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Allied Movie Review: Brad Pitt and Marion Cottilard in an Engaging Robert Zemeckis Spy Romance

Posted on April 12, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard
Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Image via IMP awards.

I liked the film, and this will be a positive review. So if you want to hate on it, you can do so in the comments or just ignore this.

Still with me? Awesome!

Allied is a 2016 feature drama, war, romance movie written by Steven Knight (Locke, Burnt, Eastern Promises) and directed by Robert Zemeckis. (Back to the Future, Flight, Forrest Gump). It stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard (Inception, The Dark Night Rises, A Good Year) in the lead roles and features Matthew Goode in a tiny but key part.

It’s important to mention that Allied is an old-fashioned film shot in an old-fashioned way. There is nothing unique or disruptive about it, and this is one of the main reasons I loved it so much.

Now, I love uniqueness and disruption where it is needed. Sometimes, you need to break the rules. Go outside of what is expected. But a sexy, traditional romance story with a bit of action starring your favorite actors directed by one of your favorite directors is sometimes exactly what you need to escape the complexities of your own world.

This is not to say the characters don’t have to go through hell. They do. They must, as any compelling story will have their characters suffer. But before the suffering, there is a tremendous reward, (in the form of a romance), a fun storyline and just beauty.

So here is the Allied Plot: (No spoilers; this is all in the trailer)

Max Vatan (Brad Pitt), a capable Canadian intelligence officer, meets the equally capable and attractive, French operative Marianne (Marion Cotillard) for an assignment that requires them to play a married couple.

It’s easy to fall in love during wartime: They are both intelligent, passionate, successful, and well, beautiful to a fault. By the time their assignment is over, they are a couple in love. They get married soon and have an adorable daughter.

However the biggest challenge for Max won’t be the war, but the accusation from his government that Marianne is a German spy. In 72 hours, her innocence or guilt will be proven. If she is guilty, Max will execute her himself. If he refuses, he will be hanged.

Can the woman he loves really be a spy? And if she is a spy, does it change the fact that he truly loves her?

*

It’s a horrible situation to be in, and it provides us the suspense and action we need for the second half of the film as Max tries to prove her innocence by whatever means necessary, while the war is in full swing.

Throughout the film, our focus is on the passionate and loving relationship of our two protagonists. The war is in the background, however horrible it might be.

And Max is in the most horrendous situation of his life. Sure, he has lost friends. He has killed people, in both self-defense and doing his job. But the possibility of being betrayed by his wife, and the fact that he might have to kill her, almost breaks Max, and Brad Pitt does a good job making us feeling his pain.

Of course, when it comes to other things, the screenplay doesn’t bother. When you think about it, both Max and Marianne do horrible things. They had to kill a lot of people: to defend themselves, because it is their job, etc…One could argue wartime ethics and laws are different.

But Max also caused a lot of deaths, directly and indirectly, while he was trying to prove Marianne’s innocence. He didn’t blink an eye. He didn’t have time, was facing a life and death situation, his world was falling apart, etc. But his ability to compartmentalize was so scary and impressive at the same time.

Was there really little to no guilt? Did he have a superior coping mechanism? Or did he have sociopathic tendencies?

As I said, it wasn’t this movie’s goal or job to look into Max’s psychology outside of his feelings for his country/country’s allies or his wife. But if you want to dig deeper, there is a lot to think about.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: allied, allied cast, allied movie, allied movie review, allied Robert zemeckis, Brad Pitt, drama, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Goode, robert zemeckis, romance, steven knight, war

The Good Wife: Overview of the Strange Season Five & That Solid Finale

Posted on May 24, 2014 Written by ripitup

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Spoiler Warning: This post can contain spoilers about any The Good Wife season or finale.
The Good Wife season 5
Image via zap2it.com

What a weird season that was! They killed one of my three beloved characters (Eli, Diane and Will). In fact they killed my favorite character Will Gardner (Josh Charles) – the leading male character of the show in the middle of the season.

But even before Will died, things had gone a little awry:

–       Most cases weren’t that interesting.

–       I wasn’t crazy about Florick/Agos, especially since “Florick” got there because she wanted to stay with her husband even though she had feelings for Will- like that’s how you make healthy career moves!

–       She chose Peter (Chris Noth) over Will (I’m not letting this one go!)

–       They overplayed the music in most episodes where it started ruining the ambiance instead of complimenting or enhancing it.

–       They used a guest star way too many times (talking about” Colin Sweeney”, not Michael J. Fox – I love him, and his weirdo character, so he can become a regular for all I care),

–       The whole out-to-get-Alicia Will was starting to get old (even though it was understandable)

Josh Charles as Will Gardner
The G in LG. Will Gardner: funny, charming, creative. He is missed. Yes, I know he is fictional:) Image via tvline.com.

 

And then, just as I was thinking they had forgotten about Hunter Parish’s character Jeremy (the young guy they charged for murder), the storyline became a curious one. They also hired Finn Polmar (Matthew Goode) to oppose Will and voila…we suddenly had a court shooting, a new recurring character, grieving friends, an obnoxious Peter and a Will-less show.

But writers came out OK in the end. They brought on constantly scheming Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox), a friendship was born between Alicia and Finn, Alicia (Julianna Margulies) kicked out Peter because he was being an ass, she slowly got her groove back – along with the show.

In the finale we had the separated Peter and Alicia, state-attorney candidate Finn not backed up by Peter (because he taught Finn and Alicia were a thing), Canning and David Lee trying to out-vote Diane (Christine Baranski), Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) kind of dating Cary (Matt Czuchry), and poor Eli (Alan Cumming) trying to prevent Peter from sleeping with 20-something interns…. 

I was a bit bored, and somewhat annoyed by the season 4 finale. I didn’t care about Peter and his votes, Alicia changing her stance at the court, and her making out with Will – only to join Cary and stay with Peter.

 

SEASON 5 FINALE EVENTS

But this finale gave us fighter (but emotionally worn) Diane, a loyal Kalinda (to Diane), spying Florick/Agos, fighting Cary and Alicia on a possible merger with Lockhart and Gardner.

Cary took his point on not wanting to merge to the extreme, and fessed up the idea to Louis Canning, who in turn came up with a plan C – resolving the firm that means so much to Diane.

Eli needed a quick, already-vetted state’s attorney candidate since Peter backed up from endorsing Finn, and already hated his opposition. They decided to offer it to Diane – who now had another complicated move to consider.

But the spying FA learned about Cary’s betrayal, and Alicia was enraged.

Finn decided to withdraw from the race because they had something on a case they’d use against him, while Alicia supported his decision either way.

Zac was about to graduate so a pre-ceremony family dinner was in the works, but Jackie and Alicia’s mom (Stockard Channing) doing their own thing while being themselves and drinking made things funnier, and put Peter in the middle as Alicia was still caught up about the merger option.

Diane did however something unexpected, and ultimately very logical: she asked to join FA on her own, with her clients and turned down Peter’s offer, who had pulled quite a number on her about her judgeship.

Alicia got to her son’s ceremony at the last minute.

Goodbyes were said to Zac.

But my absolute favorite moment is the ending where Eli got the “no” call from Diane, and stared at Alicia in such an adoring way where we nearly, almost thought he was going to say he had feelings for her…or something like that. He had that pre-romantic confession look. But this is Eli, and it was a pure, unspoiled, awesome Eli moment as he said:

“Alicia, would you want to run for State’s Attorney?”

A shocked Alicia says “What?” and then it ends.

So I’m sticking for the sixth season, fingers crossed for seeing more Finn, more riveting cases and some Alicia action – whether she gets it from Finn or someone else. She did grieve for Will for months, add the summer, and we should be fine with her romantic storylines…

*

How did you find the season finale? What were your favorite/least favorite moments of the season, or the finale?

Recommended Shows for Legal Drama/Comedy Lovers

Suits starring Gabriel Macht & Patrick J. Adams 

Boston Legal starring James Spader and William Shatner (more comedy)

The Practice starring Dylan McDermott (all drama)

Shark starring James Woods (drama)

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: alan cumming, alan cumming the good wife, Chris Noth, chris noth the good wife, christine baranski, josh charles, josh charles the good wife, julianna margul?es the good wife, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Goode, matthew goode the good wife, Michael J. Fox, michael j. fox the good wife, Review for The Good Wife’s season 5 and season 5 finale, stockard channing, stockard channing the good wife, the good wife, the good wife cast, the good wife season 5, the good wife season 5 finale, the good wife tv series, the good wife will’s death

Burning Man starring Matthew Goode: Difficult, Solid, Captivating

Posted on December 22, 2012 Written by ripitup

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burning man movie poster-matthew goode
Burning Man starring Matthew Goode and Bojana Novakovic. 2011. Image via filmequals.com

Restaurant chef Tom (Matthew Goode) is not easy to work with or to be around. He seems to be the most relaxed around different women he sleeps with, and doesn’t seem to be the most suitable father figure for his son Oscar.

But scenes unfold in a very non-linear fashion and as we put the story together, we realize that Tom hasn’t always been like this. But it takes a while for us to see how happy he used to be, how he much stronger he was and how he lost who he lost.

The beauty of Burning Man lies in Matthew Goode’s acting and the writer/director’s choice of scene editing. If it was edited chronologically, we’d have liked Tom in the beginning, and we’d probably be more understanding of his extreme ways and seemingly lack of parenting skills. But the non-linear telling does a wonderful job how disoriented and messed up Tom is. We feel it. We also feel curious, angry, unsympathetic, sad, hopeful, happy…And never in order and we go through mixed feelings throughout.

It is a good movie, but it is one of those films where how you tell a story is more important than what story you’re telling. We’ve watched stories of loss before. We just haven’t experienced all the complications and frustrations and confusions like this.

Still, it is not for everyone.

Written and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, starring Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic (Edge of Darkness), Essie Davis, Kerry Fox and Rachel Griffiths.

You can watch the trailer here.

Reviews for Matthew Goode Movies:

Brideshead Revisited starring Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw and Emma Thompson

Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode, Mandy Moore, Jeremy Piven & Annabella Sciorra

Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode

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

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Bojana Novakovic, burning man, burning man movie, burning man movie review, burning man review, Essie Davis, Jonathan Teplitzky, Kerry Fox, Matthew Goode, matthew goode burning man, matthew goode films, matthew goode movies, Rachel Griffiths

Brideshead Revisited starring Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw and Emma Thompson

Posted on November 12, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Brideshead Revisited starring Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Haley AtwellBrideshead Revisited starring Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Haley Atwell
Brideshead Revisited starring Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Haley Atwell

It was before World War II broke out…

Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) is by no means poor, but he is definitely not rich and he is not coming from a significant family. He has a rather cold and restrained relationship with his father.

His uneventful life however changes forever when he starts his first year at Oxford University and meets the colorful Sebastian (Ben Whishaw). Sebastian is a lot more intriguing than Charles’s own cousin, who calls Sebastian and his gang sodomites. And he is not technically wrong as Sebastian is openly gay and feminine. Charles enjoys his company and falls in love with Sebastian’s extraordinary family mansion and living quarters called Brideshead.

Charles spends a wonderful time with Sebastian although he is not exactly sure why Sebastian wants to keep Charles away from his mother and sister. It has a lot to do with his mother (Emma Thompson) being a strict Catholic who loves to control her children and make them feel guilty. Sebastian likes his sister Julia (Haley Atwell)though. She also seems to be rebellious like him. Things get increasingly complicated when Charles finds himself intensely drawn to the sister and Sebastian notices this. Charles’ growing feelings for her will endanger his relationship with the entire family, especially the mother. She was OK with him hanging around when he seemed like the grounded friend who would keep her son from trouble. Unfortunately, being an atheist artist with no resources, he is not someone she’d ever allow her daughter to be with.

Can Charles salvage his friendship with Sebastian, manage to be with … despite the mother? Or does Charles even know for sure what he is and what he wants? The same can be asked about Julia as well…

Brideshead Revisited is a period drama adapted from the novel of the same name. It starts as beautiful and engaging period drama but as the movie goes on, the story loses a lot of momentum. Ben Whishaw’s Sebstian has just too many clichés, none of the characters seem to know who they are apart from Emma Thompson’s character and unfortunately her character is the most boring and depressing at all. I love the first couple of scenes of the film and how things start but the movie starts to drag, especially after the scenes in Venice. By the time Charles gets to be with Julia, it was already more than 1,5 hours into the money and apart from their “big reunion”, their relationship is just plain boring.

I am not a Catholic, and I am not an atheist. Maybe I have the tendency to be an agnostic and so I rarely ever cared about the guilt trips of the siblings, and their bleak existence. Matthew Goode’s character was alright up to the point, but there is so much you can care about a lead who centers his life around 2 people, who let their lives run by their mom.

Nonetheless, it is an opportunity for Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw fans as the movie last longer than 2 hours.

The story, though, is just not as magnificent as its cast or the Brideshead house. It is not romantic enough, sexy enough or interesting enough- and this is coming from a girl who likes period dramas and Matthew Goode.

Other Posts on Matthew Goode

Leap Year starring Matthew Goode and Amy Adams

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode

The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode and Jeff Daniels

Matthew Goode Trivia

Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode and Mandy Moore

Watchmen starring Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ben Whishaw, brideshead revisited, brideshead revisited 2008, brideshead revisited movie, drama, emma thompson, hayley atwell, Matthew Goode, matthew goode movies, movies, period drama, perod movies, romance

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