Misery is a 1990 American horror-thriller film from Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates’ performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes. Bates won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe. The film was ranked #12 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Trivia:

• Cameo: [J.T. Walsh] State of Colorado Police Chief.
• Director Cameo: [Rob Reiner] the helicopter pilot.
• After seeing The Shining (1980). Rob Reiner was immediately inspired to direct a movie based on a Stephen King novel.
• The main character Paul Sheldon’s novels are published by Viking, the same publishing company that published Stephen King’s books at that time.

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• A video of When Harry Met Sally… (1989) (also directed by Rob Reiner) is visible in the general store.
• The “guy who went mad in a hotel nearby” is a reference to The Shining (1980), also based on a novel written by Stephen King.
• Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Paul Sheldon but passed because he wasn’t sure he wanted to do another movie based on one of Stephen King’s novels after what he had experienced with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining (1980).
• When Annie demands that Paul burn his manuscript, she lights the paper and we see a close-up of the words on the paper, an article about Cameron Crowe and how he is an amazing scriptwriter. It talks about his movies, but mostly offers praise for Say Anything… (1989).
• According to William Goldman’s book “Four Screenplays”, the main character role, Paul Sheldon, was offered to William Hurt, ‘Kevin Kline (I)’, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, and Warren Beatty, all of whom declined.
• Anjelica Huston was offered the leading role, and was interested, but was unable to accept it due to her commitment to The Grifters (1990). Bette Midler also turned the role down before it went to Kathy Bates.
• One of Stephen King’s first typewriters had a malfunctioning “N” key, just like the one used by James Caan in the movie.
• The new manuscript that Paul burns at Annie’s urging was called “Fast Cars.”
• In a recent interview with Melvyn Bragg, William Goldman revealed that few actors wanted the role of Paul Sheldon because Annie Wilks overshadowed him so much as a character. Warren Beatty commented before declining that the hobbling scene made Paul Sheldon “a loser for the rest of the film”. Goldman was determined to keep that scene in the film as it was his favorite from the Stephen King novel.
• Stephen King had originally planned to release the novel under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. While writing it, however, it was discovered that King was Bachman. King subsequently published the novel under his real name, and announced that Bachman had died from “cancer of the pseudonym.”

1		The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)	$42.5M	$231M
2		The Blind Side (2009)	$40.1M	$100M
3		2012 (2009/I)	$18M	$139M
4		Old Dogs (2009/I)	$16.8M	$24.1M
5		A Christmas Carol (2009)	$16M	$105M
6		Ninja Assassin (2009)	$13.1M	$21M
7		Planet 51 (2009)	$10.2M	$28.5M
8		Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)	$7.09M	$32.4M
9		Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)	$7.02M	$10.1M
10		The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)	$1.52M	$30.5M

New Moon has set a record for the  biggest Thanksgiving weekend ever with over $66 mil for the first 5 days of being out. And they have made over $270 mil so far. That’s pretty darn good. The Blind Side did really well too with over $40 mil and over $100 mil total so far. I hope this helps Sandra realize she doesn’t have to make terrible movies. Good ones will do better for her.

Other Film News:

This is funny. For his audition to play the park ranger in the live action Yogi Bear film, this guy filmed himself reading his part to a real bear! And he got the part! Good for you, TJ Miller. They are filming now in New Zealand. Here is his audition:

J.J. Abrams, they guy who directed the awesome Star Trek film is going to direct a feature film version of Samurai Jack. It will be animated with some 3D.

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps  is filming in New York with Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf. Donald Trump has a cameo. Charlie Sheen, Josh Brolin, and Susan Sarandon are also in it. Maybe it’ll be good. I liked the first one.

On top of all the whoring advertising James Cameron has been doing for Avatar he’s going to have a live webcast Q & A on MTV with the cast BEFORE the 1/2 hour TV special that they will air. Overkill? I think maybe so.

From Variety.com:

The DreamWorks principals have greenlit the “Rocky”-esque robot tale “Real Steel,” to star Hugh Jackman, as their first pic since raising $650 million from both J.P. Morgan Securities and Reliance Big Pictures and an additional $175 million from Disney, which will distrib DreamWorks titles.

Story centers on a fighter who has to reinvent himself when human boxers are replaced by robots. Jackman will play a struggling Robot Boxing promoter who finds a discarded robot that always seems to win. He also discovers he has a 11-year-old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.

Although grounded in the father-son relationship, Levy describes the film as a “rousing sports movie” with Jackman’s character “a former boxer who can no longer do the only job he’s good at, and one particular robot that may be his return to grace.”

Short feature I wrote.
Published originally in the Independent Weekly Nov. 18, 2009 issue.

Cary
Wall Street
Galaxy Cinema—The name Gordon Gekko and his motto, “Greed is good,” became emblematic of the Reagan years after the 1987 release of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. The ’80s began with a deep economic recession, which evolved into a go-go financial atmosphere that led to the ascendancy of such real-life Gekkos as Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. Now that we’re living through the fallout occasioned by another generation of Wall Street machinations, making a sequel seems almost redundant, yet Stone has announced plans to do just that, with Michael Douglas returning as Gekko and Shia LaBeouf joining the cast. In the meantime, experience cinematic déjà vu with tonight’s screening of the original at the N.C. Museum of Art’s film series at the Galaxy Cinema. (The series is curated by Indy contributor Laura Boyes.) The screening starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $5 or $3.50 for Galaxy and NCMA members. See www.mygalaxycinema.com and www.ncma.org. —Belem Destefani

I follow ‘golfgossip’ on Twitter, so I heard about  Tiger Woods’ car accident almost the moment it happened.  The first tweet simply described his condition as ’serious.’

Then the tweets really hit the fan.

Next thing you know, wife Elin is standing over Tiger’s semi-conscious body holding a golf club. Then the story is they were arguing, Elin chasing his car down the driveway.  The next tweet supplied the motive — a rumored affair between Tiger and a nightclub hostess.

Thanks to the Internet, Tiger’s front yard fender bender has grown like gangbusters.  But in typical fashion, the Tiger camp has maintained its silence, posting only a short statement on tigerwoods.com Sunday afternoon.  In it, Tiger maintains he is ‘the only person responsible for the crash’ and that ‘the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.’  (Notice he didn’t say ‘untrue’…just ‘irresponsible.’)

The situation reminds me so much of the movie “The American President,” starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.

In this Aaron Sorkin classic, President Andrew Shepherd, a widower, gets romantically involved with Sidney Ellen Wade, a lobbyist.  The press — and Shepherd’s Republican opponent for re-election — make a big issue of the relationship.  But Shepherd stubbornly refuses to comment, and his approval rating spirals downward.

Only when the President  openly confronts the lies and innuendo in the press does he win back the confidence of the American voting public…and the love of Sidney Ellen Wade.  [I probably should have said SPOILER ALERT, but if you haven't seen this 1995 movie yet, it's kinda your own fault.]

Personally, I think Tiger Woods could learn something by popping “The American President” into the ol’ DVD player.

The night of the accident may not be the proudest in his career or personal life, but saying ‘no comment’ won’t stop the spread of hurtful rumors that have already begun.  When you’re a sports legend like Tiger Woods, there will always be people eager to jump on any opportunity to knock you down.

So say something, Tiger.  Hiding from the police and the press does not hold up to your past behavior or your future success.

David Fincher is the kind of director that will always be tied to one movie. he has yet to put out a bad film, but people will always associate him with ‘Fight Club’. and i feel bad for him. ‘Fight Club’ is a great movie, but it’s ‘alternative message’ is only skin deep. the points it makes it beats you over the head with, and the jokes it makes it hits you harder with. because that has become his crowning achievement in the eyes of most film fans, his other, and notably better, work is all forgotten. he directed the stunning and fiendishly underrated ‘Alien 3′ (the assembly cut, or extended cut is far and away one of the best sci-fi films i have ever seen, and yes i know what a huge claim that is), the touching and moving ‘Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, the masterful crime-thriller ‘Zodiac’, the violent and blood-curdling ‘Se7en’, and this film, 1997’s criminally overlooked ‘The Game’.

this film is not to be watched the way ‘Fight Club’ is meant to be watched. you cant sit around with a group of people, eat pizza, laugh, and watch the film, you need to be sitting in silence. you need to be feeling a little introspective, and you need to dig deeper into the film.

if you have not seen the film (which you can find almost anywhere) i would advise reading THIS summary before the review. note that the summary is of the WHOLE film, and thus, contains spoilers and the ending.

the film plays around with ideas of loss and lack of control. Nickolas cant control the things happening to him and around him, and piece by piece he has to fight to get through it all. but if you watch the film a second time, you will notice little things throughout. you can see how he is being helped, how he is being set up to make sure he survives, how he is kept safe while being thrown into dangerous situations. there is an ever-present harness on him.

the best example of loss of control throughout the film is the climactic suicide attempt. when Nickolas jumps off the building after shooting and ‘killing’ Conrad, he is jumping just like his father did. just like he has feared he would. just like the picture stuffed int he clown’s mouth said he would. just like he himself hinted at while talking to his housekeeper/cook/maid. he had no control there. he had to jump. it wasnt even a choice. he was under the impression that he had no money, no family, and nothing to live for. so he had to jump. like father like son. and because the test was built around exhaustive testing and his brother’s own testimony, it was obvious what would happen. he didnt even chose to kill himself, it was forced on him. and he didnt even chose where to jump from. that was chosen for him as well. the film is full of visual representations of his lack of choice. he is so empty, so predictable, that he doesnt make choices anymore. he just follows the fame trajectory. and because he can not chose anything for himself, the actions are obvious to the people who create and run the game for him.

the final twenty minutes of the film is where most people attack. but it is in those twenty minutes that i think Fincher really gets to put his trademark hauntingly ambiguous tricks to work. the film twists ti give you an ending you didnt expect, and then it twists again, and finally there is what most people saw as the final twist, Conrad being alive, and the whole thing simply being a part of the game.  but the very last moments of the film, where Nicolas goes out to talk to ‘the waitress’ and he not-so-subtly hits on her, that i think is the final twist. her smile, the darting eyes, her mistaken place of birth, and then finally her offer for a drink, THAT is where Fincher plays with his audience’s head. is that offer part of the game? is that coffee that they will drink another piece of the puzzle? everyone must have known that he would ask her out once everything was safe… so IS everything safe?

Sean Penn offers up a wonderful job as Conrad, but again, Michael Douglas turns in an amazing and powerful job. Michael Douglas is quickly becoming one of my favorite living actors.

i recommend this film wholeheartedly. but, like others i have recommended, not to everyone. i know most people wont be able to get past the ‘faith factor’ of the film. many people will have a problem and say things like ‘what if he jumped off the other side of the building’, or ‘what if he had picked up another gun at a different time’, or ‘what if he hadnt seen that commercial at the restaurant’, but those people are missing the point of the film. explaining to them that he COULDNT have jumped form anywhere else, or he COULDNT have used another gun would be futile. they dont understand his lack of choice in all fields of life. so i wont bother catering to them. i will just say that for those of you who could accept that, this film is a marginalized classic, and you need to see it.

During the extensive research for my previous post I discovered that Inter Milan defender Maicon is properly known as Maicon Douglas Sisenado. It’s unusual, even by Brazilian standards. Maicon sounds as if it should be some evil genetic engineering institute or something that Doctor Who would fight.

Further investigation reveals that the blame lies with daddy Maicon, who it seems is a big fan of the work of Michael Douglas (slightly strange in itself), and wanted to commemorate this by bestowing his name upon his son. The story goes that unfortunately he was misheard at the birth registry, and the Michael bit was erroneously recorded as Maicon.

I’m not familiar with the administrative processes of Brazilian local government but I’m guessing that to register a child’s name, some kind of certificate or application form should be filled in to avoid any breakdown in communication. Which would suggest that this little gem is in fact rubbish. Which is a shame. Because if it’s true, it’s awesome.

- Un Alibi Perfetto – 2009 – ♥♥  -

di

Peter Hyams

Lanciarsi nell’ impresa di realizzare un remake di uno dei “masterpieces” della cinematografia mondiale (il “Beyond a reasonable doubt” di Fritz Lang) non è mai una cosa facile. Il celebre regista espressionista col suo lavoro volle indagare la malvagità insita nell’ essere umano che trova la sua esternazione nella barbara esecuzione della pena capitale. L’ americano Hyams invece sembra concentrarsi fin troppo in particolari superficiali e più “moderni” come la corruzione del personaggio interpretato da Michael Douglas o la storia d’amore da serie televisiva tra la bella apprendista avvocato del nemico e il bel giornalista interpretato da Jesse Metcalfe (che viene appunto da una serie televisiva come Desperate Housewives). E infatti a non funzionare sono proprio gli attori: Michael Douglas sembra imbalsamato nel suo ruolo da procuratore corrotto che aspira a diventare governatore, affossato maggiormente da un sorriso sornione e un pò mafioso e un doppiaggio innaturale che non gli rende per nulla onore; Jesse Metcalfe al contrario non gode della notorietà di Douglas e sembra non asperare neanche a raggiungerla perchè resta imbrigliato più nell’ esternazione della sua prestanza fisica che delle suo doti recitative. Si salva in parte soltanto la riflessione in merito alla corruzione umana e a fin dove un giovane rampollo riesca a spingersi pur di raggiungere la sua fama che il regista Hyams intende produrre nello spettatore. E quest’ ultimo si sa è un fenomeno che oggi, nella nostra società è ben presente. Nel caso di Un Alibi Perfetto il giovane giornalista C. J. Nicholas si spinge addirittura a farsi incarcerare (e non solo!!) per tentare di smascherare le false prove che processo dopo processo il procuratore Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) sembra creare dal nulla pur di vincere le cause, ma soprattutto per arrivare a diventare un giornalista da Premio Pulitzer. Nel film di Hyams si salvano anche le sequenze d’azione, soprattutto quelle degli inseguimenti che, seppur con sbavature insensate (non ci si spiega come mai il poliziotto corrotto sgomma per 2 minuti intorno alla malcapitata Amber Tamblyn), riescono ad incollare lo spettatore allo schermo con le conseguenti scariche di adrenalina che ne derivano. Il film scorre facendo pensare più ad un giallo da legal thriller in stile Grisham (genere cinematografico che tanto è andato di moda negli anni ‘90). Il resto sono solo “attuali e moderni” (quanto scontati) stereotipi moderni sul mondo dell’ avvocatura , dei nerd e del giornalismo. Il tutto come se non bastasse appesantito da un finale con un colpo di scena telefonato fin da metà film e da una volgare esclamazione della protagonista femminile Tamblyn del tutto fuoriluogo. Va bene rimodernare un classico della cinematografia. Ma in questo modo è decisamente troppo!

(Storia d' amore da serie tv per due aitanti belloni)

( L' imbalsamato Douglas e le sue finte prove)

i am having a hard time figuring out where to start with this review. i have written a few different sentences and then just gotten rid of them. its hard to know how to kick off something like this. the movie is brilliant. there is no argument there… and what it is saying is very important… but still… its hard to put my opinion of the film in words.

our main character, Michael Douglas in this film is both a down on his luck guy you feel bad for, and a man with sever anger issues. his furious tirade across a city is both justified and unjustifiable. every point he makes, every scream and every threat is justified. it is all true. companies do charge too much for anything. people are selfish. people abuse the small amounts of power their jobs give them. people can be bigoted horrible people. he is right that bureaucracy and greed have crippled not only the nation of America but the society of our entire planet. he is right. but he is also slowly falling down into a psychotic break.

that was what was so hard for me personally while i watched this film. i agreed with so much about the character… in a way i even identified with him. his anger at the convenience store clerk who spoke fractured English and over-charged for thing, his anger at the fast food employee and manager that abused their SLIGHT level power just to show that they could. i get that. and when he busts up the convenience store with a baseball bat i was there with him. standing in those shoes engaged in an orgy of destruction that we have all felt. that eightyfive cent can of soda isnt just overpriced soda, it is a symbol of the larger price jacking and hostile corporate takeover of our world. that coca-cola is a little icon of how we are all being bled. im with him there. when he demands his food the way he wants it at the burger joint, i was with him there. because in both instances… he paid. he just exercised a little justifiable anger. but as the film progresses, he falls down. hard. he is clearly angry at himself more than anyone else int he film. and again… i identify with that. he is angry at his ex-wife for leaving him and taking his child, but as can be seen in the scene where he watched the video of him yelling at his wife… he is more angry at himself for pushing her. he knows he has made mistakes. and he regrets them. but now he is too angry. he is too angry at the world, at himself, at his anger… he has fallen down.

Robert Duvall is excellent as the police officer in the same situation. both men are being bossed around, abused, and pushed into lives they cant and dont want to fit into. both men are taking the world’s shit and just plowing through it. and both of them finally turn around on the same day. both of them finally stand up. Robert Duvall stands up and walks away. Michael Douglas stands up and falls down.

i love this movie. i love what it means, i love how it is filmed, i love how it is acted, and i love how it makes me feel. for the most part. part of me hates that i can identify with the movie… but i guess thats also something i love about it.

{unlike most of the movies i review here, this one is not only still in print, but very easy to find. the film has been released on blu-ray in a wonderful package that you can find on amazon right HERE.}

Man skulle tro at når man pakker en skuespiller som Michael Douglas inn i en film med en intrigerende historie at det skulle bli en skikkelig god og underholdende film med god karakter og alt det der… Filmen i seg selv er da god nok for TV men noen storfilm er det langt i fra. Amber Tamblyn er for meg den eneste grunnen til å gidde se hele filmen… av og til er eyecandy det eneste som holder meg bundet til storyen som var ok men dårlig gjennomført.

Photo googlet (Amber Tamblyn kjent fra Joan of Arcadia)

Jeg gir denne filmen

(3/6 stjerner)

Absoluta Falta de Química entre Matthew McConaughey e Jennifer Garner…

Em Cartaz

Gênero: Comédia Romântica
Censura: 12 Anos
Duração: 101 min
Direção: Mark Waters
Com: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Noureen DeWulf.
Local de Filmagem: Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Castle Hill, Crane Estate – 280 Argilla Road, Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA e Needham, Massachusetts, USA – (high school basement party).
Produção: Brad Epstein, Jonathan Shestack
Roteiro: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Fotografia: Daryn Okada
Trilha Sonora: Rolfe Kent
Distribuidora: Playarte
Estúdio: New Line Cinema

 

…

…

…

SINOPSE

Durante os ensaios da cerimônia de casamento de seu irmão mais novo Paul, interpretado por Breckin Meyer [Garfield (2004), Kate & Leopold (2001) e Clueless (1995)], Connor, interpretado por  Matthew McConaughey [Fool's Gold (2008/I), Surfer, Dude (2008) e Sahara (2005)], fotógrafo de celebridades e personificação da cafajestagem masculina, recebe a visita do fantasma de seu tio Wayne, interpretado por Michael Douglas [Traffic (2000), Fatal Attraction (1987) e Basic Instinct (1992)], do fantasma de sua ex-namorada do passado, Allison, interpretada por Emma Stone [The House Bunny (2008), Superbad (2007) e Paper Man (2009)] e do fantasma de sua ex-namorada do futuro, que o levam a uma hilariante e reveladora odisséia, visitando seus desastrosos relacionamentos do passado, presente e futuro.

Já Jenny Perotti, interpretada por Jennifer Garner [Valentine's Day (2010), Elektra (2005) e The Kingdom (2007)], é uma ex namorada de Connor que vai deixá-lo na corda bamba. Juntos, tentarão descobrir o que transformou Connor num idiota insensível e se ainda há esperança dele encontrar o verdadeiro amor ou se é uma causa perdida.

CRÍTICA

Sério, o que você esperava desse filme? Meu Deus do céu, é uma comédia romântica, não é uma aventura ou um suspense e também, não é tão ruim como estão dizendo por aí. O filme é bom? Não! Mas não é uma porcaria, é sem dúvida um entretenimento. É chato? Lógico que não! Um filme, cujo elenco é de primeira e um enredo interessante, só pode acabar em um bom divertimento. O problema é que faltou entrosamento do elenco e originalidade no roteiro…

McConaughey banca ele mesmo, o charmoso mulherengo, Garner é a mesma de sempre, apática e sem absolutamente nenhuma química com seu par romântico em cena, e Michael Douglas é quem tentou salvar a pátria, mas não conseguiu, na verdade ele aparece muito pouco e quando o faz é tão sem graça quanto Garner.

Aí vem o festival de clichês, começando com a temática de ex namorados e seus casos mal resolvidos, depois passamos pela tela em velocidade vertiginosa, aí vem o bolo de casamento com várias camadas que está em vias de ser destruído, as damas de honra taradas, o noivo que tenta agradar a noiva e só piora as coisas, as brigas entre os parentes e, é claro, o casal principal com seu vai-não-vai. No entanto, no meio disso tudo – literalmente, no meio mesmo – surgem algumas deliciosas cenas que explicam como Connor se tornou o cafajeste que é e suas "aulas" com o mestre Wayne sobre a arte de levar as mulheres para a cama.

Em contrapartida, eis que surge a extremamente “oitentista” Allison Vandermeersh, que é interpretada por Emma Stone, e que acaba sendo uma surpresa agradável. Não por acaso, é ela quem conduz Connor durante o já citado trecho mais inspirado do filme. Graças à atuação amalucada de Emma Stone, a imprevisível Allison rouba várias cenas durante o tour que proporciona ao seu assombrado, principalmente quando este chega à idade adulta e passamos a ver dois McConaughey na tela para o deleite das mulheres!

Agora, o que surpreende é que, após três comédias excelentes como Freaky Friday ou “Uma Sexta-Feira Muito Louca” (2003), Mean Girls ou “Meninas Malvadas” (2004) e Just Like Heaven ou “E Se Fosse Verdade” (2005), o diretor Mark Waters escorrega feio aqui, com ângulos e cenas pouco inspiradas e sem arrancar boas interpretações de seu elenco.

Fraco mas nem por isso chato, "Minhas Adoráveis Ex-Namoradas" é uma filme que pode e deve ser visto em DVD, pois não vale o investimento da pipoca e do ingresso somado a uma hora em pé na fila com o namorado de cara amarrada a tira-colo!

bom filme!

roberta vieira
www.ghostsofgirlfriendspastmovie.com

 CONFIRA O TRAILER ABAIXO!

“No man is kept poor because opportunity has been taken away from him or because other people have monopolized the wealth and have put a fence around it.” Wallace D. Wattles The SofGR

“No one is kept in poverty by a shortness in the supply of riches; there is more than enough for all.”   Wallace D. Wattles The SofGR

Does Bud believe there is a ”shortness in the supply of riches?” 

It’s a hard question to answer.  His actions demonstrate he may have been victim to the belief that there is a shortness of riches.  He started out well enough.  Signs indicate he was hard working, wanted to make it on his own, wanted to prove he had “insight” that others did not demonstrate.  I think in his young state, naive if you will, he thought his dogged determination would carry him through to the outcome he desired – MONEY. 

When he meets Gordon, it’s as if he says good-bye to his innocence and gives in to Gordon’s way of doing business.  He lets go of his “work hard” ethic and moves into “work smart.”  Of course, to Bud, “work smart” means doing things Gordon’s way – getting information by whatevert means is possible and leveraging the information.

To read the strategy by itself, it doesn’t sound all that bad.  Unfortunately for Bud and Gordon, it’s an illegal strategy in the world of investing.

If Bud had truly believed in the abundance of riches, he may have been able to see that wealth unencumbered was available to him.  Perhaps he could have found a way to leverage Gekko’s power legally.

Chapter 4 soon…..

Image from New York Post/ Steve Sands Photos

Source:

‘Wall Street’ Journal (NYP)

In the 80s and 90s Michael Douglas was the go-to guy to play men harassed, used, abused and manipulated by women, as seen in the White-Men-Under-Attack trilogy of Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Disclosure. After his screen avatar’s bad luck was purged by David Fincher in The Game his screen appearances have become sporadic. The next generation demands a new macho hero who can be hunted by the kinds of obsessive, dangerous women that only exist in movies. In Obsessed, the man attempting — and failing — to fill Douglas’ shoes is Idris Elba, who plays executive Derek Charles with a relentless and tiring intensity the movie doesn’t warrant. Happily married to his former assistant Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles), Charles is stalked at work by a temp assistant, Lisa (Ali Larter). At first she merely seems infatuated with Elba, but after he rebuffs a couple of aggressive approaches she becomes crazed, interpreting his rebuffs as evidence of his love for her, prompting her to insinuate herself into his life a la Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and Jessica Walters in Play Misty For Me.

Those movies showed the male protagonist’s culpability, with the message being “Mess around, and you will suffer for it.” Here writer David Loughery and director Steve Shill seem to be saying “Guys, there are some crazy women out there, and they’ll fuck up your life for no reason.” This doesn’t even pass muster as a morality play. It’s just another movie stating that there is no such thing as the Other any more. No matter how well you live your life, people are going to hunt you down, drug you with Rohypnol, rub up against you while you are in a fugue state, and listlessly kidnap your child, though “relocate” seems to be a more accurate description for what she does, as the nefarious Lisa merely moves Derek and Sharon’s son from his crib to their car.

The worst that happens to Derek is that he is accused of having an affair. The evidence for this is entirely provided by Lisa, and yet despite the flimsy nature of it (for example, listing him as an emergency contact number, or writing about the imaginary affair in a diary), at least two women automatically believe he is in the wrong. In one of the stupider scenes of the year, a police detective (Christine Lahti) investigating a suicide attempt by Lisa interrogates Derek in the crowded waiting room of a hospital with Sharon sitting next to him. As the scene descends into incomprehensible histrionic chaos, we see Elba desperately trying to prove his innocence while both women irrationally dismiss his pleas. The movie seems to be saying that it just doesn’t pay to be honourable, because women will always distrust their man.

It’s tempting to think Obsessed is intentionally trying to trade in the most witless and offensive gender stereotypes possible, as some kind of poorly signposted satire on gender politics. The male characters (including Jerry O’Connell and Bruce McGill) are either flamboyant homosexuals mincing around the office or leering sexist pigs whose idea of small talk is to discuss how sexy women love to extort money from them with their feminine wiles. Still, at least gender politics are addressed, albeit ineptly. The potentially inflammatory racial implications of having the only black characters in the film threatened by a predatory and insane white woman are ignored altogether. Apparently, this was to avoid repeating the themes of Loughery’s previous movie Lakeview Terrace, which featured a racist black cop menacing a white family.

It quickly becomes clear the filmmakers are only interested in cranking out the least provocative thriller possible. With a blameless hero victimised by a villain who has no recognisable human qualities, even the dependable nightmare scenario of being framed and losing everything is diluted by the vast amount of contrivance needed to place our hero in jeopardy. We’re merely expected to wait — unmoved and unoffended by the mild PG-13 thrills — for the villain to get her comeuppance, which comes in a protracted and absurd finale, when Sharon returns home to find Lisa in bed. The poorly choreographed catfight that follows is violent but bloodless, and finally provides Knowles with something to do other than chide Elba. After mouthing some unconvincing threats and killing Larter, Knowles is comforted by her husband, and the last shot is of her, not the man who has been onscreen for most of the film. I’m not the only person confused by this shift in focus. Did Knowles — who co-produced the movie with her father Mathew – sign on just so she could film a long fight scene? Why would that appeal to her? Did she hate the third season of Heroes even more than I did? This mystery is the only aspect of the movie that invites further reflection.

Obsessed is as dreary and toothless a thriller as you’re ever going to see. Unimaginatively plotted by Loughery — the man who wrote Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — the viewer waits for anything shocking or interesting to happen and gets little more than some one-note shouting from Elba and some lazy misogyny. All that’s left for the viewers to occupy themselves is mockery of the risible dialogue (“I’ll take up that slack. That is one smoking hot piece of ass!”) and direction. TV director Shill has worked on almost every notable show of the past ten years, including The Wire and Deadwood. However, he started out with EastEnders, Emmerdale, and The Bill, and it is these uncinematic melodramas that provide the closest link to his work here. Overlit, poorly blocked, and littered with even more establishing shots than in Tommy Wiseau’s notorious bad movie classic The Room, Shill fails to transform Loughery’s script into even a passable movie. Apparently the working title for Obsessed was Oh No She Didn’t. It’s a pity they went with the straight-to-DVD-esque title it now has. If they’d retained the original title, at least the laughs elicited by this dismal failure might have seemed intentional.

Acabo de tornar a veure aquesta obra mestra, que feia vint anys llargs que no revisava.

Basic Instinct va beneficiar-se en les recaptacions d’escenes sexuals aleshores inusualment explícites, que alhora la van perjudicar davant la crítica, que va classificar el film com un thriller eròtic, movent l’epicentre d’un guió perfecte cap a detalls absolutament secundaris.

El guió de Joe Eszterhas és una maravellosa obra d’orfebreria. La narració és lineal i senzilla, tots els detalls es van explicant pas a pas des d’un únic punt de vista i oferint tots els detalls, i alhora l’espectador està tota l’estona debatint-se entre les dues explicacions possibles del cas, sense tenir ni idea de quina és la bona, perdut enmig d’un misteri captivador.

A partir d’aquest guió, Paul Verhoeven li dóna ritme i magnetisme a la trama, amb un montatge viu i que no deixa que el ritme decaigui en cap moment, mereixedor d’una de les dues nominacions a l’Oscar que va obtenir Basic Instinct. Fixeu-vos en les interpretacions: els personatges es van posant més i més nerviosos a mesura que avança la pel·lícula, acompanyant l’espectador en el seu desfici per descobrir què està passant.

Basic Instinct es beneficia d’una Sharon Stone en estat de gràcia, amb una interpretació fascinant, i d’uns eficaços Michael Douglas i George Dzundza, que encaixen perfectament en els seus rols. A més, els fans de X Files podeu provar de localitzar un jove Mitch Pileggi en un dels papers secundaris.

Com tota pel·lícula mítica, Basic Instinct té més d’una escena memorable. La que tothom recorda és la de l’interrogatori, on la interrogada Catherine Trimmell domina totalment un munt de policies que es queden amb les ganes de veure-li el perrús (igual que els espectadors). Però podem afegir la primera aparició de la Stone, la persecució a la carretera, el primer moment en que Catherine i Roxy apareixen juntes, o la de la discoteca.

També s’ha d’alabar l’enèssima banda sonora magistral de Jerry Goldsmith, amb una melodia dramàtica i un ambient inquietant difícilment superables, i que va ser la segona nominació a l’Oscar, una de les divuit que va collir Goldsmith en la seva monumental carrera. L’acompanyament musical és emprat amb mestratge per a crear clímax d’intriga i per a puntuar l’estat d’ànim dels personatges. La darrera escena és el millor exemple.

I és que per acabar, Paul Verhoeven ens regala un doble final per acabar d’encantar l’espectador i rematant de manera genial un joc d’amagat que deixa el que els enólegs anomenen un final llarg i intens. (Jo crec que aquest doble final haurien d’haver-lo col·locat darrera dels títols de crèdit.)

Adient pels aficionats als trencaclosques. Contraindicat per a puritans i ànimes sensibles.

Salut i sort,
Ivan.

NOTA : 8 RECOMANDAT

Download subtitrare Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Trailer Beyond a Reasonable Doubt :

Martin Scorsese

By Gregg Kilday – HollywoodReporter.com

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. will bestow its highest honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, on Martin Scorsese at the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 17.

The award recognizes “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field”; the most recent recipients have been Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams and Michael Douglas.

Scorsese presented the award to Spielberg at the Golden Globes broadcast in January.

An Oscar winner for directing “The Departed,” Scorsese also has picked up two Golden Globes — for directing “Departed” and “Gangs of New York” — and has five additional Globe noms.

His next film, “Shutter Island,” will be released Feb. 19 by Paramount.

NBC will be broadcast the Globes from the Beverly Hilton; Ricky Gervais is the host.

Nominations will be announced Dec. 15.

Amazon Specials!

By Rory Reynolds

HOLYWOOD composer Craig Armstrong enjoyed a degree of success when he was given an honourary doctorate at an awards ceremony in Edinburgh yesterday.

The Glasgow-born soundtrack writer – who has penned scores for blockbuster hits Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge – accepted the award from Edinburgh Napier University for an outstanding career in the music industry.

The two-time BAFTA award-winner took some time out from working on the score of Michael Douglas thriller Wall Street 2 to congratulate music students for graduating.

He said: “I would like to thank the university for this honourary degree.

“I have received a number of awards over my lifetime but this one is particularly meaningful, as it has its roots embedded in education and learning.

“Institutions like the Edinburgh Napier School of Music are so important and help nurture the next generation of musical talent.

“I wish the many gifted students graduating from the School of Music today all the very best and hope that, just as I have been inspired by their achievements, they are inspired by mine.”

The world-renowned, Golden Globe-winning composer who has worked on the Oscar-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray, has in the past collaborated with U2, Madonna and Pavarotti.

Edinburgh Napier Principal Professor Dame Joan Stringer said that graduates were “thrilled” to have Craig there on their big day.

She said: “We are delighted to be honouring individuals who have made such significant contributions to enriching our culture, building our economies and serving our communities.

“Their achievements, together with their qualities, will serve to inspire our students.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/SoleOnLine4/Finanza%20e%20Mercati/2009/11/wall-street-2-film-oliver-stone-torna-gekko-diventa-giustiziere.shtml?uuid=0c711c6e-cf5c-11de-8d3d-25b1f8eeb130&DocRulesView=Libero

Il film Wall Street del 1987 posso dire di saperlo a memoria: l’ho usato per imparare meglio l’inglese o meglio l’americano….. l’ho visto mille volte anche in inglese…… un film che cito spessissimo. Un favoloso Michael Douglas ed un grande Charlie Sheen.

Quando uscirà vi consiglio di andarlo a vedere: se è come il primo penso che sarà davvero bello!!!

Poi con tutto quello che è successo negli ultimi 20 anni di finanza spericolata e di globalizzazione selvaggia penso che ci sarà molto su cui pensare e riflettere. E poi Oliver Stone è uno che raramente delude!

Spero di vedere presto questo film!

DVD Top 10.
Bestsellerliste der Woche
von Illuminati bis State of Play

Illuminati:
Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) entdeckt Beweise, dass die mächtigste Untergrundbewegung der Geschichte, ein uralter konspirativer Geheimbund, den man als ‘Die Illuminati’ kennt, wiederauferstanden ist. Kurz darauf wird er damit konfrontiert, dass die katholische Kirche, der zutiefst verhasste Erzfeind der Illuminaten, einer tödlichen, existenzvernichtenden Bedrohung ausgesetzt ist…

Nachts im Museum 2:
Seine Tage als Museumswärter sind passé: Larry Daley ist als Erfinder nutzloser Dinge erfolgreich, kehrt jedoch ins Museum zurück, als er erfährt, dass die seinerzeit zu Leben erwachten Ausstellungsstücke in den Keller des Smithsonian in New York verfrachtet werden sollen. Ruhe ist allerdings auch dort nicht angesagt, weil auch die mystische Tafel von Akhmenrah, die den Exponaten Leben einhaucht, versehentlich zum neuen Ausstellungsort transportiert wurde. Nun bricht dort das Chaos aus, und Larry muss für Ordnung sorgen…

Slumdog Millionär:
Glauben Sie an das Schicksal? Für Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) ist es der größte Tag seines bisherigen Lebens. Nur noch eine Frage trennt ihn vom 20 Millionen Rupien-Hauptgewinn in Indiens TV- Show ‘Wer wird Millionär?’

Der Womanizer:
Der Junggeselle Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) gehört zu den Typen, die drei Freundinnen den Laufpass geben. Gleichzeitig. Per Telefonkonferenz. Auf der Hochzeitsfeier seines Bruders hat er also nur ein Ziel: Er will die einzige Brautjungfer herumkriegen, die er bisher irgendwie übersehen hat. Doch der Geist seines verstorbenen Onkels Wayne (Michael Douglas) – der Connor beigebracht hat, die Frauen zu wechseln wie die Hemden – verfolgt ein ganz anderes Ziel…

Star Trek – Die Zukunft hat begonnen:
James T. Kirk ist ein rebellischer Hitzkopf im amerikanischen Niemandsland, der nie den Tod seines Vaters bei einem Angriff eines romulanischen Raumschiffs verkraftet hat. Nach einer seiner Prügeleien fordert ihn Captain Pike, einst ein Freund seines verstorbenen Vaters, auf, der Sternenflotte beizutreten. Dort macht sich Kirk zunächst keine Freunde, bis ihn eine Mission zwingt, endlich Verantwortung zu übernehmen: der Romulaner Nero bedroht Vulkan, den Heimatplaneten von Kirks späterem Weggefährten Spock…

Transformers 2:
Nachdem Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) die Welt mit Hilfe der gutmütigen Autobots vor den bösartigen Decepticons gerettet hat, freut er sich auf ein normales Leben. Als er aufs College geht, lässt er nicht nur Freundin Mikaela (Megan Fox) zurück…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
Hugh Jackman schlüpft wieder in die Rolle, die ihn zum Superstar machte: Wolverine – der Mann mit den unverkennbaren Stahlklingen, bemerkenswerten Selbstheilungskräften, ruppigem Charme und einer gehörigen Portion trockenem Humor. ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ erzählt die Vorgeschichte Logans mit Augenmerk auf seine mysteriöse Vergangenheit, seine komplexe Beziehung zu Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) und das ominöse Weapon X-Programm. Der Zuschauer erfährt, wer Wolverine wirklich ist…

Duplicity:
CIA-Offizier Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) und MI6-Agent Ray Koval (Clive Owen) standen früher im Geheimdienst ihrer Regierungen. Derzeit haben sie in die Privatwirtschaft gewechselt, um mit lukrativen Verträgen das meiste aus dem Kalten Krieg herauszuholen. Beide jagen jeweils für ihre Bosse Tully (Tom Wilkinson) und Garsik (Paul Giamatti) einem milliardenschweren Patent nach. Keiner ahnt, dass sie eine heimliche Affäre und eigene Pläne haben…

Männersache:
Tagsüber arbeitet Paul (Mario Barth) in einer Berliner Zoohandlung und abends an seiner Karriere als Komiker. Zugegeben, seine Auftritte laufen mies… bis Paul anfängt, Witze über seinen besten Freund Hotte (Dieter Tappert) und dessen Freundin Susi (Anja Kling) zu reißen. Auf einmal läuft es auf der Bühne: Pauls Gags über Hottes Beziehungsgeschichten, nicht enden wollende Shopping-Orgien von Susi und den Pärchen Kaffeeklatsch bei den Schwiegereltern sind ein Renner…

State of Play – Stand der Dinge:
Ein junger aufstrebender Politiker und ein Washingtoner Enthüllungsreporter finden sich mitten im Epizentrum einer Reihe von Morden wieder, die nur scheinbar nichts miteinander zu tun haben. Der Kongressabgeordnete Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) ist Hoffnung und Zukunft seiner Partei – ein aussichtsreicher und ehrenhafter Newcomer, unter anderem im Vorsitz des Komitees für Verteidigungsausgaben…

Weitere Informationen, auch Top 100 Liste, erhalten Sie hier

Matthew McConaughey is one of those actors I can’t help but like. He’s a man who — in the real world — seems like a perfectly affable party fiend who would be fun to hang around with. Someone who doesn’t really give a damn, who makes movies to fund his lifestyle, and only gets to make movies because he’s just popular enough to justify a continued career. He’s famous for pot-smoking, naked bongo playing, and anecdotes about goat sex. His website is so completely “him” it’s as if he has been reduced to a computer echo of himself, a la Jeff Bridges in Tron, and then blasted onto our screens as a series of chill statements and photos of him on mountains, complete with lazy faux-dub rhythms in the background. The most lovable things on the site are the randomised “McConaughey Facts” that pop up at the bottom of the screen. Sample McConaughey Fact: “In my most recent trip to Papua New Guinea I was inducted into the Kuppa Tribe of the Malagan Clan.” That’s just so McConaughey.

As I’ve said many a time, anyone who can laugh at himself is all right in my book. When presented with footage of Matt Damon doing an impression of him on Letterman…

…he seemed to take it with good humour. (It’s about two minutes from the end of the clip.)

My favourite thing about that clip is that at the end of the interview, as the presenter is trying to wrap things up, he goes off on a tangent about spending his Christmas with a family he once visited as an exchange student. It’s right out of nowhere, but that burning need to communicate some random fact about himself for no reason other than that he seems to be looking forward to the excursion is something I — a notorious blabbermouth — can really relate to.

Even though I find McConaughey the Man endlessly entertaining, McConaughey the Actor is another matter. Watching one of his movies is a bit of a crapshoot. Will we get one of his committed performances, such as his delicate turn in Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, or as the demented Van Zan in Reign of Fire (which he was easily the best thing about)? Or will it be a frustratingly light but not particularly funny effort, as in Ron Howard’s instantly forgettable EdTV? For every Frailty or Lone Star there is a Wedding Planner, a Fool’s Gold, and probably a Failure To Launch to boot. Appearing in disposable romcoms might work to keep him in sex wax and bandannas, but it makes following his career difficult. Any hope that he might become Brad Pitt to Richard Linklater’s David Fincher fell apart when The Newton Boys came and went without making a ripple in the popular consciousness. He’s doing better than former girlfriend and fellow romcom stalwart Sandra Bullock right now, but it’s becoming touch and go.

He doesn’t even have an action career to fall back on. U-571 is only memorable for the shameful lies about the Enigma decoding effort, and Sahara — a film I quite like — is notorious for being one of the rare projects whose financial workings have been put on display for all the world to laugh at. Though not me. Seriously, I liked it. It was refreshingly irony-free, just a big crazy adventure about guys who get into scrapes for fun and do the right thing with no soul-searching. It was not of its time, sadly. It’s another film used as a short-hand for excessive Hollywood trash by people who haven’t seen it. Yes, it was obscenely expensive, and there’s no argument for that, but it’s got some charm. With about 20-25 minutes lopped out, it would’ve been treated with a lot more affection.

Unfortunately Ghosts of Girlfriends Past sees too much of the coasting McConaughey, with only hints of his real film-star energy. In a very loose adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore aim for easy emotional targets and don’t bother to complicate the story too much. McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a photographer with Austin Powers’ hunger for consequence-free sexual encounter but none of the dental problems. Forced by a flicker of conscience to attend his brother’s wedding, Mead quickly upsets and alienates the wedding guests with his cynical anti-marriage attitude, until he is visited by the ghost of his lothario uncle Wayne, played as a Robert Evans/Hugh Hefner hybrid by Michael Douglas. Wayne warns his Scrooge-like nephew that he will be visited by three “ghosts” (though at least one of them is still alive; the movie ties itself in knots trying to be light while addressing themes of death and loneliness). These apparitions — who enjoyably treat the “visions” like interactive videos — show Mead the miserable consequences of his actions, and reveal the reason he’s so emotionally disconnected: as a teenager, he was snubbed by his true love, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner). It broke his heart and sent him to find solace in the dubious wisdom of Uncle Wayne.

Mead’s dark night of the soul forces him to accept the idea of true love just in time to help his brother (Breckin Meyer) marry his long-term sweetheart (an unbearably whiny Lacey Chabert), and to rescue Jenny from a relationship with potential suitor Brad (Daniel Sunjata). This last task is the most problematic one in a movie that otherwise has too many easy answers. Though we’re meant to side with Mead as he throws off his selfish persona, he’s also trying to ruin a potential relationship between Jenny and a scarily handsome volunteer with Doctors Without Borders who seems to be a really sweet guy. Mead, on the other hand, is intolerably arrogant and thoughtless, though he maintains the same level of oily charm throughout. McConaughey isn’t given enough room to adequately show his conversion to the cause of love, so that while Dickens did a thorough job of showing how Scrooge could change from curmudgeon to saint, Mead’s post-revelation persona seems much like his previous personality, except more manic.

This isn’t the only problem. Lucas and Moore’s script holds few surprises and fewer laughs than even their inexplicably popular breakout hit The Hangover. Director Mark Waters, whose work on The Spiderwick Chronicles was so impressive, manages to bring some life to this formulaic project, with the added bonus that he lights the movie with something other than a very very bright light — a concept that seemed to elude the directors of other 2009 romcoms, especially the biggest romantic comedy hits of the year, Robert Luketic’s The Ugly Truth and Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal. Waters also gets entertaining performances from Michael Douglas and Emma Stone as the “ghost” who deflowered Mead in college. Garner is given less to do, but she sells her big emotional moments, including a moving bedroom scene midway through. It’s also McConaughey’s best scene, with Mead forced to watch his past self mistreat the woman he loves simply because he’s scared of his feelings. In moments like that, the conceit of making the romcom Christmas Carol seems more inspired than it actually is.

My affection for Garner is even greater than my support for McConaughey. Ever since her career-making turn in Alias, I’ve been a huge fan, obnoxiously maintaining that she would get an Oscar nomination (at least!) by the end of the decade. Unless the Academy is going to surprise me and give her a nod for her extremely entertaining turn in The Invention of Lying, I think I’m going to come up short on that one. Her decision to cut down on film roles while raising her children is an understandable one, but I wish she made more movies. There hasn’t been a single film featuring Garner that wasn’t massively improved by her presence — even something as weak as Daredevil occasionally flies thanks to her. In fact, the only thing that didn’t suck about Electra was her performance as the titular assassin; she brought far more pathos and commitment to the project than it deserved.

Compare Ghosts of Girlfriends Past to The Invention of Lying, which was even more fascinated with the interplay of honesty and self-deception. After a brilliant riff on belief and religion, it spends a long, entertaining time banging its head against the disparity between the concepts of love and biological necessity, playing games with the conventions of the genre while at the same time pointing an accusing finger at the audience for expecting such cliches. (500) Days of Summer plays a similar trick; a love-struck Joseph Gordon-Levitt is beguiled by a romantic vision of life soundtracked by The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian and then left crushed by the realisation that he’s been deluding himself as much as he has been lied to by Zooey Deschanel’s idealised Summer. Compared to those two movies, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has no big ideas to share, other than that love is all you need.

Maybe it’s unfair to give Ghosts of Girlfriends Past a black mark for not matching up to the ambition of Gervais and Robinson’s high-concept fantasy or Mark Webb’s deconstruction, but now that filmmakers seem eager to break the genre down in order to build it back up, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past might end up being the last even vaguely entertaining traditional romcom made. Surely we can at least give it gold stars for being a more involving, charming, and imaginative movie than those flat and cynical laugh-free disasters The Proposal and The Ugly Truth. Where they trade in cheeky, strained jokes about sex and modern gender politics, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has more luck focusing on the people in the relationship than the gimmicks that get in their way, and then trounces those films completely by casting two charming actors who seem to have some sparks together. Though McConaughey’s performance is disappointing and lacks modulation, the relentless charm that stops him from hitting a deeper note still has its uses. More so than many male leads in recent romcoms, at least he can flash a winning smile and drawl some flirty come-on with naughty aplomb, and when he’s matched with Garner’s wholesome persona, it’s hard to dismiss the rote shenanigans completely. Sometimes, making a reasonably successful movie really is that simple.