Anne Hathaway | pinartarhan.com

The Dark Knight Rises: A GREAT MOVIE!

Posted on November 18, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy & Anne Hathaway

The Dark Knight Rises movie poster via iceposter.com.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), physically and emotionally damaged after what happened with Joker and Harvey Two Face, has stayed away from the public eye- both as Bruce the billionaire businessman and Batman.

Not that Gotham seems to miss Batman much. Organized crime has come to an halt, or so it seems, and the police can handle the petty criminals. And everyone remembers Harvey as a hero, blaming his death on Batman. Of course Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth, but is not quite ready to reveal it yet. Another person who intuitively knows the true nature of Batman is Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

And while Bruce is being more reclusive than ever, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) won’t let his “retirement” get in the away of her acquiring what her dangerous clients demand from her, and she is more interested saving her own butt than protecting the Gotham citizens.

But when it becomes obvious that a very dangerous ex-convict, Bane (Tom Hardy), is putting a very dangerous plan into motion, Bruce decides that it is time to put on the costume. Unfortunately his company is in financial trouble, and he needs help to protect their biggest invention yet.

His biggest allies are Fox (Morgan Freeman), board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Blake. Unfortunately, Selina keeps sabotaging his efforts and Bane is a lot smarter, more patient and more well-connected than any other villain he has encountered. And his plans…well, even Selina’s “the storm is coming” warning” doesn’t quite cover it…

The Dark Knight Rises is not just the best Batman movie I saw (and I have seen them all, apart from the George Clooney one, but you can hardly blame me for it), but it is one of the best movies I have watched. It’s just the perfect action/drama.

Now, diehard Batman (comic book) fans might prefer the first or the second movie. But as much as I love the idea of Batman, I had never been able to find the perfect Batman movie, up until The Dark Knight Rises. They were either too absurd (whether it was Burton or Schumacher – Schumacher exaggerating even further) or too dark and depressing. Nolan’s first two films didn’t make me like, respect or root for Batman. I didn’t understand him either. Bruce seemed one-dimensional, and so did the villains.

The female characters were there to complicate things for Bruce and to look pretty, but they didn’t add anything interesting to the flow. Not for me. And both movies left many questions unanswered, and I was extremely disappointed in the second movie when it came to character development and motives. We were given a second villain like 20 minutes into the movie and supposed to accept the transition. Please don’t say it is silly to expect character development from a comic book movie. It’s directed by Christopher Nolan!

But The Dark Knight Rises is different. It does add the other dimensions to all of its characters. We understand Bruce better. He is not just depressed/rich/reclusive or dark – he is human, with many other adjectives to describe his personality. There are two women, who are way more important to the plot than to being just eye candy or be part of a love triangle. Hell, it even makes me see why the first two were made.

Commissioner Gordon is more significant than ever, and the Blake character also challenges and motivates Bruce a lot more than any other ally or friend he has ever had.

And the villain…We understand him, and we are intimidated by him. He is just worthy.

The Dark Knight Rises has it all for the comic book adaptation lover that doesn’t necessarily read the comics. But in addition to being fun and engaging, it is really intense, emotional and full of good twists. I have never seen 165 minutes run faster. And it has one of the best casts ever: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Matthew Modine, Tom Hardy, Brett Cullen, Gary Oldman…And hell, we even have Liam Neeson for about 10 seconds!

Other Posts on the Cast:

Christian Bale:

Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature

Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseoh Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cottilard, Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy

10 Things I Hate About You starring Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julia Stiles & Larisa Oleynik

500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Latter Days starring Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Joseph Gordon- Levitt

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

Posted on January 29, 2011 Written by ripitup

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

1996. Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an attractive, charming and smart guy who uses all his brain cells to make more sales and have sex with as many women as possible. But when he screws his boss’s wife, he finds himself looking for a new job and with the help of his brother Josh (Josh Gad), he starts working as a drug rep. for Pfizer. With the help of his politically incorrect mentor Bruce (Oliver Platt) and his own skills, he is getting the hang of the job, while sleeping with even more women.

But then Jamie meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway) at a doctor (Hank Azaria)’s office and suddenly Jamie is only having sex with Maggie. And why not? She’s hot, independent and she is offering more booty calls than he can handle. But there are 2 problems: Maggie has Parkinson’s disease and the more time they spend together, the more Jamie gets to like her. But Maggie is resisting any commitment or emotional attachment. Even if Jamie can persuade her to be his girlfriend, can they make it work with her symptoms and fears?

The movie has a lot to tell. It has a love story, the launch of Viagra, Jamie’s career, his coming to terms with deeper sides of his personality, very talkative supporting characters who try to steal the scene, Maggie trying to fit in a relationship in her life….

Love and Other Drugs is a film with some original moments and many clichés. Well, telling a mixed genre of comedy/romance/drama is not easy.

But the way director/co-writer Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall, Glory, The Last Samurai) started telling this story, I thought we were going to a get a Cameron Crowe (Elizabeth Town, Jerry Maguire) or Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) style film – sincere, refreshing & highly entertaining.

A little short of 2 hours, Love and Other Drugs could be edited more. It could also have a better dialogue. And a couple less superficial characters?

Edward Zwick’s film starts in the tradition of Cameron and Jason and then suddenly becomes…well, something different and less impressive. It has a nice soundtrack, though.

Some could argue that the movie tried to be show life as it is – politically incorrect, rude, awkward, competitive, sarcastic….But then I could argue it gives you just as many clichés as your average romantic comedy- just with much more nudity. Come on- the misunderstood, potentially great guy who was previously a womanizer only finding his true self through love. The girl resisting true romance because of her fears? Even the big chasing gesture…

This movie is not bad. It is just not as good as I expected. Its problem? It’s not funny enough and it is not romantic enough. It is just alright. 6.6 on IMDB.

Fun notes:

– Gabriel Macht plays competitive firm’s drug-rep.

– Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal hooked up on screen before in Brokeback Mountain, although Jake’s true love in the film was Heath Ledger.

– Hank Azaria had a recurring guest role on Friends as Phoebe’s scientist boyfriend.

Other posts on Jake Gyllenhaal

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan & Vera Farmiga

Jake Gyllenhaal Trivia

Donnie Darko starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore & Patrick Swayze

The Day After Tomorrow Starring Dennis Quaid & Jake Gyllenhaal

Preview: Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Anne Hathaway

Actors Born In Between 1980-1990 feat. Gyllenhaal

Other Posts on Anne Hathaway

Valentine’s Day starring Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway and More

Due Date, Love and Other Drugs, The Tourist: The 3 Comedies to Anticipate This Season

Posted on September 26, 2010 Written by ripitup

For the summer, my top 3 anticipated movies were Knight and Day, Inception and Salt. While I didn’t get to see Salt (I will, eventually), I had a great time with both Knight and Day and Inception. While Knight and Day – starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz– gave us the perfect combination of action-comedy-romance, Inception was one hell of a mind-bending ride with a killer script and equally impressive special effects.

For the colder days ahead, there are many good movies coming up, and I picked the three that looked the most fun and well, they also have terrific casts.

The Tourist – starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie

The Tourist seems like to be in the same genre as Knight and Day, and it has even got one innocent, clueless character that thinking they met this gorgeous and exciting person from the opposite sex but instead of a mind-blowing romance- or at least they can get to that, they find out that sexy stranger is involved in a very complex career. In Knight and Day it was Cameron Diaz, a car mechanic on her way to her sister’s wedding when she met F.B.I agent on the run from the F.B.I agents trying to kill him, played by Tom Cruise. Here the hapless sap is Johnny Depp, and the agent/spy/whatever is the woman, very appropriately played by Angelina Jolie.

The movie seems to have a good sense of humor, great action sequences and exotic locations. Can’t wait.

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

Pharmaceutical Rep. Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is pretty happy with his life: he likes his job (=he makes good money), and he is even better with (seducing) women. However his successful yet fun & simple life gets complicated when he finally meets a girl named Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who pretty much seems to be his female version: she is hot and she loves having sex for the hell of it. But there seems to be more to their attraction and eventually relationship to more than just sex. He really might be falling for her. But maybe there is a reason behind her carefree and fun-loving attitude, and it may be that will alter his life forever…

Don’t worry, I didn’t include anything in the plot that wasn’t suggested in the trailer. This ones seems to be a romantc comedy/drama.

This is Anne and Jake’s second collaboration, the first one being in the award-winning Brokeback Mountain, where Jake played a cowboy falling in love with another gay cowboy, at a time when gay relationships weren’t all that conventional and the two lovers end up marrying women, all the while staying in the affair through a long period of time. Jake’s character had married Anne’s character in the film.

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

And from the makers of the The Hangover, comes another comedy. While the trailer of Due Date didn’t make me laugh too hard, it entertained the hell out of me. And since I know the writer is a whiz at writing comedy and that both Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover’s Alan, Bored to Death’s Ray) and Robert Downey Jr. are more than apt at delivering perfect comedic performance, I believe it is safe to think that we might have stomach cramps from laughing because of this movie.

The plot: Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) needs to get to his wife’s birth and unfortunately needs to let the weird passenger Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) join his ride. Of course there will hardly anything going normal…

Valentine’s Day starring Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher and More

Posted on May 2, 2010 Written by ripitup

Valentine's Day starring Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, Patrick Dempsey, Eric Dane, Topher Grace, Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah. There is a chance I missed some of the name. It is not my fault that the cast is so crowded. Image from: http://www.shockya.com/

I was so looking forward to this movie. I mean have you seen the cast? With the exception of Taylor Swift, the names are really impressive: Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Taylor Lautner, Shirley Mclaine…

But it is like director Gary Marshall (Pretty Woman, Frankie and Johnny, Runaway Bride) knew he would have an all-star cast so no effort or whatsoever has been put into the script. There are many intersecting stories and ordinary dialogue. Yes, it takes place on A Valentine’s Day but nothing interesting happens- either in the comic or romantic sense.

The stories? Well, it is more like a bunch of characters:

– Grandparents and their little grandchild in love and missing his mother and teenage granddaughter announcing she will have sex.

– A married, two-timing doctor (Patrick Dempsey) and his clueless girlfriend (Jennifer Garner)

– A nice guy working in the mailroom (Topher Grace) and his girlfriend ( Anne Hathaway)- who is secretly working as an adult phone entertainer. Yes, phone sex. And no, he doesn’t know about it.

– A PR professional who hates this day – Jessica Biel

– A football player whose future is in jeopardy- Eric Dane- oh, his PR gal is Jessica Biel.

– Two strangers on a plane- Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper

– Two high school kids in love- Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift- friends with the couple getting ready to have sex

– A flower shop owner- Ashton Kutcher- who just proposed to his girl friend (Jessica Alba). Unfortunately for him, she is not that eager. And, oh- he also is friends with Jennifer Garner’s character Julia- who is a school teacher, also the teacher of the lovesick grandkid

– An unhappy sports news guy-Jamie Foxx-given a Valentine’s Day assignment-trying to secure a sports gig, with the help of our PR girl Jessica Biel

2 hours with some fun moments. Watch it if you have no better alternatives or if you just wanna see a movie where almost everyone is pretty. 5.7/10 on imdb. 5/10 from me. But hey, I will recommend other films and TV shows with the cast members for you- their other projects that are either more fun, that have more soul or both. Click on the red to go to the reviews.

*Jessica Biel: The Illusionist. She is the co-star the Edward Norton in once cool period drama/romance/thriller/mystery

*Ashton Kutcher: Butterfly Effect, What Happens in Vegas, Just Married, My Boss’ Daughter.

*Jennifer Garner: Watch her TV show Alias. Amazing, kick-ass show with the right amount of romance, action, drama and comic-relief. But more action than anything. She is playing the same characters in her movies over and over again. Same goes for Ashton Kutcher obviously. But the movies I recommended above for him are either really gripping or really funny so who cares?

*Patrick Dempsey- Watch the first 2 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy or Made of Honor. Made of Honor is a typical romcom but at least its comedy part is actually funny

*Eric Dane: Marley and Me where he stars alongside Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. But if its about giving him screen time, he has been a regular on Grey’s Anatomy since season 3 or so.

* Taylor Lautner: Twilight, New Moon

* Bradley Cooper: He also stars in Alias alongside Jennifer Garner. But he also played in awesome comedies like Wedding Crashers and The Hangover. And if you want Cooper in a romcom that is worth seeing, see He’s Just Not That Into You.

*Julia Roberts: She has done many good movies. Start with Conspiracy Theory, if you want original action/thriller.

* Jessica Alba: The Sleeping Dictionary, Awake. And for mindless entertainment and eye candy for girls, watch Into The Blue where she stars opposite Paul Walker.

*Topher Grace: That 70’s Show, obviously- where you will also see a very funny Ashton Kutcher. And please check out the solid comedy/drama In Good Company where he stars opposite Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson.

* Anne Hataway: Becoming Jane

*Jamie Foxx: Law Abiding Citizen