Posts for 'Hollywood Movie' Category

Spy thriller "The American" rocketed to the top of the North American box office to beat out crime action flick "Takers," preliminary figures showed Sunday.

The debut weekend for George Clooney's atmospheric thriller, hailed by critics as a visually captivating but restrained departure for the Hollywood star, took in 12.3 million dollars in US and Canadian theaters this weekend, according to figures from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Last week's winner "Takers," starring Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba and singers Chris Brown and T.I., earned 11.5 million dollars and fell to second place in its second week of release.

In third position was "Machete," mixing violence with a campy tribute to 1970s exploitation movies from directors Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis for an opening weekend take of 11.3 million dollars. Fourth place went to the gruesome documentary-style horror movie "The Last Exorcism," which fell back from its competitive runner-up spot last weekend to take 7.6 million dollars.

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The American Movie Review – George Clooney stars in “The American,” a movie about a mysterious individual who fends off killers in a sort of “Bond-like” fashion. With brooding music in the backdrop, it is hard to take your eyes away from Clooney’s masterful acting. Although we never get to learn much about his character, we do find out that he is a loner and that is enough to pique our interest.

The film almost feels like a throwback to the 70’s paranoia psychological thrillers, and the tension builds throughout the movie. “The American” starts with our main characters on a Swedish vacation and being interrupted by individuals with guns who are apparently after Clooney, setting the stage for the paranoid danger that is present throughout the film.

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In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a flashy, video-gamey film based on the Scott Pilgrim comic series written by Toronto’s Bryan Lee O’Malley, the titular character discovers that he’ll have to fight for his own life to win the heart of the girl he loves.  

Being involuntarily forced to leave his ordinary life behind, Scott Pilgrim soon finds himself facing an entire league of evil exes and he’ll need to defeat them all to be with Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams.

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Nimrod Antal’s Predators is a pseudo-sequel/reboot of the sci-fi action franchise that manages to pump new life into a series that many left for dead. Working from a story idea by producer Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror)

The film takes the action back to a locale similar to the one in the Arnold Schwarzenegger cult classic as it amps up the action and gore. To be sure, these are cosmetic concerns but what really makes the film work is its veteran cast and a clever script that’s far more entertaining than it has any right to be.

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The biggest blockbuster of the summer is released this weekend, and it’s not even the best movie released this weekend (that would be The Kids Are All Right, my favorite of the year). Since Inception was 2 ½ hours long, I figure I can write a slightly longer review.

There are so many things about this film I’d like to cover. Director Christopher Nolan spent $160 million on this, and you can see every bit of that on screen. It’s surprising the studio let him run with this. After all, it’s not like his expensive Dark Knight. Since that’s a Batman film, it was a safe bet. I enjoyed Nolan’s Dark Knight, but I didn’t care for Insomnia.

And I thought Memento (the movie that plays backwards) brilliant. This guy can obviously write and direct interesting stuff. But the king of the $150 million budgets, James Cameron, did a movie called Strange Days which tackles a few of these similar themes (and is better in many ways).

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Having seen "The Last Airbender" bring in untold millions at the box office despite the worst reviews in many a year, I confess myself discouraged at the prospect of reviewing "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." This is a much better film than "Airbender," which is faint praise, but it's becoming clear that every weekend brings another heavily marketed action "comedy" that pounds tens of millions out of consumers before evaporating.

I use the word "consumer" deliberately. This genre doesn't require an audience in the traditional sense. It attracts children and young teenagers with the promise of cinematic fast food: It's all sugar and caffeine, no nutrition. In place of a plot there's a premise, in place of carefully crafted action there are stupefying exercises in computer-generated imagery, and in place of an ending there's a hook for the sequel and, if all goes well, a new franchise.

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Director M. Night Shyamalan has made a name for himself for coming up with small-scale-yet-interesting thrillers, often with twist endings. Some are pretty awful ("The Happening" and "The Village"), yet some I feel are simply fantastic ("Unbreakable" and "Signs"), while one, "The Sixth Sense," has become a cultural juggernaut. After all, How many times have you heard "I see dead people"?

His latest film, "The Last Airbender," is the first film he has made based off of a previous source material, and considering the main problem Shyamalan has is that he isn't very good at writing, I was reasonably excited for "The Last Airbender."

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A pair of females hide their intelligence in The Hedgehog (Le Herisson), a fine and delicate French film. One is a woman who describes herself as short, ugly and overweight and it's hard to disagree. The other is tiny, awkward and young, like a small bespectacled bird. Both are largely invisible, except to each other.

Mona Achache gives us a lesson in how to make a first feature as she contemplates her subject. It's nearly all set in one location, an elegant apartment building in a desirable street of Paris; it has a small but perfectly chosen cast; and it's based on a book by Muriel Barbery that sold 1.2 million copies in France alone. Perfect, as long as you can persuade the writer to trust you with her book.

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Cast: Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi Director: Philippe Loiret Welcome is a film which will have you thinking long after the credits roll.

It's the story of Kurdish refugee Bilal (underplayed with quiet resolve by Firat Ayverdi) who is determined to make it to England to see his recently emigrated girlfriend and to get a better life.

So, initially he tries to get through the French border in a lorry along with a group of fellow refugees - and it's all going well until they hit Calais and Bilal, wearing.

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What can’t Helen Mirren do?  Her brilliantly chameleon-like abilities are apparently limitless.  There’s a joke in the film when someone asks her crippled Nevada brothel owner character Grace ‘Who do you think you are?  The Queen of England?”  And of course, she is that too.

Mirren brings all of her luminous beauty, not disguised under her rather sedate seventies wardrobe, with soulfulness we wouldn’t expect from a woman in her job but of course, must expect.  People are unexpected and Mirren epitomises it.

Sergio Peris-Mencheta, a Spanish actor who plays Bruza her young lover, is a find.  He is a boxer Grace’s husband (Joe Pesci) has taken under his wing, has animal magnetism, something we haven’t seen lately, plus heart, sweetness and tenderness mixed with the violence of his calling.

Bruza falls utterly, selflessly in love with Grace, which is dangerous to his health as Charlie (Pesci) is a brutally violent, selfish man, and criminal.  He neglects Grace until he discovers she has interests elsewhere and his ‘love’ turns to jealous ferocity.  Who does ferocity better than Pesci?  His all consuming evil contrasts well with Bruza’s warm-hearted innocence.

Love Ranch is a character study, Grace’s story; an older woman resigned to a loveless marriage and proscribed life, who has a shot at new life with a hot young Mexican fighter.  It is exciting, romantic and incredibly moving.  The kicker is that its tragedy unfolds and resonates right down to South America, where Bruza was a hero.

There’s a lot going on in this loosely fact-based film on the proprieters of the first legal brothel in Nevada.  It is a fascinating and dangerous world, sleazy and compelling.  Gina Gershon, Tary Manning and Bai Ling are their girls, who not only enjoy their job but also adore their boss Grace.  Charlie describes them as “psychotic whores”, and has affairs with them.  It’s a life cobbled out of lawlessness, control and mob connections but there is underlying humanity.

Charlie’s the only fly in the ointment and in Pesci’s talented hands, he is unforgettable.  He’s sociopathic, involved in shady mob and government dealings, sure of his power and influence, believing himself innocent of murder and sinned against.  Yet another muscular performance from the king of mean.

It’s an amazing story of brothel owners who not only fought to legalise prostitution in Nevada but also opened the first and made a go of it for a long while.  Strangely, for a film about a brothel, there is surprising little sex or salaciousness.

Hackford knows how to make a story get under our skin; his sensitivity and efforts have paid off.  Love Ranch is certain to be remembered during awards season and could land the big prizes.   It’s Hackford’s best film and deserves a wide release, although at this moment, it isn’t getting one.