Cosmopolis

Movie Title--  Cosmopolis

Release Year--  2012

Running Time--  1 Hour and 49 Minutes

Director--  David Cronenberg

Cast--  Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Durand

A limo ride across town in New York to get a haircut becomes an odyssey for a 28 year old billionaire who's life slowly becomes unraveled throughout the course of the day.

28 year old Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), an asset manager in New York City, decides to ride across town in his state of the art stretch limo to his preferred barber for a haircut.  The ride is a slow one because of traffic jams due to the visit of the Untied States President and the funeral of Packer's favorite rap star.  The various visitors to his "rolling office" all discuss life and meaningless nonsense throughout the course of the day.

This is another film for the flop bucket!  This film was completely boring and it fought to hold on to a story that was basically nonexistent.  It made absolutely no sense.  The dialogue in the film was lengthy and emotionless.  When the characters started to interact with each other I found myself thinking "who cares?".  It really didn't take long for me to realize I was only finishing the film so I could express how much I disliked wasting my time sitting through it.  All I can assume is that since this film came out the same year as "Breaking Dawn: Part 2" came out, Pattinson was trying to get away from his sparkly vampire image.  I hate to admit it but I would rather see him as a sparkly vampire than whatever the hell he was trying to be in this film.

Don't waste your time with this film.  Of all the films I have viewed so far, this one is in the top five of my most disliked films.  I can promise you that you truly will hate yourself if you waste the time viewing this film.  Until next time, Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Rise of the Guardians

Movie Title--  Rise of the Guardians

Release Year--  2012

Running Time--  1 Hour and 53 Minutes

Director--  Peter Ramsey

Cast--  Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher, Jude Law, Dakota Goyo, Georgie Grieve

After Pitch Black threatens to plunge the world into darkness, Jack Frost is recruited as a guardian and join forces with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman to protect the hopes, dreams and imaginations of the children of the world.

Jack (Chris Pine) doesn't remember who he is or where he has come from, all he knows is that the man in the moon told him his name is Jack Frost and it was the only time he ever spoke to Jack.  Three hundred years later, he speaks again when Jack is recruited to become a guardian and work alongside Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman to defend the world's children from the evil Pitch Black (Jude Law).

Pitch has decided that after hundreds of years, he is tired of staying in the shadows and is threatening to take the joy and light away from all the children in the world by making them not believe in the guardians.  Pitch attacks the Tooth Fairy's palace, making the children start to doubt but when Pitch causes Jack to have a hand in ruining Easter, the children do lose faith.  All the lights go out in the world except for one; a little boy named Jamie (Dakota Goyo).  When the last child to believe starts to have doubts, it is up to Jack Frost to make the impossible, possible and help the children to believe again.

I really enjoyed this film.  I thought it was well written and it was super cute.  I like how Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't exactly portrayed as the super friendly entities that everyone knows them for.  The Easter Bunny is a little grumpy and Santa Claus is a little intimidating although he is still jolly but they play well together and it only makes the camaraderie in the film that much better.

I will say, this may not exactly be a film for small children, it isn't really scary but there are a few parts that are a little dark and it may cause a small child to be upset but otherwise I would say this film is very family friendly.  Gather the entire family for a film full of magic and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

No film today...

I am really sorry ladies and gentlemen but I have been feeling under the weather and therefore I did not prepare a documentary for today.  


I will take this time however to announce that starting Monday I am going to be showcasing a week of cars!  Next week will be a fast paced week, full of racing cars, car chases, car crashes and expensive rides.  You won't want to miss what I have planned.


Come back tomorrow for the Friday Animated Feature review, featuring "Rise of the Guardians".  See you tomorrow and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Prisoners

Movie Title--  Prisoners

Release Year--  2013

Running Time--  2 Hours and 33 Minutes

Director--  Denis Villeneuve

Cast--  Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Dylan Minnette

When two young girls go missing in the middle of the day a father takes the law into his own hands while the police follow multiple leads to try to find the missing girls before time runs out.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and his family attend Thanksgiving dinner with their neighbor Franklin Birch's (Terrence Howard) family and as the day wears on the two youngest daughters of each family, Anna Dover and Joy Birch, become restless.  Anna asks if the two girls can walk to her house and find a whistle that she misplaced and the girls are told to ask their older siblings to go with them.  When it is later discovered that the girls did not ask anyone to accompany them, Keller goes to his house to see if the girls are there.  When no one can find the girls, they call the police and report them missing.

Detective David Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is having his Thanksgiving dinner alone in a restaurant when a call comes over the radio about a missing RV that was last seen in the area where the girls were.  When Loki arrives at the scene, the driver tries to get away and then hits a tree, allowing Loki to arrest him.  At the station Loki learns the man is named Alex Jones (Paul Dano) and he has the IQ of a ten year old.  Alex is eventually released, leading to a dangerous confrontation with Keller Dover.

Feeling as if the police are not going to help, Keller decides to take the law into his own hands while Detective Loki follows the very few leads he finds both men racing against time to find Anna and Joy.

I enjoyed this film but I felt like it was a little long, although I feel at the same time if the film would have been trimmed down any, small bits and pieces that helped to make the film so great may have been lost.  I also feel like the ending leaves the imagination to draw it's own conclusions about how life continues for all parties involved after the story has ended.  Also, the synopsis is very vague because I felt like saying too much would give away some of the film and if anyone is willing to invest their time in this film, I don't want to give it all away before it gets viewed.

There is some violence in this film and Jackman has more than a few very loud and angry outbursts throughout the film.  I can't say I blame him, he is playing the role of a man who's daughter is taken and as the mother of a small child, I can honestly say that I would probably have a few outbursts myself if I were in that kind of a situation but there were a few times that it feel like the outburst were a little unnecessary.  

Overall, I was very impressed with Jackman and Gyllenhaal's performances.  I think they work very well together and their interactions in the film look genuine and relaxed.  The film is worth the watch although as I mentioned previously, it does tend to feel a little long during a few points.  Clear some time off your schedule to check this lengthy film out and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Sleeping Beauty

Movie Title--  Sleeping Beauty

Release Year--  2011

Running Time--  1 Hour and 41 Minutes

Director--  Julia Leigh

Cast--  Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, Eden Falk, Ewen Leslie, Sarah Snook, Robin Goldsworthy

Lucy, a university student, answers an ad in the student paper that leads her to a strange, new job that explores the nature of hidden desires.

Lucy (Emily Browning) is a young university student that has several odd jobs.  She is disliked by her landlord who is constantly hanging the chance of eviction over her head.  She also frequently visits a man referred to a "Birdman" (Ewen Leslie) who obviously has feelings for her but she does not share his affections, although she always seems happiest when she is with him. 

One day, she answers an ad that she finds in the school paper and soon meets Clara (Rachael Blake) who describes the job to her.  Lucy is told that by accepting the job, she will be used whenever she is needed and not to rely on the job as full time work.  She is also told that the work will be for freelance "silver service" (an upscale serving job) that will be done in lingerie and she will make $250 a hour.  Lucy agrees to the job and Clara then tells her that while in her service, Lucy will answer to the name Sarah.

Lucy's first job is to help service an upscale dinner party and after the evening is over, she gets a call from Clara's assistant Thomas (Eden Falk) wanting to set up a meeting with Clara.  She goes to see Clara and is told that she is wanted for a different type of job.  She is to drink a tea that will put her into a deep sleep and men will be paying to be with her, the only rule is there would be no penetration of any kind.

After a few sessions, the effects of not knowing what is happening to her starts to bleed into Lucy's real life and she soon becomes curious as to what is really going on when she is put into the deep sleep.

I am not going to lie, I hated this film.  There was a shining moment at about 30-45 minutes in that it looked like things might improve and that moment fizzled into nothing.  It was as if someone said, "Let's make a film full of pert young breasts and old, naked wrinkled men!" and someone else decided that that would be a great idea.  After the first old man gets undressed and turns to the camera for a full frontal shot, I was completely over the film.

This film has been on my list for a very long time to watch; I had seen somewhere that it was an interesting take on the "Sleeping Beauty" story.  I am  not sure why I put off watching the film for so long but now that I have seen it, I wish I would have continued to put it off.  This film was just a waste of my time.  For the record, I am no prude but after watching this film I feel dirty and disgusted.  This film was nothing but an excuse to showcase sex without actually having any sex in the film.  I think that the worst part about the whole thing is, there is no real story.  The strangeness of the film would maybe be alright if there was a real story to follow along with but with everything else going on, the story gets lost and is never truly found.

Don't see this film.  There is truly other things you can be doing with your valuable time and watching this film, isn't one of them.  I am pretty sure that most people that sit down to see this film will just come out of it disappointed.  Leave this one in bad film hell where it belongs and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Anna

Movie Title--  Anna (also known as "Mindscape")

Release Year--  2013

Running Time--  1 Hour and 39 Minutes

Director--  Jorge Dorado

Cast--  Mark Strong, Taissa Farmiga, Brian Cox, Noah Taylor, Indria Varma, Saskia Reeves, Richard Dillane

Memory detective, John Washington, takes on the case of a brilliant and troubled 16 year old to determine if she is a sociopath or a victim by separating fact from fiction inside her memories.

Recently widowed John Washington (Mark Strong) is a man that has the abilities to enter people's memories.  John has a stroke during one of his sessions that leaves him broken and financially incapacitated so after a while out of the business, he comes back and asks for an assignment from his boss, Sebastian (Brian Cox), who gives him what is supposed to be a relative easy case.  

The case he receives involves a troubled but brilliant 16 year old named Anna Greene (Taissa Farmiga) and he is to determine if she is a victim of abuse or a sociopath.  She is the daughter of a wealthy mother and a gold digging, high profile stepfather and she has recently gone on a hunger strike; John's job is to get to the root of the problem and get Anna to eat again.  It doesn't take long before John realizes that Anna's case is a lot more difficult than just trying to get the teenager to eat.  To get to the root of the problem, he goes through a journey through her memories and has to try to not get his own troubled past tangled up with her's.

I actually liked this film.  I am a big fan of Taissa Farmiga from the television show "American Horror Story", so I was interested in seeing how she would do in her first real starring film role.  I was not disappointed.  I think that she did a really good job in this film and the relationship between her and Mark Strong seemed to be a very natural one.  It is always good for the film when you can see on screen that the lead actors work well together and in this case, when they two of them were on screen together they seemed very comfortable and their chemistry was great.

This is the feature debut of director Jorge Dorado and I think that it was a good debut.  It is classified as a psychological thriller and there were moments that I was actually on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next.

For anyone that is looking for a thriller type film that isn't a typical big budget flick with big name stars in it, this one is a good bet.  It has everything that a good thriller should have without all the extra bells ans whistles to try to pull your attention away from the story.  If you still aren't convinced, watch it for Farmiga and Strong's excellent performances and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Lullaby

Movie Title--  Lullaby

Release Year--  2014

Running Time--  1 Hour and 57 Minutes

Director--  Andrew Levitas

Cast--  Garrett Hedlund, Amy Adams, Richard Jenkins, Jessica Brown Findlay, Anne Archer, Jessica Barden, Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard

A young man that has been estranged from his family returns to his childhood home to learn that his dying father is taking himself off life support within 48 hours.

Jonathon (Garrett Hedlund) has been estranged from his family for years but when he gets news that his father Robert (Richard Jenkins) doesn't have much time left to live, he returns home.  When he arrives home he finds his mother Rachel (Anne Archer) and his father together in the hospital and his father tells him that within 48 hours he is going to be removed from life support.  Jonathon tells his father that he is not going to stay and watch him die and leaves.  He goes to a stairwell and screams to let out his frustration and meets Meredith (Jessica Barden), a 17 year old girl in the advanced stages of bone cancer.  She asks him if he has a cigarette and after they have a smoke together, she tells him where he can find her and steals his lighter.

After talking to Meredith, Jonathon goes back to his father's room.  Soon the youngest member of the family, Karen (Jessica Brown Findlay) arrives and says she has put steps in motion to keep the hospital from helping her father commit assisted suicide.

Over the next 48 hours, a lifetime's worth of drama plays out, setting the family on an unexpected journey of love, forgiveness and laughter and Jonathon once again begins to find his voice through reconciliation his father and reconnecting with his ex love.

Honestly, I thought this was a great film while at the same time it was incredibly sad.  A man, suffering from cancer for 12 years, finally decides he has had enough and is basically committing suicide while his family stands around and watches him die.  How heartbreaking is that?  That would have to be a hard decision to deal with, as the patient and as the family members; as the patient, you would have to be tired of living in such a weak and miserable state and as the family, it would have to be horrible to have to stand by and watch as someone you love so dearly fades away to nothing.  It really is more of a story of forgiveness and redemption for the son and a story about the power of life and death for the viewer.

Garrett Hedlund is just fantastic in this film.  His role as Jonathon has a ton of emotional highs and lows and he plays them as anyone would expect a young man that has to deal with this would.  He starts out so angry and as the film progresses he begins to soften as he watches his father go through the little time he has left.

I will say, if my father were in the hospital and I had to put up with Jennifer Hudson's character, I would have her job.  Jennifer Hudson plays a nurse by the name of Carrie and she is full of attitude from the first second you meet her.  She complains about the people that have come to visit a dying man and at one point when Jonathon asks for help with his father, she tells him he has to wait and then adds, or do it yourself.  If Nurse Carrie were a caretaker in my hospital and I got her as a nurse, she would not have a job very long.  I know that it is just a character and I know that there are some nurses that act that way but they are providing a service to a sick person and I feel like it is disrespectful to act in the manner that this character acted toward a dying man.  Then close to the end, the writers turn her character into a nice, sympathetic character which only made me more angry.  They wrote this character like a bitch the whole film and then suddenly at the end she has a heart?  I HATED Nurse Carrie.

This film was just great.  If you are looking for a good film and don't mind crying a little (I just sobbed at the end), this one is for you.  Watch this one with a box of tissues in hand and Don't Forget the Popcorn!