…..*toke* *toke*… Most of you know I am a HUGE Jodie Foster fan, but she looked absolutely HORRIBLE in this flick.  I’m all for revenge, and this and that, but damn Jodie… you look like a troll in this movie!  Overall the movie was good.  Again, I’m a pretty big fan of f*ckin some people up over brutality… loved the final kill scene with Jodie putting the gun up to dudes head, and screaming, SHUT THE F*CK UP!…. LOL.. good shit..

Two bong tokes

TSAAM

The Brave One (Widescreen Edition)

Does Jodie Foster ever make a bad movie?  Answer: NO.  So it’s a sure bet that this film will be interesting and worth watching.  It takes courage to view some of the scenes as there’s a lot of violence in it.  It has an unpredictable ending.  The story is not easy to swallow because in reality bad things really do happen to good people and sometimes we just have to take justice into our own hands.

The Brave One is a 1954 movie about a Mexican kid who tries to save his pet bull from death at the hands of a skilled matador… ok, that is not the one I watched. The one I saw had Jodi Foster:

IMDB: The Brave One

Not since the movie Enough with JLo have I been as disappointed as I am with a film.  I know, I know, suspend belief because this is a movie.  Had this movie been set in the 60s I could have forgiven a number of the issues I had with it.  In today’s day and time, there are so many surveillance cameras within NYC that I find it hard to think that a bright detective like Mercer (played by Terrence Howard) would not be able to pull footage from an ATM (there is one on EVERY corner in NY), a club, a parking lot – SOMEWHERE – that would show him Foster’s character walking within the vicinity.

With Enough – I took issue that this woman had the crap beat out of her on a regular basis, reached out to a nonexistent father who then gave her a couple thousand dollars for self defense lessons which she was able to master in no time whatsoever to overcome her abusive and murdering husband.  And we all live happily ever after.

With The Brave One – this woman had to have luck in abundance – there were no witnesses ever, there was no security cameras ever AND she got the one cop in the whole of NYC that would allow her to shoot him in the end to cover as her alibi because after what, three meetings he must have this connection with her – you know BFFs?

Is this movie trying to make us believe that all cops would prefer some level of vigilant justice?  Or better, that there are NO cops that push outside of the boundaries to see justice?

I do like to suspend belief in movies.  But usually those movies involve unicorns and Tim Curry dressed as satan.  However, when a movie has so many technical holes in it, my belief stays intact, no matter how hard I try.

But who am I to say that you will not like it?  Watch it, let me know what you think.

Ciao.

questions for the year…

1. – what exactly turned Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader?

2. – can i accept my addiction to heroin for what it is? if i own it and use it as a tool, can it be ‘MANAGABLE?’

answers collected so far:

anakin answer 002 – “his guilt manifested into him punishing himself for something that fundamentally wasn’t his fault.”

anakin answer 001 – “guilt and fear.”

addiction answer 002 – “there is being POWERLESS and there is being EMPOWERED.” – “you ARE a mage, so what does that say about your NA’s Step 1? we train to harness and minipulate nature. we weave OUR will. we are NOT so powerless. there is WILL alone. mostly it manifests as an ego tainted ecto-jelly that we all must abide in. but it is always present. and active. so my answer is… NO. because its THUMBSUCKING. you have already used the drugs to expand your awareness and you understand the process. so to continue to use would only be sucking your thumb.”

addiction answer 001 – “no stupid. you’re an ADDICT! you will eventually fall into compulsive using and into that withdrawl from the TRUE path making your life once again ‘unmanagable.’

we’ll keep looking into this…

time to become someone else.

“You left a hole in me… but i’m done. you hear me? i’m done now.” - Jodie Foster, The Brave One.

I’m drinking a sugar free BAWLS and watching “The Brave One” with Jodi Foster & Terrence Howard, for the second time on HBO.  I love it.  But then, I always like to watch Jodi Foster’s movies.  Either she picks well or she makes the movie her own  This movie reminds me of a cross between “Pump Up The Volume”  & City of Angels with the soundtrack, the way it is filmed, the grainy dark feel, the characters are interesting, believable, predictable yet still able to surprise…the plot itself is really disturbing on many levels.  Right up my alley though.  yup

Jodi Foster

?Why don?t they stop me?? Erica Bain wonders. Bain a popular N.Y radio host watched her fianc? die and nearly lost her own life to a vicious random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself an armed wanderer in the urban night out for vengeance and at war with her own soul. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster as Erica joins Oscar nominee Terrence Howard as a determined cop hot on her trail. Erica’s future is uncertain but one thing is not: THE BRAVE ONE is a high- tension thriller that packs a visceral and emotional punch.

The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] is available at Amazon for $12.99. To Order click here
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Other Products of Interest

• Michael Clayton (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]
• We Own the Night
• In the Valley of Elah (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]
• Gone Baby Gone

Hi!  Saw a few movies today.  First I saw “An American Carol” by Dave Zucker which I have no comment about.  I hardly knew what to think about that movie.  I’ll need to see it again before I say anything.  Then I went to see “Eagle Eye” with Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.  And I must say, this was a good movie.  How do I describe it??  I believe it would fall under the category of Techno Thriller.  The story has been told before.  It was fun and exciting to watch.  Definitely a four out of five stars.  Especially when you figure out who the culprit was in the movie.  Don’t worry, I’m not giving it away.  The most impressive part was my Dad (with Alzheimer’s) was able to follow the movie.  Which is saying quite a lot.  I kept checking Dad through out the movie and he was truly engaged.  If he had not been, we would have left and saw a different film. 

Note:  to my regular readers.  Our latest challenge was in discovering what caused Dad’s blood sugar to spike, was His walking pneumonia.  Now that he’s on the mend.  His blood sugar is much more stable.  Additionally, his doctor instructed us to check his blood sugar in the evening and give him a slow acting insulin at that time as well.  This seems to help quite a bit.  Dad has been holding his own quite a bit more lately.  And those of you who care for people with Alzheimer’s know it is quite a feat for someone with Alzheimer’s to be able to follow a fast action movie. 

Lastly, I also watched “The Brave One” with Jodie Foster on HBO tonight (I know, I’m a movie hound). 

I’m also reading a really good book right now “Edgar Sawtelle” by Dave W. Roblewski.  Just so you know, I do other things than watch good movies. 

” The Brave One” with Jodie Foster was truly intense.  And I would say it’s definitely five out of five stars.  Through out the movie, you find yourself rooting for the vigilante, hoping she gets her guy.  There is a lot of violence in the movie.  The movie is portrayed in New York City. 

Most of all in watching the movie, if you’re someone like me, you wonder how people are able to tolerate the violence in the world today.  The Brave One portrays the world as a dark and dangerous place.  Jodie Foster does an excellent job with her character, and so does Terrence Howard, the detective in the story.

The Brave One

Mais um daqueles filmes que ficam 2 minutos em cartaz nos cinemas do Rio…   Valente (The Brave One) é o filme mais recente do irlandês Neil Jordan, que fez Na Companhia dos Lobos, Crying Game, Entrevista com o Vampiro etc. Com Jody Foster, Terrence Howard e Naveen Andrews (não é com o Stephen Rea!). A história se passa em Nova York. Foster é Erika Bain, uma produtora-apresentadora de um programa de rádio em que explora os sons da cidade e interage com ouvintes.

The other day I went to see Step Brothers, which is a terrible, terrible movie that made me lose all respect for John C. Reilly. It makes me wonder if he actually enjoys brainless comedies or if he was THAT hard-pressed for money.

Anyway, it feels like most movies I’ve watched in the theater this year were absolutely awful, and I’m trying to recount what they were. If you want the results before I list the movies, here they are:

(Watched in the last two years in the theater:)
24 movies
_________
12 bad
7 okay
4 good
1 AWESOME (Juno)

- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Terrible writing, terrible dialog, terribly ridiculous fight scenes. I met Uwe Boll this year, and he was right when he said that people would’ve put him in an insane asylum if *he* had been the one to make the movie. I’d much rather watch Bloodrayne a third time than watch Indiana Jones again. And Shia LaBeouf is one overrated actor, I tell you.
- The Dark Knight
COMPLETELY overrated. Even silly action movies used to be better than what Hollywood is coming up with these days, and the 9+ star rating at IMDB.com is ridiculous. I’d give it a six, tops. There were some things I liked, and it’s hardly ever unpleasant to see Maggie Gyllenhaal perform in anything (except maybe in Secretary, but I might just be a prude), but overall the movie was just too forced and too dumb.
- Step Brothers
As mentioned above. A piece of turd. No more to say.
- Vantage Point
A dumb movie. Such a promising story – seeing the same scene from several different perspectives – but in the end, such a lame plot.
- 21
An okay movie, not particularly memorable, though.
- Sex And The City: The Movie
Ah well, not exactly good, not very emancipated at all, but only a little bit worse than I expected.
- Fool’s Gold
Finally a movie I wasn’t disappointed by, because it was exactly what I had imagined. Silly, fun, with stupid action-movie clichés and Kate Hudson. ENTERTAINING!
- Get Smart
That one was really good. A very decent comedy with some smart jokes and generally a LOT more than I expected!
- No Country For Old Men
I suppose it was okay, but it was very slow and I didn’t exacty ‘get it’. As much as I like the Coen Brothers, I won’t be recommending this movie to anyone.
- Juno
Definitely the winner! This is the best movie I’ve seen in a long while, in and out of the movie theater! You go, Ellen Page! You go, Kimya Dawson! You go, Diablo Cody!

I suppose Juno and No country For Old Men were technically released last year, but it always takes a while for them to reach movie theaters here… But now that I look at what was released last year, there was mostly crap, too.
I did watch these in the theater last year:

- Transformers
Pretty awful.
- I Am Legend
Good idea, but not very well done. Logic erros, and stupid monsters and a VERY stupid ending.
- Live Free Or Die Hard
Bad! Maybe action is NOT all you need in an action movie.
- Atonement
Well, it had some interesting scenes and the way the sound was blended into the movie was nice, but the story… geeeeez.
- Ocean’s Thriteen
Oh well. I seem to remember it was dull.
- Mr. Brooks
That one was pretty awful, too. The story was dumb and nobody cared for the characters and their strange behavior.
- Hitman
Okay, I played the game and I thought the movie would be fun as your typical action movie with nice effects, but it was boring and Timothy Olyphant had a grin on his face all the time, and although little is known about Agent 47, I know this: He doesn’t smile a lot!
- Beowulf
The movie is pretty awful, and some of the animated faces looked eerie (Uncanny Valley much?), but I watched it in 3D and the 3D effect was pretty wicked, so who cares? The sins of our fathers! The sins of our fathers!! THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS!!! I AM BEOWULF!!!! (Urg.)
- American Gangster
Well, not exactly great, really, but entertaining enough and – looking at the competition – evidently up in the better half of the movies I’ve seen in the theater.
- Gone Baby Gone
Hyped way too much when it really had a lame and uninteresting story, but it was okay.
- The Brave One
Definitely one of the better movies I’ve seen in the theater, and it did make me think and was interesting. The romantic scenes were kind of odd or unfitting or somehow off, and the ending was also a bit peculiar, but all in all it was a good movie.
- 300
An awful movie. Awful and ridiculous.
- Because I Said So
Awful writing, bad movie. Diane Keaton is overrated.
- Keinohrhasen
The one German movie I watched in the theater in the last two years, it seems. And it was surprisingly good. Sure, lots of clichés and exactly how often can you laugh at something embarassing being said too loudly so it’s overheard by everybody in a restaurant – but all in all, it was sweet.

CONCLUSION: I watch too much crap in the movie theater. I should choose the movies I watch more wisely. Too many bad movies are being made! It’s scary to think that Fool’s Gold is one of the best movies I’ve seen in the theater lately…

I saw this in: Blue Ray/5.1

The Brave One: Very well crafted, I mainly watched this movie because of Jodie Foster’s awesome performance in every other movie she’s in. Though I did think the fire burnt out a little (in the middle) before the film ends, still worth watching!

I rate this Movie @: 70%

Director - Neil Jordan

Writer - Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor

Starring - Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt

Language – English

Runtime - 120 minutes approx.

Age Rating – 18

Genre - Crime, Drama, Thriller

A FILM REVIEW BY ROSS MILLER

The second revenge picture of the closing months of this year, following what now seems just like a throw away movie, Death Sentence. Although that was a great film in its own right (and I seem to be the only one who thinks so highly of it) it just doesn’t delve enough or as well into the psychological reasons why someone would become a vigilante as this does. And as glorified as this film at points I still found it to be an enjoyable and thought provoking experience.

The film tells the story of Erica Bain (an engrossing Jodie Foster) a happy, soon-to-be-married radio host who has pretty much the perfect life living in New York with her fiancée (Lost’s Naveen Andrews). While she and her fiancée are out for a walk with their dog one night they are brutally attacked, leaving her fiancée dead and her in a coma. She awakes three weeks later to find her fiancée dead and the suffering is too much for her to bear. Impulsively she buys a gun, at first to protect herself and she ends up having to use it with deadly force. Slowly but surely having a gun for safety turns into having one to dish out her own brand of justice on the criminals of the city.

The ever brilliant Terrence Howard plays a detective, who along with his partner is investigating the growing number of murders happening in the city.

This film works as well as it does not because of the shocking bursts of violence and (what verges on) action scenes but the development of Foster’s character from a happy, everyday woman to a heartbroken wreck. You can tell from the way Foster portrays the role, with all her heart, that she really put a lot of herself into it. Considering she not only starred in the film but also was one of the producers shows that this was an important film (and role) to her, one that may bring her some award attention. And the kind of dedication on show from her here really gives the film a lot of weight, much more than if it was just another film she was doing for the money. And by the way that the film ended up being I can tell that this won’t make a big splash as far as money goes, these movies never do. Which is a damn shame in my books.

This film would be Oscar worthy if it weren’t for the subject matter and some of the scenes within. It is something just too unjustly violent for it to be accepted as Oscar worthy. And I think this will also hold back not only the film from being nominated but also Foster herself. But despite that she is brilliant as always.

And the very same goes for Terrence Howard. Personally he was the draw for this film, he has proven to me that he can give a better performance than most and subsequently I will see anything he’s in. And almost needless to say, and repeat on my part, Howard is simply stellar here. It is reported that Foster herself specifically asked for and recommended Howard for the role and I can definitely see why. He is one hell of an actor giving the normal, brilliant performance that only adds to his stellar list.

The film deals with issues that are of the norm in cinema but they are usually either ignored or only dealt with lightly. The obvious issue of revenge is at hand but takes secondary importance behind themes like how loss can affect a person, the connection of people and the value of life in general. It is because the film makes these issues more apparent than the obvious (which was used to advertise it) that allowed me to take this film seriously, which was the main point that would make or break the film.

As with the majority of films it does have it’s weaknesses. The main one being the way it portrays New York City as a scum, crime ridden pit of gangs and murder. Although there obviously is crime of this nature in real life I really don’t think it is as prevalent as it is displayed here. But a forward thrusting plot there must be, in other words this was necessary. Although that still didn’t prevent it from bothering me.

What seems at first to be “just another revenge film” is actually a heartfelt and engrossing character study that just happens to revolve around a revenge theme. I much preferred the quiet and suspenseful moments where Erica reflects on what has happened to her or talking to someone for comfort than what are, to me anyway, the weaker points of the film in where unnecessarily graphic violence is shown. It is the latter aspect that prevent the film from being what it could have been; one of the best films of the year. Instead it ends up being, still, one of the better films of the year but it has too much flashiness for it to be any more.

The ending of the film, although it falls on the unbelievable side of the fence, I found to be as fitting as it could have been, summing up and reflecting the whole film in a few key moments. I think that may be the point in the film where people either accept it or question it as a whole. I personally found it worked very well.

This is a surprisingly thought provoking but at the same time enjoyable affair. Contrary to popular opinion about it being “silly and far-fetched” I really thought the film had a lot of strengths, certainly more than it has weaknesses. It may be a little too unrealistic and overblown in its display of violence at points but The Brave One, for the most part, is a believable and worthwhile film.

I watched the movie The Brave One on DVD yesterday. Thank God I didn’t spend $14 to see it in a theater.

For those of you who’ve missed it, The Brave One features veteran actress Jodie Foster as an NPR radio host who goes all Dirty Harry after her boyfriend is killed and she is badly beaten with a pipe by muggers in New York.

Foster was paid a reported $15 million for her role as Erica Bain. That makes her a bigger criminal than anyone her character shoots in this movie. Foster is literally stealing money in this clunker.

It’s hard to see how this movie even got made. I’m picturing the Tim Robbins character in the movie The Player pitching his idea for a movie: “It’s like ‘Dirty Harry’ meets ‘Contact’…”

The Brave One should have been called Death Wish VI. It’s a complete and total ripoff of the series of Death Wish revenge flicks made by Charles Bronson in the 80’s.

If any male actor in Hollywood would have made this movie not only would he have never worked again, but the movie would have won at least five Razzie Awards as the worst picture of the year.

The writing in The Brave One is laugh-out-loud awful. For instance when Foster’s character makes her impassioned return to the airwaves she talks about her mugging,

“I always believed that fear belonged to other people. Weaker people. It never touched me. And then it did. And when it touches you, you know… that it’s been there all along. Waiting beneath the surfaces of everything you loved.”

The scene is embarrassing. It’s that bad. Nonetheless, The Brave One actually managed to get mostly favorable movie reviews. How is that possible?

Step 1: Take the most pedestrian revenge flick you can find.

Step 2: Cast in its lead a Hollywood lesbian icon.

Step 3: Make her character a National Public Radio host.

Step 4: Get the guy who made The Crying Game to direct it.

VIOLA! It’s art! 

 Actually, it’s crap. Even though she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress for this role (unbelievable!) the only acting Foster does in the entire movie is pretending to like boys. The Brave One features Foster kissing a man. I believe that’s Foster’s first on-screen male love interest since Maverick in 1994. The hapless Dead-Man-Walking boyfriend is played by Naveen Andrews. (He’s the long-haired guy from Lost.) In one of the most laughable casting choices in recent memory, Andrews plays a brilliant doctor. Apparently Fabio wasn’t available. Also, if there’s an award given for Most-Emasculated-Male-In-a-Supporting-Role I’d certainly like to nominate Terrence Howard for his portrayal of Detective Mercer in The Brave One.

Ordinarily movie reviewers treat mindless revenge flicks like this with complete disdain. But, apparently there’s a niche out there for lesbians who want to see Jodie Foster in a black tank top shooting bad guys.

JODIE FOSTER