Tom's Mini Movie Reviews. Years a Slave fully deserves its Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay of 2. It's based on the 1. Solomon Northup, a free black Northerner who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1.
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British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Northup, and Kenyan- Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o won an Oscar for her supporting role as a young slave frequently used and abused by her master. British director Steve Mc. Queen and writer John Ridley pull no punches in bringing this harrowing drama to the screen. When its authenticity is hard to watch, the camera does not waver, giving these skilled actors time to wear their roles like skin. Northup's ordeal is a rare first- person account of slavery authored by an educated black man who was born a free American before falling into America's holocaust. This time, life as we know it is threatened by solar flares that overheat the Earth's core and destabilize the crust. The title refers to the Mayan calendar, which supposedly stops at the year 2.
But don't expect any scholarly lessons in history or science from this movie. It's pure special- effects fireworks as things fall apart and entire continents meet their doom. Of course, someone has a plan to save mankind. The only actor who brings an appropriate level of farce to this picture is Woody Harrelson, who plays a wacky radio talk- show host. Everyone else tries very hard to keep a straight face. This is the second time Penn has been flayed by a heavy- handed director who thinks that abrupt jump cuts within scenes are avant- garde filmmaking.
Moral: life goes on. He struggles to tie up loose ends and endure the dread of his suddenly bleak future. He's not a sympathetic figure, because the only thing he truly regrets is getting caught.
Just when the story appears to be reaching an explosive climax, there's a stupid fight scene, followed by an ambiguous did- he- or- didn't- he ending. Through it all, the post- 9/1. Overall, it's a good effort that never quite resolves itself. Like Living Dead, it's wantonly gross and violent, and it flaunts its low- budget production. In both films, the main character wakes up in a London hospital bed, discovers that an apocalyptic event has transpired while he was unconscious, becomes the surrogate parent of a teenage girl, does battle with strange creatures, watches helplessly as a major English city burns, flees on a desperate road trip, and seeks refuge at a military base.
The main difference is the source of the trouble: in Triffids it was weeds from outer space, and this time it's a voracious disease. Like most modern horror flicks, the scariest thing about 2. Days Later is the anticipation of another gross- out scene.
Russell Crowe plays outlaw Ben Wade (portrayed by Glenn Ford in the original), oddly mixing humor with sociopathy. Crowe veers from amusement to manipulation to violence, often in the same scene. Some lines hint of modern psychobabble and verge on breaking character. Christian Bale, the surprising star of Rescue Dawn (2. Alvin And The Chipmunks 4 (2015) Video Download. He plays Dan Evans (portrayed by Dan Heflin in the original), a good- guy rancher who agrees to help escort the outlaw prisoner to a train bound for Yuma, Arizona.
Ben Foster plays a chilling Charlie Prince—a sadistic gunslinger who tries to free Ben Wade. At times, the dialogue is a little too breezy, and I found the conclusion unrealistic. But overall, this picture is a thrill. Steve Carell plays an electronics- store employee who is unsuccessful with women. He's handsome, intelligent, and well built, so the movie explains his dilemma by portraying him as a unstylish super- nerd whose apartment is filled with collectable action figures, toys, and posters.
Even more absurdly, he can't drive a car, even though he lives in L. A., so his primary transportation is a bicycle. It's obvious that the film is stacking the deck, and it doesn't stop there. When his buddies discover his sexual status, they try to get him laid, with occasionally humorous but always expected results. Before long he meets two attractive women who are hot for his bod, and the movie ends with a bizarre scene reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (2. If your expectations are low, you'll like it better.
Recruited by Dodgers owner Branch Rickey from the Negro Leagues, Robinson played a year with a minor- league team in Montreal before moving up to Brooklyn. It was not a smooth path.
Robinson faced racism from every direction—fans, team owners, managers, opposing players, and even his own teammates. Chadwick Boseman makes his big- screen debut with an exceptional performance as Robinson, and Harrison Ford is wonderfully gruff as Rickey.
This film pulls no punches and portrays a transition that was pivotal not just in baseball history, but also in American history. Like many sports movies, however, it can't resist ending with the clich. Although it can be criticized for barely mentioning the high- finance schemes hatched by big banks and derivatives traders, the intricate details of collateralized debt obligations and credit- default swaps would only confuse most viewers. Instead, writer/director Ramin Bahrani focuses on the personal story of an evicted homeowner and a predatory real- estate agent who flips foreclosed houses in Florida.
It would be easy to cast these characters as good guys and bad guys, but 9. Homes depicts a more complex morality. The victim becomes a predator, and the predatory agent has his reasons.
Andrew Garfield as the former homeowner and Michael Shannon as the real- estate agent have their starring roles down cold in this skillfully made film. He's a man (stiffly played by Hugh Grant) who doesn't have to work because of an inherited income stream. But liberation from the daily grind has turned him into a directionless, moribund consumer. Then a young boy and a single mother come into his life and turn everything upside down. It sounds formulaic, and the last reel is a bit too sugar- coated, but the snappy dialogue and a few plot twists create a story that is frequently funny and warm. Jack Nicholson, with surprising subtlety, plays a newly retired insurance man.
After some unexpected tragedy, he begins to doubt his life has accomplished anything of lasting value. The verdict comes slowly because he's not accustomed to self- examination. By swinging deftly between drama and comedy, this film explores the meaning of the American dream far better than American Beauty. And it isn't simply a Hollywood smirk at bourgeois America, as claimed by some critics, who have also overblown the nude scene with Kathy Bates. It's a story that will haunt you for a long time.
It tells the story of a young Liverpool man who travels to America and falls in love. But the backdrop is more sinister: the 1. Download Man From Uncle (2015) Movie Hq there. Vietnam War, violent protests, civil rights, assassinations, and alienation. Some scenes are day- glo psychedelic, a homage to the Beatles own films—Magical Mystery Tour (1. Yellow Submarine (1. Others contain subtle references to real historical figures and events. Although the updated music is generally quite good, the storyline tends to be jumpy and overpopulated with characters and subplots.
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) teams again with director Spike Jonze (ditto) to make a film about his struggle to write a film adaptation of Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief, which itself was adapted from an article in the New Yorker. Nicolas Cage excels in a double starring role as Kaufman and his twin brother, Donald. Outstanding supporting actors are Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep. The story has more inner twists than a mobius strip and drags a little near the end, but viewers who like unusual movies will enjoy the ride. Matt Damon stars as a politician who falls in love with a modern dancer (a luminescent Emily Blunt) after a chance meeting.
A second unexpected meeting seems to confirm their mutual attraction. But were their meetings really chance? And would a relationship thwart their life goals and disrupt the march of history?