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Showing posts with label secret agent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label secret agent. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Debt


Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Three Mossad agents (Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, & Marton Csokas) go on an assassination mission against a German, Nazi, Doctor (Jesper Christensen), but when they get older (Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds, & Tom Wilkinson) they realize they have a debt to pay.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Maron Csokas, Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Jesper Christensen, Ciaran Hinds, Romi Aboulafia

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketProceed with Caution. Going in it seems like it will be an original and special film, but underneath all the intrigue, there's not that much there.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The bad guy has most of the funny lines, so that's sick and twisted.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Mossad agents do actually have something in common with the Germans. They're cold. Not that there aren't any emotions in the film, but the characters are all so reserved that you can hardly play along.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It certainly hopes to be, but I can't think of any it could get besides maybe a Supporting Actress award for Jessica Chastain. But if the Academy is gonna give her that one, I'd rather see her get it for The Help.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Helen Mirren may have top billing, but this movie belongs to Jessica Chastain. Who is she? Where did she come from? I don't know, but she just came out in The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, and she still has Sundance winner Take Shelter and William Shakespeare's Gerard Butler and Ralph Fiennes vehicle, Coriolanus, coming out later this year. Which is why my bet on Academy recognition isn't such a long shot.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The interweaving of the past and the present is artful and appropriate, but I'd like to give most of the credit for that to the script.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Structurally it's a very interesting storyline, but the moral may be a little too subtle and unrelatable for me.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Debt Trailer

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Monday, July 5, 2010

Knight and Day


Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A spy (Tom Cruise) uses a random girl (Cameron Diaz) as a mule and ends up having to protect her from corrupt FBI agents and drug lords who are all after the device he is trying to keep safe... I think.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jordi Molla, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Falk Hentschel, Marc Blucas, Lennie Loftin, Maggie Grace, Celia Weston

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketProceed with Caution. For a film as seemingly run of the mill as this, I was surprised by how convoluted and confusing the plot was. I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed it despite my constant state of confusion.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The romantic parts probably will. I'm not sure they're supposed to. But when you laugh at the kissing scenes, at least it gives new meaning to the term romantic-comedy.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Isn't it ironic that when one person dies in a film, it can be so sad, and yet when one person dies per minute, we don't feel anything at all?

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'm pretty sure I already gave out the Best Mustache Award this year, so it's only fitting that there should be an award for Worst Mustache. Was Paul Dano good in this film? I have no idea, because every time he was on screen, all I could think about was what the make-up person could possibly have been thinking by shaving off the right middle of his mustache. No character, no matter how weird would wear their mustache like that, unless they were kidnapped mid-shave. Hey, maybe that was in the original cut of the movie? If anyone gets the DVD and watches the extras, let me know... Or don't. I don't really care all that much.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Tom Cruise is still a good actor, but he's totally over. His persona has gotten too big and too ugly to leave room on his face for any character he's supposed to be inhabiting. But don't take my word for it, ask any one of the 7 people I asked to go see this movie with me, all of which turned me down due to either his presence in the movie or his evil smile's.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Did you know that when good guys run into a stream of bullets coming from all sides they always come out unscathed? Neither did I, but it turns out that the same is true of driving head-on into traffic going the wrong way down a one way tunnel for five minutes or more. I know I'm not supposed to care, but when the action gets too preposterous, I start to miss the final scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I found myself thinking much too hard to understand why he was involved with her in the first place. At the beginning of the movie, the choice to bump into her seems very deliberate and specific, as if he had been looking for her and then she showed up, but as the film goes on, you come to realize that in order for it all to make sense, she had to have been picked completely at random, in which case his acting was just a red herring.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/knight-and-day/38099/trailers

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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

G-Force 3D

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After finding out that their covert branch of the FBI is being shut down, a group of special agent guinea pigs must escape the FBI agents who want to exterminate them, while preventing a plot to destroy the world.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Sam Rockwell, Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Tracy Morgan, Jon Favreau, Steve Buscemi, Zach Galifianakis, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy, Kelli Garner, Niecy Nash, Justin Mentell, Jack Conley, Gabriel Casseus

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketProceed with Caution. While the plot is multi-faceted and the guinea pig point of view is original, the cheesy one-liners-- all of which have been used in at least 6 different movies before this-- are enough to snap you right out of the miniature action.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: When the characters aren't spouting out cliches like, "If you mess with the bull, you're gonna get the horns," (in the complete absence of anything resembling a bull, I might add), there are a few opportunities for jokes you haven't heard before, some of which are even funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Its efforts at sentimentality are valiant, but they never reach through your thick skin to where your heart is.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Last weekend it won the number one spot at the box office... Well, my friends, after paying to see it in 3D, I understand why. There is a $4 surcharge for 3D, which is a $2 increase since the last time I saw a 3D movie, only a few short months ago, and which shot my $11.50 ticket up to $15.50 in seconds flat. At that rate of inflation, even a Japanese language film about gay lovers committing harakiri could get to number one. And let me tell you something about the 3D. It wasn't worth it.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The voice actors are pretty wonderful. Penelope Cruz and Tracy Morgan are a great team. And I didn't even recognize Nicholas Cage's voice, from the weird affectation he was doing with it.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The action is all pretty easy to follow, which is nice, but there are a few moments, I would've liked to indulge in a little longer. Like when they set off all the fireworks in a fireworks show at once. I've always wondered why they don't do that on the 4th of July. It would be so much cooler, than the slow build up of crappy explosives that lead to the non-spectacular ending that we usually get. Just blow 'em all up at once! That's what I'd suggest.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Aside from the dialogue sucking, there is a fair amount of action, and some interesting allusions to what life must be like for guinea pigs-- or at least the ones that have the brains of a human. There is one plot turn that seems out of place in a similar way that the conclusion of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seemed like it didn't belong in that movie, but because this is an offbeat animation about guinea pigs that talk and fight crime, I'm more likely to accept that sort of non sequitur here.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/g-force/31271/trailers

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