By Christopher Stipp
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Robin Hood – Free Passes
Who lives in Arizona and wants to see Russell Crowe dispatch dirty peasants with a bow and arrow?
I sure do. After loving every last morsel of the last Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott team-up this film at least gets an emotional buy-in simply because lighting may very well strike twice.
For those that would like to see this film Tuesday, May 11th, at 7:00 at Harkins Fashion Square please shoot me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and let me know you’re interested in winning some tickets. I don’t have many so get those entries in quick.
And, for those that need an explanation of what this movie has in store for you, read the film’s description:
Oscar winner Russell Crowe stars as the legendary figure known by generations as “Robin Hood,” whose exploits have endured in popular mythology and ignited the imagination of those who share his spirit of adventure and righteousness. In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. And whether thief or hero, one man from humble beginnings will become an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.
The untitled Robin Hood adventure chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richard’s army against the French. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion (Oscar winner Cate Blanchett), a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct injustices under the sheriff.
With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. This unlikeliest of heroes and his allies set off to protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war and return glory to England once more.
Tokyo Sonata – DVD Review
Such an endearing film, this movie from Kiyoshi Kurosawa explores some of the more quiet aspects of live in modern Japan.
One of the funny things about Kurosawa is that most who do know his name know it from his work in the horror genre. A movie that departs greatly from that wheelhouse, Tokyo Sonata is an overlooked gem from last year that not only reaffirmed my own sense of what it means to be a family but that Kurosawa knows how to transcend cultural mores and tell a story about a man who loses his job and tries to hold on to the lie as kids, wife unravel before his eyes.
It’s a bittersweet movie that is genuinely funny but it’s also an introspective film that is gorgeous to look at while seeing that there is some real pathos happening before you. The performances are uniformly excellent especially Kyoko Koizumi, who plays the put upon matriarch of the family, who becomes something of a force to reckon with as she evolves in this family that tries to pull through what is ostensibly the most difficult time in their lives.
Do not miss what I wish I could have seen in the theaters, the lush cinematography showing the natural ebb and flow of life in Japan, and a movie that can speak to what modern families have to deal with in a time that knows no geographical or social boundaries.
About the film:
FROM INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED DIRECTOR KIYOSHI KUROSAWA COMES A “HAUNTING AND MASTERFUL” FILM, WINNER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS CANNES UN CERTAIN REGARD JURY PRIZE
Best known in the United States for unsettling horror films like PULSE and CURE, internationally recognized director Kiyoshi Kurosawa ventures away from the genre with TOKYO SONATA. Probing the dark side of human nature and the social problems that confront contemporary Japan, this highly acclaimed 2009 theatrical release was awarded the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, as well as capturing Best Film and Best Screenwriter at the Asian Film Awards.
Equal parts social commentary and situational comedy, the atmospheric TOKYO SONATA is a story of an ordinary Japanese family of four. The father, Ryuhei Sasaki, like any other Japanese businessman, is faithfully devoted to his work. His wife, Megumi, left on her own to manage the house, struggles to retain a bond with her oldest son in college, Takashi, and the youngest, Kenji, a sensitive boy in elementary school. From the exterior the family is seemingly normal, save for the tiny schisms that exist within. However, after Ryuhei unexpectedly loses his job, the quiet unraveling of the family beings.
Facing completely unfamiliar circumstances, Ryuhei decides not to tell his family and begins his lonely sojourn into the world of the secretly unemployed. Along with many other businessmen who save face by concealing their shameful reality from family and friends, Ryuhei begins to depart each day for work, when, in fact, he kills time in libraries and parks. His lies and torment go unnoticed by Takashi, who becomes increasingly despondent and alienated from his family, and Megumi, who can no longer summon the will to keep her family together. And, the longer his charade goes on, the less control he has as patriarch, creating an even deeper divide between him and his family.
TOKYO SONATA is presented in Japanese with English subtitles, and includes a “Making Of” Featurette, Cannes Festival Footage and Panel Interviews and Interviews with the Cast and Crew.
California Dreamin’ – DVD Review
When I was in Ireland I picked up a book called “Turn Left at Greenland.”
It was a book that talked about what America looks like through the eyes of a foreign news correspondent living and working within our borders. It was an odd thing, seeing our country from someone that doesn’t call this home but it’s perfectly apt in order to describe the feeling of watching this movie from filmmaker, and Romanian, Cristian Nemescu.
The movie deals with a military intelligence officer, played with deft playfulness by Armand Assante, who finds himself stuck on the way to Kosovo in some faceless Romanian that could be any number of small hamlets in this part of the world, that has to navigate his way out of being held almost hostage in a farce that at once illuminates what we look like to others and how we deal with ourselves. The ugly American, uncouth around those who are simply living their own lives as we try and impose our will to fit our needs, is on full display here but the reason this movie excels masterfully is because how sly it is. It’s not enough to come right out and say what’s on this film’s mind, this movie plays with your expectations and lets the action on the screen tell the story.
Is America the strong willed bully who likes to play the part of imperialist? If Nemescu’s movie is any indication it is but there are bright spots to be found within its stubbornness. Make no mistake about it, either. Nemescu skewers his own culture as well, pointing out that while we have our own problems no one is perfect by any stretch.
It’s disappointing that this is Nemescu’s only film, he died in a car accident before being able to properly edit this film down before it made its bow at Cannes in 2007, but this is a gem of a movie that talks global politics that still have meaning today in an age when this film explains so much about our involvement inside Pakistan and Iraq.
About the film:
THE AWARD-WINNING ““ AND ONLY ““ FILM FROM ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT YOUNG DIRECTORS, WHO DIED BEFORE ITS RELEASE
In the tradition of great black comedies about war ““ from Dr. Strangelove and M*A*S*H to Three Kings and In the Loop ““ comes CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’, one of the masterpieces of what’s been called the Romanian new wave. This vital and globally honored movie was the only feature film from brilliant young director Cristian Nemescu.
The fact-based story proves that truth is stranger ““ and more absurd ““ than fiction. It’s 1999, and the bloody civil war in Yugoslavia is underway. A platoon of American Marines has arrived in Constanta , Romania , with a shipment of military radar meant to be deployed near the Serbian border in support of NATO air raids. No-nonsense Captain Doug Jones (Golden Globe winner Armand Assante in a career performance) is in charge of transporting the equipment by train across Romania , but when the train is stopped in a remote village, Jones and his men must contend with the corrupt and terrifying stationmaster, Doiaru (Razvan Vasilescu), who’s also the local strongman and black market operator. The Marines become the “guests” of a poor village filled with frustrating bureaucracy, sexy young women on the make, and odd pop culture celebrations. Can Americans really bring order and hope to this chaotic part of the world, or is that just California dreamin’?
Five Minutes of Heaven – DVD Review
This is a movie that you ought to seek out and enjoy for the high level of screenwriting and visual flair for cinematography.
A movie about two men, James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson, Catholic and Protestant respectively, who both had a part in the fighting that took place in the mid-1970s as these two religious groups fought a bloody war of politics and religion. All grown up, they are being chauffeured for a face-to-face, televised meeting. The real draw of the film, then, is how these two men find themselves here as they reflect on the events of their youth.
Filled with murder and rage, both men have their own sins to atone for but Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of the indescribably good Downfall, looks at these two people not to be pitied but to be understood. Screenwriter Guy Hibbert’s script is filled with moments that let you know this is a writer’s film, not a movie based on the quick cuts and violence you would expect out of a Tom Clancy novel if it were to be written about this chance meeting.
The rage that still simmers beneath the thin veneer of older age is deliciously depicted and honestly makes the case as to why there is some pain that will never be sated until revenge is exacted. But the movie is so much more than revenge fantasies and recompense, it’s a movie that should leave you thinking about how our own conflicts, no matter how personal they may be, can find a way to be exercised. I found my palms sweaty more than once and it’s due to a movie that wants to personalize, not dehumanize, it’s characters.
Seek this film out if a jangling Irish accent and the allure of a movie that wants to take its time with you is something you desire. Revenge is a dish best served cold but what happens after it’s on the table? This movie tells you exactly what happens.
About the film:
IN A PLACE WHERE BLOODY CONFLICT IS ALL MANY PEOPLE HAVE EVER KNOWN, SOME WOUNDS MAY PROVE TOO DEEP FOR TIME TO HEAL
Liam Neeson Stars in the Latest Triumph From Oscar® Nominee Oliver Hirschbiegel.
“The past is not dead. In fact, it isn’t even past.” The famous line from Faulkner could serve to describe FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN, the acclaimed suspenseful thriller about the long-lasting pain caused by the Troubles in Northern Ireland . That violent conflict has been the basis for many memorable movies, but few as gripping as Oscar-nominated director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film, which features career performances by international stars Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt.
FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN is based on true events. It’s 1975 and conflict has been underway for years between the predominantly Catholic nationalists who want to end British control of Northern Ireland and the predominantly Protestant loyalists. Alistair Little, a 16-year-old Protestant member of the Ulster Volunteer Force, is anxious to earn his stripes and, along with his group, is given the go-ahead to kill an Ulster Catholic as reprisal for IRA attacks. Their target is 19-year-old Jim Griffen. The murder is witnessed by Griffen’s 11-year-old brother Joe.
Three decades later, Little (Neeson, star of “Taken” and “Schindler’s List”) has been rehabilitated and released from prison, while Joe Griffen (Nesbitt, who led the cast of Paul Greengrass’ Northern Ireland historical drama “Bloody Sunday”) remains traumatized and bitter. When a television talk show brings them together for a live on-air reconciliation, two men haunted by one moment must come face to face with their own worlds of pain and violence ““ and the ever-present threat of revenge.
FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN won the Directing Award and the World Cinema Screenwriting Award, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Oliver Hirschbiegel previously directed the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar nominee “Downfall,” about Hitler’s final days, and the sci-fi thriller “The Invasion,” starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. BAFTA-winning screenwriter Guy Hibbert’s impressive body of work includes “Omagh” and “Prime Suspect.” Also in the FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN cast is Anamaria Marinca, star of the Cannes Golden Palm winner “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s “Youth Without Youth.”
Iron Man 2 – Review
When last we left our hero, he was on a podium proclaiming himself to be the real iron man. There was much fanfare and celebration but how does Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) fare in issue 2 of this comic book character come to life?
Well, considering this is perhaps the most expensive romantic comedy ever made I would say it’s a success on multiple levels.
That’s one of the things you’ll notice, if you’re feeling your way through Jon Favreau’s latest, a real sense that this is a pure four quadrant movie that appeals to every single, last demographic. It seems made with the intent to fully embrace every last man, woman, and child with its focus on bringing the most amount of action with the most amount of family friendly permissible T&A along with peppering the dialogue with enough mature bon mots and double entendres to make any parent squirmy. There seems to be a real need to be liked on all levels going on within this picture that you can’t help but feel that Favreau has delivered a movie that gives the people what they want, all of them, and, what’s remarkable, there isn’t any slack in this film. Every moment is earned, every line pushing this film to its eventual breaking point. I think, and if there is any indication that this movie isn’t as good as it could have been I couldn’t point it out, the movie doesn’t take a definitive stance with regard to its voice. In much the same way that Dark Knight had its voice, how X2 absolutely had one that set it apart from its peers and how Spider-Man 2 possessed one that made it a classic, Iron Man 2 is lacking in that regard. There are missed opportunities to delve deep into the man who wears this suit of iron, passed over chances to get beyond the snappy one-liners (and they are snappy thanks to Justin Theroux’s ear for witty rejoinders and Downey Jr.’s unmatchable delivery, creating a character with his own unique patios), and it all adds up to a movie that truly embraces the summer movie aesthetic in the most fun way possible.
Meeting up with Stark, mere moments after where the first movie leaves off, we are right back to where we were when we last saw him. Basking in the glorious attention and filled with the kind of macho, funny bravado that made him such a delight in part 1. He’s in dire need of purpose when we meet up with him, although his tough candy shell would rather deflect than recognize how empty his castle really is, and this movie is all about this man’s quest for something more than dominance over the scientific and controllable. It’s a movie about a man’s need for love not only from the man who made him but from a woman that confounds him. What’s curious about the latter storyline is that it permeates the entire film. Tony tries to communicate the very human feelings which he’s been so adept at keeping sublimated towards Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) but, like every good romantic comedy, it’s never quite the right time. The movie is brilliant in keeping every person who is seeing this movie invested on what’s happening, like a politician who relentlessly plays to his constituents, but that’s also where the movie loses its ability to some something more than just a great summer film.
One of the story’s issues is Downey’s indulgence in excess, namely alcohol. Saving you the pain of getting into too much comic book fanboy detail there was a nine issue story arc within the Iron Man series in 1979 that dealt with Tony’s alcoholism. It was hailed then, and still is now, as one of the most important stories of the Iron Man saga. This was a chance to give the film a deep anchor, an opportunity for resonance far beyond the box office, but instead the subplot is given short shrift, relegated to a relatively quick realization and fixing of a problem as if it were a cut needing a band-aid. It was disappointing to see it used and rushed though so flippantly but, to come back as to why the film works on the levels it does, you can see why that decision was made. Mass appeal does not equate to an episode of Intervention, hence, it was ditched. Besides, he’s got bad guys to dispatch.
The villains of this picture, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, play opposite ends of the evil spectrum that simply boggle the mind. Rockwell, playing arms manufacturer Justin Hammer, ought to be the kind of slippery cad that knows no boundaries and delight in being the kind of foil to Tony Stark worthy of our condemnation. Instead, he’s played like an ass, a buffoon. It confounds the mind to try and think of why you would want to have a man capable of so much dirty dealing and evil come off like a doofus who is only able to get out of bed without hurting himself by happenstance. Or, is it because Mickey Rourke, as the mighty Whiplash, tries to steal the show as he turns in a performance as one of the better villains we’ve ever been given in a movie like this? Unfortunately, there is not much to steal as we only get fits and starts with regard to his character, he appears briefly and we aren’t really given much beyond a few biographical factoids and tidbits. To Rourke’s credit, however, he uses what little time is given him to his advantage. Coming off a sympathetic turn in The Wrestler, he is able to play that other side, where the villainy oozes out of every dirty pore, every unwashed piece of hair.
The film’s action set pieces, much like the first, are good and serviceable to a large degree. The CGI elements are pronounced in some areas and do take away from some of the passion that no doubt we’re supposed to feel as Iron Man defends truth, justice and the American way. If Justin Hammer’s eventual downfall is any representational barometer of the final act it is that the film’s action ends with a little more than a fizzled dream; exciting and somewhat filled with potential, sure, but it all comes crashing down quickly and with little more than a mild skirmish which ends exactly the way it should with there being no real danger to anyone or anything. Favreau hasn’t or didn’t learn anything from the all too brief ending to the first film as you go from final confrontation to resolution at breakneck speed. There is no savoring of the moment, no real drama, and the film suffers because of it. Not to be too glib about it but once the final confrontation happens you only have seconds to pay attention or else risk seeing how the ending plays itself out.
Iron Man 2 as a summer artifact is one that fulfills every promise of what a summer tent pole should be: loud, bright, quick, and filled with enough for everyone. It’s a movie that will appeal to a wide spectrum of people on many levels. However, if there is anything to take away from this movie it is that this was a film that consciously decided it was not going to be anything more than what we’ve been given. It’s serviceable, fun but it lacks anything that will carry on long after you see the final moments on the screen. It’s disappointing that it couldn’t stretch beyond comic book-like depth but it’s nonetheless a good reason to get out of the house and enjoy on a big screen.
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