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