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Showing posts from December, 2011

Young Adult

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At one point in “Young Adult” (2011), Charlize Theron’s character, Mavis Gary, crashes her car in a parking lot after having a few drinks. We realize she has hit rock bottom emotionally, and we get a sense that there is no way she is going to come out of this mess. In fact, she has been on a downward spiral ever since her divorce. With sagging energy, Mavis is disinterested in and emotionally detached from her surroundings. Nothing delights her anymore, and with each passing minute, Mavis progressively alienates herself. In simple words, Mavis is depressed and hanging on to her past. She checks in a Hampton Inn located in a small town, with the hope that a new place might give her inspiration to write. But behind all of this, she comes with a plan to rekindle an old relationship with her high school sweetheart, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Welcome to the world of Mavis Gray, where things are going to get messy and hurtful. Jason Reitman directs another movie that e

The Expendables - The Extended Version

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How many macho guys does the world need to save us from the bad guys?   Enter the world of “The Expendables,” and we have an elite group of seven mercenaries, each with his own expertise in combat. Of course, each mission they undertake becomes an exercise in machismo. Unlike a small group of girlfriends, who would go out on a shopping spree to entertain themselves, our heroes are exactly polar opposite; they play with guns, ride their long-handled Harleys, and undertake deadly missions. It is their idea of taking a pleasurable break from their normal lives. If this sounds interesting to you, then welcome to the big-boys club of “The Expendables.” “The Expendables” includes an action-driven cast in the form of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, and Terry Crews. The presence of the star-studded action cast catapulted the film at the box office and resulted in a worldwide gross revenue of $261 million on a budget o

Point Blank

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In the last decade or so, French cinema has produced some memorable corrupt-cop crime thrillers. The French cop thrillers became widely known outside France with director Olivier Marchal’s “36th Precinct” (2004) and “MR 73” (2008) that were generally successful at the box office and received mostly favorable reviews. More recently, Jean-Francois Richet’s dual crime thrillers, “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” (2008) and “Mesrine: Public Enemy #1” (2008), were also well-produced crime thrillers, cementing the French cinema’s reputation in producing slick-looking action-crime thrillers. Fred Cavaye’s “Point Blank” (2010) is the latest offering in this genre. Cavaye might not be a known name in Hollywood, but his earlier flick “Anything for Her” (2008) was remade under Paul Haggis’s direction as “The Next Three Days” (2010). “Point Blank” begins with a fast-paced sequence in which we see a thief, Startet (Zem), running from a group of gangsters who probably shot him. He soon enters a

Warrior

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The release of “Warrior” (2011) clearly suffered from bad timing. If this movie came out before the theatrical release of “The Fighter” (2010) or after a considerable gap, then “Warrior” could have done well at the box-office. As it stands, “Warrior” was hardly a breakeven for the studio. The reason why audiences stayed away from “Warrior” was because of its resemblance in every aspect to a superior boxing flick, “The Fighter.” The dysfunctional families and two brothers form the heart of both the movies. What’s more, the initial marketing elements for “Warrior” such as posters, trailers, DVD release, and flash segments created a familiar impression about the characters and story. On the surface, one can’t help feel that “Warrior” is a twin brother of “The Fighter.” But are comparisons to “The Fighter” fair? Probably not, but by whatever mechanism “Warrior” is evaluated in the future, it doesn’t warrant a dismissive attitude, because it’s a solid movie in every way: c

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

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Eli Craig’s “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” (2010) has everything we have seen before in a horror movie: A group of college kids venturing into the woods, a guy with a chainsaw running after them, and instances of misplaced identities as a result of unforeseen events. And as with other horror movies, there are grisly deaths triggered by misunderstandings. Sound familiar? But “Tucker & Dale” is not a run-of-the-mill horror film.   Even though it reminds us of “Cabin Fever” (2002) and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) in a big way, it still manages to distinguish itself quite remarkably from the other classics in the horror genre. The film never takes itself seriously, and, instead, banks more on the characters, never putting emphasis on the deaths and gore. As such, everything that happens is purely accidental, paving the way for realistic comedic moments. More than anything, “Tucker & Dale” plays well as a spoof of the horror genre. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and