Movies and Actors | pinartarhan.com

Firewall starring Harrison Ford, Virginia Madsen and Paul Bettany

Posted on May 21, 2010 Written by ripitup

Firewall starring Harrison Ford, Virginia Madsen and Paul Bettany. Image from: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/HPO/firewall.jpg

Consider yourselves warned. This movie will not surprise you. You will get the ending you always do. That being said, it is just not a bad movie.

After a movie, I usually cruise through IMDB boards and check out what the other folks are saying. It’s quite amusing. No matter what the movie, you will find people that had a good time, that hated it and that just don’t really care. Some people think Harrison Ford should stop acting (in action films). Because he is too old. Yeah, I know. People would love to manage actors’ careers…

OK. Enough with the gossip and the sarcasm. I did warn you that this is a predictable movie. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s entertaining:

Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) is a happily married man with 2 kids, aged 8 and 14. His wife (Virginia Madsen) is a beautiful architect and the marriage is great. His only problem is the merger his bank is going through but it is nothing he can’t handle. His life gets very difficult and complicated, however, when his best friend Harry (Robert Forster) introduces him to a businessman (Paul Bettany). Jack is a security specialist working at the large bank. The “businessman” makes him an offer and as Jack leaves to get home, he finds the businessman in his car. His name is Cox, he wants $100,000,000 from the bank. He also has taken his family hostage. From then on, it is a matter of life and death. Jack tries to outsmart Cox, and every time he fails, Cox proves that he is not kidding. So Jack needs to rob the bank he is protecting – and this robbery is a lot more technological and a lot less physical than the robberies we are used to…

It is not a masterpiece. It doesn’t have surprises. Still, I liked watching Jack finding a way to pull the stunts off. I had fun. The fun isn’t in trying to figure out whether Harrison will save his family. It’s in more how psycho the villain can get and how Jack can steal that much money, cover Cox’s track. And let’s face it, Bettany makes a fine villain. You might recgonize Jack’s secretary Janet (Mary Lynn Rajskub) as she has helped out Jack Bauer more than once in the series 24.

And why would people think Harrison is too old for this role is beyond me. It is not like he is playing Clive Owen’s part in Shoot Them Up or Gerard Butler’s in 300! He is trapped, he needs to save three members of his family. Anyone’s adrenaline would be pumped up. Watch it if you enjoy a typical thriller/action and like Bettany and Ford. By the way, remind me, did Harrison Ford ever play a villain?

5.8 on IMDB. I’ll give it a 6.Let me know what you think.

P.S. I read that Harrison Ford declined to play in Schindler’s List, claiming his stardom would get in the way of the message of the movie. I am glad Liam Neeson has the title role but what do you think about Harrsion’s remark? Do you think he is right? Or just cocky?

I Could Never Be Your Woman starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd

Posted on May 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

I Could Never Be Your Woman starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd. Funny, romantic and modern. Image from: http://www.quelapaseslindo.com.ar/

Rosie (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a 40-year-old single mother. She is a writer of a popular teen TV show. During the casting of a new character, she meets Adam (Paul Rudd). Adam is cute, really funny and talented. He gets the part. Things get complicated for Rosie when he asks her out. She can’t resist but all the while Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) is doing her head in about how she is making a mistake and how she is too old for this guy. Despite Rosie’s concerns, Adam proves that he really likes her and that they are great together. But problems are a dime a dozen. Apart from her own concerns, Rosie’s horrible assistant Jeannie (Sarah Alexander) is doing her best to sabotage their relationship behind their backs. Will their romance survive?

OK, this is a romantic comedy so yeah, obviously the romance will survive. Both for the fans of romcoms, this is a great one to enjoy. If the movie title reminds you of the fun 90s songI could never be your woman by White Town, you are right. Its video remained with me long after MTV stopped playing the video. The song is appropriately played in the movie. All Michelle’s concerns about her age passes me by since well…she is gorgeous. Paul Rudd is one of the rare very cute and very funny actors. You might recall his collaborations with director Judd Apatow ( The 40-year-old Virgin, Knocked Up) , Clueless where he starred with he starred with Alicia Silverstone and of course Friends, where he played Phoebe’s boyfriend and then husband. They make a good team and the movie works. Mother Nature is really annoying but I’m guessing that’s what her part requires and I am a woman so yeah, I just want her to leave poor Rosie alone.

It is also fun to see English Sarah Alexander as an American bitch. She also has a part in Stardust as Michelle one of Michelle Pfeiffer’s witch friends. There is a chance you won’t recognize her. But Sarah is mostly recognized for her role in the hit comedy series Coupling (the original UK version).

Written and directed by Amy Heckerling in 2007,who also wrote and directed the very popular 90’s movie Clueless.She also wrote Who’s Talking series starring Kirstie Alley and John Travolte. Rated 6.1 on IMDB.

Favorite Lines:

Izzie (Rosie’s daughter): (on her maths homework) Mom, how do you make a positive number turn negative?

Rosie: Take away its Prozac and put it with a bunch of smaller numbers.

**************************************************************

Rosie: You have the job so it doesn’t matter but how old are you, really?

Adam: I’m like 32. Why ,how old are you?

Rosie: 37.

(Mother Nature spits her drink)

Later on on the date…

Rosie: I am not really 37.

Adam: How old are you?

Rosie: 38.

Adam: I’m actually 31.

Rosie: OK. (they kiss) 40.

Adam: 29.

Rosie: What happened to 30?

Adam: What happened to 39?

Rosie: You are not even in your 30s!

Adam: Neither are you.

*************************************************************

Nathan (Jon Lovitz): I don’t want you to do same mistakes with him that you made with me.I’m trying to be Bruce Willis-ey.

Adam: Which is weird because I’m trying to be Ashton. Which makes her Demi..

(boys go on about Demi)

Rosie: What are you talking about? I am not Demi, he is not Ashton and you are definitely not Bruce Willis!

Related Posts:

Movies starring Michelle Pfeiffer:

Wolf

Chéri

Tequila Sunrise

20 Reasons to Love Stardust

On Relationships: Couples with Age Difference

Older Women Dating Younger Men vs.. Older Men Dating Younger Women

Overboard starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn

Posted on May 17, 2010 Written by ripitup

Overboard starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Image from: http://media.avclub.com

Joanna (Goldie Hawn) is a very rich and spoilt woman who is on a cruise on her own yacht, traveling with her equally spoilt husband (Edward Herrmann). She wants to have a closet built so she hires carpenter Dean (Kurt Russell). When she is not happy with his work, she doesn’t pay him and pisses him off. However Dean gets his chance at sweet revenge when Joanna has an accident. She has fallen overboard and is suffering from amnesia. She is in the hospital. So Dean goes to visit her, claiming she is her wife. Joanna has nowhere else to go.

However soon after Dean introduces her to the rest of his family (4 really naughty young children), she wishes he never found her. According to Dean, her name is Annie and she is a typical housewife. Anne’s life turns into living hell as the children are on the game with their father and make her chores harder than they already are. But Annie proves that she is tougher than anybody realized. And the hostility starts to turn into something else. She fights for the kids’ behalf and she even stands up to Dean on their behalf. The children start loving a woman around and Dean…well…he starts falling for “Annie”. “Annie” also falls for him. Dean can’t tell her the truth. With her encouragement, he starts a new business and his family seems complete. But surely, Annie’s memory can comeback any second.

This is a classic romantic comedy written by Leslie Dixon and directed by Pretty Woman and Valentine’s Day director Gary Marshall. Goldie Hawn’s mother is played by Katherine Helmond who you might remember from the sitcom Who’s The Boss? (1984-1992) where she played the hip and flirty mother or from the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond where she guest starred as Raymond’s mother-in-law.

I am calling it a classic because well…even the whole amnesia thing might sound overdone, it wasn’t that overdone in 1987. This is a really funny film that gets romantic at the right intervals and what might have come off as sappy is more than compensated by the laugh-out-loud comedy.

Plus, I really have a thing for the fun movies of the 80s and 90s and both Goldie and Kurt have been among my favorite actors and on &off-screen couples. They have been together since 1983. Goldie has made some really entertaining movies including Bird on a Wire with Mel Gibson. Her partner Kurt also starred alongside Mel Gibson in the movie Tequila Sunrise, also starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

The movie is rated 6.3 on IMDB. 7 from me. And yes, I am usually positively biased towards Kurt’s and Goldie’s movies. I grew up watching that stuff.

Also on Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn

Swing Shift starring Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn and Ed Harris

6 Hollywood Couples: Gorgeous, Glamorous and Happy Together feat. Goldie and Kurt

Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford, Anne Heche and David Schwimmer

Posted on May 16, 2010 Written by ripitup

Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche. Image from: http://gallery.sendbad.net

Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) is a successful young woman working for a women’s lifestyle magazine and she is happy with her long-term boyfriend Frank (David Schwimmer). Frank surprises her with a romantic vacation (6 days, 7 nights) plan and they fly to Tahiti. They need to get on a smaller plane to fly to their destination island. Their pilot is Quinn (Harrison Ford), an older American who couldn’t be more opposite in his manners compared to both Robin and Frank. Their co-pilot is Quinn’s sort of girlfriend, exotic beauty Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors).

Everything is perfect until Robin gets a call from her boss (Allison Janney) They need to have an urgent photo shoot and she has to fly to a nearby island. She makes a deal with Quinn to fly her there. At first the flight is fine and they seem to be getting along. However, a storm hits and damages the plane. Quinn has to land the plane on a remote island where nobody lives. The landing renders the plane useless. Robin’s panic and the differences in their personalities cause a lot of fighting in the beginning. But they realize they need to get along and work together if they want to survive. In the meantime, Frank and Angelica join a rescue search when they hear that Robin and Quinn didn’t make it to their destination.

The time on the island makes Quinn and Robin realize there is more than meets the eye for both of them and they are growingly attracted to each other. Angelica and Frank might also have found an “interesting” way to cope with their disappearance.

This movie is fun. It has comedy, action and romance all at once and each is in the right amount. I am pleasantly surprised by Harrison Ford. Yes, he is a good actor but in everything else that I saw him in, he is always so serious and charismatic. It had never crossed my mind that I’d call a Harrison character fun and cute. So what if an island is a cliché? I don’t care as long as it works and it does. I love adventure romcoms better than regular romantic comedies because they bring a much more entertaining element to the mix. What do we have in this movie? David Schwimmer is acting pretty much like his ever-popular character Friends’ character but it is OK. Ross is funny. There are planes crashing, pirates chasing, bugs and wild animals on the loose and a lot of disasters. The ending is typical but again, I remind you that this is a romantic comedy with action. So lay back and enjoy the film. Made in 1998, directed by Ivan Reitman. Rated 5.6 on IMDB. My vote is at 7. It is mindless entertainment and it is good at it!

Favorite Lines:

Robin: I am so scared.

Quinn: If it makes you feel any better, a little scared myself

Robin: No. No, that doesn’t make me feel better.

Quinn: I thought that was what women wanted.

Robin: What?

Quinn: Men who’re not afraid to cry. Men in touch with their feminine side.

Robin: No, not when we are being chased by pirates.

********

Angelica: It’s just that we are going a terrible ordeal. It’s like when after a funeral.

Frank: Yeah?

Angelica: Everybody has sex.

Frank: Not everybody.

******

on Quinn’s age:

Robin: You still look good.

Quinn: I still am good.

********

on the how-to-excite-men/Cosmopolitan type of articles on her magazine…

Quinn: (amused) For Pete’s sake. 10 ways to light his fire…You know how a woman gets a man excited?

Robin: How?

Quinn: She shows up. That’s it. We are guys. We are easy. Of course for that, you can’t charge 6 bucks an issue.

Other Harrison Ford Movies

Regarding Henry

Firewall

Air Force One