Rick's Talk

Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen

A Serious Man

michael stuhlberg i feel will get nominted for a oscar for his breakthrough role here,as larry gopnik going through family problems in the latest coen brothers film, as usuall, thecoens trademarks are on show, and im guessing will infuriate non fans,but coen fans willget a lot out of this, like turtorro in barton fink, and william macy in fargo, stulberg has created a marvellous sad charactor, and the film telling so much, watch this andwatch it again, i feel ill get a lot more out of it

The Informant!

matt damon is exellent as the informant of the piece, letting the f.b.i know of a price fixing scam in his company,and from there getting inway over his head, damon is this film, but some superb direction from soderdberg, using his loose style seen in his films like traffic, the limey and oceans films, the film flys by as we watch damon bumble his way, through plot,and also we learn not all is what it seems, a exellent score, which adds a lot, and nicely set early 90s setting, even scott bacula coming back from the dead, as the f.b.i agent in charge, is exellent to watch, soderdberg has shown with this type of material, a great film can be made

A Hard Day's Night

An influencial film starring and revolving around the much more than just influencial "The Beatles".

A comedy on one level and a stark depiction of rebellion and newly found freedom in the 60's on another. The four Beatles members; John, Paul, George and Ringo not only have a laugh on screen and invite us along to laugh too but help portray a serious message the film is gives out. It shows that you should be yourself, do what you want and not answer to anybody who tries to control you.

The screenplay (although not ad-libbed as thought) by Alun Owen (who is almost certainly using lines the members would have said as he hung around with them as he wrote it) is fun and wild and nver gets boring as the pace is nevr slowed. Being chased on foot by some uptight policemen is one classic scene that is a good example of both the comedic side and the anti-establishment side the film presents to us.

The four members act well, as they are ffectibly playing themselves and I would havr to say Ringo gets the best scenes. When he has a conversation with a young boy by the river about getting out and living life is both touching and observent of the times and what was changing.

This is a great film. It helps to have prior knowledge (and I mean more than just knowing the four members) to enjoy this film and should have at least sampled some of the songs first (I can't see why you would watch this film before doing so anyway) and is a real delight to watch and has some great use of Beatles songs throughout. Who doesn't love the title song A Hard Day's Night and that immortal guitar cord that starts off the song AND the film?

Othello

The difficult thing with a Shakespeare adaption is that it is often hard to tell what it is you really love.The fantastic dialogue or the film itself. Although I'd say this is a pretty good mix, I believe the reason why I am rating it slightly higher is because of the Shakespeare's script. However, the actors are cast finely and they speak the hard lines almost fluently.

Othello is one of the most famous stories and tragedies of all time, that is as relvent today as it was 400 years ago. Although the actual context may not be clear for everyone today, since the story is set in a conflict between Cyrpus, Turkey and Venice (then not Italy) that happened in the mid/late 16th Century, the gist is easy enough to follow. Besides, this is very much belittled by the powerful tragedy that unfolds.

The relevence may have changed slightly. Some may view the story as portraying racism and the effects it has. Yes, this works today but back in the 1600's it was not as rife and therefore I doubt that was the main point. This is very much second nature to how the classes are portrayed. Othello is not turned against for skin colour but because he is of a different class, especially compared to his rich and younger wife, Desdemona (the age difference seems to have been overlooked in this version, instead focusing more on jealousy). Although his age is dismissed for the other, more prominant themes (he and his wife could be the same age for all we know), Othello's insercurities at his class status are still adressed and from this we see how easily he can be manipulated, which all appears very clearly in the film, avoiding much confusion that often comes with Shakespeare adaptions.

The centre villain, Iago, a cold man who acts nice to fool everyone close to him to continue his plan to bring down Othello, is portrayed in this way perfectly by Kenneth Branagh and is the way Shakespeare probably envisioned him. This unpleasent two faced mixture of personalities makes Iago seem even more hatable and a heightens sense of dramtic irony is effectivly achieved through this portrayal as we get to see both sides and how manipulative he can be by constantly changing his person; he is nice to the characters but evil when he has soliloquies, giving hints to the audience that his character is not what he is or as he famously quotes "I am not what I am".

The rich dialogue and fantastic story is what makes this film. The directing is above average but is nothing spectacular and some of the performances aren't that noteworthy. Only Fishburne and Branagh stand out amongst the main cast and some people in minor roles (Michael Sheen is Lodovico is fantastic) and Michael Maloney as Roderigo is great.

The high rating is for the script adaption, some well cast actors, intense editing (when Othello has a fit is highly memorable in this aspect) and a score that suits every scene from calm to loud and menacing. A great adaption for many reasons and a poorer one for others but definitely worth a watch for the story alone, of which it stays mostly faithful and does good justice.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Ambitiously titled sequel to Twilight (it's a saga now?) follows the continuing adventures of Bella and Edward, with a third key character, Jacob, thrown in for good measure. Stale soap opera plot is just like every love triangle story you've ever seen. I kept thinking I was watching an episode of Days of Our Lives except with vampires and werewolves, of course. On a positive note, the cinematography is stunning as the whole film has the look of quality. However, as in the first story, there are several unintentionally funny parts. Apparently Jacob and his crew seem to be allergic to wearing clothing. Fans of the series will probably be interested in these characters, but all others will be bored

Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters

"Poetry should be written in a splash of blood." Anyone who enjoys a challenging, highly stylized movie about the intersection of art and life should see this. It's a superbly directed film from Paul Schrader about infamous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, who committed seppuku in November 1970. Schrader entwines Mishima's fiction with his personal life, his need to express himself not only in prose but also through his body. Mishima tried to live the ancient way of the Japanese samurai in a culture he thought was becoming debased by Western modern values. MISHIMA has a stunning climax, a fantastic score by Philip Glass, terrific acting from Ken Ogata in the lead role, and a cool (uncredited) voiceover narration by Roy Scheider. It is truly one of a kind, and Schrader's personal favorite among his films.

Daens

A gripping story about politics, religion, poverty, corruption, greed and society. The directing is just outstanding, you really get into the movie, you feel real hate, compassion, understanding,.. and allot more due to Stijn Coninx's fantastic directing job. And the movie has Jan Declair's best performance, i might even call it one of the best performances ever! It was really amazing. Definitely one of the best Belgian movies ever !!

The Tenant

a dark , psycho dramatic film ...maybe the only film , i had nightmares after watching ...

Kramer vs. Kramer

What a performances by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep even the boy Justin Henry was terrific ! They definitely deserved they're oscars. And the editing is great to, they didnt got stuck to long in a scene but they jumped at the right time to the other which made it very amusing to watch. The fantastic screenplay and the great directing turned this into one of the best drama's ever !!

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Emotionally uncompromising portrait of an overweight, illiterate inner city teen who has just become pregnant with her second child. Unflinching study is so raw and harrowing, it?s difficult to watch in parts. Be warned, this is grim stuff. Director Lee Daniels wisely lightens the proceedings with sporadic fantasy sequences that provide some relief, even humor, to the cruel details of her life. Extraordinary newcomer Gabourey Sidibe as Precious heads up a cast that is uniformly excellent. Also of special note is standup comedian Mo'Nique in a courageously grotesque performance as her abusive mother. Impressive drama takes the viewer to places that will make you uncomfortable, but it presents her circumstances honestly and with humanity.

2012

This is a movie of epic proportions. Like the whole world goes down. Overall it was an okay/average movie. First thing is that it wasn't a great movie, but it certainly wasn't bad like a lot of people said it was.
Obviously, the first positive of this film was the special effects it had. The CG was amazing, like the best I've ever seen. Everything was so massive, it's actually quite scary to think about it, how they created and destroyed the earth so realistically. Los Angeles was ruined so amazingly, it just stuns you. The acting and character development wasn't that good. The movie was very emotional since of course this movie is about the apocalypse, but the main characters themselves didn't show too much emotion. At least not as much as expected. Storyline wasn't too original and was seen before, but the super cheesy dialogue actually fit in very well with the scenes.
For those people who rated it under a 4 or something because of character development, one bad aspect doesn't bring down an entire movie, and if you rated it because of that, it's probably just a rant.

Play It Again, Sam

"I'm short enough and ugly enough to succeed on my own."

Avatar

Inhabitants of Earth are engaged in the colonization of planet Pandora which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Lush, computer generated video game style movie is a technically dazzling light show, particularly in its rendering of the foreign world. Indeed there is a palpable sense of wonder as paraplegic Jake is able to walk and experience the planet's vegetation and wildlife for the first time. Unfortunately the story is simplistic in the extreme. Characters are written in broad strokes. Actor Stephen Lang plays Colonel Miles Quaritch with such a unrepentant contempt for life, he barely registers as a human being. Ultimately the entire narrative feels like an apology for European imperialism, and specifically for the plight of the Native American. It's a shame director James Cameron's long awaited follow-up to Titanic didn't employ a more original story, because the film is a stunning breakthrough of visual technology.

Zombieland

Harry Brown

following gran torino, another old man, taking law into his own hands, but where eastwood dealt with, the question of foreigners, and his dislike, but getting to like and ge on, here caine is fed up with his own kind and there total disrespect in hisarea, when his only close friend is murdered, he takes law into own hands,and with a back ground in special forces and northern ireland behind him, takes action, even though out of depth and breath. caine is exellent, aglimpse of get carter in there. the situations feel real, the hoodie kids genuinly realistic and scary, and showing the britain today. with the cops trying but not getting far. harry is told, but you were in northern ireland, yes he said, they were fighting for a cause. these kids are just bored. too true

Cold Souls

like in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,we see a world where theres a company specialising in brain work, here taking your soul and storing it, paul giamatti plays himself who takes up procedure when a play hes doing isnt working, and from here goes on a journey, without his soul, trying other souls and of course wanting soul back,but soul is stolen, giamatti is great here, playing up his self a bit, and on his status as not exactly a list, al pacino is the actor whos soul is wanted here,and many more actors after. if anything its not eternalsunshine in greatness down to direction, its not as inventive, but seems to borrow from kauffman, im not sure the sauce material, if its original or based on book, but do see influences, a enjoyable film throughout, especially for giamatti performance, check it out