• 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
Home » dir » David And Katie Marks Wikipedia

All Good Things (2010)

ALL THINGS GOOD is a polished little film based on a true story that while it may not have the visual gruesome detail of the usual thriller tropes of films, it is terrifying in its presentation of personality variations that produce a shuddering reaction on a purely intellectual level for the audience. It is both a love story and a missing persons/murder mystery based on a still unsolved case that continues to haunt New York investigators and reporters and detectives.

What writers Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling have created from known and newly discovered facts, speculation and court records results in a psychological examination of a powerful New York family, obsession, love and loss. The film relates incidents that began in 1972 and end in 2003 and at this time the truth is still unknown. Director Andrew Jarecki uses a superb cast and a fine sense of voice-over narration to interweave the puzzling history with the gradual dissolution of each of the characters involved.

Sanford Marks (Frank Langella) is one of the wealthiest owners of Manhattan real estate, the current head of a family that has long dominated the New York scene with its power and money. Marks is aging and is relying on his son David (Ryan Gosling) to take over the family business: he sends David out to the brothels, and filthy hotels and porn houses to collect rent. David is reticent to be a part of his father’s business: he is a deeply disturbed young man, having witnessed his mother’s suicide leap as a child. David meets a tenant in one of the properties – Katie McCarthy (Kirsten Dunst) who longs to go to medical school but at present has no income to support that dream. The chemistry between the two is magnetic and despite David’s father’s objection that Katie is not of ‘their kind of people’, David decides to marry Katie and move to Vermont to open a Health Foods store – a move that makes the couple ecstatic, but is financed by Sanford Marks who eventually convinces David to sell his haven and move to New York to stay with the family business.

In their Manhattan home (and in their country lake front home!) the couple flourishes until Katie mentions she’d like to have children – a force that drives David back into violent behavior resulting form his witnessing his mother’s suicide: David can’t understand why Katie would want anything but the obvious life of wealth they enjoy. The shell is cracked and the subsequent events include Katie becoming pregnant only to be forced by David to terminate the pregnancy, Katie’s disappearance after uncovering the facts about the sources of wealth of the family, David’s descent into drugs and irresponsible behavior, and ultimately his leaving New York for Galveston, Texas where he lives a life disguised as a woman, his only friend being another old runaway Melvin Bump (Philip Baker Hall) who David engages to do away with a ‘problem confidant’ (Lilly Rabe), after which Bump is killed and dissected and tossed into the river. The murders are never solved nor is the mystery of Katie’ disappearance. A trial (the source of the voice-over throughout the film has been the lawyer’s interrogation of David in the year 2003) fails to resolve anything and the film ends with the message that David Marks is at present a real estate broker in Florida.

Frank Langella is superb as the heartless father who drives his family like cattle in the quest of power and wealth. Ryan Gosling offer a multifaceted performance of the deeply disturbed David and is match by Kirsten Dunst’s bravura performance as Katie, the simple bright girl whose life is quashed by a powerful family’s sickness. The brilliant cast, including the performances by Philip Baker Hall and Lilly Rabe – daughter of the deceased Jill Clayburgh), has excellent cameo roles by Diane Venora, Trini Alvarado, David Margulies, Nick Offerman and many more. This is a tough film to watch because at the bottom of it all is that it is true and the cases are unsolved. It makes us cringe but it is a very fine film.

david marx murder, david marx real estate, katie mccarthy missing person, katie mccarthy missing, katie marx missing, ryan gosling in sarasota

Posted in: Drama, Movies, Mystery, Thriller.
Tagged: · ·

david marx murder, david marx real estate, katie mccarthy missing person, katie mccarthy missing, katie marx missing, ryan gosling in sarasota

Home » dir » David And Katie Marks Wikipedia

Monte Carlo (2011)

If you had asked me who was Selena Gomez a few months back, I would have just blinked at you. If not for attending Justin Bieber’s 3D documentary film, being intrigued by his internet fueled meteoric success and inevitably feeding off the tabloids on his career, I would not have known who the lead actress was, but now I do. Based loosely on the novel Headhunters by Jules Bass, the release of Monte Carlo this week in the US and Singapore would probably be deemed suicidal, if not for its appeal to the intended demographic left out of the testosterone filled Transformers, and the more mature movie going audience who would likely flock to Larry Crowne starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts (opens in Singapore next week to avoid a three-way battle).

And appeal to that group it does, playing up to its favourite things that if I were a girl I would gobble this up hook, line and sinker. There’s travelling to Europe, Paris no less, with a BFF, and a sister you’d love to hate in tow, meeting attractive and more importantly, single guys at every turn, travelling in luxury from being ferried in private jets and limousines, rubbing shoulders with royalty and the rich and famous, as well as having an arsenal of gorgeous outfits to get into topped off by million dollar jewellery, participating in exotic games and attending the coolest parties. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

But that’s about it, with the film very much set in territory already explored in countless of films dealing with coincidental, mistaken identity, where the Prince and the Pauper switch places – this one being one sided and without permission – for the pauper to experience the high life, leading onto moralistic questions such as whether one will be enticed by things superficial and materialistic, or will one return to one’s humble roots with morals, principles and values intact. It’s the same old usual themes about wanting to fulfill personal objectives and dreams, whatever they may be, whether done so through hard work, or just by meeting the right people.

Selena Gomez takes on two roles here, although her role as the mean British heiress Cordelia Winthrop Scott looks like she’s suffering from a constant PMS. Her other main role is of course as Grace, the simple waitress from Texas who had graduated and is taking her graduating trip to Paris with best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy), only for her parents to get her half-sister Meg (Leighton Meester) to tag along despite their hating of each other’s guts. So begins the journey of self-discovery for all – Grace to decide whether she should keep up with the charade she and her pals find themselves in at the risk of being a fraud to Theo (Pierre Boulanger) of the Hotel de Paris, Emma to try and figure out if the high life and potentially rich royal-family linked acquaintance can be anything more than friends as compared to her troubled boyfriend Owen (Cory Monteith), and Meg learning to becoming less uptight while getting swept off her feet by Aussie tourist Riley (Luke Bracey).

Yes, that’s all the romance lined up, as they zip around the different places in luxurious Monte Carlo, having the second act centered around closure in and around a million dollar necklace meant for a charity auction. In some ways that was the best part of the film as finally there is a sense of purpose and urgency to try and resolve everything amicably and set their identities straight as their charade comes to the inevitable close, with well timed, expected comedy to pave the way to a finale that ends all too conveniently.

Naturally the landscapes make up the film with its far flung, beautiful locations that would just make you want to save up enough to jet set in the same fashion, trying very hard to make you forget the many plot conveniences and coincidences, for the very obviously predictable way this teeny bopper film is appealing to the teenage female population through the latest It girl making that transition from music to film. Strictly or the fans only.

tiffany starr voice hot

Posted in: Adventure, Comedy, Romance.
Tagged: · ·

tiffany starr voice hot

Home » dir » David And Katie Marks Wikipedia

Trust (2010)

I had the privilege to be among the first in North America to screen David Schwimmer’s latest film last night at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with cast members including Clive Owen and Catherine Keener (two of my favourite actors) present as well as the director, Schwimmer himself.

Before the screening, the former “Friends” star provided some valuable context for the film, sharing his personal connection to the topic. It was enlightening to learn that he himself is a dedicated advocate for survivors of sexual assault/abuse and has spent a great deal of time working and interacting with the families impacted, because the film was executed with such a sensitivity and deep psychological understanding around the difficult topic.

Before delving into my review let me just say upfront (for those who are quickly trying to decide whether or not to see this) that this is a good movie, and yes you should see it.

I also went into this film not knowing its rating and I can assure you, that while the subject is very heavy and there are some disturbing scenes and some violence, there is nothing here so sexually graphic that it is too uncomfortable to watch – even my husband who I would consider to be a “sensitive” viewer did not find the film to be graphic.

“Trust” is the kind of movie that relies heavily upon the plausibility of its dialogue and the believability of its actors. If the script was poorly written or the innumerable emotional scenes poorly acted, the whole thing might have been a disaster for Schwimmer.

Instead, Kenner and Owen turned in Oscar-worthy performances that invited viewers into their home, their marriage and their suffering. Under great direction, Owen led his character through a roller-coaster of emotions that was accessible to viewers, as we shared in his character’s progression through anger, grief and understanding.

Not to be overlooked, and the true star of this film, is the young Liana Liberato who plays the daughter and the victim with such authenticity that it was at some times painful to watch. Not enough can be said about how incredible she was in this film – I think the career she has ahead of her will speak for itself.

Of course, the best acting in the world would have been wasted if the screenplay was weak, but with Robert Festinger (who wrote the screenplay for “In the Bedroom”) on board, you can expect a convincing storyline and dialogue that felt real.

At times, the film comes dangerously close to being cliché or cheesy like a television drama or TV movie-of-the-week. And this is almost inevitable when trying to make a cautionary drama with the underlying objective of raising awareness around a societal issue. However any time you feel the film beginning to veer down this path, it is rescued by the incredible acting and you forget once more that you are watching a film. Even the ending which I thought at first was a bit overly sentimental, quickly took an unexpected and dark turn that, for me, restored its credibility.

This is a powerful and very important film, not just for families but also for David Schwimmer’s career because now the sitcom actor-turned- director has established himself as a serious and very capable dramatic filmmaker who is not afraid to take on challenging material.

I’m not sure how well “Trust” will do outside of the film festival or if it would appeal to mass audiences, however I do hope people see it, especially those who care about this important issue.

I would definitely watch a David Schwimmer film again in the future – he has legitimate talent behind the camera and should he make more marketable movies in the future, he might actually make it big as a director.

I give this movie a solid 8 out of 10. Congratulations to Schwimmer and your team on this great accomplishment. And, as a woman and caring citizen, thank you for telling this story.

Posted in: Drama, Thriller.
Tagged: · ·


Page 1 of 1112345...10...Last »

56 queries. 0.503 seconds.