Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Greenberg

Rating:

Movie: Greenberg (2010)

Studio : Scott Rudin Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 107 min

Website : here

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcupdf

Review:

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is the brother of Phillip Greenberg. The difference between them is that Phillip is a successful owner of a hotel chain with a healthy family with three kids and a dog in a large home in California. Roger Greenberg is a “do nothing” who lived in New York City as a carpenter with a mental breakdown who lives like an old man wishing it was twenty years ago.

Greenberg is a film about acknowledgement. Greenberg refuses to acknowledge people but wants to be acknowledged, particularly by those who had something to do with his past in California. As he attempts to find some way to bring back the things he loved in his high school days, he finds himself in a frustrating relationship with his brother’s personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig), who is almost twenty years younger than him and strangely resonates with his eccentric attitude. She is one of the only people who acknowledges and admires him, and he hates her for it as he tries to get people in his past to acknowledge him instead.

The only member of his past who is willing to be a part of his life again is Ivan (Rhys Ifans), an old band member with a son and an ex-wife that Roger refuses to acknowledge. Roger insists that Ivan leave the things that has happened to him while Roger was in New York while plotting with him on how to get back the ex-girlfriend that left him during high school so long ago.

It was difficult formulating what to say about this film. It’s awkward and clumsy at times, much like Roger. We don’t really understand him, but slowly start to see the pieces of his past that made him this way. Like Florence, we are strangely drawn to his eccentricities, and only when we see him interact and care for these new figures in life do we start to really acknowledge him.

This is definitely a film for the Wes Anderson crowd. Initially, I was even tempted to call this film another Rushmore (and, no, not in a good way). But thankfully, unlike most Wes Anderson films I’ve seen, director Noah Baumbach is generous with his clues and willing to give you some slack in order to “get it”. As you go further into the film and study the pieces, you start to acknowledge that this film really is more than you originally may have believed.

-Donald Lee

Comedy, Drama, In Theaters acknowledgement, Ben Stiller, greenberg, greta gerwig, review

Tau Ming Chong: The Warlords

Rating:

Movie: The Warlords (2007)

Studio : Morgan & Chan Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 127 min

Website : warlordsthemovie.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcupej

Review:

Missing the chance to catch this film during New York’s Asian Film Festival, I was pleased to learn about the film’s “wider” release to theaters. While released a few years back, the task of subbing a foreign film into the U.S. combined perhaps with other unknown complications have disallowed American audiences from seeing this film locally until recently.

Although widely unknown by most Americans, the Taiping Rebellion is considered by many to be one of the most violent wars of all-time, matching World War I and some may even argue the second World War as well. I will skip the background of this time, as the movie itself actually centers less on the large scale of its history and more on a point involving three particular men. A fallen general finds solace in a poor village where he meets two bandit leaders. With his guidance, they not only do they become brothers-in-arms, but fight off the rebel insurgence. Between this, there is an affair, politicking, and quite a few gorgeous moments to drink in the scenery.

I should say that even as someone who has never been a historian of this period of time, you can still tell that this film is adulterated from its original content, although if you’re complacent with the accuracy of films like Braveheart and U-571, then you should be content with this film because, despite the nature of the film, the overall execution is brilliant. Wars are epic in scale and given a gritty feel, and while there is a martial arts feel to the film, this film attempts to ground itself a little more, give or take a duel or two.

I can honestly say I enjoyed this film and would watch it again. Granted, I am a fan of this kind of Hong Kong cinema, but even when the gloves are back on and the subterfuge plays, there is a lot to appreciate between the unspoken moments of the film, from jade-toned misty mountain ranges to gracefully filthy villages to unspoken words between vocal expressions. This is definitely a foreign blockbuster I would recommend to any fan of action films willing to do a little reading with some points of underexaggerated drama.

-Donald Lee

Action, Drama, In Theaters, War

The Bounty Hunter

Rating:

Movie: The Bounty Hunter(2010)

Studio : Original Film

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : bountyhunter-movie.net

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcupc0

Review:

The whole premise plays out like the classic Seinfeld-ish chain of events. Gerard Butler plays a washed out cop-turned-bounty hunter, and Jennifer Anisten plays an aspiring reporter under parole. What do the two have in common? They were married. What happens when our female protagonist’s parole is missed for a big scoop? Wackiness!

It’s hard for me to not give The Bounty Hunter a little more credit where it’s due. Why? Ideally, I would like to say that the movie producers threw a little money my way and I complied like a bobblehead on a boat, but the honest truth is that despite how cliché this film is, it’s still reasonably watchable. This movie was made with no real contention for a great script, plot, or anything, and the actors know this and you can tell they’re having fun with it as a result. Gerard is practically borderline Jim Carrey at points in his outlandishness to Anisten’s forced straight man compliance, and I have to admit that it genuinely amused me feeling the energy the two gave off with each other. The side characters, while interesting, are fairly forgettable save two roles, one played by Christine Baranski as Aniston’s overly amorous lounge singer mother and Siobhan Fallon as Butler’s crude bail bond contact. Again, both seem to be somewhat exaggerated, and I think that’s what made them so infectiously funny.

This is the sort of film I would call a “compromise” if you want to see something with your amorous other and can’t choose between the chick flick or the action film. They’re both somewhat shlocky genres in general, and while the mishmash between them aren’t totally compatible (it actually stands out more towards the action end, in my opinion), there’s still enough in this film to make it fun to watch for some harmless entertainment.

-Donald Lee

Action, Comedy, In Theaters, Romance

Layer Cake

Rating:

Movie: Layer Cake

Studio : Sony

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : Layer Cake Movie

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ptle

Review:

When looking up “Layer Cake” on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, the combined, it only gained a 7.75, but the reasons given by critics were that it was the same as all the other British crime dramas that predated it, mostly notably “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”. As the producer on the two movies, it isn’t surprising that one would make this comparison, but they missed the mark. The point of “Layer Cake” was to take these same ideas, where bumbling criminals can always succeed and turn them on its head.

On previous projects that Mr. Vaughn worked with Guy Richie, the characters played by Jason Statham, Tom and Turkish respectively were neither adept nor even competent. The character played by Craig is a middle man for the British drug trade with aspirations of getting out of the business, not because of morality, but because he is a business man who tires of the incompetence of those he works with. He is backed by a small group of cohorts who help him ply his trade. Because he is careful, Craig’s character tries to stay away from those who aren’t.

Unfortunately for him, in his self-stated last deal, he is given the task of selling 1,000,000 ecstasy hits which were stolen from a group of Serbian militants. The thieves are the kind that he attempts to avoid, but now has no choice but to associate with him. Having both the British drug lords and Serbian militants on either side of him, guns drawn if he decides to sell or give the drugs to anyone but them, he has to get creative.

With a stellar cast, including George Harris, Colm Meanny, Kenneth Cranham, Sienna Miller, and Michael Gambon, the film succeeds at every corner, giving only the exact amount of information needed to move the story forward. For a viewer that wants everything explained to them, this is not the film for you, but on a second watch, the film will answer most of the questions needed to truly enjoy the movie.

A last word about cinematography and soundtrack: I am not sure that I have seen many movies with many more beautiful shots which flow in and out like dancers on a stage or music that so suits the mood, from The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get Blue Monday out of My Head” to Joe Cocker’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, every song fits the moment of film perfectly as if they were written for this project.

Layer Cake is a must watch, and a suggested buy for film.

-M. Sigurd Hall

Crime, Drama, On BLU-RAY, On DVD, Thriller crime, Drama, Thriller