October 2008

This Week in Independent Film

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: What Just Happened?
  • IMDB: link

Robert De Niro stars as a Hollywood producer on the downside of his career struggling to get his latest movie made in this new Barry Levinson comedy.  Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Moon Bloodgood, and Robin Wright Penn also star – plus Bruce Willis and Sean Penn show up to play themselves.  Check out the official site.  The film opens in limited release in select cities on Friday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

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This Week in Documentary Film

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: Morning Light
  • IMDB: link

In this documentary from Mark Monroe fifteen young sailors, aged 18 to 23, train aboard the Morning Light for six months to win the 44th Annual Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.  Check out the official website.  The film opens in limited release in select cities on Friday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

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Coming Soon to Theaters

/ / Film News & Trailers, Theme Week
  • Title: Quantum of Solace
  • IMDB: link

Picking up hours after the end of Casino Royale, Daniel Craig returns as James Bond on the search of the secret organization behind Vesper’s (Eva Green) death and taking on a businessman (Mathieu Amalric) trying to grab control of the world’s water supply.  Judi Dench and Jeffrey Wright return, and Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton become the latest Bond Girls.  Check out the official site.  James Bond returns to theaters on November 7th.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

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Body of Lies

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Body of Lies
  • IMDB: link

“Ferris didn’t give much thought then to the complexity that lay beyond this vision; the maze that was so perfectly constructed you didn’t think to ask whether it was perhaps inside a larger maze.”

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as CIA agent Roger Ferris who is sent to the Middle East by his superior Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) to find and stop an emerging terrorist leader.

When the film focuses on the relationships between Hoffman, Ferris and the head of the Jordanian Intelligence (Mark Strong) it works quite well.  Trust and partnerships are very fragile things in the region where anyone could just as easily be your enemy or ally.

Ferris must deal with the ego of his boss while trying to create trust with the officials in whose country he is operating.  It doesn’t help that Hoffman’s idea of diplomacy is deception and the end of the knife.  Hoffman’s only concerns are completing the mission and keeping American interests prioritized over of all others.

Although DiCaprio gets the bigger role it’s Crowe who steals the film.  As Hoffman he portrays an intelligence and American arrogance which is infuriating as he turns out to be right most of the time.  Strong also puts in another nice supporting performance here.

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City of Ember

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: City of Ember
  • IMDB: link

“In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark.  The city of Ember was old, and everything in it, including the power lines, was in need of repair.”

Hollywood has a thing for kids saving the day.  From Hoot to WarGames, in films it seems the only ones paying attention to upcoming disaster are the next generation.  In this same vein comes City of Ember.

For more than 200 years the city of Ember has substained life.  Now the generator which keeps the underground city lit has begun to fail and it falls to two young tweens (Saorise Ronan, Harry Treadway) to save the day.

Like most films about kids saving the world the film is a bit of a mixed bag.  The story, adapted from the Jeanne DuPrau novel, allows for some imaginative set design teen adventure, but doesn’t offer much more than an amusing ride.

Over the course of the tale we learn that children pick their life-long professions out of a sack at the age of 12, the mayor (Bill Murray) knows more about the increasing power losses than he’s saying, and that most adults (as in most films like this) have absolutely no idea what is going on.

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