Topic: KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010

[KinkyCyborg]

It certainly does often get overlooked when people talk about movies regarding slavery & racism. Alex Haley's Roots, Mississippi Burning and Amistad likely come to peoples minds first but I've always been a big fan of Singleton's Rosewood.

[KinkyCyborg]

Ocean's 11



Title:Ocean's 11
Year: 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Rating: NR
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Peter Lawford
Dean Martin
Frank Sinatra
Henry Silva
Joey Bishop

Plot:
New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. Roulette wheels spin, cards snap, slots chime, champagne fizzes, the shows go on…and the lights go out. It's the perfect time to steal a kiss or a $25 chip. But for Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and his 10 partners in crime, it's the perfect moment to steal millions.

Sinatra and off-screen pals Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and more play army buddies who devise a scheme to knock out power to the Vegas strip, electronically rig five big casino vaults and raid them all at the same instant. Packed with location-lensed glamour, sweaty suspense, swinging comedy and a stunning twist ending.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:

I started watching this with some preconceived notions... that I wouldn't like it because I had seen the remake first, that it would be diluted with singing numbers and that it would seem terribly dated. Of course I was wrong as usual.  

It's easy to resist the temptation to compare this to the remale simply because other than the title of the movie and one character who retained their name, Danny Ocean, there was little these two movies had in common. I enjoyed this and the remake and refuse to say one is better than the other because they both stand on their own merits.

There was a bit of singing in this one, but I can listen to Dean Martin sing all day. Sammy Davis Jr. also had a short snappy number that I liked too. I confess to not having seen Davis Jr. in many movies beyond the Cannonball Run flicks and he impressed me too. Probably my favorite character in this would be Cesar Romero as Duke Santos. Very suave and full of confidence! Also if Julia Roberts had her hair tied up like Angie Dickinson did in this version you would be astonished at the resemblance!

The casino heist theme is common between the two films but the method and direction were completely different. This version of course lacked all the high tech gadgetry, replaced with creative trickery and the art of the con. I think I may have liked the ending better in this version, satisfying and full of irony.

This movie is one I'd like to revisit from time to time so you know it has scored high with me.  

KC


Rating:

[Antares]

Glad to see that you liked this film. Sure it's an anachronistic film, but a lot of hedonistic fun.

And...

Also if Julia Roberts had her hair tied up like Angie Dickinson did in this version you would be astonished at the resemblance!

Uh...No, Angie Dickinson was hot, Roberts is definitely not in the same zip code.

[KinkyCyborg]

Glad to see that you liked this film. Sure it's an anachronistic film, but a lot of hedonistic fun.

And...

Also if Julia Roberts had her hair tied up like Angie Dickinson did in this version you would be astonished at the resemblance!

Uh...No, Angie Dickinson was hot, Roberts is definitely not in the same zip code.

I wasn't commenting on the relative hotness of either actress... it's just there was one scene in particular where Angie was sitting on the couch talking with Dean Martin and in that moment I felt her and Roberts bore a striking resemblance to one another. While they are both attractive women neither of them would make my top 10... or 20 for that matter. Roberts has always kind of creeped me out with that abnormally wide smile of hers that always reminds me of Pennywise The Clown. 

[Antares]

Roberts has always kind of creeped me out with that abnormally wide smile of hers that always reminds me of Pennywise The Clown. 

  So true

[KinkyCyborg]

The Reader



Title:The Reader
Year: 2008
Director: Stephen Daldry
Rating: R
Length: 124 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Ralph Fiennes
Jeanette Hain
David Kross
Kate Winslet
Susanne Lothar

Plot:
Academy Award® winner* Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road) delivers a dynamic performance in this "tale of eroticism, secrecy and guilt" (Claudia Puig, USA Today) set in turbulet post-Nazi Germany. Bringing to life the celebrated international novel, Winslet is riveting as Hanna Schmitz – a lonely, working-class woman who experiences a brief but intense affair with a teenage boy. Years later they meet again: Hanna now a defendant in a notorious case and her ex-lover, now a law student, holding the secret to her salvation. Directed by three-time Academy Award® nominee** Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and featuring Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess) as the grown man still reeling from Hanna's influence, The Reader is a "moving, romantic and poignant story" (Roger Friedman, Fox News) about the difficult distance between truth and reconciliation.

*2009 Best Actress, The Reader.
**2009 Best Director, The Reader; 2003 Best Director, The Hours; 2000 Best Director, Billy Elliot.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Production Notes
Interviews

My Thoughts:

After ejecting the dvd at the movie's conclusion I sat there for quite some time, digesting what I had watched. The movie was great, but I was unsure how I felt about it in terms of the moral questions it posed and the extremes of ones pride.

I can now forgive Kate Winslet for the prattling of her award acceptance speeches. Her performance was outstanding and well deserved of the Oscar she received. The transformation from her beauty that we are all used to to the average and plain appearance of her character makes her performance all the more believable.

This starts off as a mismatched love story of a teenage boy and a thirty something woman but quickly turns dark after years have past and shocking revelations present themselves. The woman's pride sentences herself to lifelong incarceration even though a simple admission would exonerate her... and her lover from many years ago alone knows her secret but can't bring himself to betray her trust, even to save her.

The movie has a serene, even keel throughout that many would attribute to 'boring' but I found it fascinating in it's entirety. The WWII backdrop, particularly the death camps, never fails to reel me in, but this movie goes well beyond a war crimes story. In turns erotic, uplifting, then shocking, horrifying and ultimately tragic and sad... this movie takes you through an entire range of emotions.

It's one of those movies that has you thinking about it days later... that's the mark of a great movie. At least for me.

 

KC

Rating:

[Antares]

I saw this in the theater and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just haven't gotten around to buying it yet.

[Najemikon]

Roberts has always kind of creeped me out with that abnormally wide smile of hers that always reminds me of Pennywise The Clown. 

  So true

Clearly horses for courses, because I think Julia Roberts is fantastic, especially the huge gob.   She can range so easily and quickly from hard faced bitch to vulnerable and very cute.

I have to say I think Ocean's Eleven is a much better film than Ocean's 11, which was hamstrung by Sinatra phoning in his performance. I mean almost literally so. It's appeal is purely on those guys and that appeal is massive, but it isn't a proper film. The modern gang can only wish they had the same charisma, but the story and the set-pieces are great. Soderbergh has masses of fun directing it. The only mis-step was Don Cheadle's ridiculous accent!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's bloody weird how this forum seems to skew toward Ocean's Twelve as the better film. Bloody awful.

[Antares]

She can range so easily and quickly from hard faced bitch to vulnerable and very cute.

You've obviously have never seen Mary Reilly, she was God awful in that.

[KinkyCyborg]

I have to say I think Ocean's Eleven is a much better film than Ocean's 11, which was hamstrung by Sinatra phoning in his performance.

I like both versions for different reasons but I couldn't agree with you more about Sinatra mailing it in. He did the exact same thing in The Detective. He just oozed arrogance in his movies that had nothing to do with acting. You could tell by his demeanor that he felt he was doing the film justice just by his mere presence  Never been a fan of his, with Von Ryan's Express being his lone performance of his movies I've watched that I can genuinely say I liked. His Rat Pack brethren make it easier to appreciate Ocean's 11 as you have several other personalities to lend to the film's success. Had Sinatra been cast with relative unknowns in place of his buddies I think this would have been dismal.

[Antares]

Never been a fan of his, with Von Ryan's Express being his lone performance of his movies I've watched that I can genuinely say I liked.

You should check out From Here to Eternity, Suddenly and The Manchurian Candidate, he was very good in all three films.

[Najemikon]

Never been a fan of his, with Von Ryan's Express being his lone performance of his movies I've watched that I can genuinely say I liked.

You should check out From Here to Eternity, Suddenly and The Manchurian Candidate, he was very good in all three films.

I was just going to mention The Manchurian Candidate. Always loved that film.

She can range so easily and quickly from hard faced bitch to vulnerable and very cute.

You've obviously have never seen Mary Reilly, she was God awful in that.

I haven't, but when I say I like her, I mean her [cough] personality.  Her acting is definitely case-by-case. Pretty Woman, Charlie Wilson's War, Erin Brokowotsit, The Pelican Brief... all great. Bunch of others, not so much.

[KinkyCyborg]

Never been a fan of his, with Von Ryan's Express being his lone performance of his movies I've watched that I can genuinely say I liked.

You should check out From Here to Eternity, Suddenly and The Manchurian Candidate, he was very good in all three films.

I have all three and haven't watched any of them.    I saw him in Cast A Giant Shadow in a small role and Kings Go Forth. Neither role impressed me.

[KinkyCyborg]

Savage Grace



Title:Savage Grace
Year: 2007
Director: Tom Kalin
Rating: NR
Length: 98 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Julianne Moore
Stephen Dillane
Eddie Redmayne
Anne Reid
Martin Huber

Plot:
Set across a stunning backdrop ranging from New York to Paris to Cadaqués, Savage Grace is the incredible true story of a scandal that even remains shocking. The beautiful Barbara Daly (Academy Award®-nominee* Julianne Moore; The Hours, Boogie Nights) marries above her social class to the dashing heir of the Bakelite plastics fortune, Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane of the HBO miniseries "John Adams"). The birth of the couple's only child, Tony (Eddie Redmayne of The Good Shepard), intensifies the already volatile marriage. As Tony matures, he becomes an unwilling pawn in the psychosexual games of his parents, and the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown which challenge even the most shocking taboos. Tom Kalin's (Swoon) return to cinema has dazzled and stunned audiences from the Cannes to the Sundance Film Festivals.

*1997 - Actress in a Supporting Role - Boogie Nights, 1999 - Actress in a Leading Role - The End of the Affair, 2002 - Actress in a Leading Role - Far From Heaven, 2002 - Actress in a Supporting Role - The Hours.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes

My Thoughts:

Very bizarre and disturbing movie. Based on a the true story of the prestigious Baekeland family, founders of Bakelite plastics. A more screwed up family you'll likely never encounter as adultery, paranoia, dementia and incest were common, ongoing themes throughout the movie.

I'll certainly give it marks for uniqueness... can't say I've seen a movie that even remotely resembled this but I mostly disliked it. Not for the subject matter, but for the wandering lack of direction that left me mostly baffled. Even when the son performs his concluding act I still couldn't figure out how the hell it even reached a conclusion.  

Too chaotic for me. I believe director Tom Kalin was going for the shock factor and had he been more purposeful with his storytelling he might have achieved it but overall this was an awful mess.  

KC



Rating:

[KinkyCyborg]

Jack & Jill Vs. The World




~Jack is a NYC advertising exec with a life as glossy as the ads he spins. Jill is new to the city, with nothing to stand on but her fiery personality and romantic ideals. Opposites attract, and together they author their own manifesto of "rules to live by." But Jill betrays Jack by violating rule one - Be Honest. ~

My Thoughts:

There has been no profile made for this movie on the Invelos database so apologies for the lack of details. I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of this movie deemed it unworthy of a profile creation. 

Run of the mill romance about an in-love couple with one withholding a secret... she has a terminal disease.

Been there done that with Sweet November which was much better than this in all aspects. The biggest problem with this movie, it's death knell really, is the terrible acting of Taryn Manning. UGH! Simply horrible. It's one of those performances where you are convinced that someone owed this girl a huge favor.

This played more like a vanity project for writer/producer/director Vanessa Parise (she even cast herself in the movie and probably manned the cameras and boom mics too!). She did manage to land a few names in Freddie Prinze Jr., Chalrles Martin Smith and Robert Forster, all of whom had looks on their faces that said 'How the hell did I let myself get talked into this?!' 

Rating:

KC