City of Industry starring Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff and Timothy Hutton

Posted on August 28, 2010 Written by ripitup

City of Industry starring Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff and Timothy Hutton. Also-starring Famke Jannsen.

Lee Egan (Timothy Hutton) thinks he has got the plan and the crew for the perfect heist of diamonds: he brings in Jorge (Wade Dominguez) – a family man with 2 kids, facing the risk of jail, Lee’s own brother – retired but capable thief Roy (Harvey Keitel) and Skip (Stephen Dorff).

It turns out that Lee really had the right plan, as the crew manages to steal over $3,000,000 worth of loots. However he has chosen a wrong guy –as Skip kills both Lee and Jorge and just misses Roy. Skip runs with all their shares. Now, Roy is pissed and eager to avenge his brother and Skip him pay. His search brings him to Rachel (Famke Janssen), Jorge’s wife. Rachel wants in. She helps Roy find Skip through Jorge’s connections, in return for a cut. With other men after Skip, and Skip’s connections after Roy, and Roy after Skip with vengeance, who will survive and get the money?

***

This is the part I give you the spoilers. Well, they are not really spoilers as this is a typical crime flick and you knew Roy would get the money and save Rachel and all that. So it is a happy ending with the good guy winning. Now, if you are a total Harvey Keitel or a Stephen Dorff fan, I guess there is some fun you can get out of this movie. But if you watch the movie for Timothy Hutton, then you will be disappointed as well, he gets killed early into the story. Famke Jannsen is gorgeous as usual, so I can say that she is the one pretty thing about this otherwise boring film. Yes, it has some good moments but even as a fan of heist and/or revenge films, I found it really slow and boring. Watch it if you don’t have a better alternative. There is also Lucy Liu in a small role.

If you want a smart and original film with Timothy Hutton, watch The Killing Room. If you want to watch him pull off perfect heists and entertain you superbly, watch his series Leverage. And if you do want a brilliant robbery film check out Clive Owen and Denzel Washington’s Inside Man.

Directed by John Irvin, 1997’s City of Industry is rated at 6.0 on IMDB. 4/10 from me.

And no, I have no idea why Timothy Hutton is on the poster and not Famke.

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Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke

Posted on August 23, 2010 Written by ripitup

Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage. Co-starring Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto and Bridget Moynahan. 2005. Stunning, in-your-face, stylish, tragic and fun all at the same time.

Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) comes from a Ukranian family who has moved to Brooklyn. His parents are running a restaurant and his brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) is helping them out. However Yuri knows he always wanted to achieve something big and he soon realizes that arms dealing is his calling. He starts from scratch and enlists the help of Vitaly, who is not exactly enthusiastic about his older brother’s newly chosen career path. But Yuri tells him that the money will be great and Vitaly can just open his own restaurant after that.

While Yuri gets a kick out of his job, Vitaly can’t quite handle the fact that they are helping people kill other people and it is happening right in front of them. He “deals” with it by abusing drugs and alcohol so Yuri has to leave him to a rehab center.

In the meantime, Yuri is building himself one big reputation.He decides it is time to get the girl of his dreams, Eva Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan)- a model/actress. He makes sure he is richer than he actually is and that his business is “legit”. Eva falls for the charming and romantic side Yuri shows her and tries not to dwell too much into what he does for a living. Even though she is probably guessing he is not exactly a saint, she has no idea what he is really up to.

You don’t get nicknamed Lord of War without attracting some attention from Interpol. Young, ambitious and incorruptible Interpol agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke) is onto him. However Yuri is an expert at legal loopholes, quick adaptations and getting rid of evidence. But Valentine is intent on catching Yuri and make the world a bit safer so he will let Eva know what her husband does for a living.

Can his wife and young son be enough for him to go straight? Or does he love his reputation and “calling” way more?

****

Lord of War is by far my favorite Nicolas Cage movie. It is a very impressive crime/thriller with a touch of drama. Yuri is about as grey,interesting and complex as a character can get. He seems to love his brother, parents, wife and kid. When he finds a toy gun in his kid’s room, he takes it and throws it into thrash. So here we have a guy who doesn’t even let his son have a toy gun but who sells thousands of weapons that kill other people’s children. His rationalisms are chilling but they make perfect sense. He tells his brother Vitaly that he should be able to leave his work in the office just like a car salesman or a cigarette manufacturer does. After all, they both sectors kill more people than his line of work, right?

He is proud of never having shot anyone. He is also proud of having no “moral” obligations. He sells guns to anyone. He says he’d have sold to Bin Laden even, but his checks weren’t reliable at the time.

Juri is also the film’s narrator. The movie never gets dull or slows down for a bit. Right from the opening credits, you are told a very engaging story. You are horrified by how Yuri can do all those things and still like himself but you can’t help but admire his intelligence. You feel the frustration of Agent Valentine.

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol. by All around great film- especially the style, dialogues, storyline and music. Hard- hitting ending too. Way underrated at 7.6. on IMDB.

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Other Nicolas Cage Movies and Posts

Moonstruck starring Nicolas Cage and Cher

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage, Monica Belluci, Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer

City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage

Knowing starring Nicolas Cage

Favorite Actors to Play Villains feat. Nicolas Cage, John Travolta and more

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Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle

Posted on August 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

Brooklyn's Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes — Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. 2009. Image via: filmizlefull.net

Brooklyn’s Finest tells the story of 3 Brooklyn cops that are going through a problematic time in their lives:

Sal (Ethan Hawke) has already more kids than his cop salary can support but his wife (Lili Taylor) is pregnant with twins. Moreover they live in a small house, whose wood mould is endangering both her and her pregnancy. He feels stuck. He has to move his family to a big house and to be able to afford it, he has to steal. So he chooses to steal from ruthless criminals. But how can he manage to get away with stealing dirty money in the middle of dangerous operations?

Tango (Don Cheadle) has gone undercover among drug dealers. It has been a long time on the job and he feels like he needs to get out. His loyalties are getting blurry and his wife is divorcing him. He is expected to give Caz (Wesley Snipes), a dealer who is trying to get out but he has developed a strong bond and friendship with him.

Eddie (Richard Gere) is 7 days away from his retirement. He is lonely, he drinks a lot, is depressed and even suicidal. His only friend seems to be a hooker and he really hates the assignment given to him on his last week: he needs to train rookies. What can be more dangerous than keeping young, red-blooded rookies just trying to start being cops?

The movie concentrates on both the internal and external conflicts of these characters. And even though most of their misery could have been prevented (especially Sal’s – he should have known better than having so many kids on a cop’s salary and a sick wife), you can’t help but feel for their humanity, identity crisis and the choices they need to make. It is a plot that becomes stronger with the acting. The story is a lot more intriguing and depressing than it looks on paper.

These three cops’ destinies eventually will intersect to give the audience a pretty good finale.

This is a solid crime/drama. It is powerful but you might get distracted by how much swearing is going on, especially in Tango and Caz’s scenes. It might be authentic but it is open for discussion whether or not it distracts you.

Written by Michael C. Martin and directed by Antoine Fuqua – the director of Training Day- the movie that brought Denzel Washington Best Actor Oscar and Ethan Hawke a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Rated at 7.0 on Imdb. 7 from me as well. It is worth your time, just don’t watch it if you are in the mood for something uplifting or if you want to be a cop. Note that the film comes with a great supporting cast too: Ellen Barkin, Vincent D’Onofrio (cameo) and Will Patton. It may not be a great film but it is a pretty good film.

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Other Posts About Ethan Hawke

– Ethan Hawke trivia

– Cheating Celebrity Trivia: 8 Male Celebrities That Cheated (feat. Ethan Hawke, Jude Law…

– Before Sunrise

– Before Sunset

– 10 Celebrity Break-ups You May Not Have Seen Coming

– 10 Most Entertaining Sci-fi Movies: Favorite Sci-fi Movies of a Non-fan

– Reality Bites starring Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller

Alias

Posts on Richard Gere

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7 Engaging Tv Shows with Suspense Featuring Castle, The Mentalist, House, NCIS Los Angeles and More

Posted on June 16, 2010 Written by ripitup

crime scene — Case-solving, murder, mayhem, mischief and mystery. These are the 7 shows to provide all or some of those elements. Image from: southcarolina1670.files.wordpress.com/

How do you like mystery? Crime? Drama? Thrillers? Secret Agents? Detectives? If you like smart characters that follow clues, pay attention to detail and solve cases or if you simply like to play spy, go under cover and enjoy shows with multi-tasking, multi-tasking operatives, I have 7 shows for you. The list is here.

But if you want detailed profiles on these shoes, below are the individual pages.

Alias starring Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan
Castle starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic
House starring Hugh Laurie
The Mentalist starring Simon Baker and Robin Tunney
NCIS Los Angeles starring Chris O’ Donnell and L.L. Cool J.
The Forgotten starring Christian Slater
My Own Worst Enemy starring Christian Slater