Is there any role that Johnny Depp can not master? I think not! He is without a doubt one of my favorite actors; always capturing my undivided attention no matter whether he is wearing chalky white makeup as Willy Wonka, singing his heart out in Sweeney Todd or blowing up enemy ships and sipping on bottles of rum as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. He is truly a gifted artist, who brings to life each new character he steps into. In “Public Enemies” he teams up with award winning Producer/Director Michael Mann, Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard and yes, even Christian Bale has something positive to contribute to this movie, creating an absolutely captivating depiction of the fast paced, action-packed life of the most infamous criminal mastermind of the 1920’s.
Who could better portray the charismatic bank robber who won over the hearts of the American Public? Depp once again steals the spotlight, but he was not alone this time. Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale both gave brilliant performances.
As the first to be labeled “Public Enemy Number One” by the F.B.I., John Dillinger ignored the threats of authorities, the cold shoulders of his comrades and the warnings of those close to him and lived his life fast and hard on the lamb… taking whatever and whomever he wanted along the way. This wild ride included Ms. Billie Frechette (played stunningly by Marion Cotillard), who found herself under the watchful eyes of not only the most wanted criminal in the United States but also that of the F.B.I.’s top field agents in the hopes of flushing out their prey. Their life on the run gets them into some slippery situations with the law and leads to some extremely impressive sounding car chases and gun fights, culminating in a final unforgettable shoot’em up showdown.
The recreation of 1920’s life is flawless. The stylish fashions, hair and makeup, the cars, streets and buildings… every scene was a flashback to a different time and place. A time when life was hard and the criminals were harder. These guys took held up banks, took hostages of women and children, drank hard alcohol, partied with easy women, gambled, smoked and carried big loud guns with plenty of ammo. All this and more adds up to an extremely entertaining movie for the audience.
Although the dialogue was somewhat difficult to hear at times the overall sound was outstanding. Watch for a night time stand off between authorities and gangsters that unfolds in the eerie silence of the cold, dark woods. Also a striking auditory delight where a train slowly crawls into the station, the sound is incredible!
Michael Mann may be best known for his direction and/or production of such blockbusters as Hancock, The Kingdom, Miami Vice and The Aviator (just to name a few), but we will undoubtedly have to add “Public Enemies” to this ever-growing list of audience favorites.
In 2003 Marcus Wright is a convict on death row sentenced to die by lethal injection. In his final moments he signs his body over to Cyberdyne Systems. In 2004, Judgment Day occurs and the remaining human survivors find themselves at war with Skynet and the machines.
Now in 2018, John Connor is the leader of the human resistance and is attempting to destroy as many Skynet headquarters as possible when he discovers the machines newest design, the T-800, a machine surrounded by a human shell. What Connor fails to see as he is escaping the aftermath of his latest attack on Skynet is the one other man that has managed to escape unharmed, Marcus Wright. Marcus is alive and well but has no memory beyond being on death row. He has no idea what year it is or what has happened. It is not until he meets and befriends Kyle Reese and little Star, members of the Los Angeles branch Resistance that he learns of Judgment Day and the war of man against machine. Tragically, before all of this new information can be digested he is thrown for an even greater loop when he learns that Cyberdyne has turned him into their latest weapon, half man and half machine, the ultimate infiltration and destruction machine and they are using Marcus to get to Connor.
Meanwhile Connor and his followers have discovered a weapon that seems to neutralize the machines and have planned an ambush of Skynet’s main headquarters in L.A. However when John Connor learns that Kyle Reese is being held captive in Skynet HQ the attack is postponed until he can extract the man that will later become his father.
This is where things get really interesting. Now Connor must decide whether or not to trust Marcus to help him get into Skynet to save his father and possibly the future of all mankind from the machines. You’ll have to see the movie to find out what happens, but let me assure you, the ending is fantastic, a visual and auditory explosion! Play it loud and on the biggest screen you can find and enjoy!
Thanks to some excellent directing by McG and the downplay of Christian Bale’s character, John Connor, this 4th installment to the Terminator series actually managed to kick some serious ass (even without the legendary Terminator himself).
Director McG brought the original apocalyptic scenes of war and vast emptiness from the original 1984 Terminator into the present with some extremely cool high tech robots and intense scenes of mass destruction. Everything and everyone on screen is blown up, shot at or bombed. It is awesome. This director makes the year 2018 look and feel like Judgement Day has come for the human race.
One of the few drawbacks of this movie is that Christian Bale was even chosen to play John Connor (especially since he insists on using his fake Bruce Wayne voice in every single role he plays now). Also disappointing is the fact that John Connor’s character seemed confused and unsure of himself a lot of the time which was slightly odd for the supposed Savior of all mankind. And Jadagrace’s portrayal of silent little Star was fabulous but pretty much a wasted character since the plot never really incorporated her at all. She only seemed to be present to pay homage to the famous Newt character from the Aliens trilogy. And John Connor’s wife, Kate played by Bryce Dallas Howard was also oddly forgotten throughout most of the plot. She popped up here and there for little cameo shots but she really wasn’t used to her fullest potential.
But despite these few flaws this movie truly delivered. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. Kyle Reese’s character (John Connor’s father), is a teenager in 2018 and is written and acted brilliantly in this movie. Anton Yelchin is phenomenal in this role and a delight to watch. Equally impressive was the introduction of the newest character in the Terminator series, the robot created by the machines before the legendary T-800 made famous by Arnie. Sam Worthington delivers an unforgettable performance as Marcus Wright and carries the entire film almost entirely by himself from beginning to end. Not bad considering the size of the shoes he was stepping into. No, it most certainly was not Bale who sold me on this film; it was Worthington through and through. He managed to pull off the cold blooded convict, the compassionate and sensitive action hero and the passionate wounded heart throb all in the span of a few hours (and he’s quite pleasing to the eyes too I might add). If there is to be another in the long line of Terminator movies I would greatly anticipate that “He will be back!”
Briefly — because I will not waste anymore time on this movie — Bruno is the story of a flamboyantly gay TV host in Austria (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) who is fired from his job and black listed from the fashion world he loves. As a result, Bruno loses his long time lover and celebrity stature. In an attempt to regain the fame and popularity that he had become accustomed too, Bruno travels to Los Angeles and tries a number of “get rich quick” schemes but fails miserably at them all. He even goes so far as to try to reject his homosexuality and turn himself straight but it is only by embracing his gayness that Bruno finds true love, happiness and success. Sounds like a fairytale doesn’t it?
My mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say not to say anything at all, but in this case I think I’ll make an exception. What an idiotic waste of time this movie was. Sacha Baron Cohen IS a funny guy and he DOES create some extremely funny skits and characters but whoever keeps allowing him to write, produce and star in these crappy movies should be very ashamed of himself and must be stopped now so that I will not be subjected to a third installment of Sacha’s films.
His first film, “Borat”, although distasteful and offensive to everyone, was at least somewhat humourous. I am not condoning the crude and mocking behavior that Cohen exhibited in “Borat” but I do have to admit that it made me laugh at times. This latest film however only made me cringe and shudder in complete horror and utter disgust. Cohen’s parody of the homosexual lifestyle and the desire to be rich and famous went way beyond acceptable ridicule. His extremely vulgar language and offensive behavior in this movie felt like a desperate attempt to force laughter out of the audience instead of earning it through cleverly written dialogue or well choreographed scenes. There was absolutely nothing enjoyable about this movie. I could not wait for it to finish and at only 82 minutes, it felt like it would never end. The one positive remark that I can make about this movie is that, with all of the unpleasant scenes of sexuality and nudity displayed by Cohen and his pals, I am extremely grateful that I did not have to watch it in HD. This is definitely one movie that I can guarantee will not get a second viewing… EVER!
ComingSoon.net has confirmed that 20th Century Fox will debut a new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar in theaters this Friday, October 23rd! The trailer, which clocks in at roughly around 3 minutes and 30 seconds, won’t be coming online until October 29th. You should really see this in theaters anyways as we’ve learned that this is THE trailer, the one that will show you much more story (as opposed to the teaser trailer previously released).
“Yeah, I think it’d be fun!” Thurman enthusiastically replied when asked if she’d be up for playing Beatrix once again. In terms of actual progress on the script, Uma revealed that, “[Tarantino and I] did chat, we did chat. He has not yet finished the script. I don’t even really know if he’s really started it, although I got a taste of some of his ideas and they are really good.”
Variety reports that the larger Disney studio will now handle certain, “marketing, distribution, operations and administrative support functions from its Burbank headquarters.” That amounts to an almost 75% reduction in their staff down to just 20 remaining executives. Although Disney isn’t naming names for now, a series of meetings next week will say who stays and who goes. Word is that some of the people let go will be from the production and development side of things, with such rumored names floating around as production prexy, Keri Putnam, and acquisitions veep, Peter Lawson.
Fans of the X-MEN franchise were weary when first hearing about Ratner directing the third film for the installment. Well if you saw LAST STAND, then it’s possible your in the huge crowd of people who thought it was garbage. This is how Ratner feels about the response, “You can’t make these people happy. I’m kind of the anti-Christ to these comic book geeks. Every single person that wrote shit went to see that movie multiple times because a movie doesn’t gross $200 something million unless people go to see it more than once.”
Of course, he continued, “Every single person who said, ‘I’m never seeing that movie’, they were the first ones there. What are they concerned about? It’s out of the filmmaker’s hands. A film is a collaborative effort. How’s a person sitting at home going to worry about how a movie is going to turn out to be?” I did go see it, once. I love X-MEN regardless of who directs it, but after seeing it, I didn’t need to see it again.
It gets worse. Ratner claims that he made the franchise more popular than ever, “The most ridiculous statement I’ve read is – and of course I looked at the internet after the movie came out – that I buried the franchise. “If I buried the franchise how the fuck did they make a Wolverine? I mean, that’s ridiculous. And they’re making three other fucking X-Men movies. Mine kept the franchise alive!”
“We’re hoping that it’s the first week in March,” said Raimi.
At the moment, pre-production is in full swing, even as screenwriter Gary Ross (”great director and a very fine writer,” said Raimi) continues to work on the script.
“He’s working on a draft,” he continued. “I just gave him some notes and he’s doing a rewrite right now.”
On other fronts, “Spider-Man 4″ continues to chug along. “The production is starting to come together,” Raimi told us. “I’ve got a production designer who is starting to design the sets and the environments that the picture will take place in. We just brought aboard Scott Stokdyk as one of the two visual effects supervisors, and I worked with him on all three ‘Spider-man’ pictures.”
With Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst set to reprise their roles, Raimi and his team will soon turn their attention to filling out the rest of the cast. “None of the casting has really taken place, but we’re starting to think about that now,” the director said.
MGM Studios has decided to push Joss Whedon’s anticipated The Cabin in the Woods, directed and co-written by Cloverfield’s Drew Goddard, back nearly a year, from its original release date of February 5, 2010 to the new date of January 14, 2011.
MGM reps tell ShockTillYouDrop.com the reason they’re doing this is because the early response to the film has been phenomenal and they’re going to spend six months or so converting the picture to 3-D.
There is nothing else scheduled for that 2011 date, which is the four-day weekend to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, although the fourth Underworld movie is currently scheduled to open one week later.
Chuck Viane, in Disney’s domestic distribution department, called the extension “open-ended”, but it likely won’t run past November 2nd. That’s the day when the studio debuts its 3-D holiday flick, A Christmas Carol. The solid showing has Disney up in arms, and we’ll likely see more classics rendered for today’s 3-D-manding (get it?) audiences. Beauty and the Beast, an obvious test balloon, is set to have a 3-D release in 2011.
CanalPlus.fr has published a brand new behind the scenes report from the set of Iron Man 2, complete with interviews with director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr.
The report features a bunch of new footage, including a look at Tony Stark’s at-home particle accelerator project. There is also a series of shots with Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, and some shots of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. It’s interesting to hear that things are getting “a bit darker,” while keeping with the tone of the first film.
All signs still pointing to Iron Man 2 being awesome. Have your own look at the new stuff below.
MTV talked to Favreau about The Avengers while he was promoting Couples Retreat, and his statement about directing the film was quite clear:
They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available. It’s something I’m being the executive producer on, so I’ll definitely have input and a say. It’s going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with ‘Avengers’ you’re going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it’s going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we’ve created.”
