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Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell

Posted on May 16, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell.
Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell. Image via Amazon.

Money Monster Plot Summary – No Spoilers

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the cocky and popular host of the finance show Money Monster where he puts on extravagant stage performances and sheds out investment out like the ultimate authority. And while he knows what he is talking about, an unexpected “glitch” at the investment company IBUS has him

cause a lot of people to lose money: a total of 800 million, to be exact. The company CCO Diane Lester (Highlander’s Caitriona Balfe) is apologetic and sticks to the talking points while the CEO Walt Camby (The Affair’s Dominic West) is nowhere to be found.

This doesn’t really affect the rich Lee or his director Patty (Julia Roberts) – until a blue collar victim named Kyle (Jack O’Connell) takes them hostage on live television. He puts a gun to Lee’s head and makes him wear an explosive vest. Kyle holds a deadman’s trigger and demands answers. He wants to know how a “glitch” could happen, how Lee could give such shitty advice so confidently, and most importantly, he wants a word with Walt.

The police get quickly involved, but they don’t count on Lee’s humanity taking over and deciding to help Lee. And the more Lee and Patty listen to Kyle, the less they buy Walt’s glitch story. Can they find out what went wrong before it is too late?

*

Money Monster Movie Review

Money Monster is a modern movie in the vein of Mad City. While the plots differ, there are several similarities that got me nostalgic:

Mad City starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman.
Mad City starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman. Image via moviepostershop.
  • An otherwise sane and decent man going mad when he loses his money. In Mad City, John Travolta gets fired from his job at a museum and takes the manager hostage, with the unexpected surprise of kids being there at the same time.
  • A not-so-empathetic reporter tries to control things (In Mad City, the reporter is played by Dustin Hoffman), but then he gets on the gunman’s side as he learns more about his situation.
  • We end up rooting for the wronged family man, but of course, ****spoilers**** they will tragically pay the price of taking justice into their own hands, even if we badly wanted them to win.
  • The police will make things worse.

The good things about Money Monster, apart from the stellar cast and director Jodie Foster, is that it feels like the emotional, humane drama/thrillers of the 90s. The not-so-great thing is it feels like we have seen this movie before.

And for some reason, while I was sad at the ending and enjoyed the time I spent on the movie, I didn’t feel as touched as I was when I watched Mad City.

And while Money Monster made more money at the box office and is a bit more highly rated at IMDB, I still prefer Mad City.

That said, as a 90s kid, I still feel Julia Roberts and George Clooney are more my generation than say Scarlett Johannson or Chris Hemsworth. I love seeing them on screen in lead roles. So for nostalgia and the love of cast and director, I still recommend giving Money Monster a shot. As familiar and predictable the story might feel, it still has more heart than a lot of stuff out there.

*

Money Monster is a 2016 movie written by Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore, and Jim Kouf. The movie made over 93 million dollars worldwide. It’s budget is reported to be around 27 mil.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Alan DiFiore, Caitriona Balfe, dominic west, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, jack odonnell, Jamie Linden, Jim Kouf, Jodie Foster, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, mad city, money monster, money monster cast, money monster movie, money monster movie review

Wind Chill with Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes: More Romance Than Horror

Posted on July 3, 2012 Written by ripitup

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Wind Chill Movie Poster- Emily Blunt
Wind Chill starring Emily Blunt & Ashton Holmes. Image via wildaboutmovies.com

 

  • I will refer to the characters with the actors’ names as the writer hasn’t given them names.

The Story

Emily Blunt is a college student who needs a ride to Delaware for Christmas. When she sees the notice of a follow student looking for a road buddy, she decides to drive with him (Ashton Holmes.)

However the trip turns out to be less than pleasant when they don’t exactly get along, and things turn out for the worst when Blunt finds out that he is not actually from Delaware, but he just  wanted to spend a couple of hours with her. However, when he takes a short cut despite her objections, things get even worse between them, as now she is pretty sure that he is some psycho stalker. It doesn’t help that they crash and get stuck at night, in the middle of nowhere.

But Holmes is actually just a boy with a crush, and she realizes that she’d be better off being afraid of the cold, as well as the mysterious and scary-looking passerbys who don’t seem to be interested in helping at all.

As they get hungrier and colder, she realizes tat he is more heavily injured than he let on. And as if the danger of dying from cold wasn’t scary enough, they realize that the passerbys aren’t men but ghosts – and an evil ghost (Martin Donovan) is just on his way to try to kill them.

The mutual danger and time spent together brings them closer, but will it be enough to survive the night?

*

Wind Chill – the actual genre: Romantic/Drama Thriller

The film is usually categorized as horror/thriller, but it is more drama/romance with some supernatural thriller elements. You can try turning off your lights and watching it by yourself during the night, but it still won’t get scary. Momentary surprises? Maybe. Scares? Unlikely.

There is some violence and blood, but nothing gory or disgusting.

I’m also calling it a romance, because the movie takes about half an hour till the crash happens, and even then, it is more about the relationship of Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes and their survival attempts – while connecting with  and liking each other more. You can at least picture a friendship, and/or a few dates after/if they survive (obviously I won’t tell what happens!)

Is it worth watching?

Yes, especially if you don’t mind the thrilling aspects starting later, the movie being less violent and bloody than your typical horror movie. There is no nudity or gore either. As I mentioned above, it is not scary. It is however engaging and interesting as a drama/romance – two strangers getting to form a connection/alliance/friendship to survive.

The scenery is good, the ghosts are just men with disappearing & violence abilities.  The snow adds more chill than the villain, and it is not that hard to imagine how scared you’d be, had you been in that situation.

Yeah, you wouldn’t run into ghosts but you could very well run into psychotic strangers. And even if you didn’t, the nature and the weather are enough of an enemy. Add it to their lack of heat, medical supplies and food, and well…you’d be scared.

Lessons from the movie: 

  • Check supplies, get first aid and extra blankets. Maybe a baseball bat/gun could come in handy- at least for inital protection. Oh and do yourself a favor, and don’t take the shortcut- no matter how short and easy it sounds.
  • Oh, and there is a chance that the driver/passenger you travel with may be the psycho/villain rather than a very cute boy with a harmless crush so prefer to ride with people you actually know. Just in case.
  • And better yet, take the bus or plane.

Rated at 5.9 on IMDB. My rating- as a horror/thriller movie: 5-6/10.

As a romance/drama thriller: 7-7.5/10

Interesting facts about the movie:

Producers: Two of the producers are George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich; Sex, Lies and Videotape.)

Characters without names: The lead characters don’t have names.

Similar to Wind Chill

Frozen starring Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore & Emma Bell

(nothing supernatural, people against nature, cold & the dark. Drama/thriller)

Reviews Other of Emily Blunt Movies

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen feat. Ewan McGregor & Emily Blunt

The Jane Austen Book Club with Emily Blunt, Kevin Zegers, Maria Bello & Hugh Dancy

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ashton Holmes, buy wind chill dvd, Emily Blunt, emily blunt movies, emily blunt wind chill, George Clooney, Martin Donovan, Steven Soderbergh, Wind Chill, wind chill (2007)movie, wind chill cast, wind chill dvd, wind chill emily blunt, wind chill movie, wind chill movie review

2012 Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais? Tame? Never!

Posted on January 23, 2012 Written by ripitup

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  Ricky Gervais 2012 Golden Globes

Sorry, I’m a bit late about posting about Ricky Gervais’ third time hosting the Golden Globes. But I’ve been watching the Golden Globes for three years in a row- and all three because he was hosting it. And I’ve been writing about his jokes and the highlights and I didn’t want to make an exception. What can I say? I love Ricky.

I enjoyed this year’s show just as much as I did in 2010 and 2011 and my only complaint that the host should just get more time, especially if it is Ricky Gervais.

People love criticizing just to criticize and Ricky got his fair share of it. People said he went too far for two years. And then this year, apparently he wasn’t raunchy or outrageous enough. In Ricky’s defense, he was just as raunchy, but he had less time. And this year he didn’t have Charlie Sheen as material, or Paul McCartney. Or Cher.

But what really bothered me was that all the actors wanted to be funny when presenting, and if anyone brought the show momentum down, it was the actors- trying to hard to be “nice” and “casual” about Ricky. The only actors that didn’t annoy the hell out of me were Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and the William H. Macy-Felicity Huffman couple.

Below are some of my favorite Ricky moments and you can compare them with his  2010 and 2011 Golden Globe performances.

on Jodie Foster and her movie The Beaver   

The Beaver is a 2011 Jodie Foster drama, starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. It’s about a man coming to grips with his depression with the help of a beaver-shaped puppet.

Ricky mentioned that not many guys have seen Jodie Foster’s Beaver. He is sure that it is good, just that it wasn’t seen by guys.  The joke is funny, no matter which meaning you want to get. Yes, Jodie Foster is a lesbian and movies like The Beaver don’t typically become box office hits.

on the network, award show and Mel Gibson

He introduced himself as Britain’s best comedian, presenting the second most-watched award show on America’s third most-watched network.

Then Ricky said that he was given a list of what not to joke about, and he read the “list of” from a paper. Apparently, he wasn’t to joke about Mel Gibson this year.  He wasn’t also allowed to talk too dirty, but he assured his audience that his vocabulary was quite rich. He wasn’t allowed to do anything naked (not that he ever did), and that it would be the audience’s loss.

on Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp was his first presenter, and he went a little easy on him. After all, he did mock the hell of The Tourist last year, saying that it was the only movie that didn’t have 3D characters and that the box office revenue came from the people who were bribed with Cher concert tickets. Not that it worked, as it wasn’t the 70s anymore.

This year he just asked Johnny if he has seen The Tourist and Johnny said no good-humoredly. But of course before Johnny came to the stage, part of Ricky’s introduction was “The man who wears anything Tim Burton makes him wear”. Since I get bored with 90% of Tim Burton’s movies and at least 60% of Johnny Depp movies, that line was more than enough for me.

on Colin Firth

There is nothing bad to say Colin Firth. Not about his personality, or about his movies. Sure, he made some bad movies in the past (Trauma, for instance), but having won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Actor in 2011 for his role in The King’s Speech, and having been nominated for Golden Globe and Oscar for A Single Man the year before, it is not like he can joke about Firth’s movies, or performances.

And Colin has been a graceful guy, and it is not like he can joke about his personality. So Ricky did the next best thing. He mocked himself. He said Colin and he were both Brits, but unlike Ricky, Colin had an Oscar. “Oh, good for him”. And unlike Ricky, Colin has women swooning over him. Well, Ricky can’t see it but whatever. And he also said that Colin Firth was racist (which is OK because everyone knows he is not) and that he isn’t as nice as he appears as he punched a blind kitten (which again we know he didn’t.) So when Colin came, he greeted him with a handshake and mock-kicked Ricky.

on George Clooney:

It is a George Clooney year again, enjoying a kind of popularity that Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner (who both have two Oscars, in the same two categories: one for Best Film and one for Best Director) possessed in the 90s. And he is being praised by critics not only for his directing efforts, but his acting is loved too (Costner was nominated for Best Actor Oscar once, and Mel Gibson only has two Golden Globe nominations for his acting efforts).  But excluding his possible nominations this year, Clooney has already won an acting Oscar, and he has had several other nominations both for his acting and writing/directing. Yes, he is loved. And people do find him gorgeous. Why everybody is that fascinated by Clooney is beyond me.

And Ricky practically said George could give him a …….. (fill in the blanks) if George got any more successful or handsome. I think this was a great way to point out the Clooney craze, although I am not sure if Ricky thinks George is overrated.  But I did enjoy the joke all the same.

On Justin Bieber

Gervais just pointed out what a ridiculous idea it was to ask a paternity test from Justin Bieber, as the only way for him to get a girl pregnant was borrowing a Turkey roaster (or something to that effect) from Martha Stewart. “What a waste of a test that would have been”.

*

So no, I don’t think Ricky Gervais talking about his size, or joking about Jodie Foster’s beaver or Bieber’s impregnating abilities was tame. He is only tamer when you compare his Golden Globes material to his shows, where he would even joke about the hunger in Africa.

You don’t go to Gervais for political correctness. You go to him to be funny, unpredictable and outrageous. And the only mistake so far is that they haven’t asked him to do the Oscars yet. More time, more material. He would go crazy. I guess even the tamer Ricky isn’t tame enough for Hollywood…

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: 69th golden globes, Colin Firth, colin firth golden globes, George Clooney, george clooney golden globes, golden globes 2012, golden globes ricky gervais, Jodie Foster, jodie foster the beaver, Johnny Depp, johnny depp golden globes, Ricky Gervais, ricky gervais golden globes, ricky gervais golden globes 2012, the beaver movie

The Ides of March feat. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti & Philip Seymour Hoffman

Posted on January 6, 2012 Written by ripitup

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The Ides of March Plot Summary- with some spoilers
The Ides of March movie poster
The Ides of March. Image via stuffistumbledupon.com

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is a smart and ambitious political campaign specialist, and he is co-managing the presidential campaign of Governor Mike Norris (George Clooney), an idealistic politician who might be just what the USA needs: anti-war, pro-choice and refusing to let go of his principles in order to secure a win. In the meantime, Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is having a difficult time getting senate votes because of Meyers’ ideals.

Stephen has little time apart from managing the campaign and the press –especially journalist Ida (Marisa Tomei). He starts hanging out with the 20-year-old intern Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), and is quite happy with his situation until two things happen:

1)      The campaign manager of the opponent, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), wants to meet with him and when Stephen goes for curiosity’s sake – and someone leaks this to Ida.

 

2)      Intern Molly confesses that she slept with the happily married Morris, is pregnant and needs $900 to have an abortion.

From then on, everything seems to work against Stephen. While he works to manage the crisis, Paul fires him- because he met with Duffy. And when Molly can’t manage the idea of a very angry Stephen looking to take revenge, things get even more complicated for Stephen….

**

Review

The Ides of March is a solid political drama with an impressive cast, and while it is not a thriller, sometimes it manages to be as engaging as one. It is hard to do a political drama this interesting, and director/co-writer/co-star George Clooney has pulled it off, no doubt with the help from Gosling, Giamatti, Hoffman, Tomei and Wood.

The only problem with the movie is the stereotype George Clooney’s character turns out to be. One minute he is this idealistic and principled guy who refuses to “bribe” his way into getting votes, and the next he is screwing a 20-year-old intern. So he is too decent to be a corrupt politician, but not a decent enough husband to keep it in his pants…Yes, politician with some nice views who has a problem staying loyal to his wife. Gee, where did we see this guy before?

The sad thing is, when Morris turns out to be a little moral than Meyers thought, he still wants to run the campaign. Who cares about his bedroom habits if he can manage the campaign right? But of course Morris only plays the game by his own rules, and Meyers just might to lose his self-respect to get back what he lost…

In the end, the movie engages you, depresses you and makes you question morality, loyalty, ethics and ambitions. It is well-done, even though you may not get any characters that you like or respect at the end.

Currently rated at 7.4 on IMDB.com

Fun notes on the cast:

Max Minghella, who plays Ben (one of the campaign staff) is the son of the deceased director Anthony Minghella, who is best known for the movies The English Patient and Cold Mountain.

 

Other Posts on the Cast

Also on Ryan Gosling

Crazy, Stupid, Love starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Trivia

All Good Things starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst & Frank Langella

Movie Reviews of 4 Nicholas Sparks Adaptations: A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle and The Notebook

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: drama, Evan Rachel Wood, George Clooney, george clooney the ides of march, Jennifer ehle, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, movies, paul giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling, ryan gosling the ides of march, the ides of march, the ides of march cast, the ides of march movie, the ides of march movie review, the ides of marcn plot

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