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The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe & Elizabeth Banks: Emotional, Captivating, Entertaining

Posted on December 16, 2012 Written by ripitup

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The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe & Elizabeth Banks Featuring Olivia Wilde and Liam Neeson.
The Next Three Days movie poster
The Next Three Days movie poster via slingomom.com.

 

The Plot

College teacher John (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) are happily married with a young son, Luke. But life as they know it is over when Lara gets convicted of murdering her boss. All evidence points towards her, but John doesn’t doubt her innocence for a second.

But despite John’s efforts, he can’t change her 20+ years sentence. Devastated, she attempts suicide.

At that moment John realizes that it’s up to him to save his wife, and it’ll only be possible through a meticulous prison escape plan. With the fundamental tips from the former convict-turned-novelist Damon (Liam Neeson), he starts devising his plan. He has a million obstacles…and not nearly enough resources. But he sets his plan into motion, and no one can change his mind. Including his wife.

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The Next Three Days: How to Kidnap Someone from Prison 101

And I’m not saying it as a bad thing. It made some great moments to see an ordinary guy trying to come up with the perfect plan. A guy who doesn’t have a criminal gene in his system is ready to deal with shady characters, rob criminals, lie his butt off and muster an enormous amount of guts so that he doesn’t lose his wife.

Most prison escapes in movies are usually conducted by experienced and/or violent criminals, maybe with the help of their criminal buddies. The 2009 movie Public Enemies (starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale) has some great jail break scenes, for instance.  But again, the escapes are planned by the mastermind robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp).

And movies featuring prison escape usually focus a lot on the hunt. But the beauty and the fun of The Next Three Days is that it spends sufficient time on how it becomes the last resort,  and how the crime is planned by a nice guy. Intelligent and determined, yes. Aggressive, violent, criminally experienced? No.

But with the aid of 21st century resources and his mind, we follow him through his research and action. His failures and his success. As he gets his ass kicked and as he turns badass, all the while trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for his son.

1/3 of Guy fighting the system, 1/3 Guy Hatching a Plan, 1/3 Actual Escape and Action

It’s a drama for the most part, but the depressing parts are balanced by hope and love. It’s also balanced by John’s sense of humor (in the beginning), his self-teaching to be a jail-breaker and the last, very exciting part.

It’s easy for an action movie to become a bit tedious after putting one action scene in front of the other. But here all the drama builds up the suspense so by the time the plan is in motion, you are sitting, fingers crossed, highly anticipating. Sure, it could blow up in his face. But you sincerely hope he doesn’t.

So it is a remake. So what?

If the plot sounded familiar, it is probably because it is a remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle starring Vincent Lindon and Diane Kruger. I haven’t seen the original so I can’t compare similarities and quality. But will be seeing it soon.

But The Next Three Days holds its own. Russell Crowe is perfect, Elizabeth Banks is good albeit overshadowed. Olivia Wilde is the perfect red herring. I mean why throw a single woman that gorgeous in front of the dad who’s so devoted to his wife? But even with her small screen time, she is crucial to the plot. And while Liam Neeson is practically in one scene, he is one of the most important characters, and he does fit the part perfectly. We buy it when he kicks ass internationally, and we buy it when he is a jail break expert.

Much more drama than action, but worth it.

I really liked it. Currently rated at 7.3 on IMDB. Adapted and directed by Paul Haggis. And don’t roll eyes at the “romance” label on its IMDB page. John has to be one of the most romantic, dedicated and loving husband the screen has ever seen. So yeah, there is a very strong love at the center of the film too.

One of my favorite Crowe movies and performances.

Fun cast note: Olivia Wilde also worked with Elizabeth Banks in the movie People Like Us (2012) , starring Chris Pine.

Also on Russell Crowe:

State of Play starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel Mcadams and Helen Mirren

A Good Year starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard

A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris & Paul Bettany

Also on Elizabeth Banks:

Man on a Ledge with Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns & Jamie Bell

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: crime, drama, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, paul haggis, pour elle, russell crowe, The Next Three Days, the next three days cast, the next three days movie, the next three days movie review

Man on a Ledge with Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns & Jamie Bell

Posted on June 16, 2012 Written by ripitup

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Man on a Ledge movie poster
Man on a Ledge movie poster with Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns & Jamie Bell. Prison break? Check. Cool heist? Check. A female negotiator more invested in helping and solving than the protocol? Check. Image via sinemafilmler.net.

Ever watched a movie that made you feel like you were the spot-on target audience? A movie that makes me feel like that usually has these elements: an entertaining story, a genre that I love, actors that I like and some good humor.

Movies don’t have to be masterpieces or mind-blowingly creative attempts to entertain. I usually just want to have a good time – and Man on a Ledge can definitely show you that.

Here’s why:

1)      The Plot

We have the innocent convict Nick (Sam Worthington) who takes a day off for his father’s funeral to make his escape. He knows it is his only shot, and frankly, he’d rather die to go back to serve 20+ years of jail. An former cop, he makes sure he has enough time to set his plan in motion: he rents a room on one of the top floors of a luxury hotel, enjoys a “last” meal, leaves a “note”, wipes off his parents, steps on the ledge and makes his request when the cops (though not the ones who know who he is) arrive in the room: They’ve 30 minutes to get suicide-negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to talk to him, or he jumps.

 

The cop who takes his request is Dougherty (Edward Burns), and neither he nor the cop in charge of “ground control” (Titus Welliver) are pleased about it.

 

But after a short while, Mercer seems to have formed a bond and Dougherty is becoming more convinced of her skills. Still she fears that he might jump, and is also suspecting he might be up to something. And he is. He’s gathering all the attention so that his brother (Jamie Bell) and brother’s girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) can break into the vault next door- so that they can steal the “supposedly stolen” diamond from the rich and powerful man (Ed Harris) who framed him.

 

But as resourceful as he is, he still has to race against time, help out his brother, dodge the cops who are after him while maintaining the Mercer’s trust. Will they be able to pull it off on time?

 

2)      The fun: the heist, Nick’s tactics to keep everyone busy, Dougherty’s reactions to Mercer’s unorthodox methods, and most of all- the fun one-liners between Joey and his girlfriend.

 

3)      The cast: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, William Sadler (Sheriff of Roswell and McGarrrett’s father in the new Hawaii Five-O) and Kyra Sedwick – who makes brief but entertaining appearances as the cheeky reporter.

 

4)      The predictable but highly enjoyable twists. There’re very few twists that get a movie addict shocked, or at least hasn’t seen coming. But I don’t watch a fun action movie for twists – surely you see them coming, but they are so entertaining as a whole that you just care if the way to the “twists” are fun.

 

5)      A protagonist to root for

 

6)      Interesting supporting characters

 

7)      A totally ruthless villain

 

 

Man on a Ledge is rated only at 6.6 on IMDB, and I think it should be higher – for its entertainment value. See it to enjoy it. It’s good entertainment- it doesn’t try to be anything more.

 

Directed by Asger Leth and written by Pablo F. Fenjves.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ed Harris, Edward Burns, Elizabeth Banks, genesis rodriguez, Jamie bell, Kyra Sedgwick, man on a ledge, man on a ledge 2012 movie, man on a ledge cast, man on a ledge dvd, man on a ledge movie, man on a ledge movie review, Sam Worthington, sam worthington man on a ledge, titus welliver, william sadler

What to Expect When You’re Expecting the Movie What to Expect When You’re Expecting

Posted on March 24, 2012 Written by ripitup

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jennifer-lopez-in-what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting
What to Expect When You're Expecting. Jennifer Lopez poster via moviefanatic.com

Yes, I’m afraid the title is a mouthful and a painfully obvious pun but I just couldn’t resist.

After all, a movie creates expectations in each of us- and just like the book the movie is based on gives us some ideas about what to expect when we are expecting (babies).

What-Expect-When-Youre-Expecting-Movie-Posters
What to Expect When You're Expecting posters- Cameron Diaz and Elizabeth Banks. Image via superstarbabies.com

Movies with big casts featuring lots of familiar names scare me. It is usually more bad news than good. There a lot of movies with great casts and lousy scripts and tedious results. Look at Dr. T and the Women  Or Gary Marshall’s Valentine’s Day. Just because you got lots of names, it doesn’t give you the right to shoot a story that has no entertainment value – mindless or otherwise.

But sometimes, with a good story and a famous cast- you can come out of it with great results, such as He’s Just Not That Into You, Hairspray or Stardust.

Plot and Cast

What to Expect When You’re Expecting will apparently tell the tales of many mother and father-to-bes

As well as the parents who are doing their best to cope. The cast has Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Quaid, Matthew Morrison, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Kendrick, Megan Mullally (Will and Grace’s Karen), Chase Crawford (Gossip Girl’s Nate) and Chris Rock.

The trailer looks entertaining, but only time (and the movie itself) will show which category this movie will belong to. But I really like the gang of dads who boast of their kids’ “accidents.”

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting is coming to the theaters in May.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQTetUGvKWk[/pro-player]

So what are expecting from this film?

 

Other recommended ensemble cast movies:

 The Good Shepherd feat. Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Lee Pace, Gabriel Macht.

The Air I Breathe feat. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker, Emile Hirsch, Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy, Andy Garcia

Stardust feat. Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Henry Cavill, Ricky Gervais, Sienna Miller.

Hairspray feat. John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden Zac Efron, Allison Janney, Amanda Bynes

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Cameron Diaz, Chase Crawford, Chris Rock, dennis quaid, dennis quaid movies, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Megan Mullally, what to expect when you’re expecting, what to expect when you’re expecting cast, what to expect when you’re expecting movie, what to expect when you’re expecting movie poster, what to expect when you’re expecting movie posters, what to expect when you’re expecting trailer

In the mood for a fun romcom novel?

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