3.5 Razors

Jane Austen, The Early Years

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Becoming Jane
  • IMDb: link

Becoming Jane

Jane (Anne Hathaway) is a beautiful country girl who enjoys sharing her works with her neighbors.  Into her life arrives young Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) an Irish scoundrel from the city sent out into the wilderness by his uncle (Ian Richardson) for his inappropriate behavior.  Tom scoffs Anne’s writings and her surroundings, infuriating the young woman.

Fans of Hollywood romances can guess what happens next.  A friendship between the pair begins as Tom introduces Jane to new ideas and Jane shows Tom that the city doesn’t hold all of the world’s wonders.

Although the story is rather straight-forward it is well-handled and enjoyable.  Hathaway proves more than up to the task in making the role her own and carrying the film, though I do wonder at why an English actor (like say Kiera Knightly) wasn’t chosen for the role.  McAvoy provides some good humor to the role and there is nice, if constrained, chemistry between the pair.  Add to all this a supporting cast which includes Maggie Smith, James Cromwell, and Julie Waters and you’ve got a good film.

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Bourne Again

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Bourne Ultimatum
  • IMDB: link

“I remember…I remember everything.”

bourne-ultimatum-posterWhen I heard the words above in the trailer chills went up my spine.  I enjoyed The Bourne Identity (read December’s review) but I was blown away by the second installment The Bourne Supremacy.  So here was the sequel I was waiting for all summer.  The result was a good, though slightly disappointing, film that is still better than most of the sequels this year.

We begin, seconds after Jason Bourne’s (Matt Damon) survival in the tunnel, with his escape from Russian police.  The final scene from The Bourne Supremacy, the phone conversation between Bourne and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is later expertly woven into the main plot of this film.  From there we move to the shadowy government forces still attempting to track Bourne down and hide the dirty secrets which are locked in his brain.  Both Allen and Julia Stiles return, and although Stiles is given a larger (and somewhat continuity-questionable) role, Allen is demoted into the lone good guy in a room full of snakes who will do whatever it takes to keep their dirty little secrets hidden.

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You Kill Me

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: You Kill Me
  • IMDb: link

“My drinking is interfering with my work.  That’s why I’m here, so I can get sober and go back to killing people full time.”
 

you-kill-me-poster

After botching an important assignment Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) is shipped out of Buffalo to sunny San Francisco to get control of his drinking problem which is interfering with his work – killing people for the Polish mob.

After arriving in San Fransisco Frank is put up in an apartment and given a job in a funeral home by a friend of his bosses back home (Bill Pullman).  He begins to attend AA meetings, finds a friend and a sponsor (Luke Wilson) and meets and falls for a lonely woman (Tea Leoni).  For the first time Frank takes an honest look at his life and realizes he needs to get better so he can return to Buffalo and get back to the work he is so good at – killing people.

Much like The Matador (read that review) the film balances the issues of killing and death with a certain amount of whimsy and some fairly dark humor.  The AA scenes are some of the best in the film, especially when Frank decides to come clean with everyone about what it is he does.

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Veronica Mars Survives Senior Year

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Veronica Mars – The Complete Second Season
  • tv.com: link

With Nancy Drew opening on Friday I thought it would be a good time to look back at the coolest teen private eye of the new millennium…

“Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in!”

veronica-mars-dvd-season-2After solving Lily’s (Amanda Seyfried) murder, Veronica (Kristen Bell) tries her hand at a more normal life, but her reputation, skills, the needs of her friends, and a bus she should have been on going over a cliff compel her to return to the P.I. game.

The first season hinged on slowly giving us glimpses at the old Vernoica through Lily’s eyes as Vernoica fought to discover who killed her best friend.  With this case solved there is something missing from the framework of the story, though the fallout from the first season will be dealt with over the course of season two.

My other complaint with the second season is the abscence of Wallace (Percy Diggs III) for a handful of episodes.  What makes the series work are the relationships between the characters, and Veronica without her Watson is a real bummer.  Once Wallace returns, with new baggage for Veronica to help him through, the season picks right back up through the revelations of the final episode.

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Mr. Brooks

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Mr. Brooks
  • IMDb: link

Mr. Brooks movie review

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a successful businessman, a loving husband, and a devoted father.  Mr. Brooks however has a dark side which he hides from the world.

Daily he is forced to deal with a schizophrenic personality disorder and an evil alter-ego called Marshall (William Hurt) who only Earl can see and hear.  It seems Marshall, and therefore Earl as well, enjoys the thrill of stalking and killing random strangers.  This has been going on for many years, and although Earl understands and detests this addiction he can’t seem to stop.

Mr. Brooks has three other problems.  The first occurs when he is caught in the act by a amateur photographer (Dane Cook) who wants only to blackmail him and tag-along on his next killing.  The second is an obsessed millionaire cop (Demi Moore) stuck in a messy divorce who wants to track down the serial killer.  And the third is his loving daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) who just may be more like her father than he’s willing to admit.

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