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Lions for Lambs starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford & Andrew Garfield

Posted on September 30, 2010 Written by ripitup

Lions For Lambs starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg. Directed by Robert Redford. From 2007.

4 adjectives: Solid, smart, gripping and thought-provoking.

Don’t you love it when you can say these about a movie? The movie was made in 2007. 3 years later, it is still very relevant.

The movie follows three different storylines:

*Reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) interviews Senator Irving (Tom Cruise) in his office.

*Professor Malley (Robert Redford) is talking to a student –Todd (Andrew Garfield) – in his office.

*And in Afghanistan, a group of American soldiers are leaving the “base” for another mission.Peter Berg plays Lt. Col. Falco and he is in charge.

The mission has started a couple of minutes before Irving started speaking to Janine. His purpose and demands are clear. He wants the story to be done by Janine, supporting this mission. Even though Janine tries to question motives and reminds him of the past mistakes, Irving makes great confrontations himself.

At the university, we find out that Todd used to be a great student but he seems indifferent, cynical and apolitical. As their meeting progresses, both Todd and the professor make great points on war, politics, individuality and choices.

The mission fails miserably with only two soldiers surviving. As we watch to see if the rescue team will get there on time, we will get to know more about these two soldiers’ backgrounds…

This movie is simple. It presents you a lot of point-of-views and it gives them well. All the characters seem right. The movie tells a fine story and holds your interest through fine acting, a brilliant battle of wills/points and a really good script. Perfect direction by Redford.

You need to see the movie to see why it is special. I loved finding out why those two soldiers went to battle and the reason was something I hadn’t seen coming…

At 6.2 on IMDB, this movie is one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen. It breaks my heart that Fight Club got an 8.8. Yes, F.C was good, really good. But 8.8 for Fight Club and 6.2 for Lions for Lambs? Of course, these movies have nothing in common. Of course, they belong to totally different genres. But to me, humanity and some solid reality check beats originality. I also happened to watch these on the same day. If you have seen Fight Club, you probably remember how Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden kept asking who Edward Norton’s character would want to fight. He even said Gandhi. Well, then. I am making Robert Redford fight David Fincher. And in my club, Robert beat the crap out of Fincher with this one.

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Due Date, Love and Other Drugs, The Tourist: The 3 Comedies to Anticipate This Season

Posted on September 26, 2010 Written by ripitup

For the summer, my top 3 anticipated movies were Knight and Day, Inception and Salt. While I didn’t get to see Salt (I will, eventually), I had a great time with both Knight and Day and Inception. While Knight and Day – starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz– gave us the perfect combination of action-comedy-romance, Inception was one hell of a mind-bending ride with a killer script and equally impressive special effects.

For the colder days ahead, there are many good movies coming up, and I picked the three that looked the most fun and well, they also have terrific casts.

The Tourist – starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie

The Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie

The Tourist seems like to be in the same genre as Knight and Day, and it has even got one innocent, clueless character that thinking they met this gorgeous and exciting person from the opposite sex but instead of a mind-blowing romance- or at least they can get to that, they find out that sexy stranger is involved in a very complex career. In Knight and Day it was Cameron Diaz, a car mechanic on her way to her sister’s wedding when she met F.B.I agent on the run from the F.B.I agents trying to kill him, played by Tom Cruise. Here the hapless sap is Johnny Depp, and the agent/spy/whatever is the woman, very appropriately played by Angelina Jolie.

The movie seems to have a good sense of humor, great action sequences and exotic locations. Can’t wait.

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

Pharmaceutical Rep. Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is pretty happy with his life: he likes his job (=he makes good money), and he is even better with (seducing) women. However his successful yet fun & simple life gets complicated when he finally meets a girl named Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who pretty much seems to be his female version: she is hot and she loves having sex for the hell of it. But there seems to be more to their attraction and eventually relationship to more than just sex. He really might be falling for her. But maybe there is a reason behind her carefree and fun-loving attitude, and it may be that will alter his life forever…

Don’t worry, I didn’t include anything in the plot that wasn’t suggested in the trailer. This ones seems to be a romantc comedy/drama.

This is Anne and Jake’s second collaboration, the first one being in the award-winning Brokeback Mountain, where Jake played a cowboy falling in love with another gay cowboy, at a time when gay relationships weren’t all that conventional and the two lovers end up marrying women, all the while staying in the affair through a long period of time. Jake’s character had married Anne’s character in the film.

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. Image via: media.daemonsmovies.com

And from the makers of the The Hangover, comes another comedy. While the trailer of Due Date didn’t make me laugh too hard, it entertained the hell out of me. And since I know the writer is a whiz at writing comedy and that both Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover’s Alan, Bored to Death’s Ray) and Robert Downey Jr. are more than apt at delivering perfect comedic performance, I believe it is safe to think that we might have stomach cramps from laughing because of this movie.

The plot: Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) needs to get to his wife’s birth and unfortunately needs to let the weird passenger Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) join his ride. Of course there will hardly anything going normal…

Coming Soon:The Dilemma starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin James, Winona Ryder and Channing Tatum

Posted on September 24, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Dilemma starring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah. Coming to theaters in January, 2011.

And once again Vince Vaughn is in the leading role of a comedy about relationships. Now, while I won’t mind if Vince starts diversifying his characters and/or movie genres a bit (Return to Paradise was a great drama and in Domestic Disturbance he was the villain), I really don’t have anything against him playing the witty, funny and a little silly best friend/career guy. He made it a trademark and while it has become familiar, to a Vaugn fan (and I am one), it still works.

As opposed to the other directors/writers Vince Vaughn has worked with (himself and pal/Iron Man Series director Jon Favreau included), this time we have Ron Howard in the director’s seat and Allan Loeb has written the script..

It is interesting to see Ron Howard directing a trademark Vince Vaughn/ Kevin James film. Kevin James also seems to play the good-natured, fun-loving, family man over and over again (King of Queens, I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry). Let’s remember some of Ron’s work: Ransom, A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Apollo 13, Far and Away…

Ron loves action/thriller elements, big budgets and even when he is directing a drama, he usually picks some epic and/or psychologically intense elements. So his current pick – a girl-friendly guy flick (or a guy friendly chick flick- The Dilemma seems to be a unisex result) did catch me a little off guard.

Allan Loeb is a great writer. I definitely adored his script for 21, and now that I know he penned Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, I am tempted to see it. But as it turns out, Loeb likes romantic dramas and comedies as well, since he wrote The Dilemma as well as Jennifer Aniston’s latest romcom The Switch. While none of these storylines and concepts seem as original and intriguing as 21, I should see the movies first before commenting.

And of course the cast includes three more impressive names: Jennifer Connelly – who happens to be one of my favorite actresses, Winona Ryder – an actress to be familiar with if you spent some time in the 90s and the current popular hunk Channing Tatum who you might remember from the fun dance movies Step-Up and Step Up 2. There is also Queen Latifah in a comedic supporting role.

The story is not as impressive as the cast and the crew but it seems fun and harmless enough:

Vince Vaughn’s character Ronny Valentine is best friends and colleagues with Isaac Backman (Kevin James). They hang out as couples – Ronny’s plus 1 is played by Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder plays Isaac’s wife Geneva. This perfect arrangement is ruined however when Ronny realizes that Geneva is cheating on his buddy Isaac, with a younger, fitter and a hotter guy (Channing Tatum). This results in Ronny having the ultimate dilemma: Should he tell Isaac? Or should he just keep it shut?

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Something to Talk About starring Dennis Quaid, Julia Roberts, Kyra Sedgwick and Robert Duvall

Posted on September 22, 2010 Written by ripitup

Something to Talk About starring Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands and Brett Cullen

Grace (Julia Roberts)’s marriage to her high school sweetheart Eddie (Dennis Quaid) is not exactly in honeymoon period. They have a little daughter named Caroline (Haley Aull) and that seems to be the only thing they have in common. Grace works for her father (Robert Duvall), running the family barn and socializing with a local women’s committee.

Her life changes completely when she catches Eddie cheating. She takes Caroline and moves back to her family’s house, staying at her sister Emma Rae (Kyra Sedgwick)’s separate cottage. Her sister is eager to kick Eddie’s ass, but her father is a lot more concerned about the upcoming deal he will be making with Eddie’s dad than her daughter’s happiness. As for her mother (Gena Rowlands), she is being an old-fashioned, traditional mother who thinks men do stray by nature and it is OK to take them back as long as they are sorry. The only other ally in kicking Eddie’s ass is the “crazy” aunt.

Eddie is missing her daughter, but Grace has no intention of letting him off the hook so easily, especially after she finds out he has strayed a lot and well, strayed with her friends in the committee.

With the help of her upfront and snappy sister Emma, Grace starts to reevaluate all aspects of her life. And the handsome rider/trainer Jamie (Brett Cullen) is back. What’s next for Grace?

Something to Talk About is a lovely little romantic comedy/drama from 1995. I first saw it in the late 90s and loved it. I have seen it a couple of times after that. For me, it is just a nostalgic good time with some of my favorite actors and I also love the concept of “make the cheating bastard suffer”. There are many reasons to see this film but there are also many reasons why some people may not enjoy it. Here are both lists:

Reasons to Like Something to Talk About:

– The Cast: Dennis Quaid, Julia Roberts, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands and Brett Cullen.

– The nostalgia: It is from 1995- and the actors are notably younger, especially Kyra, Julia, Dennis and Brett.

– The story: Familiar but fun. Written by Callie Khouri.

– The Director: This was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the Swedish director that gave us Chocolat starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche) , Casanova (starring Heath Ledger and Siena Miller) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis)

Reasons Not to Like Something to Talk About:

– The concept isn’t exactly original. There are no twists and surprises, just fun moments.

– The ending. I kinda like it, but I would rather have it go another direction.

– No, I wouldn’t watch this film without this cast.

Favorite Scenes:

– The meal Grace cooks for Eddie

– How Emma Rae keeps Eddie busy when he first drops by after Grace left with their daughter.

– Grace’s going nuts in the committee

– Gena Rowlands’ going rebellious on Robert Duvall

– The very end scene, Julia Roberts’ funny suspicious look.

*Fun note: Dennis Quaid and Gena Rowlands also starred in Playing by Heart together, another romantic comedy drama, again from the 90s. Again, Dennis Quaid’s character is married to a daughter of Gena Rowlands, and there is cheating. But this time, it is the wife who cheats on Quaid.

Other Posts on the Cast

Kyra Sedgwick

Phenomenon starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick and Robert Duvall

The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick

Dennis Quaid

Other Dennis Quaid Movies

In Good Company starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johannson

The Day After Tomorrow

Yours, mine and ours

Playing by Heart

Also recommended for Dennis Quaid fans: Trivia for Meg Ryan, Ex-Mrs.Quaid

Other Julia Roberts Movies