• The Secret World of Arrietty
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-secret-world-of-arrietty.htm
  • Gone
     
     http://bartybooks.com/gone.htm
  • Wanderlust
     
     http://bartybooks.com/wanderlust.htm
  • This Means War
     
     http://bartybooks.com/this-means-war.htm
  • Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
     
     http://bartybooks.com/ghost-rider-spirit-of-vengeance.htm
  • The Vow
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-vow.htm
  • Safe House
     
     http://bartybooks.com/safe-house.htm

Posts Tagged ‘Matt Damon’

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Considering all the garbage movie critics have to sit through in a year, it’s pretty amazing when a film that’s smarter than most hits theaters and makes a bit of an impact. Independent films are one thing, but major ones released by bigger studios are even a bigger deal when this occurs. I think that’s one of the reasons Inception was so great. Creativity and intelligence are two things that are usually lacking from blockbusters. The Adjustment Bureau is a film that has a bit more to it than you’re probably expecting. Based on “The Adjustment Group,” a short story by Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report), The Adjustment Bureau has probably already caught your attention either because you’re a fan of Dick’s work and/or the movies that were adapted from it.

The film’s charm is definitely in its explanation for things. The way the bureau works and how they function is a wonder in itself. You’ll never look at a door or a man wearing a hat the same way again after viewing the film. Perhaps the most interesting is Thompson’s explanation of how events in history like The Great Depression and The Holocaust came about. The story is very imaginative and different from the norm, which is always a fantastic change in pace when it comes to film. At the same time though, those who like having absolutely everything explained to them will probably be disappointed. The Adjustment Bureau explains enough to get the wheels in your brain turning and leaves some things open to your interpretation, which could hurt someone’s overall opinion of the film depending on the viewer.

I’ve never been the biggest Matt Damon fan. My favorite memory involving him was the Team America parody that he wasn’t even involved with, but I think of that “Matt Damon!” line every time I see him on screen. However, he did have strong showings in both Hereafter and True Grit from last year. He keeps the trend going here. David seems to be a guy who was once fueled by speaking in front of hundreds of people and politics, but has now replaced that void with Elyse. The chemistry he has with Elyse, despite feeling somewhat brief, is one of the driving factors of the film. Anthony Mackie winds up being the most memorable bureau agent mostly because he has an emotional tie to David, but John Slattery and Terence Stamp have some pretty noteworthy performances as well.

I have the impression that a lot of people will write this off as a Men In Black ripoff, but The Adjustment Bureau is a bit more clever than either Men In Black film. The films surely have their similarities, but The Adjustment Bureau deserves to be given a chance. I think it’ll surprise a lot of viewers.

The Adjustment Bureau is easily the smartest live-action film to be released in the first few months of 2011. With a solid cast, a hefty helping of creativity, and just an absorbing experiencing overall, The Adjustment Bureau is bound to leave a lasting impression when it comes time to look back on the best films of the year. The film leaves you questioning how much of your life is really left to fate and chance. Films seem to leave an impression that lasts longer if it makes you think or strikes a cord or hits close to home in some capacity. This film does that and then some. It comes highly recommended even if you have your reservations about it.

the adjustment bureau explaination, the adjustment bureau explained

True Grit (2010)

Going to any Coen Brothers is always unpredictable and a sure treat. Their films have always given the audience their money’s worth, with intelligent storytelling (not overwritten, but suitable to their themes and situations). They are artists who don’t regard their audiences as a focus group, but as men, women, and children who yearn to see an intelligent, exciting, and literate cinematic experience. For years, they have made amazing films such as “Fargo”, “No Country for Old Men”, and “Raising Arizona”, exploring and succeeding in just about any type of genre. I’m dying to see what they’d achieve with Science Fiction. Their second turn at exploring the American West is practically a flawless enterprise, a beautiful, haunting, funny, and exciting movie, a story with heart, a solid intelligent storyline, and terrific acting, one that introduces the birth of a very talented performer, a 14-year old young woman who someday will become a star, Ms. Hailee Steinfeld, in her movie debut, something that appears an unbelievable feat since she has only done shorts and TV shows until now.

Steinfield commands the screen with her perfect diction, and she matches every single performer with her understanding of her character, an intelligent and precocious teenager who wants to avenge her father’s murder. In a few words, the film is about her quest and the various situations she encounters along the way. She realizes from early on it’s impossible to complete her mission with a professional’s assistance, and she engages the services of Mr. Rooster Cogburn, (Bridges giving another sensational performance).

As they reach the climatic scenes, we are treated to a series of episodes and vistas rarely seen in recent Westerns. Here is a movie that gives us the feeling of taking a virtual trip to the Old West, a place full of the stereotypes so prevalent in this film, but exquisitely and masterfully presented and shot through the eyes of Roger Deakins outdoing his previous work. Here are desolate vistas, births of new towns, a palpable depiction of the tough, lawless early days of the Western frontier. We see the recreation of the growing settlements, the restrictive gender situations and social differences. No detail has been left out or spared. It takes almost a documentary feel, but this is contrasted with the realistic approach and the attention to the speech of the times. Yes, the words and their delivery was different. People went beyond “see ya” or “talk 2 u, 2″ back then. They knew specific terms for particular emotions and items, and though a bit unsettling at first, it’s very impressive how the young Hailee Steinfeld completely commands the screen whenever she is in front of the camera and must speak her part.

The film is not a staid work of art; it’s a living, pulsating, and very exciting piece to see, something that will delight just about everyone in the audience, with the depiction of our heroes’ quest for justice. As they get to know each other, meet good and bad characters, face the harshness of the world they live in, we are constantly in awe of the beauty and emotion in every frame of the film.

There is one remarkable scene after another: the trial that introduces Cogburn, her exchange with the businessman to settle her late father’s accounts, visiting the undertaker, her first realization she is now in the midst of a battle for survival, where the only way out is a life or death move. The closing scene has a haunting quality, a suitable ending to a film that is both intimate and epic, a scene that shows the mythical quality of the West and how we recollect the essence of the soul that is a true American genre. A few years ago, one film try to demystify these qualities, and it impressed many, but it almost killed the beating heart of this type of films. The Coens have in their own unmistakable way given it its due rebirth, and it is bright, strong, and full of the right feelings. Here is a movie to enjoy and treasure, easily one of the best ever made.

megan is missing true story, end of megan is missing, is megan is missing true story, megan is missing, megan is missing ending, megan is missing movie true story

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

I have never been one to shy away from saying that most action films just plain do nothing for me. Most times they are blatant vehicles to blow stuff up, show off sexy models, and throw any semblance of reality or intelligence out the window. With that said, the Bourne series has been fantastic. Doug Liman ushered in a new take on action by using a more cinema verite style, showing the fights in full force and making our super spy someone we can relate to emotionally as well as humanly. This is not the sci-fi absurdity that was Bond (before they did an overhaul in the style of this series no less). There was a lot to worry for when the Bourne Supremacy came out. With director Paul Greengrass taking over, what could have been a second-hand copy of the original ended up being an improvement in style and flair. The stakes were raised and the story was enhanced because of it. Greengrass needs to be given a ton of credit for being able to keep up appearances with the latest installment, The Bourne Ultimatum. In what is an amazing conclusion to a top-notch trilogy, the action is brought to a new level and story and performance are never compromised.

Once again, Bourne is brought into the minds of the CIA by false pretenses. Someone has leaked information about the Treadstone upgrade called Blackbriar and once Bourne is located trying to converse with the newswriter who broke the story, he is assumed to be the mole. Only Pamela Landy, she who was on the case to find him in Supremacy, knows that he can’t be the one. Bourne’s motive has always been to stay clear of the government and live his life in peace. It has been the CIA who keeps bringing him back into the open to wreak havoc on them. What ends up transpiring is that Bourne wants to know the source as well to finally find out the truth of who he is and what made him into a killer. The film, then, becomes a chase against time and each other to find the source and see if the government can close the breach and tie off all loose ends, or if Bourne can get his revenge on those who took his life from him.

In what is probably the simplest storyline of the series, with only one chase lasting the entirety of the story, it has possibly the biggest cast of characters and turning over of loyalties to expose the corruption that has been behind the full story progression. This is not a detriment at all, however, as it allows for more fights and car chases that work in full context to the plot. Admission to this film is worth it for the apartment fight, between Bourne and the CIA’s second asset, alone. The chase jumping through windows in Madrid is cool on its own, but when they finally meet up, we get a ten minute or so fight that is as invigorating to watch as any scene you’ll see. Also, rather than using a massive car chase as a climatic set piece like in the first two films, we instead get around three small scale road races, just as intense, but staggered enough to never bog the action down into monotony.

After five years of waiting, we also find out the origin of our favorite operative with heart and feeling. By the end of the film we will find out what has been the cause of all the espionage and destruction that has taken place around him. No one could have done it better than Matt Damon. He has the physique and attitude to be believable in the action sequences, but also the range to pull off the moments of intelligence and cat and mouse correspondence with those against him. Joan Allen reprises her role with the same amount of dedication to her job, but also a bit more disenchantment for what is going on around her after how Brian Cox’s character, from the first two films, took matters into his own hands. Needing a role in that mold, we are given a nice turn from David Strathairn.

Like Cox, he is working at the top of the food chain and answers to no one when making a decision. With as much trying to cover up any connections to his bosses of the Blackbriar program as he is trying to do his duty to his country, you can never quite gauge what he will be capable of doing. Even the little guys do a wonderful job, like Paddy Considine as the reporter who starts the leak at the center of everything, Albert Finney as a man from Bourne’s past and possibly key to his origin, and Edgar Ramirez as one of the CIA’s operatives sent to take Bourne out. Ramirez is a nice addition to the role that has been successfully played by Clive Owen (Identity), Karl Urban, and Martin Csokas (Supremacy). He doesn’t talk much, if at all, but he has the look and robotic efficiency down pat and hopefully will get more roles to show what he can do post a nice turn in Domino.

In the end, one has to applaud Paul Greengrass for continuing to exceed expectations and bring this series to a conclusion that builds on the success of its predecessors rather than destroy them. His skill at the close-up hand-held look is astonishing and has the same kinetic energy as Tony Scott, but without quite the seizure-inducing cuts. Rather than feel like over- production, his use of hand-held enhances the environment and puts you directly into the action. Let’s also credit cinematographer Oliver Wood, who shot all three Bourne films. He was able to work with both directors and work his style into a nice harmony with them.

Rating : 8.2/10

Page 1 of 212
40 queries. 0.374 seconds.