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 Bridge starring Diane Kruger: Goes Between Very Engaging & Seriously Boring

Posted on August 22, 2013 Written by ripitup

Share

the bridge
Image via awesomedl.com.

The Bridge is an adaptation of the Danish-Swedish show called (Bron/Broen).

I came across it while I was checking out summer thriller series, and I go between really liking the show and being turned off by it.

The Bridge is like a weird combination of gory thriller, compelling human drama and well, annoying soap. I hate the soap part. Let me walk you over the plot if you haven’t checked it out already:

El Paso detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Mexican cop Marco Ruiz (Damien Bichir) find themselves at the same crime scene when a murder has cut a body in half, and well placed it so that half will be on the Mexican and half on American soil. Sonya is a *strange workaholic who follows the rules, and because the victim is an American judge, claims the crime scene is theirs. Marco has no objections.

But it later turns out that one half of the body doesn’t belong to the judge, but a Mexican woman-which also gets the Mexico PD involved.

There is a serial killer out there who is killing Mexican women so that people will pay attention, but he isn’t above trying to kill or threaten others who get in his way.

It doesn’t help matters that the killer loves sending his messages through the substance-loving journalist Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard), Sonya has a condition which disables her to be sensitive, diplomatic or empathetic, there’s a secret tunnel a widower’s (Annabeth Gish) late husband used for illegal purposes and Marco’s marriage is about to get on shaky ground. And then there is Steven Linder (Thomas M. Wright) who would quite fit the profile of a serial killer, except he seems to be more interested in saving women in some way than killing them….

*

I really like the (possibly) Asperger’s syndrome-suffering Sonya and how her condition makes for stressful, difficult or sometimes downright funny situations.

For instance: how Marco’s wife found out a certain thing.

I like how Marco presents a full contrast to Sonya’s rule-abiding and literal behavior and logic.

The serial killer aspect is engaging, chilling and it is fun watching Marco’s interactions with Hank (Sonya’s boss, played by Ted Levine), Sonya and others at the station.

But even though the events might be connected, I absolutely can’t stand the widow, the female Mexican gangster as well as the male one and their interactions with anyone. It feels too much like a soap.

I also don’t understand why we have to see the personal life of every character, minor or major. I am not interested  in Marco’s wife’s life outside of Marco or the kids, the widow’s sex/business partnership with Ray (Bryan Van Holt) or internal/external struggles of Daniel.

So the show ranges from promising to annoying, boring to engaging and back. So far I have seen all episodes, but I did use the fast-forward button at times. I recommend giving it a shot, but be prepared for all the goriness and raunchiness FX allows.

I’m not against gory or raunchy if used well, but I just didn’t see the point of Ray going down on the Mexican mob woman, e.g. I don’t think a lot of viewers enjoyed the scene. Oh well… I’ll give it the next episode for the sake of all the scenes that were worth watching.

*

Yeah, I know, I have mixed feelings about the show. I also think each episode can be 5-10 minutes shorter.  I’d watch the original, but I’ve been to movie message boards and know who the killer is there. Ouch.

How do you like The Bridge? And have you seen the original?

*

Fun cast note: Matthew Lillard and Diane Kruger worked together before in Wicker Park.

 

Also on Diane Kruger

Unknown starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones & Aidan Quinn

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

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode 

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg

 

 

 

Share

Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: amien bichir, Annabeth Gish, Brian Van Holt, damien bichir, Diane Kruger, diane kruger the bridge, matthew lillard, ted levine, the bridge, the bridge cast, the bridge series review, the bridge us series, thomas m. wright

Unknown starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones & Aidan Quinn

Posted on June 26, 2011 Written by ripitup

Share

Unknown Movie Poster- starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones & Aidan Quinn
Unknown starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones & Aidan Quinn. Image via movienewz.com

American botanist Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) travels to Berlin with his wife (January Jones) for an important summit. When they arrive at their hotel, he realizes that he has forgotten his briefcase at the airport, so he jumps on another cab to go back, while his wife is left to check in. On his way to the airport, the cab gets into an accident, and the cab crashes down into the river. The cab driver Gina (Diane Kruger) manages to save Martin- who is unconscious due to bumping his head hard, and disappears from the scene when the paramedics arrive.

Martin wakes up 4 days later in a Berlin. He remembers who he is, and rushes out to the hotel to meet his wife. But he is shocked when his wife doesn’t have a clue who he is. Moreover, there is another guy (Aidan Quinn), claiming to be her husband. And she is agreeing with the other Martin. With his passport left in the briefcase he couldn’t get to, he has no means of proving who he is. Moreover, the other Martin has all kinds of IDs with his pictures, as well as his face on the website. This sends Martin into doubting who he is…until men start coming after him and kill whoever gets in their way. Martin enlists the help of the unwilling Gina, and the old German ex-spy (Bruno Ganz) to help him prove he is the real Martin Harris. While Gina and Martin try to survive assassins, the spy does his best to prove Martin right. And just when he gets some proof, things get even more complicated….

Why would anyone want to replace him? Why would his wife work with them? Can Liam’s Martin and Diane Kruger’s Gina survive long enough to learn the whole story?

**

Unknown is an incredibly entertaining action/mystery with touches of drama. Watchers of the Bourne series and Liam Neeson’s Taken complain that Unknown is not an original movie. Never mind that the screenplay which was based on the novel by a French writer who might not even have seen Bourne movies, it is 2011. Millions of scripts were written. And I don’t really think Bourne movies were all %100 original when they came out. I mean come on. What you can do as a writer is to take an idea, and tell it in your own unique way. And Unknown is refreshing in the way that the man who has a head trauma remembers who he is, but his wife refuses it. I quite like how they explained this. And there is no point in getting upset if you guessed the twist. It doesn’t mean the movie is bad. It just means you watch many movies:D But this is not a horror film where the twist is the whole point. It is how we get to the twist, and what happens after it that really matter.

As to why this movie is being compared to Taken, Neeson is once again playing an American who kicks butt in a foreign country. But in Taken, he was an ex-CIA agent, forced to travel to France to save his daughter from her kidnappers. Here, Liam Neeson is more trying to save his butt than trying to kick others’. And apart from the American getting involved in action on foreign soil, the two movies vary a lot in story.

Yes, I enjoyed the movie. Frankly, I was so in love with Taken that I was looking forward to Liam being in another action film. And while I found the Unknown trailer unimpressive, the movie doesn’t fail to entertain.

And “the potential plot holes”  can be explained very easily.  And as to the complaints on how January Jones and Diane Kruger are too young for Neeson, come on! Never mind that Zeta Jones married Michael Douglas in real life, being 6 years younger than January and 8 than Kruger, I have to confess I really think Liam Neeson got more attractive when he got older. Plus, a 25 year-old kicking butt is not that interesting. And we know guys can become action stars in their 40s. And an actor kicking butt at 59 is just way more fun.

**

Fun notes:

– Diane Kruger’s character Gina is an illegal Bosnian alien in Germany. In real life, she is actually German.

– American Martin Harris – Liam Neeson- is actually Irish.

 

Other Posts feat. Liam Nesson

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

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 feat. Diane Kruger

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg feat. Kruger

Fringe Trivia: 13 Facts About Fringe Cast, Crew, Plot Feat. Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, Mark Valley…

Wicker Park starring Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne & Josh Hartnett

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris & Diane Kruger

Other Posts feat. January Jones

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

Other Posts feat. Aidan Quinn

Blink starring Madeleine Stowe & Aidan Quinn

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

Evelyn starring Pierce Brosnan. Feat. Aidan Quinn

3 Movie Tristans starring feat. Legends of The Fall starring Aidan Quinn & Brad Pitt

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, aidan quinn, bruno ganz, Diane Kruger, January jones, Liam Neeson, liam neeson unknown, movies, taken movie, thriller, Unknown, unknown 2011, unknown cast, unknown movie

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

Posted on December 9, 2010 Written by ripitup

Share

Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne & Matthew Lillard
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
Other Josh Hartnett Films and Posts
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

 

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Diane Kruger, drama, Gilles Mimouni, Jessica Paré, Josh Hartnett, l’appartement, l’appartement film, matthew lillard, monica belluci, mystery movies, Paul McGuigan, romance, Romane Bohringer, Rose Byrne, Vincent Cassel, wicker park, wicker park movie

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg

Posted on September 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

Share

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg
The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, 2007. Image via richardshepard.com

Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is a very successful news reporter and makes the perfect team with his cameraman Duck (Terrence Howard). They are good friends and Duck is pretty OK with how fun and a little crazy Hunt is. They get into trouble but they are also the best.

However one instance changes this forever. Simon reaches his breaking point and has an outraged outburst, live. He gets fired and his career goes downhill. But Duck gets to be “safe” and becomes the cameraman for the anchorman. While this is trading up in many ways, Duck can’t help but miss his days with Hunt. In 2000, years after the Bosnian War ended, Duck is there with the anchor and a rookie named Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), freshly graduated from Harvard and who happens to be a son of the network’s vice president.

However the peaceful and harmless mission is disrupted when Hunt makes an appearance and offers a “job” for Duck. And it is not harmless at all: Simon thinks he can find the biggest criminal of that war: the  man responsible for countless killings and rapes- the man whose capturers will earn 5,000,000. Of course while this man is a criminal for Bosnia and the most of the world, he is a national hero for most Serbians and they are willing to protect this man no matter what.

As crazy as this is, Duck and Benjamin join Hunt, hoping that they will just make an interview with the man. However it becomes clear that Hunt is not only after financial relief but personal vengeance as well. Can they really get to this guy without getting killed? And how the hell are three reporters supposed to survive without any weapons at all?

The Hunting Party is partially based on a true story and it is a very intriguing adventure/drama/thriller about war, journalism and friendship. It has some comedic relief, and even though it is an easy film to watch, the events told are anything but.

This is a fun and thought-provoking movie, although it can drag a bit at times. Even though it is not as impressive Lord of War (sure, different topic but the subject matters are equally heavy), it is a solid film with fine performances. And just like Lord of War’s notes (telling us what eventually happens or will keep happening) at the end credits, The Hunting Party also ends on a note that makes you say “Holy Shit!”

The three leads are just fine and I don’t think there was any reason to cast Diane Kruger as she appears for as a couple of minutes. Written and directed by Richard Shepard. Based on an article by Scott Anderson.

Currently 7.0 on IMDB.

Other Posts on Jesse Eisenberg

Cursed starring Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson & Jesse Eisenberg

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: adventure, Diane Kruger, drama, jesse eiseberg, movies, Richard Gere, richard gere movies, richard shepard, Terrence Howard, terrence howard movies, the hunting party, the hunting party movie, thriller, war

  • 1
  • 2
  • 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