3.5 Razors

When Man Walked on the Moon

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: In the Shadow of the Moon
  • IMDb: link

“There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, ‘til all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime.”
—Maxwell Adams

In the Shadow of the Moon

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy presented a goal and challenge for the United States to land men on the face of the moon before the end of the decade.  This speech led to the creation of the Apollo program and their missions to the moon.

This new documentary from director David Sington and producer Ron Howard takes us back to the early days through the words and experiences of the surviving Apollo astronauts including Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Michael Collins, Jim Lovell, and Neil Armstrong (though in Armstrong’s case, only through archival footage).

With human ingenuity and hard work these men traveled through space and many of them stepped foot on the moon.  It was a time of magic and pushing the limits of all that was possible.

The film focuses mainly on the Apollo 11 mission, but also incorporates events from other space missions, including the near disaster of Apollo 13, into a well-managed format discussing training, lift-off, moon landing, return and life afterwards, with all the astronauts.

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Eastern Promises

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Eastern Promises
  • IMDB: link

“Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all is might against the attempts of crime.”
—Maximilien Robespierre

Eastern PromisesThe film begins with two deaths and one birth.  A father and son brutally murder a customer in a barbershop.  Across London a 14 year-old prostitute (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) dies as she gives birth to a baby girl.  These two events are both traced back to the head (Armin Mueller-Stahl) of one of the city’s most powerful Russian crime families and his son (Vincent Cassel).

When a midwife (Naomi Watts) begins an investigation into the girl’s life she finds only darkness and death which put her, the child, and her loved ones in danger when the organization’s newest and deadliest member (Viggo Mortensen) is sent to retrieve the girl’s diary, protect the family’s secrets, and clean up the mess.

There’s much to appreciate here in a film where almost all of the performances are purposefully understated and controlled.  Even if the film doesn’t live up the high expectations of A History of Violence, there is plenty to enjoy including one of the most brutal fight sequences in recent memory between a naked Mortensen and a pair of Russian goons.

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Hidden Gem – Confidence

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Confidence
  • IMDb: link

“Tommy Suits always said ‘a confidence game is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part: the inside man, the roper, the shills, everyone that is, except for the mark.'”

Every once in awhile you run across a film in the DVD aisle and say to yourself, “What is that?”  That’s how I came across Confidence.  Released in theaters in 2003 the film takes a look at a group of con artists whose latest con has gone south and their last ditch attempt to rectify the situation, get out from behind the thumb of a crime boss, and perform the biggest con of their lives. 

Jake Vig (Edward Burns) and his team of con men have just pulled off another successful con.  Everything should be gravy, but then the other shoe drops.  It turns out the money they’ve taken belongs to an unforgiving crime boss (Dustin Hoffman), and then, when one of the team ends up dead (Louis Lombardi), they realize they have stepped into a whole new league.

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Resurrecting the Champ

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Resurrecting the Champ
  • IMDb: link

Resurrecting the Champ

I remember watching the trailer for this film and wondering why it wasn’t made for the ABC Family channel.  Truth is I’m not much of a Josh Hartnett fan, other than his small roles in films like The Virgin Suicides and Sin City.  This film, as cheesy as it is at times, comes off with some heart, and Hartnett deserves most of the credit.

Erik Kernan (Hartnett) is a sports writer, who, as his boss (Alan Alda) describes, has a talent for typing with very little writing.  Looking for a shot on the newspaper’s magazine, and a cushier gig, Erik proposes the story of a former boxing champion Bob Satterfield (Samuel L. Jackson) now living on the streets.

Although much of screen time of the film is taken up with Satterfield and his story and Kernan’s attempts to tell it to the world, that’s not what the film is really about.  More than anything else this is a film about fathers and sons.  Kernan deals with being separated from his wife (Kathryn Morris) and six-year-old son (Dakota Goyo), and at the same time tries to come to terms with the legacy of his father, a legendary radio announcer.

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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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