By Jeremy Smith Remember that Simpsons episode where Homer buys a gun and proceeds to use it as an all-purpose tool to turn off lights, change the channel, crack nuts and so on? The protagonist of Michael Davis's Shoot 'Em Up, Mr. Smith, approaches firearms with a likewise sense of versatility, only Smith is a lot handier with a pistol and, as brought to sneering life by Clive Owen, a helluva lot more dashing than Homer Simpson.
The advantage to casting Clive Owen in any movie is that he may very well be the coolest man alive, and, as such, could, say, trip down a flight of stairs or collapse in a heap of tears after burning a pot roast and still spur record sales of detachable showerheads. As for the guys, gay or straight, many of us have wanted to be Clive ever since he badassed his way through Mike Hodge's Croupier. After one film, we figured him a lock for Bond whenever Brosnan abdicated, and were therefore miffed as Hollywood chronically squandered his steely, well-beyond-giving-a-fuck presence in doomed-from-the-get dreck like Beyond Borders and King Arthur. This was no way to treat an already lauded stage actor who could so effortlessly shift from the taciturnity of McQueen to the suavity of Connery in the same role. Why exactly were the studios wasting the A-list historical epics on Orlando Bloom?
Then again, why waste Clive Owen on historical epics (a question we might soon be pondering with Elizabeth: The Golden Age)? Whatever Owen's got (and I could burn another ten paragraphs struggling to put a finger on it), it's modern. He is the rough-hewn brand of real man these really dreadful days demand; there's no bullshit, no quit and nothing sentimental knocking around anywhere in his imposing 6'2" frame - which was just waiting to be draped in a black leather trench coat.
Anyone else engaging in nonstop balletic gunfights whilst clad in a black trench would come off as a Chow Yun-Fat pretender. But Owen, as ever, does his own thing with the character of Smith (aptly described as "The Angriest Man in the World"), while Davis pushes Shoot 'Em Up so far into Looney Tunes territory that Woo never really enters into it. Davis's movie may have been inspired by Hard Boiled (specifically, the hospital shootout finale), but the minute Owen glares at the audience in extreme close-up and chomps on a carrot, it's live-action Termite Terrace the rest of the way. Granted, it's bloodier and more sadistic than anything Tex Avery or Chuck Jones drew (the film's first gunfight features Owen not only delivering a baby but shooting off the umbilical cord), but who's to say these demented geniuses never went this far in their respective imaginations and simply thought better of sharing it with the world?
It's not so much the bloodletting as the sadism that tests the audience, but the fact that the most repellant acts are being committed by a maniacally mugging Paul Giamatti effectively takes the edge off of the menace. Ever on the short end of their various confrontations, Giamatti's Hertz is a combination Elmer Fudd/Yosemite Sam; while Davis saddles Hertz with a nagging wife (she's an offscreen, via-cellphone pest), there's nothing remotely human about the character. Meanwhile, his reason for relentlessly chasing Smith and the baby is cartoonishly contrived as well. This is an admirable quality that should be embraced by all big, dumb action movies; everything in Shoot 'Em Up makes just enough sense to keep the narrative barreling forward. (Though I initially thought the movie might be flirting with theme by garishly lampooning both ends of the gun control debate, I've since given up.)
Unfortunately, most writers and directors who perpetrate the big, dumb actioner aren't much smarter than their material. Davis, on the other hand, is at least clever enough to not waste the audience's time with backstory explaining, for example, why Smith is so perpetually pissed off, or, worse, how he hooked up with Monica Bellucci's lactating prostitute. These elements just are, and that's enough so long as the gunfights keep coming and keep ramping up the ridiculousness - which, for the most part, they do (though the mid-coital shootout is an undeniable highlight).
Still, it's impossible to imagine Shoot 'Em Up hooking the audience without an actor as magnetic as Owen selling the joke. From McQueen to Connery to Bugs - if you don't want to be Clive Owen now, you don't want to live. All hail.
The story of musician Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly), whose songs would change a nation. On his rock ‘n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries 3 times, has 22 kids and 14 stepkids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to The Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to – and then kicks – every drug known to man… but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman – longtime backup singer Darlene (Jenna Fischer).
Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard and Alan Arkin star in "Rendition," a thriller from director Gavin Hood ("Tsotsi"). Witherspoon stars as the American wife of an Egyptian-born chemical engineer who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. The woman desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst (Gyllenhaal) at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.
The films starts in 1974 where 17 year old Ian Curtis is living in a tower block of flats in Macclesfield with his parents and his sister while he is at 6th form and working part time in a record store. It is here where he meets Debbie Woodruff who is dating his best friend Kevin. Here Debbie finds out that Ian is into poetry and writes poems. After school one day Ian and Kevin visit an elderly persons house where they obtain some prescribed drugs. Both high, they visit Debbie where Ian recites poetry and they realise they are fond of each other. They then attend a David Bowie concert and go for a walk in the fields where Ian proposes and Debbie accepts. They are married and move to their house on Barton Street, Macclesfield where married life does not appear to be going well as Ian locks himself in a room writing poetry as Debbie decorates the house (this trend continues throughout the film, especially when Debbie is going to bed and asks Ian to join her).
The film then follows Ian and Debbie attending a Sex Pistols gig in 1976 where he meets Stiff Kittens band members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Terry Mason. All 3 members criticise their lead singer which leads Ian to approach the band at the end of the concert to suggest he becomes the lead vocalist. This then leads the band to become Warsaw and recruit Stephen Morris on drums with Mason taking over managerial duties. The band eventually plays their first gig (although they are extremely nervous).
At this time Ian is working as a civil servant in Macclesfield and is given the opportunity to record a demo of the band to perform. This results in Ian and Debbie paying £400 to have the demo recorded but now under the new name Joy Division. The demo EP was recorded (entitled "an Ideal for Living") and sent to local music mogul Tony Wilson. As the band watch television round Ian's house, they notice Tony give a less than impressive mention of the EP in his show. This leaves the band angry and upset. However Joy Division then attend a battle of the bands event at a bar where they impress everyone including Wilson and DJ Rob Gretton who offers his services to manage the band and thinks he can do a great job as he knows all the big music names in this area.
Tony Wilson then agrees to let the band perform on their TV show (as long as they don't swear or he will cut them off). The band perform Transmission with Ian's parents, sister and wife watching at home. This performance then leads to Tony signing the band - signing the contract in his own blood.
The band then start to tour with Ian starting to neglect his now pregnant wife. Ian also keeps his job as a civil servant but as he's interviewing a job seeker, she has an epileptic fit (which she later dies from), this leads him to write the lyrics for "She's Lost Control". Shortly after this, Ian suffers a similar fit whilst travelling from a gig. Whilst in the hospital it is revealed that he has epilepsy which means he has to take medication that makes him drowsy and moody. The Doctor also recommends to Ian that he gets plenty of early nights (something which Ian ignores). Due to the medication and the late nights, Ian is becoming extremely tired at work and after a chat with his supervisor (who advises him he cannot do both at the same time) he decides to resign from his role (despite a more steady income) and follow his dreams of becoming a successful musician. During this time, Debbie gives birth to a baby girl called Natalie and is forced to take up work to make up the wages Ian has lost with his resignation.
Joy Division then travel to London for a gig where the ban meets Annik Honore, who wishes to interview the band for a Belgian music fanzine. After the rest of the band fall asleep Ian and Annik talk and Ian admits that he has been trying to leave his home town for a while and that his marriage was a mistake. The band then travel to France to do a tour where Ian and Annik start an affair. Debbie is initially unaware of the affair but becomes suspicious when Ian admits he's unsure if he loves Debbie anymore. Whilst Ian is shooting the video for Love Will Tear Us Apart Debbie searches through the house for clues as to whether Ian is having an affair. She finds Annik's telephone number and calls her. Annik confesses all. Debbie confronts Ian who vows to break up the affair (which he doesn't do). It is at this point that Rob informs the band that they will be touring America.
During a gig Ian has another epileptic fit. He is carried off stage and is comforted by Annik. With the pressure of his family, his affair the band and his epilepsy, Ian takes an overdose and collapses in his house. Before his collapse he writes a letter to Debbie saying that he loves Annik. Ian is then rushed to hospital and released a few day later. Joy Division are then due to perform a concert and Bury's "Derby Hall" where Ian is clearly unwell and walks off stage. Rob Gretton asks then lead of the support group (Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance) to cover. Hempsall agrees, but this leads to a riot on stage. After the riot Ian says to Tony that he feels everyone hates him and it's all his own fault.
Having left the marital home Ian is forced to stay at various people's homes. Initially he stays at Rob's (with Annik in tow). Rob informs Debbie of Ian's whereabouts and Debbie tells Rob to let Ian know she wants a divorce). He then stays at Bernard's who tries hypnotherapy on Ian to see if this helps his thinking. Eventually he returns to his parents home and agrees to stay there until the American tour.
Two nights before the tour he decides to return home to talk to Debbie. He arrives home and watches Stroszek on television before Debbie arrives home. He begs Debbie to take him back and argues that his affair with Annik is an unrelated matter. Debbie brushes it off and then Ian orders her out of the house until the following day where he will be gone. Alone in the house, Ian drinks large glasses of whiskey and plays Iggy Pop's The Idiot whilst writing a letter to Debbie. As he places it on the mantelpiece he has another epileptic, collapses and become unconscious. He regains consciousness early the following morning. He then walks into the kitchen where he sees the clothesline. He decides to end his misery once and for all and to take his own life by hanging himself.
Later that day Debbie returns home and walks into the house. She then discovers Ian's body hung in the kitchen and runs out of the house hysterically, holding Natalie as she cries "can someone help me". As Atmosphere plays we see Rob Gretton, the remaining members of Joy Division and Stephen's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert in a pub staring silently, Tony Wilson and his wife Lindsay console Annik at a train station and church bells ring with smoke rising to the air with the message "Ian Kevin Curtis died 18th May 1980, he was 23 years old" appearing on the screen. The screen then fades to black with Atmosphere still playing.
Here is the charming, alternative romantic-comedy universe of Jennifer Westfeldt, a world in which a warm, friendly butterfly of a woman can disarm an angry subway robber and talk the passengers into taking up a collection for the thief.
Westfeldt previously co-wrote and starred in Kissing Jessica Stein, in which a straight, hard to please woman in New York City tires of men and tries romance with a woman. Here she plays Abby, a straight, easy to please woman in New York City who proposes marriage to Ira, a classic neurotic, after six hours of intense conversation.
The story begins with Ira (Chris Messina) on a couch, reeling off his concerns to a psychiatrist who concludes that, after 12 years of therapy, Ira hasn't made any progress and fires him as a patient. Messina's appearance and rapid-fire delivery are a bit reminiscent of both Ben Stiller and Mark Ruffalo, but he never becomes self-indulgent or strains for laughs. Westfeldt's script takes care of that; it's jam-packed with witty one-liners. Director Robert Cary keeps things moving at a brisk pace.
Such momentum is vital for a piece like this, which becomes readily apparent when the central premise of the film is introduced. Ira has decided he needs to make a change in his life -- he's dithering over his commitment to long-time girlfriend Lea (Maddie Corman), he can't get started on his dissertation in psychology (?!), and he can't even decide what to order for breakfast -- so he tries to join a local gym. There he encounters Abby, a saleswoman who actively discourages him from buying a membership.
Abby is preternaturally friendly, outgoing, and cheerful; she's also a de facto therapist to everyone in the gym. The two end up talking for hours, whereupon Abby makes the impromptu marriage proposal.
With marriage comes in-laws. Ira's analyst parents (Robert Klein and Judith Light) freak out, while Abby's hippy-vibe folks (Fred Willard and Frances Conroy) are totally mellow. Everyone comes together for the ceremony, though, and afterwards Ira and Abby appear blissfully, enviably happy.
Which irks Ira no end, because he can't quite comprehend how Abby is able to so effortlessly make friends with everyone she meets -- salespeople hug her when she leaves -- and why she should be so happy while lacking any career ambitions. He's being true to his neurotic self, even if it threatens what should be a storybook romance.
The film sags as the focus widens to include an illicit affair, and an endless parade of interchangeable therapists (including Jason Alexander, Chris Parnell, and Donna Murphy) trot out their theories. The material, while maintaining a good humor, feels stretched out.
This third-act structural problem is similar to that in Jessica Stein, but as with that picture, Ira & Abby creates sufficient goodwill to allow most viewers to glide over the rough patches until the story kicks back into gear with its last few sequences, especially a group therapy session with all the psychiatrists rounded up in one room.
Festival Atmosphere: Definitely a friendly World Premiere feeling, with very positive anticipatory buzz, dressed to kill for a Friday night. Lively post-screening Q & A, featuring director Cary and cast members Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Messina, Robert Klein, Judith Light, and Maddie Corman. A clear audience-pleasing picture, with the laughter starting in the first minute and carrying through until the last.
Ira & Abby screens again tomorrow (Monday) at 4:30 p.m. (Ticket information on this page.) If it doesn't yet have distribution, it should shortly.
"Closing Escrow" is the story of three quirky families seeking to buy their next home. They're all moving for different reasons—and none of them are getting along with their real estate agents.
African American attorneys Bobby and Tamika have hired Hillary Macella as their real estate agent. Hillary is a racially hyper-sensitive white woman dealing with more than her share of white guilt. That is until she gets mugged, and starts seeing the world quite a bit differently.
Tom and Dawn are an unconventional couple. When they met, Tom was happily married to another woman. But thanks to Dawn's unstoppable persistence (the police reports called it stalking, but Dawn doesn't like to think of it that way), Tom was convinced to leave his wife and start his life over again in a new home with Dawn. They've wound up with a shady real estate agent with a knack for damaging homes to make them more affordable for his clients. This makes house hunting somewhat awkward for Tom and Dawn, not to mention a little dangerous.
Mary and Allen feel like they've lucked out with their real estate agent. Not only is Peter Jacobsen a great guy and a talented agent, he's also their friend. But as it happens, Peter is living in a much nicer house than Mary and Allen can afford, sparking a one sided competition with jealous Allen as he connivingly tries to one-up his agent in the middle of their house hunt.
All three families converge on the same property which inevitably goes into multiple offers. Who gets the house?
A coming-of-age story about the perils of privilege, Lions Gate Films’ FIERCE PEOPLE examines the deceit and betrayal that erupts when a working-class mother and her son move to a wealthy “country club” suburb where social climbing is a blood sport. Starring Oscar ® nominee Diane Lane (UNFAITHFUL, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN), Donald Sutherland (COLD MOUNTAIN, THE ITALIAN JOB) and Anton Yelchin (HEARTS IN ATLANTIS), FIERCE PEOPLE is directed by Griffin Dunne and written by Dirk Wittenborn, who adapted the screenplay from his novel.
Trapped in his mother’s Lower East Side apartment, sixteen-year-old Finn (Anton Yelchin) wants nothing more than to escape New York and spend the summer in South America studying the Iskanani Indians, or “Fierce People,” with the anthropologist father he’s never met. But Finn’s dreams are shattered when he is arrested in a desperate effort to help his drug-dependent mother, Liz (Diane Lane), who scrapes by working as a masseuse. Determined to get their lives back on track, Liz moves the two of them into a guesthouse on the vast country estate of her ex-client, the aging aristocratic billionaire, Ogden C. Osbourne (Donald Sutherland). In Osbourne’s close world of privilege and power, Finn and Liz encounter a tribe fiercer and more mysterious than anything they might find in the South American jungle: the super rich. While Liz battles her substance abuse and struggles to win back her son’s love and trust, Finn falls in love with Osbourne’s beautiful granddaughter, Maya (Kristin Stewart), befriends her charismatic older brother, Bryce (Chris Evans), and even wins the favor of Osbourne himself. But when a shocking act of violence shatters Finn’s ascension within the Osbourne clan, the golden promises of this lush world quickly sour. And both Finn and Liz, caught in a harrowing struggle for their dignity, discover that membership always comes at a price...
Contrasting the mores of high society with the blunt savagery of primitive tribes, FIERCE PEOPLE takes an inside look at the upper classes, examining the darkness that lurks beneath the surface of good manners. Sporting a biting wit, and featuring charismatic performances from Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland, this unflinching drama exposes the trappings of wealth and privilege, and their overwhelming power to both seduce and corrupt.
Into the Wild is the story of Christopher McCandless, who grew up in a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C., Annandale, VA, and died at age 24 in a wilderness area of the state of Alaska. After graduating in 1990 from Emory University, McCandless ceased communicating with his family, gave away his savings of $24,000 to OXFAM and began travelling, later abandoning his car and burning all the money in his wallet.
In April 1992, an Alaskan named Jim Gallien gave McCandless a ride to the Stampede Trail in Alaska. There McCandless headed down the snow-covered trail to begin an odyssey with only ten pounds of rice, a .22 caliber rifle, a camera, several boxes of rifle rounds, some camping gear, and a small selection of literature– including a field guide to the region's edible plants, Tana'ina Plantlore. He took no map or compass. He died some time in August, and his decomposed body was found in early September by moose hunters.
The book begins with the discovery of McCandless's body inside an abandoned bus and retraces his travels during the two years he was missing. Christopher shed his real name early in his journey, adopting the moniker "Alexander Supertramp". He spent time in Carthage, South Dakota with a man named Wayne Westerberg, and in Slab City, California with Jan Burres and her boyfriend Bob. Krakauer interprets McCandless' intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Leo Tolstoy, Thoreau, and his favorite writer, Jack London. He explores the similarities between McCandless' experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail his own attempt to climb Devils Thumb in Alaska. He also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah desert during 1934 at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless's family and friends.
McCandless survived for approximately 112 days in the Alaskan wilderness, foraging for edible roots and berries, shooting an assortment of game – including a moose – and keeping a sketchy journal. Although he planned to hike to the coast, the boggy terrain of summer proved too difficult and he decided instead to camp in a derelict bus. In July, he tried to leave, only to find the route blocked by high water. Toward the end of July, after apparently remaining healthy for more than three months, McCandless wrote a journal entry reporting extreme weakness and blaming it on "pot. seeds". As Krakauer explains, McCandless had been eating the roots of wild potatoes, which are sweet and nourishing in the spring but later become too tough to eat. When this happened, McCandless may have attempted to eat the seeds instead. Krakauer theorizes that the seeds contained a poisonous alkaloid, possibly swainsonine (the toxic chemical in locoweed) or something similar. In addition to neurological symptoms such as weakness and loss of coordination, the poison causes starvation by blocking nutrient metabolism in the body.
According to Krakauer, a well-nourished person might consume the seeds and survive because the body can use its stores of glucose and amino acids to rid itself of the poison. Since McCandless lived on a diet of rice, lean meat, and wild plants and had less than 10% body fat when he died, he was likely unable to fend off the toxins. However, when the Eskimo potatoes from the area around the bus were later tested in a laboratory of the UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks), toxins were not found. The exact cause of the young man's death, then, remains open to question. He may simply have starved to death.
1988: A new breed of narcotics has swept the great city, bringing with it a ferocious crime wave more terrifying than any in recent memory. Outmanned and outgunned by the new criminal order, the police find themselves burying one of their own at the rate of two a month. An all-out war rages, threatening to engulf guilty and innocent alike.
Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is caught in the crossfire. Manager of a Russian nightclub in Brighton Beach frequented by gangsters like Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), Bobby keeps his distance, not wanting to get involved. Despite his hedonistic, amoral lifestyle, he is committed to his girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) and has ambitions to open his own club and expand out of Brooklyn. The movie has an explicit sex scene involving Mendes and Phoenix.[2][3]
Bobby has a secret, however, which he guards closely. His brother is Police Captain Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg), who has followed in the footsteps of their father, legendary Chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall). Bobby's already strained relationship with his father and brother is tested when Burt warns his son that this is a war, and he's going to have to choose a side.
He can no longer remain neutral when his brother is badly wounded in an assassination attempt, and Bobby discovers his father could be next. Realizing they will only be safe when Nezhinski and his organization are destroyed, Bobby and Joseph join forces for an all-out assault. Together, they'll try to prove the NYPD's '80s rallying cry in the war on drugs: "We Own the Night."
