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Home » dir » David Marks And Katherine 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.

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One for the Money Review

The trailer would remind you of the forgettable The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston with the former being the titular character whose target happens to be his ex-wife, having them bicker and run from various misadventures together. Reverse the roles in order to have a female bounty hunter going after an ex-boyfriend, and the stage is set for more of the same, no? Not quite. One for the Money has a lot more going for it, predominantly being a film written by and made by females for its intended audience, and being an engaging flick chick that wonderfully encapsulates a whodunnit.

Katherine Heigl seems to be on a successful roll on celluloid, and is in her element here in this romantic action adventure comedy as lead character Stephanie Plum, a rookie bounty hunter drawn to the profession only because she’s desperate for a job to pay off impending bills. An ex-lingerie model, we follow her transition from girly girl to a somewhat tough cookie ready to hold her own in her cousin’s business, where an added incentive is to hunt down and bring in her ex-boyfriend Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), a cop wanted for the gunning down an unarmed felon.

Yes one would expect the usual laughs coming from her inexperience in a new field, her constantly being outwitted by slier opponents in the big bad town of Trenton, New Jersey, and having that pitch perfect sexual charisma with her mark since they share a common romantic history before in their youths. But to my surprise One for the Money has a little bit more depth in its story than I would have imagined, playing out like a mystery with a crime at hand to solve, with Stephanie stumbling her way from fact to fact, interacting with various interesting caricatures who don’t bore, and plays out exactly like an 80s private detective film of old in spirit.

Written by Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray and Liz Brixius off the well received novel of the same name by Janet Evanovich, this probably accounts for a lot of female-centric focus on elements in the storyline, as well as director Julie Anne Robinson’s ability to center this very much like a chick flick, wrapped around an old fashioned whodunnit. I mean, only in a story with an attractive female protagonist would you have other females in the story either old, or matronly, and having not one but two hunks – Morelli and fellow alpha-male bounty hunter Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) – involved at the crossroads of her life. Plenty of characterization goes into the lead character of Stephanie Plum, and Heigl brings a certain sass to the role, with little street smarts that cover for her lack of experience in the field.

Granted the mystery doesn’t quite play out with that kind of tension and suspense as one would expect from a true blur genre film, but it does enough with its slight touch and managed to keep interest afloat. While there are 18 novels to date in the series of Stephanie Plum’s adventures in bounty hunting, with each novel title starting with a number / numerically related, reality is that any subsequent film will have to rely on how much this makes at the box office. My bet is that it’ll likely be something quite modest with a potential of 17 more films made only if Heigl wants to be stereotyped (if not already) or typecast. Still, One for the Money sits above average on the entertainment scale, and can be recommended fare if you’d give it a chance.


Fast Tube by Casper

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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.


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