This movie is well made – and it’s good.  The thing that gets you in and keeps you there is the marvellous tread of psychological thrill that is always present throughout the movie. It is violent and bloody, but not gratuitously – I thought it was appropriate for the story. The characters are fascinating – particularly Natalie and her family.  Rebecca De Mornay is marvellous – Natalie is chillingly sweet and calm, but you know she’s really not that person.  Throughout the movie you wonder what’s really making Natalie the way she is … her children are totally under her spell and we learn why as the story progresses.  Most action takes place in the house and it can get shocking. Perhaps towards the end things get a little too “cookie-cutter” horror, but in general I thought this movie was very good.  Fabulous performances by Jaime King and Patrick John Flueger also.

Made in 2010.  Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Mrs. P has been wanting to see “The Hunger Games” since it was released several weeks ago. She had read the three-part trilogy by Suzanne Collins and encouraged me to do the same. Although “young adult fiction” is not my normal reading material, I enjoyed all three books (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay)  The trilogy is considered “young adult fiction,” which simply means the characters are teenagers and there is no sex involved. There were plenty of scenes in the books where, had the books been aimed at an adult readership, there would have been some hot and heavy action. In The Hunger Game Trilogy, the teens just snuggle together and go to sleep.

I will admit that, by the third book, the main character, Catniss’s, teen-aged self-involvement and indecision were starting to become annoying, but even with that, the books are good and I recommend them strongly.

And that brings us to the movie, which we saw Saturday afternoon. The movie follows the book almost exactly. Obviously, there is some condensation of material, but the characters and the plot development follows the book very well. Nearly everything in the movie matched the visual image I had when reading the book. The teen characters were very good. The adults, especially Woodie Harrelson as Catniss’s drunken mentor and Donald Sutherland as the evil President Snow, were terrific.

“The Hunger Games” is one of the few movies that is as good in its form as the book is in its.  It’s worth the price of admission and popcorn.

We watched “The Hunger Games” at a late afternoon showing. When we got home, we rented “The Three Musketeers.” We went from one extreme to the other. This movie was as bad as “The Hunger Games” was good. The main reason we rented it was because we liked the earlier treatments of the story – even the 1993 version with Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell, Oliver Platt, Tim Curry and Rebecca De Mornay, but especially the 1971 version with Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Michael York, Faye Dunaway, Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch.

This latest incarnation is more of an absurd fantasy. It makes no effort at all to follow the book or to produce a film that even vaguely reflects early 17^th century France.  One of the musketeers is introduced writing “tickets” for horses that dump on the street. The big break with reality came with the introduction of some kind of airship that was essentially a naval warship of the period lifted aloft by a blimp-like balloon.  There two of them and at one point they had a big aerial combat scene with the two airships trading broadsides with each other.

The bottom line is the filmmakers took a pretty good story and turned it into a farce.

Not only is The Three Musketeers is not worth the $2 rental fee; it’s not worth the two hours of your life to watch it. Ugh.

IMDb – 6.1/10

Me – 7.5/10

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Flipped (2010) is an artful view of perspectives of the two lead stars in Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) and Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe). Director Rob Reiner masterfully created a 1950s and 1960s nostalgia for home and simple life which was wonderfully backed up with the Flipped Suite soundtrack by Marc Shaiman and the colors of the past by cinematographer Thomas Del Ruth. It is a delight to lovers of simplicity, serenity, country, family, life and love.

Only a few people have a special vocation for the mentally challenged. I have seen and known some. They are wondrously blessed and joyful in inexplicable ways even at a glance. In the film, Richard Baker’s (Aidan Quinn) selfless love for his brother, Daniel (Kevin Weisman) exemplified love for family. A sacrifice that manages to balance and give up the trivial things in life and still enjoy the blessings of family life and love. Compared with the well-off Loski’s, the Baker’s were happy amidst their financial struggle.

Juli’s passion for climbing the sycamore tree for a magnificent view alludes to the Bible story of Zacchaeus wanting to see Jesus (Luke 19: 2-10). His eagerness to meet Jesus led him to climb the sycamore tree. The sycamore tree was symbolic to both Juli and Zacchaeus’ experience of the extraordinary.

Like Juli and Zacchaeus, one has to rise above the ordinariness of life in order to be amazed with the beauty of life’s imperfect reality. Indeed, an enchantment with life will make one flip from the convenient and the familiar to transcend the unthinkable.

Technical Assessment (5 = Excellent, 4 = Above Average, 3 = Average, 2 = Below Average, 1 = Poor)
*** 3.5

Moral Assessment: Catholic Perspective (5 = Excellent, 4 = Wholesome, 3 = Acceptable, 2 = Disturbing, 1 = Abhorrent)
**** 4

***** All posts are the fruits of my impassioned study and reflection. Kindly reference well. Thank you! *****

© rooks 2012

Considering how much is truly awful about this 1985 film—a ludicrous situation (two convicts and a woman are trapped on a locomotive speeding out of control through the Alaskan wilderness), gobs of undigested philosophical dialogue, an appallingly mannered Method performance by lead Jon Voight—it’s a high tribute to the skills of director Andrei Konchalovsky (Maria’s Lovers) that it comes off as gripping entertainment. Imagine a cross between the macho roughhouse of a Robert Aldrich film (Emperor of the North is a close comparison) and the visual texture (snow, rusting steel, licking flames) of a Tarkovsky thumb sucker like Stalker and you’ll have some idea. Konchalovsky excels both at the staging of claustrophobic psychodrama (the way he shoots the action in the cramped engine cab is a model of the creative use of restricted space) and large-scale action, setting up a very effective movement between emotional pressure and physical release. With Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay; based on an unproduced screenplay by Akira Kurosawa.

IMDb – 6.7/10

Me – 7/10

The ratings system has failed parents. We all know how competitive the market is for snagging consumer’s discretionary spending moolah; how specific the demographic research is to aim a product at as wide an audience as possible. In other words, if something is PG-13, the Hollywood folks really want the 9-12 year olds to crave it. If something is rated R, they are banking on the fact that 13 on up will do what it takes to get their eyes on it.

So a film like Project X is really aimed at early teens. The whole forbidden fruit human nature reality. And when you look at a film like this through that prism, you wonder how these producers and “filmmakers” sleep at night. Don’t they have children?

I’m not going to bother with seeing this film. But, here is the Los Angeles Times review. For my readers outside of Cali, the L.A. Times is an extremely liberal newspaper.

Once upon a time there was an innocent little movie called Risky Business. A high school boy (Tom Cruise) throws a party to end all parties to help his pal pay off a sleazy pimp named ‘Guido’ (Joe Pantoliano). Then he falls for ‘Guido’s’ main squeeze (Rebecca De Mornay), and the two consummate their relationship to Phil Collin’s “In the Air Tonight” on a subway. Raunchy premise? Sure. But at its core, Risky Business is an excellent coming of age story that has just enough sweet boy-meets-girl to make it almost romantic. This film even managed to give us an iconic film moment, Tom Cruise sliding into frame in his boxer shorts and air jamming to Bob Seger’s  “Old Time Rock N’ Roll.” 

Our kids get Project X. I wasn’t a big fan of Superbad or The Hangover, but my guess is Project X makes those two look like The Godfather I & II.

Again, not gonna see it. I’ve seen all I need to see in the seemingly endless media blitz. So here’s another review.

Of course our kids want to see Project X. They also want to eat ice cream all night, wear dirty underwear (the boys anyway), blow off school, and go to McDonald’s every day for lunch and Del Taco for dinner. Hey, sounds like a great premise for an MTV show.

Call it Parents Gone Wild.

Do you remember the film?

Risky Business is the film in which 19-year-old Tom Cruise (Joel Goodson) dances around his living room in his underwear.

He does this to celebrate the fact that his parents have left him alone while they go on vacation. Somewhere along the line, hooker Rebecca De Mornay, fleeing her vicious pimp, hides out in the Cruise manse.

Original theatrical trailer for the 1983 film “Risky Business.” Starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur, Bronson Pinchot, Curtis Armstrong, Nicholas Pryor, and Janet Carroll. Written & Directed by Paul Brickman.

Things go from bad to worse to as Cruise inadvertently drives his father’s Porsche 928 into Lake Michigan and nearly scuttles his college recruitment interview.

a clip from “Risky Business” Joel and Barry take Joel’s dad’s Porsche 928 for a joyride.

Joel (Tom Cruise) races with his dad’s Porsche while trying to escape Lana’s pimp. From the Warner Bros. film – “Risky Business”

Porsche 928 movie car “Risky Business” sold to Beverly Hills Car Dealer

AllePorsche.com recently reported that a 1979 Porsche 928 used during the filming of “Risky Business” was put up for sale by the Volo Auto Museum, located about an hour north of Chicago where the movie was set, in order to make room for a couple of new additions to its collection.The platinum metallic colored coupe was one of four 928s used during principal production of the film, according to museum director Brian Grams.

Apparently the Porsche 928 that appeared in the film “Risky Business” was just sold for $49,000 after a Beverly Hills car dealer >  read about it on FoxNews.com. 

Grams says that he purchased the car several years ago from Denver car collector Lewis Johnson, who was obsessed with owning one of the Porsches from the film since he first saw it at the age of 14 and finally got around to tracking one down in 2005.

Johnson claims that the film’s producer, Jon Avnet, told him that he taught Cruise how to drive a manual transmission in the 5-speed Porsche, which was used during the filming of several scenes. Cruise has since become a well-known automotive enthusiast.

Grimes told FoxNews.com that the Porsche was listed for sale on the museum’s website , likely to sell for around $55,000. According to NADA Guides, the average price of 1979 928 without the Hollywood credit is $7,800.

The well-worn sports car has over 100,000 miles on the odometer and is not exactly in pristine condition. ….after 102,000 miles and multiple paint jobs. Its fuel tank leaking and it’s obvious that its bodywork will need some attention.

“I didn’t have much money left to spend, so I brought the car to a local Maaco paint place and had a single-stage paint job done on it,” says Johnsen. “It kind of worked out, though, because it only had a single-stage paint job on it when it was in the movie. So, in a way, this cheap paint job is more true to how it really was in the film than if I had an expensive two-stage base/clear paint job done — which wasn’t an option anyway!”

I guess Tom Cruise’s name is worth something?

Cruise would probably look back on it as a great movie. He netted a Golden Globe nomination in 1984 for his performance as Joel Goodsen — considered by many as the role that launched his career — and Risky Business went on to become one of the biggest cult classic films of the 1980s.

It also exposed the Porsche brand to a whole new generation of future buyers. Many first-time Porsche owners today were teenagers sitting, with mouths agape, in a dark theater 20+ years ago.

Paul Brickman, the movie director said he chose Porsche’s 928 as the film’s luminary in lieu of other high-end GTs initially considered because he felt a Ferrari or Lamborghini would be far too exotic for the main character’s father to drive as a daily car.

Brickman initially considered Porsche’s iconic 911, but ultimately dubbed it “too mundane.” He saw the 928, on the other hand, as exactly the type of car a successful Windy City businessman would drive to work every day. The 928 was one of the most contemporary cars available at the time Brickman wrote the script. It was fresh, different, and exotic — yet in a subtle way.

Ultimately being totaled after being dumped into Lake Michigan for the sinking Porsche scene. after some research, found there were four different 928s used for filming, as well as two more cars used in the film’s post-production phase.

What’s more, none of the four 928s used for the production of Risky Busi-ness exactly match the car as it is actually portrayed on film. The cars present a mix of years, wheels, transmissions, and original colors — all similar yet slightly different from one another.

RB 928, as portrayed in the film, is a 1981 Platinmetallic 928 with a five-speed manual transmission, offset “Phone-Dial” cast alloy wheels, a gold interior, and Illinois State license plate tag number N2Z 264.

And the primary 928 used for filming in real life was a Platinum Metallic 1981 928, but with an automatic transmission, flat-face 15-inch “Phone-Dial” wheels, a brown dash, gold seats, and a non-reflective prop Illinois license plate, number N2Z 264.

With over 100,000 miles on the odometer, the platinum metallic coupe may not be in as good shape as its action hero driver, but it clearly has the same kind of box office draw.

Source: Fox News and Excellence Porsche Magazine

Photo Credits: Volo Auto Museum and Wiki

For more information from Volvo Auto Museum ‘s website click here

Dwight Yoakam , Wedding Crashers , New Line Cinema

Rebecca De Mornay , Wedding Crashers , New Line Cinema

It’s Americans pretending (without accents, thankfully) to be French. Poe, an American, had never been to France when he wrote the original story. So there’s an artificiality to it, which really fits the story as it turns out.

Unfortunately, Poe’s short story was an earnest attempt. This film version–produced for television–is not. It appears to be an American attempt to capture the ambience of the Granada Television’s “Sherlock Holmes” television series. Rue Morgue‘s producers fail.

The biggest problem is the script; screenwriter Epstein pads the adaptation with rote melodrama (Dupin, played by George C. Scott, not only has a daughter–Rebecca De Mornay–with romance troubles, he’s also got a professional adversary in Ian McShane). Most of the additions play as to Scott being a grumpy old man. I assume aging Dupin was to fit Scott, as a bit of stunt casting.

As far as the acting goes, I suppose McShane gives the film’s only good performance. He’s a slimy politician and he enjoys it. Kilmer and De Mornay are both earnest, but not any good in poorly written roles. Kilmer has these wild, theatrical arm gestures in his scenes with Scott… almost as though he’s trying to get Scott’s attention.

Scott’s performance is lifeless, somewhat appealing out of respect for his ability, but utterly empty.

Szwarc’s direction is similarly limp.

It’s a trying ninety minutes.

CREDITS

Directed by Jeannot Szwarc; teleplay by David Epstein, based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe; director of photography, Bruno de Keyzer; edited by Eric Albertson; music by Charles Gross; produced by Robert Halmi Jr.; released by the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Starring George C. Scott (Auguste Dupin), Val Kilmer (Phillipe Huron), Rebecca De Mornay (Claire Dupin), Ian McShane (Prefect of Police), Neil Dickson (Adolphe Le Bon), Maud Rayer (Melle L’Espanaye), Maxence Mailfort (Inspector Alphonse), Fernand Guiot (Dupar) and Patrick Floersheim (The Sailor).

Related posts:

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• Willow (1988, Ron Howard)
• Tell-Tale (2010, Greg Williams)
• The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (2009, Werner Herzog)
• Mindhunters (2004, Renny Harlin)

Golden-haired, milky-bodied Rebecca De Mornay , the daughter of hotheaded right-wing TV talker Wally George , debuted as a hooker with a heart-on in Risky Business (1983), scorching the classic (and classy) sex satire so incandescently that even headliner Tom Cruise looked like he was genuinely digging her steamy sex act.

Then there is the 4 musketeers, Rebecca De om nom nom Mornay and Gabrielle Anwar… The casting on this movie is just awesome and the movie itself timeless. It’s the kind of movie you’ll most likely watch over and over when it runs on the television. One of the better Disney movies of the 90′s.

..I rate this movie 7/10 stars..

Didn’t find a trailer but this made me giggle a little.

A bank robbery goes wrong and the robbers head for their childhood home, only to discover their mom lost the house to foreclosure. The new owners are having a birthday party, and the brothers take them hostage. When their mother and sister arrive, it becomes clear that the matriarch will do whatever necessary to protect her brood. She is a sadistic and manipulative woman who over the course of the evening takes control of the situation, plots her sons’ escape, all at the expense of the hostages.

It sounds pretty decent, but sounds nothing like the 1980 Charles Kaufman-directed original. But come to think of it, there’s no way in hell anyone would do a direct remake of Kaufman’s version. The original is … beyond description. Check out the trailer to the 1980 grindhouse sleazefest:

Yeah. I really love the original for what it is, but it’s really depraved and very rapey. But then Bousman comes along with his version:

It’s a little different, eh? It’s nice to see Rebecca De Mornay back to playing a creepy, disturbed chick!! Well there was originally a plan with Gigapix to put Bousman’s MOTHER’S DAY in theaters, but that fell through. But now Anchor Bay Films has stepped in and is planning on distributing the film in the U.S on next year’s Mother’s Day, which falls on May 13, 2012.

Stay Bloody!!!

If you consider Starship’s “We Built This City” as the worst song of the 80′s (I don’t.)  Then perhaps you’ll consider this song one of Starship’s best.  It spent one week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and three weeks at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.   The song’s video features actress Rebecca De Mornay and Micky Thomas in a story about a relationship ending.  The song, however, wasn’t written by Thomas,but by Peter and Ina Wolf.  It was however named for Thomas’s wife at the time.

“Sara” doesn’t seem to get a lot of airplay these days.  In fact, because of its dubious honor “We Built This City” gets a little more play.  One thing you can say about the various members of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship is that there’s always some version of the band touring somewhere.  One more thing, you have to hand it to a band that started in the era of free love and managed to survive two decades in the face of an ever-changing musical landscape.

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/newplayer.swf

High school senior Joel Goodsen (Cruise) is having problems keeping up with the standards his parents have for him. He’s not a great student yet they want him to attend Princeton. When they go on vacation, his friends decide to help get Joel laid by hiring call girl, Lana (Rebecca De Mornay). Then, she and Joel team up for a business venture which pisses off her employer, Guido (Joe Pantoliano).

It was pretty much what I expected. See, I love The Girl Next Door which was sort of a remake of this so the basic storyline wasn’t new to me. And even though I am trying to see Tom Cruise: actor, rather than Tom Cruise: batshit crazy guy, I probably would have liked the movie more without him as the lead. It was a good movie, not the typical 80s fare. It wasn’t as raunchy as most of the sex comedies, it had a little heart. And what is it with 80s movies and great soundtracks? It is amazing that those two coincide all the time.

Darren  Lynn Bousman se dio a conocer en 2005 con la secuela de Saw. De hecho incluso rodó la tercera y cuarta parte. Después de 2 cintas más  (“El Día de Año Nuevo” y “Repo”) se lanzó el año pasado con un remake de un pequeño clásico de culto de la factoría Troma. La elegida fue Mother’s Day.

Tres hermanos vuelven a la casa en la que fueron criados esperando encontrar a su madre. Son una familia de criminales y uno de los hermanos (Johnny, Matt O’Leary)  está gravemente herido. Los otros dos buscan desesperadamente la ayuda de su progenitora para salvar a su hermano. Desgraciadamente la madre (Nathalie, Rebecca De Mornay) y su otra hija (Lydia, la sexy Deborah Ann Woll)  ya no viven en el que un día fue su hogar. Por suerte contactan logran contactar con ella que acude como si fuera el Séptimo de  Caballería (criminal).

Así es como el camino de los familia Koffin se cruza con la pareja formada por Beth (Jaimie King) y Daniel (Frank Grillo), nuevos inquilinos de la vivienda en cuestión. Casualmente la pareja tiene bastantes invitados en la casa. Así pues la diversión esta garantizada.

Los dos hermanos Izaak (Patrick John Flueger) y Addley (Warren Kole)  no tardan en acojonar al grupo de amigos. George (Shawn Ashmore) es uno de ellos y además es médico así que intentar ayudar a mantener con vida a Johnny. A la vez Izaak decide hacerse con el dinero de todos ellos, les coge las tarjetas de crédito y  se va en coche junto a Beth a por el cajero más cercano.

Cuando la madre de los chicos, Nathalie, llega a la casa les pone a todos en su sitio. Es evidente que es la cabeza de familia y que siempre lo ha sido. Ella es quien ha enseñado a sus hijos a vivir así y quien les ha educado con mano de hierro. Sus retoños viven engañados, manipulados y atemoraizados por ella. De mientras los invitados al guateque las pasan canutas ya que van siendo sistemáticamente puteados e incluso, torturados.

A su vez, las tensiones entre el grupo de amigos van creciendo ya que la situación es extrema y se encuentran al límite. Eran realmente tan amigos como parecía? Como no, también se descubre que las parejas tampoco son tan fieles y sinceras como hacían pensar.

Es innegable que Mother’s Day tiene mala hostia pero ni eso ni la actuación de De Mornay (muy bien en el papel de mala puta empedernida) no son suficiente. El guión se hace algo tedioso en su parte final, hay demasiados decisiones cuestionables… Se agradecen los momentos sádicos del film, sin ellos ver la peli se haría bastante más cuesta arriba. Otro factor que ayuda a aliviar la pendiente es la presencia de Deborah Ann Woll y Briana Evigan (Donnie Darko 2, Bruning Bright…)

Si a estos peros le añadimos que la cinta sobrepasa los 90 minutos el conjunto final queda todavía más deslucido. Ojo! Es un buen intento y  hay buenas intenciones (el momento de las orejas!) pero no son suficiente. La verdad es que el día anterior había visto Secuestrados, las dos películas se parecen bastante en algunos aspectos, y la española me gustó y atrapó mucho más.