The Ledge starring Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson & Terrence Howard

Posted on August 4, 2011 Written by ripitup

The Ledge Plot – No spoilers if you have seen the trailer

The Ledge starring Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson & Terrence Howard. Written & directed by Matthew Chapman. Image via daemonsmovies.com

Police detective Hollis (Terrence Howard) is having a very bad day: he has just learned that he is sterile, and now he has to talk a young man named Gavin (Charlie Hunnam) out of jumping from the top of a very high building. Unfortunately for Hollis, Gavin is not a suicidal guy having second thoughts. In fact, Gavin doesn’t want to die. But if he doesn’t jump in an hour, someone else will die. The movie progresses as Gavin tells him his story:

First, he falls in lust with the wife (Shana, played by Liv Tyler) of his extremely religious neighbor Joe (Patrick Wilson). His desire to bed Shana only increases after Joe tries to inflict his opinions on salvation upon him, and his gay roommate Chris (Christopher Gorham). It doesn’t help matters that he now sees Shana every day as she has started to work for Gavin.

Unfortunately for both Shana and Gavin, the lust turns into a deeper connection, and then into an affair.

But of course when Joe finds out, he doesn’t take it lightly. He gives Gavin two options: He’ll either jump from the ledge at the designated hour, or Shana will die.

So what will it be? Who will die? Or can we really get a Hollywood-style happy ending…?

Review: You Should See It!

The Ledge is one of the movies where you get everything the trailer promises. If you liked the trailer, there is a big chance you’ll like the movie.

The Ledge is a very well-done combination of drama, romance and thriller. We are always wondering whether Gavin will jump while we listen to his story in flashbacks. Writer/director Matthew Chapman gives us compelling and grey characters with Gavin and Shana, while we get more white with Hollis and more black with Joe. Patrick Wilson really has made a cool villain, and I really liked Charlie Hunnam and Liv Tyler together.

Whether you’d go for Charlie Hunnam or Patrick Wilson (lookswise) is besides the point. Whether cheating is bad is besides the point. The real question here is would you choose to give up your own life to save somebody you love? Would you take the cheated party’s word that your lover would survive if you sacrificed yourself?

The most compelling thing about the film is that Gavin is not really a hero. He is just a regular guy, with his own demons – demons that probably have a lot to why he chooses to be on the ledge, and not just his love for Shana.

All in all, it is a very entertaining movie with a good ending. I don’t approve all of the decisions that lead us to the ending, but I really loved the movie as a whole. It’s intriguing, passionate and provocative.

Highly Recommended. Currently rated at 7.3 on IMDB.

P.S. This movie will also go into my “When Adultery Is OK” movies list.

Other movies where I am OK with the cheating:

The Scarlet Letter starring Gary Oldman, Demi Moore & Robert Duvall

Revenge starring Kevin Costner, Madeleine Stowe & Anthony Quinn

The English Patient starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas & Colin Firth

Other Articles on the Cast

Patrick Wilson

Morning Glory starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton & Patrick Wilson

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

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

Patrick Wilson Trivia

Liv Tyler

The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth & William Hurt: Updated

Terrence Howard

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

Christopher Gorham

Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett

Looking Forward to: The Ledge starring Liv Tyler, Charlie Hunnam, Patrick Wilson & Terrence Howard

Posted on May 22, 2011 Written by ripitup

The Ledge starring Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson & Terrence Howard. Written & directed by Matthew Chapman. Image via daemonsmovies.com

** Update: This post was written before I saw the movie. I wrote the review after seeing the movie, and you can read it here.

Shauna (Liv Tyler) is married to the obsessively religious Joe (Patrick Wilson). When she starts working for the sweet, and atheist Gavin (Charlie Hunnam), a passionate affair starts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long before Joe finds out, and comes up with a deadly plan. Instead of killing them both, he puts Shauna’s life is in Gavin’s hands. His conditions are simple: Gavin is to stand on the ledge of a building until noon, and then jump to his death. Or Shauna will die. With cops trying to change Gavin’s mind, and then trying to help him out, can Gavin make it out alive? And even if he jumps, can he trust Joe to let Shauna live?

Judging by its plot, trailer, and actors, The Ledge is a very promising drama/thriller. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and is supposed to hit the theaters at the end of May. Written & directed by Matthew Chapman.

Co-starring is Terrence Howard, as the cop trying to help out Gavin.

Patrick Wilson, who we are more used to seeing as the romantic lead, makes a wonderfully creepy psycho.

Also on Patrick Wilson:

Morning Glory starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton & Patrick Wilson

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

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

Patrick Wilson Trivia

Also on Terrence Howard:

Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges & Terrence Howard

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

The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth & William Hurt: Updated

Posted on February 26, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Incredible hulk with edward norton and liv tyler — The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler

The Incredible Hulk movie poster via harleycordelllane.com

I avoided the Hulk movies for so long. As a kid, I adored its cartoons but even with the effects of the 21st century, I still didn’t find the computer effects impressive when it came to creating our green “monster”. Even though I love both Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly, I didn’t watch the first one. But after having liked the second one with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, I decided to give Ang Lee’s version a shot. It was also quite interesting that one was rated 5.7 and the second one is a 7.1. Isn’t it usually the other way around?

I don’t think there is another case of making a second movie, 5 years after the first, with a different leading actor and actress for the same characters. If the first one was a disappointment, how did they know for sure the second one would work? Why did they let Ang Lee direct Hulk in the first place? I mean he is a good director but directing a comic book adaptation with a big budget? The guy followed Hulk with Brokeback Mountain for heaven’s sake! Well, I did see Hulk and I am not impressed. Don’t see it if you can help it. It is like a cartoon, with people thrown in. Not good. So even the 5.7 IMDB user rating seems too generous to me. Yes, I don’t really take any rating too seriously, but sometimes it an give you an idea of what others think.

Back to the 2008’s The Incredible Hulk:

It is good entertainment. The cast is pretty marvelous. Edward Norton, William Hurt and Tim Roth just fit their roles perfectly. Liv Tyler still has that innocently sexy look we are used to from Aerosmith’s Crazy video. The effects are OK, I still wish it had a bigger budget, though. I wish The Hulk had a 100 million dollars more. Look at Avatar. No decent plot, but hey the effects are amazing!

I think The Incredible Hulk is better than your average comic book movie. We travel a lot, we feel Bruce’s pain, root for Bruce and Elizabeth to get together and despise the general (William Hurt).

Sure, the good guys are purely evil and the bad are purely bad (with the exception of the general, he loves his gray areas) but hey, this script isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, so we accept the clichés. After all, it is Edward Norton who feeds them to us;)

The plot? Oh, yeah- that:

Bruce Banner (Norton) is the most crucial target for the US army. He is the “victim” of a gamma ray experiment which resulted in him in turning into the “Hulk” – a green, gigantic creature with some temper. He can’t avoid the transformation that happens when he gets too excited or angry.

This has caused him to escape from the country, having left his beloved girlfriend Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler) behind. He resides and works in Brazil, away from anything that might trigger the transformation while seeking the cure his condition forever. But when the army finds him, he has no choice but to go back. Ross will help him no matter what, defying her father the general. But as the general will soon realize, he might have created a threat that’s far more “inconvenient” than Hulk…

7/10 from me.

Enjoy the trailer.

***

Fun Note: Our Hulks keep changing. We switched to Norton from Bana, and now we have Mark Ruffalo instead of Norton in 2012’s The Avengers- featuring an ensemble cast, with ensemble heroes. The movie is written and directed by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy. The stars include Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., Captain America Chris Evans, Thor Chris Hemsworth and more.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7a5LcTckfg[/pro-player]

Here is more on Edward Norton and his movies:

Death to Smoochy

Kingdom of Heaven

Pride and Glory

Good Morning, Mr. Tyler. Going Down?: On everything Aerosmith

Posted on February 10, 2010 Written by ripitup

AEROSMITH :

Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (lead guitar), Brad Whitford (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums)

So the title is actually the line of a hot girl from the Love in an Elevator video. It is adressed to our beloved rock singer Steven Tyler.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! My first image/memory of Steven Tyler doing a cartwheel on a pool table and dancing around in the video of Sweet Emotion. If you do force me to choose, it is my fav. Aerosmith song. A second close might just be Walk This Way- ( the version with RUN DMC) and the way Steven just pulls his head through the wall and sings-the way he dances…just gets me every time. It is so them: so rock,so glam and such a wicked sense of humor…Just the way I like it. Over the years I collected a lot of their albums and sadly admit that didn’t have the chance to see them live yet. It is one of my rock n’ roll ambitions- to see them on stage before they are dead. (With people you never know when& how they will go-but of course with musicians it gets trickier: look at M.Jackson and Michael Hutchence of INXS).

I prefer them over Rolling Stones. I am a big fan of Steven’s vocals and Perry’s guitar. It was such a great moment when MTV awarded them with lifetime achievement award and the award was presented to them by Ulrich and Hetfield of Metallica. They talked about how they adored the band and how their walls were covered with the band’s posters. I have always had this respect for Metallica, even though I don’t like all of their songs. So I thought it was meaningful for the audience, James & Lars and Aerosmith all together.

Aerosmith is one of the reasons why I wish I could have been born in the late 70s. By the time, I started listening to glam, it was almost over. So people have treated me as this strange girl with this strange music taste. But I can’t understand how one can find them any less then amazing. One friend commented their songs could be boring- and it was one of their oldest and best. Obviously I am questioning her taste.

Aerosmith lyrics are perfect. They can be funny, romantic, sexy, ambitious or a combination of these. Morever, you can just dance your butt of to them. Here’s a sample from Love in an Elevator,just to get you nostalgic and in the groove.

“Workin’ like a dog fo de boss man, Workin’ for de company-

I’m bettin’ on the dice I’m tossin’ I’m gonna have a fantasy

But where am I gonna look?, They tell me that love is blind, I really need a girl like an open book-
to read between the lines

Love in an elevator- Livin’ it up when I’m goin’ down- Love in an elevator- Lovin’ it up ’til I hit the ground

Here is the video.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Yrhv33Zb8[/pro-player]

Their videos are brilliant. Each one is like a perfect little movie on its own. Do you remember Amazing- Alicia Silverstone and Stephen Dorff in it? How about Crazy- It features Liv Tyler ( Steven’s very own daughter and A. Silverstone). Hole in my soul was brilliant with the geek scientist trying to create the perfect woman..) Liv and Alicia just this incredible standard for beauty in the 90s.

The story is Steven didn’t know he had a daughter until she was 8 and her mom took her to a concert. He also says he knew she was his the moment he laid eyes on her. Some people keep wondering how such a guy had a child this pretty- I actually think she does take after him. Just look at the mouth. All the she might be a tad bit prettier than him. 😉 Oh and here are some images from the Crazy video: