Ocean's 13

(2007)
Directed by: Stephen Soderbergh

Staring

George Clooney – Danny Ocean
Brad Pitt – Rusty Ryan
Al Pacino – Willie Bank
Matt Damon – Linus Caldwell
Elliott Gould – Reuben Tishkoff
Eddie Jemison – Livingston Dell
Don Cheadle – Bashar Tarr
Shaobo Qin – Yen
Casey Affleck – Virgil Malloy
Scott Cann – Turk Malloy
Bernie Mac – Frank catton
Carl Reiner - Saul Bloom
Eddie Izzard – Roman Nagel

The Oceans gang is back at it again and this time better then ever. When Reuben is cheated out of his stake in some valuable Las Vegas property by Mr. Bank (Al Pacino) (and consequently has a heart-attack) the Ocean’s crew decide to enact a little revenge, and turn a tidy profit in the process. You can expect elaborate schemes and just the right dose of humor.
The ring leaders Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) plan to go after Mr. Bank new hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Of course the casino has a state-of-the-art detection software that makes a polygraph look like an abacus. An elaborate scheme is hatched to buy a tunnel drill and drill under the casino to cause an earthquake to get Mr. Bank in the right spot to… well lets just say a lot of things have to come together to pull this off. I don’t think I’ll give the plot away on this one - its one of those you have to see to understand fully. Besides I would go clear down to the bottom of this webpage if I tried.
What I can say is though the plot may be totally unbelievable the actors who played their characters are very believable. Al Pacino steals the show (what could you expect - he’s Al Pacino in a Casino for crying out loud). As a stuck up filthy rich casino owner you could find no better actor. Matt Damon gets a larger role going after the boss’s secretary. Another good performance is by David Paymer who is rating the hotel for the prized 5-diamond award. One can only feel sorry for his predicament.
I think though the whole fun of this movie is watching Mr. Bank fall. You know what’s going to happen but its enjoyable watching it all the same. Besides he cheated his partner and he needs a lesson in humility. No ones better to deliver that than the Ocean’s 13 crew.

3 stars

1408

(2007)
Directed by:
Cast:

Samuel Jackson – Geral Olin
John Cusack – Mike Enslin
Mary McCormack - Lily Enslin

Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a skeptical writer of books on haunted houses and hotels. But after all who could blame him - he’s never seen a ghost let alone heard one unexplained “bump” in the night. He writes off all the stories as just that - stories to help promote business at hotels. One hotel that doesn’t need the publicity but has just such a rap is the Dolphin Hotel in New York City. No one is allowed to check in to it and supposedly more dead people come out of it than a morgue. Samuel Jackson plays the ill-suited role of the hotel manager who tries to bribe Mike not to stay in the room for his own sake. As he says: “no one has lasted more than an hour.” In the end Mike is firm in his standing. There are “no such things as ghosts” he tells him.
The suspense that is built up when Mike opens the door is quite a bit. Hitchcock would have been proud. We expect to see ghosts around every corner and skeletons hanging in the closets. But the room itself is ordinary enough on first appearance; nothing more than a quaint upscale New-England style decor. The only thing wrong with it seems to be a broken thermostat. When Mike has his back turned the toilet paper is replaced and chocolates appear on his bed. Not so bad - just a friendly house-maid ghost we think. Things take a turn for the sinister however when his hand is cut by a closing window. When he tries to wash it the faucet gushes a torrent of scalding water. Mike was unsettled by the chocolates and toilet paper enough - now he is near hysterical and wants out. Yes, unfortunately this character has the backbone of a snail. Things only get worse as a crazed women pops out of the corners to slash Mike to death. This I thought was the scariest “apparition” the others, which are displayed in glorious Technicolor and flicker are almost laughable.
This is no unorganized conglomeration of ghosts however, as it seems to goal of this rooms evil presence is to drive Mike mad. It tortures him with scenes of his father, near the end of his life and his young daughter who has, conveniently enough, some incurable fatal illness. The room itself turns inside out - it floods, it snows, it is charred beyond recognition. But it is all inside his head. Mr. Enslin by this time is a nervous wreck and tries getting in touch with his divorced wife to get help. This is not the first person I’d call if I were in this situation if you get my drift, but after all he has lost his mind at this point and we can forgive him. After seeing The Shining I can not help but note the similarities. They are by the same author of course but I think he is reusing his material a little too much. This movie seems to be just a condensed version of that classic - condensed in every way; from a hotel to a room, from a period of several weeks to one hour. There is also the familiar triad of father, mother, child & a limited number of characters. To its advantage it takes some interesting turns & the set designers really have done an excellent job bringing the story to screen.
2 1/2stars

Abre Los Ojos

(1997)
Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar

Eduardo Noriega - Cesar
Penelope Cruz – Sofia
Chete Lera – Antonio
Fele Marinez – Pelayo
Najwa Nimri - Nuria

This director is fast becoming one of my favorites. Maybe it is because he keeps you guessing until the end or perhaps it is his down-to-earth characters going through extremely difficult circumstances. Its probably all these things that make me like this director’s style.

If you’ve seen Vanilla Sky then Abre Los Ojos will seem very familiar to you. In fact Vanilla Sky is pretty much just the English version (as opposed to a Spanish version set in Madrid), though not as good (I have seen it). Penelope Cruz stars in both and does an equally good job in both.

As in both stories a wealthy heir playboy Cesar, falls for Penelope Cruz’s character Sofia. He doesn’t really care that his best friend Antonio likes the girl. At first he just sees her as a prize but supposedly falls for her. Antonio is altogether a little too forgiving and we feel that the scales will soon tip out of his favor - but instead of tipping they crash literally. Cesar’s psycho “girlfriend” Nuria picks him up and purposefully drives off the road smashing the car into a wall. Now the once handsome Cesar is disfigured horribly and Sofia wants nothing to do with him. But then again, Cesar wants nothing to do with himself - he thinks he is a monster and sulks his days away. The doctors can’t do anything but give him a mask to wear - which I would think would also make people stare.

Anyways we learn all this as he is talking to a psychiatrist at an insane asylum. We also learn that he found out about cryogenics. ***warning plot spoiler*** He doesn’t want to live his life anymore and out of desperation signs a contract where his body is frozen cryogenically. In addition he takes the option of having dreams that “continue” his life while he is indefinitely frozen. The dreams “splice” into his memories so that it seems like he never died. But we know something is utterly wrong anyway when Sofia stars falling for him and his friend is like “so what? She’s not that good anyway.” Yeah right buddy, she’s just Penelope Cruz. There is a clue to what will happen though, you just have to be observant. The finale takes him back to the cryogenics company where dying means waking up and he must make a decision whether to remain in a dream world or wake up to a new reality. This brings up the age old debate of how do we know that our lives really aren’t real and not some cleverly devised dream? (see The Matrix) After all when you are dreaming you don’t think it’s a dream, but rather you take it for reality. Well, that’s enough of this, I’m going to go to bed and wake up now…

3 ½ stars

Apache

(1954)
Directed by - Robert Aldrich

Starring:
Massai - Burt Lancaster
Nalinle - Jene Peters
Hondo - Charles Bronson




Apache is set out in the dessert southwest in the 1890’s and details the story of the last “fighting” apache Massai. It begins as a peace treaty is signed between the apache and the United States government by no less than Geronimo himself. Apparently the US thinks that he and his warriors pose too much of a threat amongst their people so they ship them on a train to Florida (I mean WHO would want to live there, right?). As it happens Massai is also on the train and soon being unable to consign himself to a life as a farmer in a far off land, he jumps the train as soon as he has the opportunity.

Massai lands in a strange world - St. Louis. He’s picked out with no great difficulty as soon as he arrives. An angry mob chases him out of the city and he is left to wander back to his homeland. Along the way he meets a Cherokee man who has taken up farming. Massai doesn’t believe his eyes (he thinks the Cherokee killed a white man and took his house). Times have changed and fighting won’t do any good. The Cherokee man tells Massai “I learned that the only way to live with the white man was to act like one.”

However we still have faith that Massai won’t give up his war drum just yet. If he did it would make for a pretty boring film. Anyways, after a grueling journey Massai finally reaches his people and is promptly handed in by his own chief. Massai has lost trust in everyone by now and has no one except the chief’s daughter who is willing to die for him (literally).

It is man against the world at this point. Massai becomes a one man army. Will he fight to the death or will love conquer in the end? It certainly didn’t end in the way I expected and that is one good thing about this film. It doesn’t try to portray Native Americans as bloodthirsty scalp-hungry renegades. You begin to see they have a reason to fight. They have been on this land for hundreds if not thousands of years and their very way of life is threatened.

Burt Lancaster does a good job as an Apache - even though no amount of makeup can make him look the part. There isn’t a lot of that broken English we hear from Native Americans in many westerns either. Lacking also are the typical chase and shoot-’em-up scenes. If you’re looking for a western that isn’t western and where the “Indians” aren’t the bad guys than this is for you.

2 ½ stars

Remaking The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

By Cinematographer Chriss Duddy using green screens has superimposed modern actors on backgrounds that were taken from the original film. In the process he has created a work that is still true to the original hallmark of German Expressionist film by Robert Wiene. The truly remarkable thing was that it was done in little over a week & on a limited budget.

Check out the interview and video:

http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/currentissue/8135.html

Preview - American Gangster

Though this site is mainly for movie reviews, every once in a while I'd like to highlight upcoming movies.
'American Gangster', coming to theater's November 2nd, stars two outstanding actors (and some of my favorites): Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe.

See the Trailer:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/americangangster.html;_ylt=Ah7X2IrBIlCueCKysutWGplfVXcA

Read the Synopsis:
"Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant, Frank Lucas, who grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Klan for looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by traveling to Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. He soon made upwards of one million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman, Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to justice. The two then worked together to expose the crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing heroin so easy."

Nosferatu

(1922)
Directed by: F.W. Marneu
Cast:

Max Scheck - Count Dracula
Alexander Granach - Renfeild
Gustav van Wangenheim - Jonathan Harker
Greta Schroeder - Nina

I must say that this is the first silent film I’ve seen since I watched a Charlie Chaplin picture years ago. Seeing modern movies you are used to seeing rapid action and music that reflects the picture (the music that came with my DVD obviously wasn’t chosen very well, being ‘happy’ when the most evil Nosferatu was about to suck some serious blood, and dark and menacing when it didn’t need to be). Not having seen many silent films of this period I cannot say how it rated among them. Seeing it however gives one a good idea of the early years of film.

I’ve noticed several things in particular (besides the obvious lack of sound) that differentiate this from modern films. First there are very few cuts to close ups. Most of the action is portrayed as you would see it on a stage. Secondly, instead of cutting away long parts such as a stagecoach going down a hill, they will speed it up. This gives it a very comical effect, especially when people are involved. Third, the acting is all very theatrical, with extended gesturing and wildly expressive facial expressions. But you must remember that these actors where probably used to performing in front of a stage where the audience didn’t have the luxury of getting close-ups of their face and therefore had to use body language much more.

Now, down to the story itself. Nosferatu is based upon Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The count in this particular version is less “human” looking than I have seen any other Count Dracula. He seems to be more of a gigantic deformed elf than a human. The makeup is very good which makes him all the more menacing. Jonathan Harker is the young naïve agent hoping that travels to Dracula’s castle to help him secure land in Bremen (the town Dracula wants to live in). Dracula’s journey to Bremen aboard a ship is wrought with disaster as mice that are carried with have some sort of plague. The crewmembers die one by one either by the plague or the Count himself I surmise. At the end of the voyage there are none left. Jonathan Harker returns soon after to find a his wife Nina distraught. She was plagued by nightmares the whole time he was away and at time seems to be possessed. Somehow Nosferatu has made a connection with her through Jonathan. Soon the plague spreads through the streets of Bremen killing many villagers. Nina equates the plague with the evil Nosferatu who has coincidentally become neighbors across the street (he has a nice view into her bedroom by the way). After reading “the book of vampires” she becomes convinced that she can save the city by spending a night with the vampire.
Nosferatu comes to pay a not-so-neighborly visit to Nina after her husband fetches help. The count stays with her until morning and then, probably forgetting the time, can’t leave to the safety of his coffin before the sun comes up and obliterates him.
Despite its age there is no denying it as a trend setter for all Dracula movies to come. There is the usually biting in the bed scene & the marks on the neck. All it is missing are a few bats…

Seeing Nosferatu only makes me want to see other Dracula movies and compare them. But first I think its best to read the good old book by Mr. Stoker.

2 1/2 stars

Michael Moore's Sicko and Fred Thompson's Response

Here is the official trailer for Micheal Moore's Sicko which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Also included is Fred Thompson's response.

Movie Quiz

Test your movie knowledge with this quiz:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/quiz/quiz.aspx?QuizID=259

I must admit that I got half of them wrong.

Terminator II

(1991)

Directed by: James Cameron

Cast:

Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger
T-1000: Robert Patrick
John Conner: Edward Furlong
Sarah Conner: Linda Hamilton

This is arguably the best terminator in the series. Terminator one established the story and characters while the third was in many respects a re-make of the second. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminator series the story pretty much goes like this: sometime in the future mankind will develop an advanced defense system, however they make it too good and it becomes self aware, eventually turning on its creator - humans. Thus a war between mana nd machine ensues. The machines in the first movie send a machine back in Time to Kill the leader of the human resistance: John Conner. The humans send a soldier of their own back in Time to protect the mother of the Human savior. The strange paradox is that he ends up becoming the father of John Conner. If you’re not the type of person that gets hung up on paradoxes such as these and can stand a bit of science fiction than you may just enjoy these movies.

Terminator II takes place a few years later. John Conner is now a street savvy boy. His mom Sarah, is in mental ward because of her beliefs about he upcoming apocalypse. The action starts when a new Terminator, a more advanced model, is sent back in time to kill John. The humans have captured a cyborg themselves and reprogram him to protect John. He is sent back in time also and the chase begins.

Terminator two is full of action and some funny moments. Thanks to Industrial light and magic the effects are amazing, considering this was 1991. The action itself is not all nonstop but it has a good pace none-the-less. Mr. Schwarzenegger plays his part very well as does his evil opposite: The only thing that gets me (besides the obvious paradoxes) is Sarah Conner’s incessant narration - at least it seems incessant and totally unnecessary to me.

In the end thought the thing that stuck out most is the almost fatherly relationship between John and the Terminator. In our day and age machines aren’t that intelligent as for us to get so attached as to develop a relationship (even though we may spend more time among them than other humans on occasion) but it is possible in the future that it could happen. Though it is anyone’s guess if they’ll have Austrian accents or not.
3 Stars

Children of Men

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Cast:
Clive Owen - Theo Faron



The year is 2027 and mankind is at the brink of collapse. Britain is the last outpost of “civilization”. But by the look of this so called civilization I would hate to see the rest of the world. Britain itself is a pretty unimaginable place - everyone is paranoid so outsiders are locked in cages. I would suspect that, though it is not elaborated upon, that these people are trying to flee their even-worse-off homes and so seek Britain as a refuge. There is also widespread crime and the country side is so dangerous you’d think that you were back in the days of the Germanic barbarians.

So what has caused all this. Well nothing short of a lack of children. The human race it seems has become infertile for reasons no one knows. The movie stars with the youngest human being - a eighteen year old dying. Our main man - Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is approached by his ex wife in order to get a young woman out of the country because she is black - and seen as a refugee by the British government. However she is no ordinary refugee. She is pregnant when nobody should be able to be pregnant.

In order to be transported across the country she needs bodyguards. But these bodyguards secretly want to use her and her child to rally their rebel causes which will of course put her and her child in more danger. Theo knows this and doesn’t want to lose this last bit of hope. In fact he will risk his own life to make sure this hope doesn’t die. Perhaps after losing his child and then his ex-wife it is all the hope he has left.

This movie is the darkest and most brutal I have seen since Apocalypse Now. There is ceaseless killing and violence through most of the movie as well as many scenes of refugees that are treated no better than those who resided in German concentration camps. In fact they are treated as sub-human by the British. I must give those who built the sets and the choreographer credit for creating such a doomsday atmosphere.

Despite its depictions of violence and inhumanity does it really seem all that impossible that such a thing would happen if the human race could no longer reproduce? It is many people’s hope in a better tomorrow that keeps them going. What is the point in living, in working if there is nothing to work for?

So maybe after you see this movie you will think twice about that screaming brat seated next to you in an airplane. Because of millions of brats like him or her we can have hope in the future - hard as that can be to believe.

2 ½ stars

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation
(2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola

Cast:
Bill Murray - Bob Harris
Scarlett Johansson - Charlotte

Bob and Charlotte are two different people in Tokyo. Bob was a movie star in the states, now he is doing commercials for a Japanese whiskey maker. Charlotte is a recently graduated, recently married young woman who lays around mostly while her photographer husband goes on assignment. They come from different backgrounds but they share one important thing - they are very much alone.

Another important thing they share is the same hotel. After repeated encounters they agree to make a break for it and explore Tokyo. They encounter a place very much like America yet very different. Charlotte breathes a little youth into Bob’s midlife crisis and for Charlotte Bob is just there when she needs someone - something her husband isn’t. Naturally a friendship develops between these kindred spirits and even something more.

Lost in Translation is not about non-stop action or clever comedic sequences but more about introspection as we see and feel the characters isolation. In a place like Tokyo you can be surrounded by throngs of people and yet still be very much alone. Lost in Translation teaches you that you never know who you will meet and how it might impact your life forever. Also, that finding yourself is really something that never stops whether you are a twenty something year old fresh out of college or a married man who receives packages across the seas asking what carpet color he likes the best.

Bill Murray is believable in his role and appropriately comedic when he needs to be. Scarlett Johansson proves that she is not just another pretty Hollywood girl and that she can act well. Some people may say their “relationship” is questionable since Bill is old enough to be her father. However at the end of the film we are glad that they have found each other - and shared a memorable time in their search for themselves.

4 stars