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The Island starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean & Djimon Hounsou

Posted on August 24, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Island starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean & Djimon Hounsou.

Lincoln 6 Echo (Ewan McGregor) lives in a high-tech facility with many others who have survived a deadly contamination. The survivors have very healthy, productive yet artificial lives where even the “sun rays” are artificially provided.

All people have jobs, and while socializing and friendship are encouraged, anger and physical contact aren’t. All these survivors one day hope to move out to “The Island”- the last contamination-free zone on the planet, a slice of heaven. The lucky ones are chosen by a lottery system.

The place is run by Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean) and he makes sure curiosity doesn’t corrupt the system, and so far only Lincoln is really questioning things. Why do they all have to wear white? Who organizes things? Why can’t they make their own choices or rules?

Luckily for Lincoln, there is a supervisor (Steve Buscemi) that remembers what the real world was like and doesn’t mind talking to Lincoln about it. And it is during these conversations that we realize the survivors barely know anything outside of what they have been thought- they don’t know things like slang, kissing, sex, law, greed or cloning…

While Lincoln longs for a more fulfilling life, he is content with one thing: his friendship with Jordan 2 Delta (Scarlett Johansson), a female survivor he has formed a very close bond with. So he is not exactly happy when she is the next lottery winner. But his curiosity leads him to a shocking discovery: their health and well-being only concern the doctors and the supervisors until they fill their purpose: be it delivering a baby for a mother, donation of organs…And “The Island” is a code name for death.

He wastes no time in running away with Jordan, with all the facility guards after them and later the extremely determined mercenaries (lead by Djimon Hounsou’s character.)

As hard as it is, they realize that their survival instinct and desire to live overcome any shortcomings they might have.

Like sci-fi/action with a Realistic Romance & Critically Acclaimed Actors? See The Island.

Written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and directed by Michael Bay, The Island is a sci-fi action that delivers a friendship/romance that feels more genuine than many dramas or romantic films. It also has its funny moments, without overplaying the elements and trying slapstick. It has a great cast, and you can hardly be disappointed when Buscemi is the panicking yet helpful sidekick (Desperado, anyone?) and Sean Bean is a heartless villain.

I especially loved the innocence Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson integrated into their performances.

Fun Notes:

– You get double Ewan McGregor when Lincoln meets his human counterpart, Tom Lincoln: nerdy, Scottish,immature, and not morally developed.

– Real life Jordan is a famous model, and she first discovers kissing when she sees a commercial with her kissing another male model (Trent Ford.)

– McGregor is 13 years older than Johansson, though I don’t think you can tell.

Please feel free to leave spoiler-full comments. : )

Also on the cast:

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Gorgeous, Entertaining & Heartfelt

The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and Kim Catrall

Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz

Iron Man 2 starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke and Don Cheadle

Scarlett Johansson Trivia: Star of Iron Man 2 , Match Point & The Prestige

Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature

Recommended Movies – Sci-Fi/Action focused on Human Nature

Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature

Gattaca starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law

Golden Globes 2011- The Best of Host Ricky Gervais

Posted on January 23, 2011 Written by ripitup

The 68^th Golden Globes – Best of Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais at 2011's Golden Globes: He was outrageous, politically incorrect and downright hilarious! image via tvverdict.com

If there is one thing good about not being a Hollywood star, it is that Ricky Gervais won’t get to joke about you at the Golden Globes. The guy is hilarious, but let’s face it, he is not gentle and he is definitely not politically correct. And we love him for it. But I am not sure I’d want to be at the receiving end of his jokes.

Here’re my favorite Ricky Gervais lines from the 68th Golden Globes – the words may not be exact but the punch lines are intact:

on Charlie Sheen:

– It’s gonna be a night of partying and heavy drinking, or as Charlie Sheen calls it: “breakfast”. Wow, so… Let’s get this straight. What he did was he picked up a “porn star”, paid it to have dinner with him, introduced her to his ex-wife: “how do you do?” went to a hotel, got drunk, got naked, trashed the place while she was locked in the cupboard… that was a Monday! What did he do on New Year’s Eve?

on “The Walking Dead” Hugh Hefner and his 24-year-old bride-to-be:

– Talking of the “Walking Dead”, congratulations to Hugh Hefner, who’s getting married at the age of 84 to 24-year-old beauty Crystal Harris. When she was asked why she was marrying him she said: “‘Cause he lied about his age. He told me he was 94.

on Robert Downey Jr.:

– I love this next presenter. He’s so cool. He’s the star of “Iron Man”, “Two Girls and a Guy”, “Wonder Boys”… Sorry, are these porn films? “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, “Bowfinger”, really? Here… “Up the Academy”. Come on… He was in all those films, but many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail. Please welcome Robert Downey Jr.

on Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor and “Scientology”

– Also not nominated “I love you Philip Morris”. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor: two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay, so the complete opposite of some famous scientologist thing. Um, probably. My lawyers helped me to get away with that joke; they’re not here.

on Tom Hanks and Tim Allen:

– What can I say about our next two presenters? The first is an actor, producer, writer and director whose movies have grossed over three and a half billion dollars at the box office. He’s won two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes for his powerful and varied performances starring in such films as “Philadelphia”, “Forrest Gump”, “Cast Away”, “Apollo 13” and “Saving Private Ryan”. The other is… Tim Allen.

on The Tourist and the nominations of Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp … AND Cher

– It was a big year for 3D movies: “Toy Story”, “Despicable Me”, “Tron”. Seems like everything this year was three dimensional… except the characters in “The Tourist”. Uh, I feel bad about that joke. I… no… I’ll tell you what… I’m jumping on the bandwagon ’cause I haven’t even seen “The Tourist”. Who has? But, no… It must be good ’cause it’s nominated tonight. So shut up, ok? And I’d like to squash the ridiculous rumor going around that the only reason “The Tourist” was nominated was so that the Hollywood Foreign Press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. That is rubbish, that is not the only reason, they also accepted bribes… No. All that happened was some of them were taken to see Cher in concert, how the hell is that a bribe? Really? “You wanna go to see Cher?” “No.” “Why not?” “‘Cause it’s not 1975.

on Robert Pattinson and Olivia Wilde

– The next presenters are very young, thin and beautiful. Which is just as well because they are presenting a category no one in America cares about: Best Foreign Language Film!

on Sex and The City 2

– There were a lot of big films that didn’t get nominated this year, nothing for “Sex and the City 2”. I was sure the Golden Globe for special effects would go to the team that airbrushed that poster. Um, great job! Girls, we know how old you are: I saw one of you in an episode of “Bonanza”.

on Scarlett Johansson & Mel Gibson

Our first presenter is beautiful, talented and Jewish, apparently. Mel Gibson told me that. He’s obsessed. Please welcome Scarlett Johansson.

on Lost:

– One of the biggest events on TV this year was the finale of “Lost”. One of my favorites. And all the questions were answered… yeah. I have to say, though, It was a complicated finale. I’m not sure I totally understood it all, but from what I can work out, I’m pretty sure the fat one ate them all.

– **

Also one of my favorites, he presented Bruce Willis as Ashton Kutcher’s dad!

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

Posted on August 31, 2010 Written by ripitup

In Good Company starring Dennis Quaid, Scarlett Johansson and Topher Grace. Written and directed by Paul Weitz. 2004.

Dan (Dennis Quaid) is a 51-year-old successful ad executive. He is happily married with 2 daughters and has been working at the same company for over 20 years. And recently he has received two life-altering news: his wife (Marg Helgenberger) is pregnant and his company has been recently been bought by a corporation so he now has a new boss, Carter (Topher Grace). The problem is Carter is half his age, has no experience in advertising and he is under constant pressure to lay people off, Dan making the top of the list.

Carter is a total workaholic. But when it comes to his social life, he is alone. His wife (Selma Blair) dumps him and he tries to form an unlikely friendship with Dan. But Dan isn’t particularly fond of this rookie who has his job, his office and who keeps firing his friends. And his beloved 18-year-old daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) has moved to New York to study at NYU and she starts seeing Carter…

In Good Company is simply a beautiful, bittersweet and funny film where art imitates life. I saw the film for the second time last night. The first time was when the movie had first hit the theaters and I wasn’t all that impressed. I had found it ordinary. I guess I was fooled by the movie’s taglines :“He’s rich, young and handsome. He’s in love with you and he’s your dad’s boss.” – which does make it sound like a romantic comedy. And I guess at 20, I was expecting a fun romantic comedy rather than a true-to-life drama with fun parts, so I was disappointed.

At 26, I loved every minute of it. At 26, I am trying to build my life as a freelancer, so that I won’t have to go through what Dan goes through at his age. And almost all my friends are trying to be a hotshot like Carter, without thinking anything through.

I loved how it wasn’t a romantic comedy and how it wasn’t focused on Alex and Carter’s relationship but the effects it has on the relationship with Alex and Dan. But most importantly, I loved the friendship and alliance eventually getting formed between Dan and Carter and how Carter really wants what Dan has built for himself.

It helps that the cast is fantastic. You might have seen Topher Grace in the comedic TV series That 70’s show where he starred as Eric Forman (1998-2006). You might also watch Grace in Valentine’s Day. And of course there is the always charming Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson.

Written and directed by Paul Weitz. 6.8 on IMDB. Depending on where you are in your life, it could very well get an 8.

Favorite Quote:

Carter: Dan, you seem to have the perfect marriage. How do you do it?
Dan: You just pick the right one to be in the foxhole with, and then when you’re outside of the foxhole you keep your dick in your pants.
Carter: That’s poetic.

Recommended film:

Up in the Air starring George Clooney

Other Dennis Quaid Movies

The Day After Tomorrow

Yours, mine and ours

Playing by Heart

Other Scarlett Johansson Movies

He is Just Not That Into You

Vicky Christina Barcelona

Iron Man 2

Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz

Posted on July 21, 2010 Written by ripitup

Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johannson and Penélope Cruz. Written and directed by Woody Allen. 2008. Image via:vickycristinabarcelona.files.wordpress.com

There might be spoilers in this review but trust me: there won’t be anything you haven’t predicted from the poster or trailer.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johannson) are good friends who come to Barcelona for the summer. They are pretty opposite when it comes to their views about romance, love and relationships as the film’s narrator (Christopher Evan Welch) informs us: Vicky values commitment and is engaged to be married (to Doug-played by Chris Messina). Cristina loves drama and passion and even though she doesn’t know what she wants from a relationship, she is sure she is not striving for the stability Vicky seems to be so fond of.

With the occasional but not overly intrusive additions from the narrator, we follow the girls to the house (family friend of Vicky’ s- played by Patricia Clarkson) they will be staying at, going to an art gallery and meeting the movie’s leading guy: Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem).While Cristina is fascinated about what he learns about the guy (that he is a painter and had a violent relationship with his ex-wife Maria Elena/played by Penelope Cruz) and his good looks, Vicky seems less than impressed. She seems even less happy when Antonio comes over to meet them and offers to sleep with them both. He offers a weekend trip and obviously it is up to the girls whether they want to have sex or not. While Vicky is outraged, Cristina has loved how upfront Antonio is and finds him absolutely charming. So despite her better senses, Vicky follows Cristina to the place Antonio takes them. However when Cristina gets sick, Vicky is left to spend time with Antonio and to her surprise, she realizes she does want him- a lot!

Guess what happens afterwards? Although Juan Antonio can’t have the threesome he envisioned, he does managed to bed Vicky first and Cristina later- who doesn’t know about the night with Vicky. Now, we have a guilty and confused Vicky, an experimental Cristina who doesn’t even seem to mind when his psychotic ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) comes into the picture. In fact, she even “experiments” with her. Even though this love triangle seems to be working for a while, Mary Elena is highly unstable and neither Vicky nor her fiancé were ever out of the picture.

Written and directed by Woody Allen, this film is easy to watch and is entertaining. However I need to warn you: I am not a Woody Allen fan and most of his films bored me to death as I don’t usually his share his views on relationships or his sense of humor. And for me, Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a popcorn film- an entertaining, light comedy so I totally disagree with IMDB’s genre labels: drama and romance. There is nothing romantic or dramatic about this film. It is a fun little love rectangle to watch with some real eye candy for both sexes, beautiful location that is Barcelona and great music. This film is a nicely told male fantasy. Think about it: a painter charms the pants out of two good friends and one of them would probably have a threesome if the other one had been up for it. Then the experimental girl sleeps with his ex-wife…Seriously! A man gets to have all three women in one movie, two of who have sex with each other and one of these women is Penelope Cruz. The other is Scarlett Johannson. While Javier Bardem is certainly a good-looking guy, he is not that cute. No man is.

Sure, it is a common female fantasy to meet a stranger on exotic soil and have a romantic night or two with him. But those fantasies most often don’t involve best friends, lesbian sex, threesomes and cheating on lovely fiancés. But then again, if your idea of romance and fantasy are anything in line with Woody Allen’s mentality, you will disagree with me. Yes, I disagree with the guy’s outlook on life- he slept with his adopted daughter, for God’s sake!

But I’ll say it again, this movie is a fun comedy. And it does make me want to go to Barcelona. And I’ll rate it a 6/10 (it is rated a 7.4 on IMDB). But if you don’t watch this movie, you won’t have missed a thing.

Note: There is one thing romantic about this film: Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz started dating during the shoot and now they are married.