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The Resident starring Hilary Swank & Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Posted on March 7, 2011 Written by ripitup

The Resident starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan & Hilary Swank. Feat. Christopher Lee & Lee Pace. image via movie-area.com

Juliet (Hilary Swank) is a pretty and successful ER doctor who has just left her cheating husband Jack (Lee Pace). After some apartment-hunting, she finds the perfect place: a spacious flat with an amazing view, at a price she can afford, and with a gorgeous landlord named Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). And as it turns out, it is all too good to be true…

Her only neighbor besides Max is Max’s strange grandfather (Christopher Lee), who seems a little too worried that Juliet is living all alone. And Juliet is starting to feel something is wrong too- she feels like she is not alone, but dismisses the though as paranoia. She also decides to listen to her best friend (Aunjanue Ellis)’ advice and flirt with Max. But Juliet is not over Jack and well…Max has a much darker side that he has so far been able to keep from her….

I’d been waiting for The Resident for months. I am a really big fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as well as Hilary Swank and Lee Pace. I was also pleasantly surprised to see The Mentalist’s Madeleine Hightower – Aunjanue Ellis – as the cheerful sidekick, encouraging her best friend to have great rebound sex. This was a fun little contrast to her high-rank CBI officer character in The Mentalist.

But my fondness of the cast unfortunately couldn’t stop me from getting bored. The movie was off to a slow start, which I attributed to tension-building. But Juliet’s getting spooked in her house over and over again, with floors cringing… got old really quickly. Lee Pace didn’t really have much to offer as Jack is nothing more than a mundane, cheating husband trying to take his wife back. And Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s badass skills were certainly wasted as Max. Max, while turning out to be very creepy (and pathetic at that), is not scary at all. And a thriller/horror film needs a scary, compelling villain who is supposed to nail us to our seats and not bore us.

I know Morgan can pull off a badass because he did brilliantly as The Comedian in Watchmen. The Comedian, supposedly a hero, shot a pregnant woman without blinking because she was getting on his nerves. Now, that was spooky.

The Resident’s Max had an interesting background, only implied at. I wish we had seen his past, and scarier insights. But like many thrillers, The Resident failed to gave us smart “victims” as well as a smart villain.

To sum up? The Resident is a mediocre thriller, at best I wasn’t rooting for anyone in the movie as Juliet was “unforgiving” enough to move to a 3800/month apartment, only to get back with Jack – but not before she unsuccessfully tried to have sex with Max…Ouch.

It can be watched for the love of the cast, I guess but only if you lower your expectations. Currently rated at 5.4 on IMDB.

Fun notes:

– Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilary Swank co-starred previously in the romantic drama/comedy P.S.I Love You. Also in P.S. I love you, Swank was trying to have rebound sex with Jeffrey Dean. However this time, her marriage was over because her husband died. The husband was played by Gerard Butler.

– Lee Pace is a Golden Globe nominated actor. He played a transgendered nightclub singer in a true story.

Also on Hilary Swank:

P.S. I Love You starring Gerard Butler, Hilary Swank & Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Also on Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Supernatural starring Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles feat. Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson

The Accidental Husband: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Gerard Butler, Richard Gere and Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Allure of the Older Guy

40 Somethings That Would Make 20-year-olds Jealous

Also on Lee Pace

Lee Pace Trivia

Possession starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lee Pace and Michael Landes

Soldier’s Girl: A Haunting True Story starring Lee Pace and Troy Garity

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand and Lee Pace

The Fall starring Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru

When in Rome starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. feat. Lee Pace

The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie & Lee Pace

When in Rome starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel

Posted on June 5, 2010 Written by ripitup

When In Rome starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. Image from: http://www.torrentavi.com

Beth (Kristen Bell) is a young and successful curator in New York. She’s had terrible luck with love, having been dumped by Brady (a cameo by Lee Pace) and all. So she is skeptical when her sister Joan (Alexis Dziena) tells her that she is marrying an Italian guy called Umberto (Luca Calvani), whom she practically just met. But of course in the name of being a supportive sister, she persuades her tough boss (Anjelica Huston) that she will be to and back from the wedding (in Rome) in 48 hours.

But at the wedding, she meets the handsome best man Nick (Josh Duhamel). He is handsome, sweet,funny and just as work-oriented. She thinks she might have some luck after all but after she ends up being disappointed, she gets drunk and does something weird. She picks up 5 coins from the fountain of love. And the moment she does, 5 men- 1 Italian painter and 4 Americans: a magician, a much older businessman, a model in love with himself and Nick are smitten with her. But then again,Nick was already smitten.

So the rest of the story takes us back to New York, where Beth tries to continues to resume her life. But while Nick pursues her like a normal boy with a crush, the other 4 are acting like deranged and love-struck stalkers. Soon Beth finds out that something “supernatural” is at work. The hard thing is, when will she have the time to sort it? She’s too busy with her work, falling in love with Nick and trying to escape from the mad quadruplet…

The “Italian” painter is played by Will Arnett. Jon Heder (played the “righteous” psychic in Just Like Heaven) plays the weird magician, Danny De Vito plays the sausage king and Dax Shepard plays the model. Now, the cast is fine. I mean even Beth’s father is someone you might know: Don Johnson. Lee Pace makes a cameo…The premise is OK. It’s just that the story and the situations and most interactions are too silly for their own good. When the men are under the spell, they act like a combination of Jeff from The Coupling (Coupling UK) and Jim Carrey’s Cable- that nutty, that challenged yet not funny. Yes, Jeff was hilarious in Coupling. But here are we have 4 worse-than-Jeff suitors and one really clumsy hunk.

The movie is not bad. It is just not really good either. It is completely harmless. It will generate some laughs and will entertain most of the time. But something is missing. Sometimes it makes you laugh and sometimes it just makes you cringe. But I am not saying you should absolutely stay away from it. It is very light. I like Kristen Bell . By now, I think people mostly heard of Josh Duhamel. He starred in the tv show Las Vegas, appeared in The Transformers movies and got married to Fergie. I don’t think any movie will hurt his celebrity status now…

5.1 on IMDB. I do have to agree. I expected something better. I wish Lee Pace appeared more than just for a couple of minutes. Seriously. Someone really should find another agent for this guy. So, see to watch a great wedding place, Rome and New York all in one. My favorite part of the movie is the dancing sequence at the end credits.

Other Posts feat. Kristen Bell

Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Malin Akerman and Jason Bateman

Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Russell Brand

Serious Moonlight starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long

33 Actors From My Generation – Actors Born in the Years Between 1980-1990

Stardust, The Air I Breathe, Playing by Heart, The Good Shepherd, Hairspray & He’s Just Not That Into You: 6 Good Movies with Brilliant Casts

Posted on April 10, 2010 Written by ripitup

If you are anything like me, you have some actors whose projects really entertain you. But sometimes those actors come together to star in a film. So for instance what’s better than seeing Michelle Pfeiffer acting with Robert De Niro? Adding Mark Strong to the list. And you provide the comic relief with Ricky Gervais. Beauty? Siena Miller. New talent? Charlie Cox. Before you know it, you have one hell of a cast. Here’re my 6 favorite ensemble casts:

1) STARDUST

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Siena Miller, Charlie Cox, Ben Barnes, Ricky Gervais, Mark Strong and Henry Cavill.

Magical, thrilling, romantic and visually wonderful story of a young man (Charlie Cox) after a star (Claire Danes), the star co-operating so that she can go home, princes after a crown necklace and the witches after the star’s heart. For many more details, photos and trailer of Stardust:

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/20-reasons-to-love-stardust/

2) Playing By Heart

Playing by Heart starring Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie, Gena Rowlands, Ryan Phillippe, Gillian Anderson, Madeleine Stowe, Jon Stewart, Dennis Quaid. There’s also Ellen Burstyn and Jay Mohr. I love this movie and the cast. Photo: http://www.moviegoods.com

Starring:Angelina Jolie, Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid, Madeleine Stowe, Jon Stewart, Gillian Anderson, Gena Rowlands, Ellen Burstyn, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe.

It is romantic, sweet and at times really funny. You can check out the plot here.

3) The Air I Breathe

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Julie Delpy, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Emile Hirsch, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

If you like any of these actors and enjoy intersecting stories, you will enjoy this one. Sure, the undertone is very dramatic and it is slightly depressing but it is hopeful. Love, hatred, depression, anger, revenge, fun, loyalty,….. You name the emotion and you will find the story. No event is unrelated here. Andy Garcia is the villain. Kevin Bacon plays a really nice guy. Refreshing, right?

4) The Good Shepherd

Starring: Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Lee Pace, William Hurt, John Turturro, Billy Crudup and Alec Baldwin.

1960s. CIA agent Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is faced with a crisis as some crucial information might be leaked to enemies. As the agents try to figure out who is responisble and who the info was given to, we start learning about Edward’s past with flashbacks going into the late 30s. We learn about what made he who he is from his childhood to his days at Yale, from the ww2 and onward. The cast is by far one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen. It might be due to the fact that De Niro is the director. Great film. It is a drama thriller.

5) He’s Just Not That Into You

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johannson, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long

Don’t wait by the phone, don’t make excuses. If he is not calling you, he is just not that into you. Based on the refreshing relationships book by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo. Extendend review for both the movie and the book can be found here.

6) Hairspray

Hairspray starring John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes. Fun, colors, the hair and more fun…Photo: drkruznutty.files.wordpress.com

Now, you may have watched an Hairspray film made in 1988, written and directed by John Waters. And it is not that its cast is unknown, featuring names like Sonny Bono and Deborah Harry. However, you might realize that it was rated 6.8 votecd by over 8.000 people. However the Hairspray film that I’ll brag about I from 2007 and it is rated 7.2, voted over 40.000. So yes, we are facing a remake rated higher than the original.And I have no intentions of seeing the original.

Because John Travolta is a terrific actor and a singer and he is playing a woman! The wife of Christopher Walken! Absolute hilarity! And you have seen the cast, right? Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer makes a kick-ass bitch. James Marsden is a great actor, yeah- but here he shows us that he is an amazing singer too. And br ready to forgive Zac Efron for the Highschool Musical series. Yeah he still plays a guy in high school but the guy can sing rocknroll. Just forget about his pop idol/teenage-girl magnet reputation. If a guy can sing rocknroll well, he will have my respect. I also vote for the jet black hair.

If you aren’t entertained by this film-regardless of how you feel about musicals- I am sure what will put a smile on your face. Directed by Adam Shankman (A Walk to Remember).

Feel free to add your favorite ensembles. In the meantime, here’s a list of posts on these actors:

ANGELINA JOLIE:

Beyond Borders

Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life

The Most Gorgeous Women in Haollywood

Lee Pace:

Possession

The Fall

Soldier’s Girl

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

James Marsden:

Julie Delpy:

Bradley Cooper:

Yes Man

Zac Efron:

17 Again

Soldier’s Girl: A Haunting True Story starring Lee Pace and Troy Garity

Posted on March 20, 2010 Written by ripitup

Soldier's Girl (2003) starring Lee Pace and Troy Garity. It is haunting, disturbing, tragic andf beautiful. Well, the love is beautiful. The rest is...you wish it never happened. Photo: http://wimminwiselpts.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/soldiers-girl-orig.jpg

Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) is a young soldier just transferred to airborne infantry. Calpernia Adams (Lee Pace) is a transsexual nightclub performer.

Their paths cross when Barry’s roommate Fisher (Shawn Hatosy) takes his gang out to this club, supposedly on a test of manhood. While everyone enjoys Fisher’s crude behavior to a certain extent, Barry is embarrassed by it. Moreover he seems fascinated by her. It seems like Fisher is a regular in the club yet he is referring to the performers as freaks. Barry, on the other hand, seems genuinely taken by Calpernia and starts dating her. It takes a while for Barry to get rid of the shock himself but he realizes he is happy so he just tries to keep his private life secret. However Fisher seems bothered by the fact Barry is spending less and less time with him and the gang. It seems like Fisher is not as “straight” and as “butch” as he wants everyone to think. His behavior gets out of control and he finds a great way to make Barry’s life hell, especially when a young and impressionable kid joins their infantry…

Trailer:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sRGi4UFqj8[/pro-player]

Why you should see it:

* This is a haunting and tragic true story.

* The acting is fantastic. Both Troy Garity and Lee Pace were nominated for Golden Globes in 2003 for their roles. Why they didn’t win is beyond me, especially Lee Pace. If you have seen him in any other movie (Possession, The Fall, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) or in the TV show Pushing Daisies, you will know what I am talking about. We are talking about a tall, well-built, masculine actor who has completely transformed himself. Sure make-up helps, but the moves are all his.

Fun fact: The Fall’s director Tarsem Singh saw Soldier’s Girl and decided he wanted Lee Pace for the role of Roy Walker. Nope, there is nothing feminine about the Roy character. However Tarsem wanted to make sure Lee was a guy. You can watch the fun interview here.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RVMuqBH9kc[/pro-player]

You can also check how Lee is in character during Soldier’s Girl interview on set:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTVawteuLd4[/pro-player]

8.0 on IMDB. Fair enough. 10/10 for everyone involved, especially Troy and Pace.

A note: real Carpelia Adams was on the set as a consultant.

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