In a Savage Land with Rufus Sewell

Posted on February 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

Rufus Sewell in a Savage Land. Simply Beautiful.

Evelyn (Maya Stange) is an independent, modern young woman. She marries her anthropology professor and together they go to an island in Papua New Guinea for a field research that will last about a year. There are some other white people on the island – some missionaries and a pearl trader named Mick Carpenter (Rufus Sewell), who seems pretty sure the newlyweds won’t last in this savage land.

Rufus Sewell plays Mick Carpenter in In a Savage Land. I don't think Evelyn's husband would stand a chance even if he wasn't a jerk. Do you?

Her husband (Martin Donovan) Philip is an ambitious man who believes in the novelty of their mission. He also tends to see his wife as his assistant, rather than another fellow anthropologist.

However, Evelyn has no intentions of backing down- she conducts her own research and makes her own connections with the natives. This causes trouble in their marriage and the natives seem to like Evelyn much more than her husband.

Mick is amused by Philips’s self-righteousness and impressed by Evelyn’s determinations and independence. Mick also happens to be complete opposite of her husband in every possible away and Evelyn might be more intrigued by this handsome trader than she should be…

And let’s not forget the time is pre-Word War II…

It is the perfect epic story. The love story is passionate, emotional, exciting but never over-the-top or cheesy. It is never disguised as a twist or something. The poster features Rufus Sewell and Maya Stange together and as soon as the movie starts, Evelyn talks about pearls and meeting another man…

Pros:

– You have the well-structured conflicts.

– Beautiful scenery

– A great love story

– Good actors. Both Maya Stange and Rufus Sewell are amazing.

Cons:

– Much shorter than 2 hours, it leaves you wanting for more…

Directed and co-written by Bill Bennett in 1999.

A solid 8.5 or 9/10.

Enjoy the on-set Rufus Sewell interview: In a Savage Land

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

I hope they don’t remove it but the movie is on youtube. Here is the link to the first part.

You start watching here:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oqfkL_Yis[/pro-player]

Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence: Fun romcom with Monica Potter, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes

Posted on February 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence movie poster — Rufus Sewell, Monica Potter, Joseph Fiennes and Tom Hollander will make you laugh.

What an adorably cute, little movie. Yes, it is very romantic and fun romcom in every sense so I am warning you before I get to the review:

Stay away if you don’t – like Monica Potter/Rufus Sewell/Joseph Fiennes or romantic comedies in general. Or if you are not romantic at all.

That being said;

Martha( Monica Potter) is a young American who has left her hometown on a whim to travel to London. She doesn’t have much money, but she know she just can’t go back to her ex-guy, job or flat.

Frank (Rufus Sewell), Laurence (Joseph Fiennes) and Daniel (Tom Hollander) are friends from childhood who have nothing in common. Frank is a once famous, out-of-work actor who drinks, smokes and talks too much. Girls always have been a reason for fighting with Daniel, who is a successful music executive. Laurence is usually the peacemaker between them. He is the sweet one.

Martha meets Daniel on a plane. Daniel falls for Martha. Frank meets Martha by chance and wants to seduce her just to get back at Daniel. But he also gets smitten by the pretty and impulsive Martha. But what if she already met Laurence somewhere in between and he is the one she wants?

The storyteller is Laurence. He recounts the events to his neighbor (Ray Winstone– who is just great) and we embark on a fine, romantic journey with some really funny consequences.

The cast is lovely. Seeing Tom Hollander (Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth The Golden Age) all blond was a first. I can finally begin to see what the fuss was all about with the other Fiennes brother (I knew and loved Ralph Fiennes first;) ) and Rufus is lovely as always. And in 1998, Rufus is just prettier than ever…

On Rufus:

The British Actors We Love

Vinyan starring Rufus Sewell

The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Rufus Sewell and Jessica Biel

Vinyan: Starring Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart

Posted on February 13, 2010 Written by ripitup

Vinyan with Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart

What a weird and pointless movie. There were moments I liked, so I can’t say the entire movie was crappy. But if made a collage of scenes I liked, it would probably be about 15-20 minutes.

Now, I was hoping to watch an intense psychological thriller. The premise is interesting, the name is right, the location is perfect. Hell, you have Rufus Sewell in one of the lead roles. So had the storytelling been alright, the movie would be fine – even with Emmanuelle Béart.

And Emma-please, Emma- have the extra from your lip sucked and eat a little. Pirates of the Caribbean ghosts looked more in shape. And no, she is not playing a ghost.

Jeanne (Emmanulle Béart) and Paul (Rufus Sewell) are a married couple who lost their child Joshua to Tsunami. One night, Jeanne sees a video footage shot in Burma and believes she saw Joshua in there. Despite all logic, Paul has to support her decision eventually, because she is barely holding to her sanity. And as slim as the chances are, what if it really was him? It is not a thought a loving father can shake off, so he travels to Burma with her. Of course, their journey costs them a lot, with all the crooks around and with Jeanne becoming more and more irrational. It is not a journey Paul would have taken; had he known the circumstances…

If you are seriously into artistic and somewhat experimental film-making, with longer and more repetitive scenes than necessary, with promising gloom that slowly leaves itself to boring long silences…Yeah, this is your movie. I am a Rufus Sewell fan but I can’t bear to recommend it. Not if your reward would be to date him, that is.

Seriously, though. The movie tries to be a genre-bender: a heavily dramatic, spooky psychological thriller with characters slowly bordering on insanity… Had it worked, it would have been a masterpiece. But it fails miserably.

3/10. (IMDB is far more generous with 5.6)

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel

Posted on February 9, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell. I take this magician over The Prestige's two competing ones any day...

When Eisenheim was a young boy, he had two life-defining experiences. First, he met a magician that opened his eyes to a mysterious and alluring world. Second, he became best friends and fell in love with a girl called Sophie, who was way above his social class.

When he grows up (Edward Norton), he comes back to Vienna. He starts putting on sold-out shows that amaze and entertain everybody. His success intrigues the chief police (Paul Giamatti) and pisses the hell out of the crown prince (Rufus Sewell) who is usually quick to expose any “magic” and he has the services of the chief at his disposal.

The Illusionist, Edward Norton — Edward Norton as Einsenheim. He is just...well..magical.

Eisenheim isn’t intimidated by either of them. He is extremely frustrated to realize that he still has deep feelings for Sophie (Jessica Biel), who is expected to marry the crown prince.

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel — The Illusionist. Mark my words: The Orange Tree. You will like this trick.

I dare not say any longer- I am scared to give any spoilers.

Why should you see this?

* From the moment this movie starts, it takes, it takes you in. Edward Norton is absolutely amazing and graceful as the smart, talented and romantic Eisenheim.

Paul Giamatti in The Illusionist. He creates more than enough trouble for Eisenheim and Sophie.

* Paul Giamatti is just brilliant as the police who we can’t tell whether he is going to go all evil on us to serve the prince or he will respect intelligence, love and true character.

Rufus Sewell in The Illusionist — So you are telling me there is a mysterious movie with a beautiful setting and a clever script and the cast has Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. I have nothing against Jessica Biel- she is lovely. And you also have Rufus Sewell as the bad guy? Boy, I love this movie!!

*Oh, the Crown Prince is evil. The performance of Sewell is really cool as usual. Shame that he had to cover his face with all the mustache and beard but hey, all the (male) charm and beauty belongs to Edward Norton here.

What you need to know about the movie is that, it is a smart)drama/ thriller/romance. I love it much, much more than The Prestige. Prestige plays all its smartypants cards to soon, drives up your expectations- only to disappoint in the end. This movie does not have one irrelevant line or scene. It might have fewer twists but it never disappoints. I’d say at 7.7 on IMDB, it is underrated.

Other Edward Norton

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/the-painted-veil-with-naomi-watts-and-edward-norton/

Other Giamatti

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/shoot-em-up/

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/duplicity/