pinartarhan.com

Fun and comprehensive entertainment blog feat. movies, TV series, actors, movie-makers, music & books: 1980 - Present

  • Home
  • Hire Me
  • Books
  • Privacy Policy

The Space Between Us starring Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson and Carla Cugino: An Uplifting Love Story with Space Elements

Posted on May 6, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Share

the_space_between_us
The Space Between Us. Image via impawards.

East Texas is scientist/businessman Nathaniel Parker (Gary Oldman)’s brainchild: A group of astranouts will go to live on Mars for four years. He couldn’t be prouder. But when it turns out his lead astranout Sarah Elliot is pregnant on space, a difficult consensus is reached to save the baby: He should stay on Mars as a journey to Earth could be deadly.

Baby Gardner grows up to be a smart and resourceful teenager (Asa Butterfield).
His only connection to our planet – managed without the help, consent, or the knowledge of the astranauts who raised him – is a high school student named Tulsa (Britt Robertson). As far as world-wary and street-smart Tulsa knows (and doesn’t believe a word of), Gardner is stuck living in a NY penthouse due to a rare disease. Gardner is the one thing about Earth that doesn’t seem to piss Tulsa off.

But as much as astranout Kendra (Carla Cugino) loves him like a son, Gardner longs to go to planet earth. And while a trip to Earth can be physically detrimental, being here isn’t doing Gardner’s psychology any favors. Despite Parker’s protests, Gardner is treated for bone density, goes to physcial therapy and finally arrives on Earth…only to find out more tests await. A discouraged Gardner manages to escape, with only two goals in mind: to meet Tulsa and find his father.

Tulsa and Gardner get along swimmingly, minus some understandable disbelief on Tulsa’s part. But as the two teens grow closer, so do Kendra and Gardner to finding them. And as much as we want Gardner to have the time of his life, we also know the two adults are only concerned about saving Gardner’s life. Can Gardner find his father and collect enough memories before he has to go back? And will Kendra and Parker find him before it is too late?

*

The Space Between Us is the perfect drama romance adventure. But the focus of the movie is on the connection and love between human beings, and while the romance of Tulsa and Gardner takes focus, there is also a lot of paternal love going on.

Despite being a writer, I’m a lot like your average viewer. When I love a movie to bits, I don’t notice flaws. So if this one has any, you are going to have to let me know in the comments.

Yes, I’m a romantic. And I’m really sick of the same old sick kid love story. But Gardner isn’t originally sick. He is just literally raised on another planet. Whatever health problems arise, it arises due to different gravity and his heart responding negatively. It’s a pretty original (and logical) health problem right there.

Then, there is one or two minor twists that you might or not see coming, which serve as sweet additions to an already sweet story.

And it’s refreshing to see “antagonists” that are really just concerned about a kid’s well-being. It’s hard not to root for both sides, which makes it all the more fun and emotional to watch.

Yes, we want Gardner to find love and experience many, many firsts- including feeling the wind on his face and the rain on his body. But we also don’t want a 16-year-old to die. We want a loving, caring man (Parker) to fix his mistake. We want Kendra to save her surrogate son. We want Tulsa to finally be happy, and we definitely don’t want her to lose her favorite thing about Earth, which is understandably Gardner.

*
I WILL SPOIL THE ENDING – Meaning, I’ll tell you if it is happy or sad.

Of course, I tend to have a sweet spot for Allan Loeb stories, he is one of the co-writers, and I’ve always had a bit of a crush on the awesomeness that is Gary Oldman. So I’m positively biased.

So I’m warning you. It’s a love story. It’s about different kinds of love. It’s a road trip film. It’s fighting for someone’s survival vs. someone’s happiness. And in the end, spoilers ahead, optimists and romantics win. So there. I told you. The ending is all warm and fuzzy. I loved it. It’s also embrassing, but I didn’t see the twist coming.

Loved the cast, visuals, and the soundtrack.

The film was directed by Peter Chelsom, and written by Allan Loeb, Steward Schill and Richard Barton Lewis. It is currently rated at 6.4 on IMDB.

 

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: adventure, allan loeb, asa butterfield, britt robertson, carla cugino, drama, Gary Oldman, Peter Chelsom, romance, the space between us, the space between us movie, the space between us movie review

The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant Review- starring Romola Garai, Alex O’ Loughlin, Jack Davenport and Sam Neill

Posted on December 26, 2012 Written by ripitup

Share

The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant image via edbaran.com
The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant image via edbaran.com

In the 18th century, King George decides that instead of hanging criminals, he can just export them to Australia, where they will work under British soldiers forming a colony.

Convicts, regardless of their crime, are transported via ship to Australia- a-9-month journey they’ll endure under horrible conditions.

One of these criminals is a resilient young woman named Mary (Romola Garai) who is guilty of stealing food to feed herself. Realizing that she’s pregnant, she tries improving her conditions by appealing to the seemingly more humane officer, Lieutenant Clarke (Jack Davenport). Things go well for a while, but when he shows disdain for her pregnancy and takes his anger out on her friend, she turns back to her old conditions. She pays more attention to the advances of the handsome convict Will (Alex O’ Loughlin), who not only has saved her life, but has shown support.

Mary has her baby soon before they arrive and soon, she and Will become an inseparable couple. They use her wits and his fishing abilities to build a home, and live a somewhat better life than the rest.

But when conditions get worse, Clark doesn’t wait to rip them off their livelihood-and Mary begins to fear for the survival of her family, now complete with her daughter and her baby son from Will. She comes up with the best plan she can to escape, but she and Will have to sacrifice a whole lot to make it out alive.  And even if they manage to escape, they will have to deal with men they don’t trust and survive even harsher conditions to make it to their destination…

*

The Characters / Actors

(this part might have spoiler(ish) details.)

Mary Bryant is the wonderfully complex (and obviously changed for artistic purposes) true story of Mary Bryant (who gets the Bryant surname after marrying Will). This mini-series has a lot to offer, and it offers them better than most big budget period pieces let alone a project made for TV.

The acting, cinematography, direction, costumes and story are all well done. The lines are powerful, sometimes shocking and with just the right amount of comic relief.

But the real strength comes from the characters and how the actors have handles their roles:

I love how Jack Davenport goes back and forth between humane and cruel, gets torn between duty and desire. Yes, I hate his guts throughout and want to punch his character the whole time. So yeah, I’d say he did a good job. And just because he is a well-ranking soldier again (the other one being Norrington in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl), don’t think they have much in common. Norrington earned a lot of sympathy points-despite his understandable contempt for pirates.

Clarke on the other hand…well, he did way too many things to piss people off. At one point his right hand was warning him that his men could/would turn against him. And we see so much character development from the worthless scumbag (who believed women were there to “serve” them, who thought having a woman on a boat was stupid, who didn’t really care about anything other than his own friends &interests…) grew to respect and understand Mary.

Alex O’Loughlin shows once more than he is a lot more diverse than some people give him credit for. Sure, he lands leading roles in TV series, but that’s because he can pull it off. Just take a look at his parts, on both movie and television: a good vampire (Moonlight), a psychopathic killer with a feeding fetish (Feed), a doctor (Three Rivers), a Navy-seal-turned cop (Hawaii Five-O), an oyster farmer (Oyster Farmer), a serial killer with OCD…

His roles require different accents, quirks and interpretations and he pulls it off well. Here, you don’t see Mick St. John (the vamp from Moonlight) or Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-O) – he is a nice, funny, young English fisherman who got busted for smuggling a bit of alcohol- and showed a much stronger and likeable personality than the supposedly religious, reform-believing, well-educated Clarke.

Sam Neill’s Governor makes his cheating/emotionally problematic/prejudiced/self-righteous character in The Vow seem like a cuddly teddy bear. And his solemn character in Alcatraz like a character from Friends. I never liked the character, but the moment I truly hated him was when he said they’d just let them be when the women were being brutally rated.

But while playing off O’Loughlin and Davenport well, Romola Garai has the hardest job. Not only is she in the most scenes, but her character is the one that has to make all the most difficult decisions and undertake the most horrible tasks. Her survival and protective instincts are the strongest. She also uses more brain cells than anyone in the film, but it is never out of arrogance or a desire for social climbing. She tries to help out anyway she can- but if it ever comes to her family, she just chooses her family.

Will and Mary make the perfect couple, and even when they seem like they’ll break down, one of them always reminds the other why they did what they did-and that they still want to be together no matter what. Some of my favorite lines come from those scenes- just when you think they’re not being fair, or letting their despair overcome their feelings for each other, they say something to remind you what makes their characters special and why you admired them in the first place.

*

You’ll love The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant if:

  • You are a fan of any member(s) of the cast
  • You love a well-done period piece
  • You appreciate many shades of grey in characters
  • You love compelling conflicts in stories
  • You love strong characters

 

Now, some of the Memorable Mary Bryant Quotes Scenes:

 (There might be spoilers)

(This one by Will summarizes my thoughts about Mary.)

After having had to leave Sam (Abe Forsythe) behind, Mary is trying hard not to have a breakdown:

Will (matter-of-factly): I could never leave that boy behind. Not more than I could sleep with Ralph Clarke. But we got this far because you could. They all know it but none of them could say it.

Mary (still shaken about it all): We got here because you sailed us here.

*

(They are on the boat again, trying to figure out who has been stealing (eating) their share of limited stored food)

Will: We are all thieves.

They all stare at him.

Will: Someone give you this boat?

*

Governor is surprised that their colony attempt is later decided to be a success by England-even though things have been getting worse.

Governor: It seems Parliament has declared us a success.

Clarke (amused): By what criteria?

 

*

Mary realizes that the others are going to turn against her and Will-leaving them all behind. She also knows the others have the only musket with a bullet left and that they will use it.

So she grabs it while they are asleep and points it towards them:

Mary: We had a plan. Plan thought of by men who had been sick of being treated like animals. We’ve come all this way and nothing has stopped us.  But if we stay here, we’re finished. Now, you’ve made no secret of not wanting me along. One woman in a boat of men. It’s daft idea. But if you leave me, and Will and the children here, you’ll come across a wind you can’t read, a bid you can’t land, a rock you can’t see and you won’t last a week. Now, Will is the one who got us here and Will is the one who’ll get us to Timor. He sailed out from England to Spain and back again in a boat not bigger than ours and in storms far worse than you saw last night.

Cox (Dan Spielman): Going out there in that boat is madness.

Mary: Yes it is madness. A wonderful madness. The kind where strong men grab with both hands – not the kind that eats away weak and frightened men. Now there is a strong wind. We should take it.

Then she fires the gun in the air and walks towards the boat.

Martin (Tony Martin)-to the others: Let’s go.

*

Mary is mad that a drunken Will almost spilled out everything to the Dutch.

She knows that he doesn’t like the charade, pretending to be somebody else, the attention all the men are paying to Mary and that she might just be too happy with all the luxury.

Will: You’d be better off here.Marry a Dutchman. God knows you’ve enough of them lying around your feet. No witnesses. No paper. We were blessed by a fool on a beach. Wasn’t legal outside the colony. You’re free.

Mary angrily pins him down and looks at him.

Mary: I’ve never thought myself as being anything other than free. Ever.

Then she kisses him.

Share

Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: Abe Forsythe, adventure, Alex O'Loughlin, alex o’loughlin mary bryant, alex o’louglin, Dan Spielman, drama, Jack Davenport, jack davenport mary bryant, Mary Bryant, romola garai, romola gray mary bryant, sam neill, the incredible journey of mary bryant, the incredible journey of mary bryant cast, the incredible journey of mary bryant mini series, tony martin

Battleship starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker & Alexander Skarsgard

Posted on August 10, 2012 Written by ripitup

Share

 
Battleship movie poster - Battleship starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker & Alexander Skarsgard
Battleship starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna & Alexander Skarsgard. Also featuring Hamish Linklater & Peter MacNicol. Image via iceposter.com

Battleship Premise

Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is a 26-year-old guy with pretty much no ambition, to the annoyance of his older brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgård), who already has a prestigious rank in the navy. And when the broke Alex gets further into trouble trying to impress the gorgeous Samantha (Brooklyn Decker), Stone decides that Alex will join the navy and follow in his footsteps.

And while Alex is smart and talented, he keeps getting into trouble. It doesn’t help matters that his latest spectacle might end his career, and lose the chance to get accepted by his girlfriend Samantha’s father, Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson.)

But when aliens, responding to the signals sent to them a couple of years ago, arrive and start sinking ships, Alex will have no choice to grow up, fuel his energy in the right direction and try save not only Hawaii or America, but the rest of the world as well. The problem is, the aliens are far better- equipped and ready to destroy while Alex will have to do with lesser weapons, few men and the loss of people. It doesn’t help that they are shielded from the rest of the world so none can enter or exit the war zone.

So will Alex be able to pull it off without getting killed, losing more men and seeing the world fall to pieces?

*

Worth Watching?

Battleship is a fun action movie with really good effects. At 131 minutes, it could have been a little shorter. Especially right after the navy faces the presence of the alien ships/spacecrafts, the anticipation and reaction scenes are shot a bit too slowly for my liking.

But despite a couple of slow moments, the movie is quite entertaining whether you knew about the game it was based on or not. The beginning provides good comic relief as well a nice contrast to the man Alex is about to become.

I really like the supporting characters as well, especially the geeky, good-natured and perceptive scientist Cal Zapata (Hamish Linklater) who has to provide more balls than he ever had to in his life because scientists around him were too stupid to listen.

Brooklyn Decker also serves more than eye candy. In addition to being the admiral’s daughter, she is a physical therapist who finds herself right in the middle of the hot zone, thanks to her patient and gets some good ideas on her own to help the situation. And being the daughter of an admiral who is played by Liam Neeson, we don’t find it illogical that she doesn’t chicken out.

The aliens are also thankfully not green! Being from a planet with similar conditions to ours, they have some similar features so that’s a nice change.

All in all, despite being predictable in many parts, it still engages the audience in the war between humans and the aliens- which for the long part is mostly a war between Alex’s crew and the aliens.

Alex and crew got smarter and better with time, and the movie got better as time passed by. I had a good time, and started admiring the director even more. The movie is directed by actor/director Peter Berg, who I first saw as a guest actor on Alias, where he played Noah Hicks, Sydney’s (Jennifer Garner) old field-partner/ex-flame. He has acted in many good projects (e.g. Lions for Lambs), and directed quite a few. But he has definitely done a good job with the massive budget.

My complaint? Liam Neeson could have had more screen time, and kicked some alien butt, though he did say the coolest line in the movie.

Favorite line:

(Admiral Shane to the Secretary of Defense (Peter MacNicol)–angry that the secretary is barking orders despite the loss of men)

Shane: You want to send a plane? I’ll do it the second you come up here and put your ass on the co-pilot seat, sir!!

Highlights:

–          The effects.

–          The actors.

–          The soundtrack. It’s all rock ‘n’ roll and I like it. They even played Thunderstruck from AC/DC.

–          The latest strategy (ship) they use and how they use it.

–          The one-liners and funny comments, as well as, humane reactions from several characters. and not just the lead.

–          Battle putting the egos in check and turning them into a solid alliance.

–          The setting: This has to be the alien movie with the best landscape ever! It is in Hawaii!.

Final Verdict:

See it. But of course if I have to make a list of recent expensive movies, this would be my order:

-The Dark Knight / The Avengers

– The Amazing Spider-Man

– Battleship.

 

Currently rated at 6.1 on IMDB. My vote: a solid 7.

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, adventure, Alexander Skarsgard, Battleship, battleship 2012 movie, battleship dvd, battleship movie, battleship movie review, brooklyn decker, hamish linklater, Liam Neeson, movies, peter macnicol, Rihanna, rihanna in battleship, sci fi, Taylor Kitsch, Taylor Kitsch Battleship

The Awesome X-Men: First Class with James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon & Rose Byrne

Posted on June 7, 2011 Written by ripitup

Share

X-Men: First Class starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon & Nicholas Holt
X-Men: First Class starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon & Nicholas Holt. Image via morfingen.com.
  • Warning! This review has been written for the people who have seen the X-Men movies (If you haven’t seen X-Men movies, there might be spoilers)

 

X-Men: First Class is the prequel to the X-Men series. We go a couple of decades back, to a time when Magneto was Erik (Michael Fassbender), and Professor X was Charles (James McAvoy), and he could walk… We get to see how the mutants were recruited by Charles to help save the humans from the common enemy Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a man with a couple of mutants in his charge. Shaw is trying to destroy as many humans as he can because this makes him stronger, and Erik cares more about taking his revenge than helping others.

Here is how the story starts:

1940s

–          The smart and telepathic Charles is born to rich but absent parents. He is living in a mansion when he meets Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), the girl who would later become Mystique. Raven had occasionally planned to hide her true (blue) colors, but Charles reveals his secret, as well as hers, befriends her and keeps treating her like a sister as they grow up.

 

–          Erik loses both parents to concentration camps, and is kept alive by Shaw for his ability to control and move metal, an ability that surfaces when he feels extremely upset and angry. When Shaw kills Erik’s mother to guarantee the necessary amount of rage, he gains a very powerful enemy.

 

–          Fast forward over a decade. Charles becomes a professor whose specialty is mutation, a specialty he uses to pick up girls. However, he becomes aware of the common enemy, and the existence of not-so-friendly mutants when CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) pays him a visit, demanding an explanation about mutants. While most of the CIA isn’t that cooperative and understanding, an agent played by Oliver Platt takes Charles to the special unit he has built, where Charles and Raven get to meet the mutant Hank (Nicholas Hoult) and start recruiting other mutants to help America, and Russia against Shaw. Will they be able to prevent a nuclear war and stop Shaw? What will break Charles and Erik’s bond? And how will each of the mutants feel about conformity or individuality and uniqueness?

 

**

 

X-Men First Class is indeed a first-class prequel. It carries the right amount of emotion and character development (for the main characters), the glorious kind of action and terrific acting on all parties. To be honest, I wasn’t really excited to see it after seeing the trailer. But I am so glad that I did. The movie works so well on so many levels that the trailer just doesn’t do it justice. The movie also has fun references to the X-men movies, as well as 2 great cameos* (read below to spoil the surprise a little) from the X-Men cast.

*Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine/Logan, is sitting in a bar when Erik and Charles show up, trying to introduce themselves. The other mutants have been interested, whereas Logan replies “Fuck Off! “ And orders another drink.

*Erik is drawn to Raven, but he finds her too young. When he sees her in his bed, he says “Maybe in a few years…” That is when Raven turns herself to Rebecca Romjin- who has played Mystique in the series.

*

The bottom line is: See this movie! It has a great cast, a great story and great effects. The cameos, and the other fun references to the X-Men movies are just bonuses!

Currently rated at 8.3 on IMDB.com. A heartfelt 9 from me. Can’t wait to see it again. It also made me want to re-watch the X-men movies.

Fun Notes:

– X-Men first class was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also directed Stardust, Layer Cake and Kick-Ass.

– One of the co-writers & co-producers is Bryan who directed the first two X-Men films.

 


**

Also on James McAvoy

James Franco, James McAvoy & James Marsters: Collective Trivia for 3 Namesake Actors

Also on Rose Byrne

Damages Season 2 Review: Starring Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Timothy Olyphant, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt and Ted Danson

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

Adam starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne

Also on Oliver Platt

Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

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

Benny and Joon starring Johnny Depp, Aidan Quinn, Mary Stuart Masterson and Julianne Moore

The Three Musketeers starring Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Chris O’ Donnell

Also on Kevin Bacon

Handsome Actors to Play Villains: Viggo Mortensen, Tom Cruise, Xavier Samuel, Kevin Bacon and Kevin Costner

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors: Keanu Reeves, Jon Bon Jovi, Kevin Bacon

5 Awesome Revenge Movies Feat. Gerard Butler, Kevin Bacon, Antonio Banderas, Brandon Lee and Mel Gibson

Stardust, The Air I Breathe, Playing by Heart, The Good Shepherd, Hairspray & He’s Just Not That Into You: 6 Good Movies with Brilliant Casts

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, adventure, bryan singer, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, matthew vaughn, michael fassbender, movies, nicholas hoult, rebecca romjin, Rose Byrne, x-men first class, x-men first class cast, x-men first class movie, x-men first class trailer

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 5
  • Next Page »

In the mood for a fun romcom novel?

Copyright © 2025 · Focus Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT