4 Razors

The 11th Hour Approaches

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The 11th Hour
  • IMDb: link

The 11th Hour

Well, it’s not An Inconvenient Truth (read the review), let’s get that out of the way first.  This new documentary on the increasing problems with the environment doesn’t have the jau de vive, the heart, or the spirit of Al Gore’s documentary from last year.  Though it may not live up to the Gore standard there is plenty to watch (especially in the film’s second half) and more than a little to discuss.

The documentary focuses our attention on the changing climate of the Earth due to a variety of factors including global warming, pollution, over population, and man’s destructive effect on the environment.  Leonardo DiCaprio narrates the film which is filled with interviews from scientists from many fields and countries including Stephen Hawking.

The documentary breaks down into two parts.  The first showcases the increasing dangers and causes and foretells of a dangerous and disastrous future if real change isn’t embraced soon.  This part of the film comes dangerously close to the scare tactics many wanted to, falsely, lay at the feet of An Inconvenient Truth.  This first section of the film comes off as part lecture and part blame instead of the imploring and instruction Al Gore utilized to much better effect.

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Ten is the Funniest Number

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Ten
  • IMDb: link

“I’ve got the Ten Commandments over there and I’m going to give you ten stories.  Each one of them correlates to one of the Commandments.  So let’s get right into it.  Sorry I was late.”
 

The Ten

Paul Rudd works as our narrator and guide on this series of interlocking stories (some characters reappear in multiple vignettes), while not dealing with his own problems with his wife (Famke Janssen) and his mistress (Jessica Alba) all of which will be resolved in the adultery vignette [VI.].  Rudd, in front of a pair of huge stone tablets presents each story to the audience.  Here they are (I’ve numbered which commandment goes with each story).

[I.] After being paralyzed Adam Broady is worshiped as a hero and deasl with how his new fame changes the relationship with his girlfriend (Winona Ryder).  [II.] Gretchen Mol plays a mousy librarian who travels to Mexico and has a sexual awakening with the help of Jesus Christ (Justin Theroux).  [III.] A.D. Miles skips church to hang out at home naked with all his friends.  [IV.] Kerri Kenney hires an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Oliver Platt) as a father figure for her children.  [V.] A doctor (Ken Marino) kills a patient as a “goof.”  [VII.] Wynona Ryder lusts after a ventriloquist’s puppet and steals it for sexual pleasure.  [VIII.] A cartoon Rhino learns the consequences of lying and gossip.  [IX.] A prisoner (Rob Corddry) covets the “wife” (Marino) of another inmate.  [X.] Liev Schreiber covets his neighbor’s (Joe Lo Truglio) CAT Scan machine.

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Worth a Listen

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Talk to Me
  • IMDb: link

Talk to Me

Petey Greene (Don Cheadle) is a con artist and a convict.  Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) works for the local Washington D.C. radio station WOL.  Through a chance meeting as Dewey visits his brother (Mike Epps) in jail a long, and often tumultous, friendship develops between the pair which lands Petey an opportunity as a disk jockey.

Martin Sheen provides a nice supporting performance as the radio station’s manager who is less than thrilled with putting a malcontent ex-con who speaks his mind on the air.  Dewey’s gamble pays off however and Petey provides the voice the station and its listeners have been waiting for.

The film is bursting with great performances.  Aside from the two leads, who will knock your socks off, and the nice turn by Sheen, the film also features Taraji P. Henson as Petey’s girlfriend and Cedric the Entertainer in a humorous and subdued performance as the Nighthawk.  All are terrific.

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Rescue Dawn

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Rescue Dawn
  • IMDb: link

Rescue Dawn

The first thing you notice about Rescue Dawn is how low-tech an enterprise director Werner Herzog has undertaken.  No big special effects, no prolonged large action sequences.  This is a character study, and a darn good one.  Here is a director with a camera in a jungle letting the actors tell the tale.  It’s a great substitute for the big popcorn flicks of the summer for those of you who could give two shits about robots transforming into cars or what kind of wacky weddings Hollywood stars get themselves into on film.

Rescue Dawn isn’t a fun movie, but it is a well made film with a collection of strong performances that provide stark drama in the jungles of southeast Asia.  Based of the true story of the only American POW to ever make it out of the Laotian jungle, it’s an experience to remember.  In 1997 director Werner Herzog captured Dieter Dengler’s life in his documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly; now ten years later Herzog returns to give us a film based on his remarkable tale.

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A Futuristic World of Black and White

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

Renaissance

Inspector Barthélémy Karas (Daniel Craig) is put on the case to find the missing IIona Tasuiev (Romola Garai), a leading scientist of Avalon, the largest and most powerful company in Paris in the year 2054 whose main focus is genetic research and the search for eternal youth.

With the help of Bislane (Catherine McCormack), Illona’s sister and a record keeper at Avalon, Karas begins searching for the missing scientist, but what he finds are half-truths and lies.  What was she working on that the company wants kept quiet?  Why was she kidnapped?  And once Karas learns the truth, what will he do with information that could change the world forever?

The film is both wonderous and quite brutal.  The hard look of the film’s stark black and white animation mirror the personality of Karas who is forced to make hard decisions throughout the film.  Seen here Pairs is a dark city, one without hope, much like Karas himself.

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