had also co-starred with Bradley Cooper in Valentine’s Day. Biel plays Captain Sosa, ex-girlfriend of Face who he doesn’t seem to be over. Hannibal and his team retrieve some valuable metal plates used in money-manufacturing. Unfortunately, they get side-tracked by a hired soldier and his team. The plates are stolen and General Morrison (Gerald McRaney), who has granted them the mission, is killed.

With their only witness dead, The A-Team is put on trial. Captain Sosa is demoted while the men are discharged from the military and sentenced to 10 years jail time in a maximum security prison. Of course Lynch (Patrick Wilson), the CIA agent who wanted the team on the mission in the first place, visits Hannibal and helps him break out of jail so that he gets his team back, retrieves the plates and clears their names. However they just might have more enemies than they anticipated and well, Sosa may also get in their way…

The Verdict:

Pure fun! I had a blast watching this movie. Sure, there were many logically and physically impossible scenes as well as some really bad computer effects but I am willing to ignore those because it is a really great action/comedy. I love the character interactions, the one-liners, the flight-phobic ex- commando, the crazy pilot, kick-ass leader Hannibal and the flirty and funny Face…

Favorite Scenes:

– Well every time Sharlto Copley’s Captain Murdock flies a plane and how he “lands” it.

– The prison rescue scenes

– Face’s prison cell and his equipments

– Face’s retrieval plan in execution

– Germany scenes where they are trying to retrieve the plates….

7.1 on IMDB. Fine with me. Leave logic aside and have fun!

Other Bradley Cooper Posts

Bradley Cooper Trivia

Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland

The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha

He’s Just Not That Into You feat. Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly

Valentine’s Day feat. Cooper, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Dempsey, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel…

Wedding Crashers feat. Cooper, Vince Vaugh, Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams

Alias TV Series starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan and Bradley Cooper

Other Liam Neeson Posts

Chloe starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried

Seraphim Falls starring Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan

The Other Man starring Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas and Laura Linney

Other Posts on Jessica Biel

The Illusionist starring Biel and Edward Norton

Valentine’s Day

Other Posts on Patrick Wilson

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Wilson, Matthew Goode

No Strings Attached, The Switch and Morning Glory: 3 Romantic Comedies to Anticipate

Frozen starring Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers and Emma Bell

Posted on November 29, 2010 Written by ripitup

Frozen starring Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell. 2010. Written and directed by Adam Green.

Three friends Joe, Dan and Parker (Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers and Emma Bell) are three friends enjoying a weekend ski getaway. Well, it is more like Dan (Kevin Zegers)’s girlfriend Parker (Emma Bell) is trying to blend in to which would typically be a boys’ outing. The boys have been friends since primary school and Joe is not all that happy with the changing dynamics. But as it turns out, the adjustment would be the least of their worries as the trio decides to fit in a one late night ski adventure. Bad luck ends them up in stranded in the air on the airlift. Things couldn’t have been much worse as the power goes off, lights go down and the lounge closes for the week.

From then on, it is a constant struggle with their possible upcoming death from freezing, while trying to decide if they should try out riskier things for the chance of survival.

I really would rather not give any details, as the bigger part of the movie is about how these three people try to handle life-or-death dilemmas, while trying not to completely lose it. There is one minor spoiler though – if you are watching this because Zegers is in the lead, just know Shawn Ashmore has more screen time.

That said, the acting is really decent, the effects are satisfactory and it is a good drama/thriller if you enjoy survival films. Now, I wish I could see it at the theaters. I ended up watching it on small screen and while the drama is effective, I suspect a ground sound system on a huge screen would have a lot to do with a thrilling effect.

Don’t get me wrong though, nature does provide some scary elements. And if you turn on the empathy mode just a tiny bit, there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy the film.

Yeah, there were moments of boredom on my part- but remember- the film is about three people on a ski-lift in the freezing cold while I was perfectly safe and sound on my bed, while I had my laptop to entertain me. Now, there was this user review that said while Frozen is a decent film, it doesn’t do to skiing what Jaws did for swimmers. Well, I think Frozen is not meant to scare you about skiing. It is meant to freak you out about getting on a ski-lift in the middle of the night while there is practically no one around.

It is not a prize, but it sure as hell not a waste of your time either. Written & directed by Adam Green.

6.4 on IMDB. 7/10 from me – for the overall effort and effect.

Other Movies with Kevin Zegers

The Jane Austen Book Club starring Maria Bello, Hugh Dancy, Emily Blunt & Kevin Zegers

It’s a boy/girl thing starring Kevin Zegers

Other Diane Kruger Movies

Other Josh Hartnett Films and Posts

Rose Byrne